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The most helpful favorable review
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66 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
the perfect portable
This ultraportable rocks. I have a nice laptop core2duo 15.4" with Blu-ray, etc...but I started to realize I needed portability and battery life for use on the road and around the house.
Why this laptop is "perfect" for me on the go and around the house off the plug:
1. Small form: barely over an inch at the thickest, just under 3.1 lbs...
Published 10 months ago by Paul Taatjes
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
A Netbook Sized Machine with the Specs of a Laptop
A little context: My Lenovo T60 (14") was stolen and I needed a new laptop fast. I knew I wasn't going to get another full size laptop because portability + long battery were my priorities. I'm a student, so price was also important. First I looked at the Toshiba T100 series but after reading that the single mouse button was very hard to click I check one out in store and...
Published 9 months ago by Charles Henke
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66 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
the perfect portable, October 31, 2009
This ultraportable rocks. I have a nice laptop core2duo 15.4" with Blu-ray, etc...but I started to realize I needed portability and battery life for use on the road and around the house.
Why this laptop is "perfect" for me on the go and around the house off the plug:
1. Small form: barely over an inch at the thickest, just under 3.1 lbs.
2. Battery life: this is huge. The screen seems very bright. I am using it surfing the web on wifi and after about an hour and a half it still says over 9 hours of battery life. On the plane...I watch over 3 hours of high quality DVD rips (over 1 gig an hour mpeg4), plus an hour of full screen flash based "Peggle Nights"...and still over 40% battery left.
3. Keyboard is full sized (other than directional keys), touchpad multi works great
4. Real premium windows 7.
5. HDMI, 1080p, full uncompressed multichannel PCM audio. It actually plays bluray quality clips...no netbook outside of an ion based can get close to this
6. A solid dual core CULV processor. Each core can easily best an Atom 1.6Ghz
7. Real specs...3 GB RAM, 320GB HDD.
8. Screen. Awesome...no more scrolling when surfing or incompatible apps, a real usable res.
Cons.
1. No optical drive. this is expected on something this small and light like a netbook, but it is still a con
2. Cost. All these real specs, win7, comes at a premium over a netbook. Still it does what other ultraportables do at a third their cost.
3. Processor trounces Atom based, but forget real games on it, it still uses integrated gfx...while they are optimized for video, they don't push polygons.
4. Case lid. While it makes a good picture, the glossy finish of the lid is a fingerprint magnet. I am looking into a few options to reduce prints (car wax, skins, etc)
Overall...I can't be more happy I went for it. The only other option that was a contender was the HP mini 311. It also has the same type of 11.6 higher rez screen, HDMI with 1080p processing. But it falls down because while base is $400, that is without bluetooth, without wireless N, with only 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, winXP, and considerably lower battery life (30-40%), AND a far inferior atom N270. Really no contest...
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47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
Laptop power in a netbook, November 24, 2009
This review is from: Acer Aspire Timeline AS1810TZ-4174 11.6-Inch Blue Laptop - Over 8 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium) (Personal Computers)
Laptop power in a netbook form factor. A secondary machine that runs like a primary.
Pros:
- Size, small yet usefully large
- Pretty
- Sturdy build
- Long battery life under almost all conditions.
- glossy screen, but not annoyingly so (like the Mac glossy screens).
- Well specced out.
- Excellent value, even at the price point.
Cons:
- It gets smudged very very quickly.
- Price premium is above many larger laptops.
- You HAVE to upgrade to maximum RAM to get the best out of it.
A barrista at Starbux put it best when she saw it: "Yummy!". And really, it is a yummy machine. Useful with its large keyboard and screen, the right amount of ports, realistically long battery life under almost all conditions, and yet smooth and powerful with the ability to run even power and memory hungry applications without fuss and muss.
Very yummy.
