Customer Reviews

Acer Aspire AS7740-6656 17.3-Inch HD Display Laptop (Blue)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I usually buy my electronics through [...]. Newegg didn't have this model so Amazon got my business on this one and I'm glad that I happened to stumble across it.

I wanted 2 things in my PC. One was a large screen and the other was speed. The 17.3" screen is perfect. Not as bulky as an 18.4" but larger than a 15.6", so it's a good compromise. The new i5 chip is great. I didn't see the point in buying a PC with the old INTEL chips or AMD. I buy a new PC maybe every 6 years or so and considering I could have spent a lot more on a model by another manufacturer with the older chipsets it just makes more sense to buy this....which is really what makes this PC such an excellent purchase.

Usually when you find something that's a good buy you're making numerous compromises. That's not the case with this Acer. From the new chip to the 500 gb hard drive to the 4 USB's, card reader, VGA, HDMI, and dual-layer drive it's top-notch and is of an excellent quality build. Nothing feels cheap.

I have always despised notebook PC keyboards and anticipated using an external keyboard. Well, surprise surprise surprise....with the touchpad turned off, I find this keyboard works great. The keys are a good size for my stubby fingers, I don't mistype on it and find that the straight down touch you use, instead of the slightly angular touch I like on the external keyboards, works perfectly fine. The keyboard has a great feel to it as well. Rest your palms on the lower portion and go to work. I won't need an external keyboard with this PC. I definitely give it an A.

The screen is excellent. It's very sharp, equally bright and does justice to all my pics. Video is excellent and although it does not do 1080p HD, it does do lower resolution HD perfectly fine and on the 17 inch screen it looks fantastic. In fact, watching YouTube or other videos in full-screen mode looks good, but will look better when these on-line videos start sending out higher resolution streams than they do now. DVDs are excellent.

When I made my purchase decision I had looked at 6 or 7 other brands and found that the ACER beat them all on price when you compared the options it came with. The biggest dilemma for me was to get a model with a blu-ray drive and an i3 chip, or to go with the much faster i5 and not have blu-ray. For me, the best decision was to take the faster chip. I believe it would likely provide for smoother video and graphics overall and I could always add an external blu-ray drive later, if I really wanted to.

The only other factor about this PC which concerned me was that this model uses the integrated INTEL video card. I have used PCs with that in the past and found that I preferred having a separate graphics card. But my research indicated that INTEL is using a different methodology on the motherboards that have the new i series chips so I decided to go with it. So far I am pleased, but since I have not used one with a separate graphics card, I cannot say whether or not the separate graphics card offers any advantage in terms of performance. My guess is that a separate graphics card with 2 meg of dedicated RAM in addition to the 4 meg the system comes with might perform better under certain situations, however the software for this PC automatically dedicates 1,756k to video memory of the main 4mb and it's all DDR3 so I wonder if the difference would really be that noticeable. The additional price would be though, so I think this might well be the better purchase.

One disappointment...the sound on the speakers is very low, and since it's Dolby Home Theater with Virtual Surround Sound I expected more volume from the PC itself. Internet radio is hard to hear, but if I watch a video and use Windows Media Player or Winamp, that software boosts the sound a bit more. I use external speakers whenever I can and will continue to do so with this, but these internal speakers really are low volume.

If you're in the market for a new notebook this is a great PC. It's a great buy too. To borrow a phrase from a mortgage broker who advertises locally here...."It's the biggest no-brainer in the history of earth."

I am overall satisfied with this laptop. It seems to be solidly built. I am using it as a desktop replacement and do not care about portability or battery life. The integrated Intel GMA HD graphics is working well with video. I don't know about gaming performance.

Pay attention to the SW you use. 64 bit and quad core do nothing unless your SW is written to take advantage of them. Video generally does not benefit from either capability. I used VLC Media player for nearly everything and the current release does not.

If you have not used a laptop with the touchpad off center and separate number keys, you should go to a store and try it before buying. I am struggling to adjust from my old 4:3, 15.6" display. If you plan to use the laptop in your lap, you will naturally center the display in front of you resulting in a longer reach for your right hand to the home keys. This criticism applies to larger screen laptops in general.