Because I do a lot of traveling and photograph events, I have long craved a netbook so that I wouldnt have to constantly lug a large bag and heavy computer. A MacBook Air was far too expensive, almost too large, with not enough ports and designed to be just a secondary machine. A netbook with even a 10" screen was really too small in the screen and keyboard. So when I saw the Acer AspireOne 751h with its 11.6" screen yet slim form factor, I decided that was what I was gonna get, particularly as it was on sale at most places for under $300. Yet, I hesitated to buy as the reviewers kept harping that the Atom processor was slow. So, I waited and researched and saw that the AS1410 had more power, but by that time I wanted my cake and to eat it too. Finally, the 1810TZ with its Dual Core and 64bit Windows 7 became available but cost $250 more than I had originally budgeted. Come decision time, the pros far outweighed the cons. It was just too perfect to pass up.
To complete things, I ordered a 4G WiMax USB modem and service from [...], which made it a great portable machine, allowing you to avoid searching for WiFi hotspots. This effectively transforms the machine to a "everywhere" computer. (If you travel a fair amount around the US, I highly recommend getting 3G+4GWimax service if it is available in your area or when it does. That effectively gives you wireless broadband connectivity around the country.)
I like that I can now slip it into my bag, and I am often surprised just how small it is when I pull it out with one hand. The screen by default is very bright, yet will often run for far longer than 8 hours (sometimes over 12), and it is not even on the power saving settings. (Of course, using USB devices will drag down battery life, but it is still very good). The screen area allows you to see almost everything, although you may want to slim down your browser area. The glossiness isnt too highly reflective like that of the Mac laptops, you dont need a matte cover. The AC adapter's brick is tiny and light, making it near painless to carry with you. The glossy screen and shell smudges very quickly, so a microfiber cloth always on hand will keep it looking smart.
Although it has the power of a primary machine, and can be used as such, it is really a machine to be used in tandem with a larger primary machine. Portability is its reason for being, so I would not recommend it as an only machine.
To give a measure of how impressive this machine is: If an apple logo was slapped on it would sell like hotcakes as The Next Big Thing. But for the price of a MacBook Air, you can get 3 1810TZ's . :)
Now, my pet peeve with the Acer 1810TZ - and why I only gave 4 stars, not 5. It runs best with 4gigs of RAM. Out of the box, like other manufacturers, Acer sells the 1810TZ with 3Gb of RAM. So to upgrade it to the maximum, you have to buy a 2Gb stick and dispose of the 1Gb. The reason Acer sells it with this odd number, is that with a 64bit OS, both memory slots needs to be filled, but because the onboard video shares the system memory and uses a little over 1Gb of RAM at max, they could not just sell it with just 2gb's of RAM. With 3gigs installed the video performance, particularly when running video full screen, stutters frequently. Although not at all slow, Windows 7 64bit isnt as fast as you might expect. With 4gigs of RAM installed, the speed is near perfect and video is very smooth. That extra 1 gig makes such a difference.
It would only cost Acer an extra 5-10 dollars to max out the RAM, and for them to hold back is just wrong. So when purchasing, order a 2Gb DDR2 SoDIMM to go along with it.
All in all though, the Acer 1810TZ is a great little machine, well engineered, sturdy, powerful and pretty, and except for the RAM issue, it doesnt leave you wanting for more.
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(Edit after a month of ownership)
This machine still rocks, however a few other things -
- You will need an external DVD drive, you cannot get past it.
All your installation DVD's are on the hard drive, and unless you turn off the notifications, it will nag you to make backups of your restore DVD's. And what will you need to run those DVD's? Precisely. By the way, if you do buy an external DVD - TEST THEM with your machine. I have had issues with several units, that did not work. You want one that out of the box that
A) will be recognized and installed automatically (Drive #1 - a major name brand)
B) reads blank DVD's automatically and without freezing. (Drive #2- a off brand which was touted as fully compatible with Acers.)
I went through 3 before I finally found one (a Asus SDR-08D1S-U) that works as advertised. Good thing I bought it locally rather than online, or I wouldve been a highly irate camper.
- Write down and save the key numbers on the Windows sticker on the bottom of the laptop before you lose them.