Pro:
Excellent performer for my purposes.
Excellent display.
Touchpad disable button is a good idea. I previously downloaded Touchfreeze to prevent the cursor jumping around when typing.
Except for the memory card reader, all connections are on the sides.
I like the matte finish interior surfaces.

Con:
In general the user interface could be improved. Every one of these complaints are traits of many other laptops. Specifically-
Major-Keyboard keys are completely flat resulting in many more typos. If I don't get better, I will go back to my old Dell for Office applications. While trying to write this, I have hit the Caps Lock instead of "a" at least 10 times.
Minor-Separate Delete,Home,Page Up, Page Down, End are not in traditional locations so I leave the Num Lock off and use the number pad.
Minor-Touchpad is not as good as my previous Dell. I like it better when it is recessed.
I probably will never get used to the touchpad buttons being fixed at the middle. You must depress them at the outer end of the touchpad. I find this clumsy.
High gloss exterior of the case shows fingerprints.
I use the separate arrow keys alot and they are very small.
No recovery disks included.

I skipped Vista, so Windows 7 is a bigger leap for me from XP. So far, I can't see the point, but it has been stable. Look closely, most everything from XP is there, just disguised. Maybe I will eventually find something new that makes it more than just a way for Microsoft to make more money. As much as I fear it, the implementation of Cloud architecture might end this BS of changing the interface with every revision to the SW. I hate struggling to find the things they move with every revision.

Great value and quantity:
Got it for $700. best price ever 6 weeks ago, still the best price now most likely.
big screen but not heavy.
One of the best manufactures of the world:
I came from Taiwan and knew Acer is the best manufacture from there. started by doing oem for biggest companys in US over last 20 yrs ago.
Amazing Intel I5 cpu speed:
I am impressed by the Data bus speed;backup from my old Dell dimension 9100 to a portable HD took 107 mins,
but only took 27 mins from HD to this laptop.
Fast boot up and shutdown in Window 7:
I have 4 laptops. Dell, toshiba and HP definitely are slower in this catagory.
Often time, there are way too much pre-installed pkgs came with them, sucks!
Hygene flat keyboard, not everyone favor:
flat and non-sticky key makes it easier to clean. took me couple weeks to get used to it. I am ok with it.
Mouse pad is a killer:
Consider is a newer design of the mouse pad with some intersting features.
However I think it is a failure one. It is doing something that I don't expect sometime. I usually disable it and use a reg mouse. Besides there is configuration window that you can configure its sensertivity or even diable its features...

Without mouse pad I will give 5 stars. However, by screwing up such a basic but one of the most important feature of laptop, I can only give 3 stars.

BTW, I thought only I7 is quad cores. Actually I5 is one as well. check it out in task manager...

I have own a Acer before. My last Acer lasted me 8 years. I Love my new Acer. I use it for Work, school, and Play.
This computer boots up fast. runs fast. lots of space for work and school and games. I play World of Warcraft It run Just like if I was on my gamer desk top. I work in EMS SO I do my my reports, MY con ED is done on line with the big 17" screen I see the Videos lot better than my old 15" and loads the video faster. Playing WOW the game runs fast very little lag if any. FPS is just a little slower than my desktop.
By the way have I told you I love this laptop. has every thing I need, The price for this laptop is low compared to other laptop of the same built. This the best laptop for the price.

Well the first thing I did when I got this Acer Laptop was to pop a cd-rom into the drive, wiped Windows and installed Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx. Once this was done the system that got "so-so" reviews has become my favorite laptop ever. This has proven to be the best system I have ever owned. The quad core processor is lightning fast and the Ubuntu OS makes everything run perfectly. I love the cool blue color and never hear the cooling fans chugging away to keep things under control. I've read some complaints about the flat keyboard, hmmm... I've been typing this review and just about every line of code for my site with this keyboard and am having no problems at all.