The way theyve been printed, they will disappear quickly as the ink rubs off easily the piece of paper. Something I didnt expect, but it will happen.
- Finding a protective sleeve for the 11.6 form factor machine isnt easy.
Theyre all either too small or too large. Best ones are those built to hold a 12 inch machine, with enough room for the AC adapter and slim external DVD burner.
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All in all tho, the 1810TZ is still a great machine.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Great secondary portable laptop, October 29, 2009
totally agree with Dave's previous review,
I was originally looking for a netbook as a secondary laptop and wasn't too concerned with possible limitations of it. But when researching what to get, I discovered this and was really impressed with what it offered at a reasonable price.
Thus far it has exceeded my expectations. I wouldn't make it my primary work computer (even though its actually more powerful), but it makes a great companion notebook. I can take it anywhere with the 8hr battery life and it isn't so small that I strain my hands typing or my eyes reading long documents.
Windows 7 has also impressed me. Previously I managed to completely avoid using vista. Now coming from XP I'm finding Windows 7 easy to use, really I hardly notice it is even there.
I would recommend getting this as a secondary portable laptop, or travel laptop. It's worth the extra money over some other cheaper netbooks, but its still much more reasonably priced then high end 'ultraportable' laptops.
Note: while the keyboard is basically full size, the small touch pad will take some getting used too, though this is true of any netbook
One trivial complaint would be the glossy exterior finish - it looks great for about two seconds after you unwrap it, but its easy to scratch and fingerprints are difficult to remove...
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Slick. A Great Value, October 30, 2009
I have had several netbooks, and this is slick little machine. Compared to the Atom, the CPU on this is really snappy. The relatively larger screen and full keyboard make this computer comfortable to use. It's nice and light and fits easily in my back pack. I don't mind the weight of it on my back on my bicycle on the way to the train. It's more of a small laptop than a netbook. I'm quite fine without a built in CD/DVD; I'd prefer not to have the extra weight and bulk, but I do have the Lite On Etau208 [...]
Amazingly this inexpensive little computer has not just a dual core processor, but three USB ports, an HDMI, a VGA Port, a LAN port, built in wireless, and an SDHC reader. It weight just two ounces more than my 9 inch netbook and is thinner. It also has a keyboard with the keys in the "right" place; a full sized "enter" key and full sized right "shift" key. The touch pad is multi touch, and even has two separate buttons for the left and right click instead of the cheap single rocker you find on many netbooks. The speakers are loud enough to comfortable listen to the dialog from a movie or TV show.
The snappy performance coupled with Windows 7 gives the whole experience of using this computer a very smooth feel that is very pleasant.
The only thing I'd change is that I bought the 1810TZ model and the 1810T model is only $50 more for a larger hard drive and 1GBmore of RAM. I thought this one came with 32 bit Windows 7 which I thought I needed to run a finicky program that I have. Ironically this computer actually came with 64 bit windows 7 and my finicky program, which has never run right on 64 bit Vista, runs fine on this. However, I am very pleased with the performance of this unit as it is. I do sort of want the forthcoming but not yet released tablet version but that on will weigh 5oz more and I'm not sure I'm willing to accept the extra weight.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
A Netbook Sized Machine with the Specs of a Laptop, November 26, 2009
A little context: My Lenovo T60 (14") was stolen and I needed a new laptop fast. I knew I wasn't going to get another full size laptop because portability + long battery were my priorities. I'm a student, so price was also important. First I looked at the Toshiba T100 series but after reading that the single mouse button was very hard to click I check one out in store and found that to be the case. Who does ergonomics for these companies? That one oversight ruined a perfectly good product. Next, I found the 1810tz series, similar specs and it was getting good reviews. I found a 1410 in stores and liked it, so I ordered the 1810tz sight unseen.
My first impressions during unboxing were good. The power adapter brick is very small and light, as is the cord running to the computer. The cord from the brick to the wall seems much heavier duty than required, however. Each cord is almost six feet long giving you a huge range of close to 12 feet from electrical socket to laptop. I'd trade some of the range (especially from the too thick high voltage side) for a smaller power adapter bundle, but especially given the battery life of the machine most people will probably carry the adapter around infrequently. A minor complaint. As is noted in another review, the adhesive used for the top shell protective sheeting leaves a residue that will require a few minutes of careful peeping to remove. Hopefully someone at Acer will read these reviews and get the adhesive reformulated. All the other stickers peeled off easier.
I have given this laptop/netbook a five star rating because I think it offers extremely good value. Its build quality is high, it has good specs, and its aesthetics and ergonomics are up to par. Obviously, I have a few minor complaints, but I would never expect a $550 laptop/netbook to live up to what I was used to with the T60. Please take these criticisms in context.
* The keyboard has quite noticeable flex, the keys have minimal feedback and are too flat. Coming from a thinkpad keyboard I knew I would be let down, so no surprises here. Because of the form factor of a wide screen 11.6" there is not enough space to rest your palms on the edge of the computer while typing. I push the computer further away and rest my forearms on the desk instead.
* The touch pad is fantastic. However, the pressure needed to click the buttons varies from side to side. It's my only build quality complaint. (it's worse on the left button than the right making me think its build quality, but it may be a design issue)
* Like many laptops these days there is no physical latch to hold the screen shut. Instead it is just very stiff to adjust. Because of its light weight the body must be held down while the screen is opened. No hands-full-with-coffee-or-blackberry one handed flip opens. You can't even change the angle of the screen one handed.
* The vertical viewing angle is very sensitive, but horizontal is better. I hate glossy screens, but this one isn't too bad.
There are two errors in the Amazon page (11/26/2009): The SU4100 is a dual core processor and the wireless is b/g/n not a/b/g/n
Edit 1/2/10: I've noticed a problem with the battery/standby on this machine. It uses a very substantial amount of charge just to sit in standby (between .5% and 1% per hour). I usually only reboot one a week or so and just use standby otherwise, but without plugging it in over night I can loose 10% of my charge by the time I use it again, which is quite frustrating. Acer email support was unable to help me, and I'm out of the country so I haven't tried phone support yet as they have recommended to me. If anyone else is having these problems (or not) please leave a comment. I'm running win7 pro, but I don't think that's relevant here.
Edit 3/31/2010: I am revising my review down to 3 stars from 5. As the material of the casing has fatigued, the screen has become more flexible. Now, when I close my laptop with just a light touch (think carrying in a padded case) I can press the keys of the keyboard. This wouldn't be problematic, except that there are no options in the bios or otherwise to control how the computer is resumed, and by default any and all key presses wake the computer. When I called customer support regarding this, they were unable to offer any help, and transfered me to a pay for service support line and tried to tell me that it was an unsupported software problem and I would have to pay.
In summary, if you use sleep mode and plan on carrying your computer around with you, I would avoid this model. The walkaround I will be using is adding small rubber bumpers (like the ones used to quiet closing doors or the rubber feet on electronics)to the monitor to stop it from closing all the way, but frankly needed to do that is absurd, I will not be purchasing from Acer again. Customer support is average to below average.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
First impressions - excellent, October 28, 2009
This review is from: Acer Aspire Timeline AS1810TZ-4174 11.6-Inch Blue Laptop - Over 8 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium) (Personal Computers)
Pros:
Thin and light
Quite fast without the noise and heat.
Videos and downloads fast and smooth
Little bloatware (office, mcaffee, 2 web links on desktop, dvd program)
Great screen. 11.6" is nicer than 10.1" but just as portable.