I know nothing about technology, really...I just know I never liked to work a t a computer until I got this one. It's the perfect size, and Windows 7 is cool. Ease of use for the avg person.....like me. I am even now creating my own webpage....I will never go back to a desktop again. The screen size is very easy on the eyes. touchpad is great.

As I write this review, I am getting ready to call Acer to have them replace this laptop or repair it. Currently the wireless card will stop working for 1-3 days at a time and I am unable to get online without connecting an Ethernet cable to the laptop. I also get the "Blue Screen of Death" from time to time. I decided to write this review BEFORE i went through the experience of replacing this laptop, As I'm sure it will be frustrating and I want to write a review on the product itself, not my experience with the company.

When I got the laptop, it was great (I've had it for a little over 2 months now). The screen is nice and large, and displays HD video perfectly. I hook it up to my TV a lot via HDMI cable to watch movies/TV Shows/Anime and it works perfectly for that. I really like the number pad on the right side, it's very helpful when inputting passwords with numbers in them or when getting work done.

The touch pad is VERY responsive, and large. One problem with the touch pad though, is its placement. I have small to normal sized hands, and part of my left palm cant help but rest on part of the touch pad while typing. I am right handed, so when I go to use the touchpad with my left palm touching part of the pad (which I'm usually oblivious to at the time) I tend to activate the "Zoom" shortcut on the touch pad by mistake. This happens quite often. I love the shortcuts on the touchpad when I mean to use them, but it can get annoying when you are zooming in and out all of the time by mistake.

The touch pad buttons are also done a little strangely, with the main middle portion of the button being "un-clickable" which happens to be most of the button. You will find yourself trying to click a piece of plastic that does nothing a lot, this took a few weeks of using the laptop each day to get used to for me.

There is a "P" button at the top right of this laptop near the speakers, that lets you assign any program to it so you can open your favorite program just by pushing it. I assigned my browser of choice to it (Google Chrome) but didn't find myself using it much - still a nice feature though.

Be aware that this laptop is NOT for gaming !!! I tried to install a game from 2006 (Game was called Swat 4) and the video card couldn't handle it. And you cannot replace the video card.

PROS:

- Nice sized screen
- Excellent keyboard
- Runs very quickly, has no problem keeping up with me while running 2 monitors on it (Video playing, music playing, internet browsing, doing work all at the same time. Very nice performance.
- Virtually Silent
- 2+ Hour battery life
- Nice HD size

CONS:

- Touchpad shortcuts can be activated by mistake to easily
- Touchpad buttons are poorly placed and sized
- Glossy shell is easy to smudge
- Video card cannot handle games (I've only had success with browser based games)
- Wireless card and Blue Screen issues mentioned above, blue screening (this is probably because I got some defective parts)

I bought it 3 weeks ago and am very happy with it.
I run it with Ubuntu (need to upgrade to the latest kernel and Xorg to have the graphic card recognized properly) and everything is very stable and efficient so far. The machine doesn't heat much and is pretty silent, even under high CPU load. It's a very good desktop replacement but not a gaming computer. The screen is sharp and bright. I can work on it the whole day without getting tired. I would recommend it for the budget ($700) if you are looking for a desktop replacement/transportable office computer.

I have a desktop and decided it would be nice to have a laptop. I have only 2 complaints and 1 is my fault. The price was good enough that I opted for the 17 inch...Bigger isn't always better when you are lugging it around, and it is hard to find cases or bags for the 17 inch. It IS a bit heavy. I have had occasional trouble with letter keys not striking when I type but it is so occasional I havent called for help! I am very happy with this computer.

I purchased this notebook for my office use but the system constantly getting the "blue screen" crushed again, this forces me to buy another computer today to replace this junk. Normally it will get around 3 crushes per day and 80% of the time will lock itself up when you want to re-start the system. It is a very nice looking computer, nice LED screen, fast Intel i5 processor, good size hard drive, but diffinitely not a stable computer to use. I have this notebook for the last 6 months and today I just ordered a new desktop to replace it. It is still a new computer but I will have to trush it due to its lousy and unstable performance. It is not a recommended platform to use especially for the office.