Speakers quality above average but not great
No problems with win7-64 bit so far
Touchpad feels great and very smooth
Bluetooth works well
Cons:
Speakers were better on a 14" timeline model I saw at a membership warehouse
Wifi light blinks when transferring data - a minor annoyance
higher price for the blue model where we bought it
Other Thoughts:
We got it as a replacement for a 12" dell 700m - battery life, portability, size and speed were our criteria. Haven't had it long enough to evaluate the battery life, but the other criteria were met quite well. Compared to Samsung NC10 (Atom, 1GB XP) which we also have, this one is definitely better performing.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
The Trinity of Size, Power and Price, November 29, 2009
When 10" netbooks first came out, I was enamored with their small form factor and long battery life, but I knew that I would not be happy with the low screen resolution and the underpowered Atom CPU. I do a lot of Adobe Lightroom photo post-production on my laptop, and whatever solution I chose would need to fully support that need.
I waited a while for a notebook like the Acer Aspire Timeline AS1810TZ. At the time I purchased it (about a month ago), it was the only notebook available with the CPU and RAM (without upgrading) that I felt would satisfy my requirements. When it arrived and I installed Lightroom 2.5 on it, I expected it work fine. But in truth, it blew me away. Running the 64-bit version of Lightroom (supported by the 64-bit Windows 7 installed on the Timeline AS1810TZ), this little notebook is so much faster than my previous laptop with a full powered duo-core Intel mobile processor (T7250) with 4GB of RAM. To my delight, I found it also renders and plays back HD video with only the most occasional hiccup in playback (like once or twice in a 5 minute video, played full screen).
Screen resolution is adequate, and I can hardly complain given the small form factor. I was willing to go up to 13" in screen size, but that would have added quite a bit of weight and cost. The 11.6" size is a good compromise and really you can't get a much better screen resolution even up to 13" now. The screen is very bright and most of the time I use it at 50% brightness when unplugged and it doesn't bother me at all.
Battery life is outstanding for a notebook this powerful, though I do not get the 9 hours many people say they get. If I let it run all the way down, I believe I would get about 6.5 hours out of it. The fan runs incessantly and it's fairly loud. However, the notebook runs fairly cool, so it's a tradeoff I can live with.
Build quality is about average. There is slight keyboard flex, though not enough to bother most people. The plastic looks cheap and I would cringe to think of what happens if I drop this laptop. Also, there isn't a really good place to grip it carrying it around, so don't be too casual about moving it around as it could slip out of your hand.
That said, for the current price of $549, I can't think of any better computer available for a person looking for a small powerful notebook with good battery life. Undoubtably, HP, Sony and Toshiba will follow suit and the market will be flooded by next year, but if you can't wait another 4-6 months, this is definitely the laptop to get. Acer also seems to provide the best value at their price point, so I would be surprised if they did not provide a better value in terms of RAM, HDD capacity, and battery life even when the competition releases their new models.
I wanted to write this review to assure Lightroom 2.5 users that it does indeed run on this notebook and runs very well. When I was researching notebooks, I wished someone would have provided this information for me. For what its worth, Photoshop CS3 also runs well on this system, and I have Premiere installed too, although I have yet to test it.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Those two things netbooks lack..., December 7, 2009
This review is from: Acer Aspire Timeline AS1810TZ-4174 11.6-Inch Blue Laptop - Over 8 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium) (Personal Computers)
I am a self-professed netbook evangelist. I bought an Asus 1000HE for myself, but my wife stole it the second day (this is actually her account as she bought me this computer for my early Christmas present). She cannot stop raving about it and the ten-hour battery life even eight months later. So why did I buy a CULV/ultrathin laptop instead of a netbook?
There are only two shortcomings to all but a couple of the netbooks when used as an ultra-portable computer; screen resolution and GPU power. If Asus had successfully implemented an 11-12 screen and something better than the standard Atom with integrated graphics while maintaining at least eight hours of battery life with Windows 7...I would have bought it. They had one in the pipeline when I bought the Timeline, but it was not yet available.
As far as I saw it, I really only had two options if I wanted to meet my needs; the Acer Timeline or similar CULV dual core 11" ultrathin or the HP Mini 12 with the Ion option. In the end, the HP was MORE money for similar spec's and we are still only talking about a Atom 1.66 single-core processor.
I have had the computer for about 3 weeks now and love it.
Pro's:
About the same size as the ASUS 1000HE but about an inch longer
Plenty of processor power...multitasks without issue althought i have not pushed too hard with one of my larger Access databases
Unbelievably bright screen...I have no trouble watching movies at only 10% brightness in dark room and 50% covers almost all situations
Excellent keyboard and better than expected touchpad
Excellent wireless range...better throughput than the 1000HE when in the same room as my router and more than double the throughput at 55 ft.
Plays HD videos from Unbox without a hitch and displays it well on our 40" LCD through the DVI
Almost 7 hours of video played on a transatlantic flight (10% brightness, wireless and bluetooth off) with a reported 15% battery remaining
320 GB harddrive
Windows 7 is so much better than Vista and much slicker than XP
Plays those games and surfs those websites that require a higher resolution than most 10" netbooks can supply
Con's:
Scrolling feature on touchpad to sensitive...I am always hitting it by mistake
Sound from the speakers at max cannot overcome the minimal noise of the air conditioner in my room
Fan is noticeable (barely) in a quiet room when watching a movie
No hot-key combination that I can find for disabling WiFi
Screen is glossy...not terrible like many computers for reflections, but glossy enough to annoy me
Exterior is glossy so it is constanly smudged...why any manufacturer would think this is good idea is beyond me, but few netbooks or ultrathins are any better
Bloatware...better than my HP or Dell but still took me a while to uninstall it all
Overall, I cannot say enough good things about my Timeline. If they made a 1/2" thicker version that had an integrated optical drive, but no other changes, for $100 more I would have bought that, but otherwise there is no other product I have found on the market with better specs for my needs.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Fantastic Little Thing!, November 18, 2009
This review is from: Acer Aspire Timeline AS1810TZ-4174 11.6-Inch Blue Laptop - Over 8 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium) (Personal Computers)
Well, I had a couple of Netbooks in the past. I had the original Aspire one, the Asus 1000HE and the Asus 1005HA. Although all worked, they were slow. I loved the battery life, but other than that, I found myself spending much more time doing simple things than on a regular size laptop. Both because they were slow and also because I kept hitting wrong key, etc due to the size. The 1000HE felt the best, but I had to give that away and the 1005HA I absolutely hated.
Anyway, I went for this Acer and I wouldn't be more amazed. It is just as fast as a standard size laptop. The screen is perfect. It never hands, is fast, very fast and the battery lasts just as long as any of the netbooks I had. The screen is large enough to do pretty much anything, the keyboard feels nice, the mouse buttons are great. I couldn't be more amazed. All this and the thing is the same weight as the netbooks and only slightly larger, If you put it in your bag, you will not notice a difference. I was so happy, I had to buy another one for my wife.
She loves it as well.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Nice machine, horrible support, December 4, 2009
This review is from: Acer Aspire Timeline AS1810TZ-4174 11.6-Inch Blue Laptop - Over 8 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium) (Personal Computers)
I just received this a few days ago. It's an AS1810T. It seems like a great product, although I haven't used it much because I'm not sure if I will have to return it. The problem is that the fan runs constantly when plugged in, and although it's not really loud, it's just loud enough to be annoying. The moment I unplug it, the fan becomes totally silent. I would like to have it plugged in while at home in order to get the increased performance.
I've been trading emails for 5 days with customer support at Acer (there is no such thing as a telephone number to call)and they are totally brain dead. I've asked 4-5 times if the fan should be running 100% of the time when it's plugged in, and they keep evading the question, and are giving me advice like "unplug the keyboard and mouse", "check to see if any peripheral devices are noisy" etc. I'm really angry at this point and not sure if I will keep the machine.
The other thing that's a bigger factor than I thought is the glossy finish on the case. Looks good when freshly polished, but it looks really smudgy the rest of the time, almost like you were eating french fries and then wiped your hands on the case.
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