I'm coming from a Dell inspiron 2200.
Con's :
So at first glance i noticed the keyboard has tabs on the keys instead of keys. seems a little flimsy
only time will tell.
Not really happy with the power cord either but as the zen master says "we'll see".
The placement of the usb and other ports on both sides instead of the rear is less than perfect in
my opinion.
The Middle Ground : Price vs. performance.
So far the CPU has yet to disapoint, despite some decent games and multi-tasking i have throw at it.
Even though it's only an AMD Caspian and lacks level 3 cache and suffers from low clock speed this cpu
should serve well for a few years at least, its also an upgradable option, if you know how and if you can
get your hand on an AMD x940 you can expect a little bump. For the Price this N950 is about as good as it
gets for amd and they are only on par with the fastest i5's. BUT at least it has 4 threads not 2 like the i5's.
640gb western digital blue 5400rpm hard drive, is ok and plenty big but slow, HD tuner gave it 55mb min 85mb
max transfer.I have ordered a kingston v100 64 gb for this laptop, and will let you know more about that upgrade.
I installed a kingston v100 64gb SSD, and let me tell you it is FAST. I did not like the error messages
i got when cloning the drive, but after hitting ignore a couple times everything seems to be fine, if i end up
having to jump through hoops to fix it i will let you know. I assume if i have a problem with the ssd then
i can always put the hard drive back..Hd tech wont run on windows7 even in compatiblity mode.
So i used hd tune which gave me reads at 148mb's on twice, though i did have one test show 169mb's.
Makes me wonder if this sata controller is 1.5gb or 3.0gb as i should have in theory got only 143mb/s reads
with a sata 1 or 1.5gb controller.
Pro's : The screen is amazing ! Nice and sharp ! Really Pops out at you. I know its not 1080 but 720 is
still easy on the eyes compared to 1024x768 on 14.1 inch monitor.
The laptop has many features that are upgradable, including the Hard drive ( yes you can have 2 , after you
purchase another hard drive tray from acer for $29.99 ? must be how the corporate exec's get their bonuses,
i mean really 30 bucks for a piece of bent metal ? SAD !!)
Also their is 3 memory slots as newegg reports so you can have as much as 12gb of ram.. smoking for a laptop
in this price range.
And yes the 6650m ATI radeon can also be upgraded, not that it's the weakest part of this system by any means.
I'm getting 80+ FPS in BF2, Cod4 and other games with all set to max settings.
I have heard and read about a bios mod for acer computers that unlocks all kinds of goodies, which i will
try in the near future.
Conclusion : This is a great laptop for the price of 700.00 or so, despite some limitations with AMd CPU's.
If your looking for a solid gaming laptop for a low cost, this as7552g-6436 will not let you down.
I hoped this helped someone.
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I'm very picky when it comes to buying a computer. I searched for WEEKS before buying a laptop, read reviews, hit the Net repeatedly, went to every computer store in our area. This was not the best laptop I found. That honor went to a SONY system that cost 1400 bucks. This one was almost half that price. For the price, the Acer was the best in its class. I found no other computer than the Sony that even came close.The first thing I noticed (and yes, odd how certain things are important to different people) was the textured surface that is not only resistant to fingerprints... it laughs at them. I had previously owned a high-powered Gateway and it fingerprinted like a fiend. I was constantly cleaning the cover. So this was an important thing to me. Minor I know, but important.
I know there are gamer boys out there that will run this through all kinds of specs tests and say "oh the hard drive is slow" (what, at 5400 rpm? Are they kidding?) or that it's a "slow processor" (quad core 2.1g? Again, are they kidding? Yeah it's not 3 ghz, but it's no slouch either). To each his own. FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON-including gamers-this will prove a power-packed system for what I consider to be a very low price.
Quad core 2.1 processor, good hunka RAM, large size hard drive (for a laptop), quiet operation, good solid feel, and a gamer-level graphics card that has stood up to every nasty thing I could throw at it (and I threw a LOT at it).
The only negative thing: I'm not all that impressed with the screen. It's a good resolution, is quite visible, but it has a glare problem (as exists with many laptops) and one can definitely see (especially on dark screens) a difference in lighting pattern behind the screen. Nevertheless, it's just fine for almost all applications and the flaws really don't show up anywhere but movies or games with dark backgrounds. For 729 bucks, I can live with a less-than-perfect screen. It does bug me a bit however. I have seen anti-glare screen covers for about thirty bucks (gah, 30 for a piece of stick-on anti-glare plastic? Greed greed...) so the addition of such a device should make the screen much more visible in harsh-light situations such as bookstores or offices with overhead lights.
The keyboard is full size and responsive. Gotta love the multi-touch mousepad (although I always attach an external trackball for my own use). The laptop is not a lightweight, but not nearly as heavy as other 17" systems I've seen and is significantly thinner than laptops I've owned in the past. It has a sleek look and style to it that I find pleasing, without excessive lights and gizmos to distract from operation.
I suggest first thing making recovery disks when the system presents that option. You'll need a number of DVD and a LONG time. But it's good insurance. I also recommend going through the software offerings and remove anything that even remotely looks useless (I won't name names like McNorton or similar software). Anything that is "trial" can be booted as pretty much useless. The more you remove, the faster the system will run. Acer isn't alone in quantity of garbage software on the system. So give yourself a bit of setup time and get it where you want it to start with. Be sure to set the POWER and PROCESSOR settings to the kind of use common for you. Me: MORE POWER, BABY. :D
On a scale from 1-10 I'd give this a 9. I would have loved to see BluRay rather than a DVD drive. I like that it has USB ports on BOTH sides of the computer (I would have liked to see one on the back, but that can interfere with cover issues on some laptops, and may not be a good idea overall). All in all this is a very solid and powerful computer that is in the price range of a standard "business" no-frills laptop. I haven't seen anything else that even comes close for the price.
Best Deals for Acer AS7552G-6436 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)
I was a little hesitant to purchase this laptop because I normally buy HP products. However, the price was much cheaper than the HP and so I gave it a shot based on the specifications. I was pleasantly surprised. It is constructed well; I like the textured surface that doesn't show scratches and smudges as easily as the HP. It is a little heavy, but not as much as I would have expected for a 17.3" laptop. I was happy to see that the model I received did not need a separate adapter for a second hard drive like the older Acers did. It packs plenty of horsepower, although the first thing I did was remove windows to get rid of all of the resource-sucking bloatware. For some reason, the restore disk creation software requires five DVDs and you cannot select what software to install during installation. I downloaded a clean copy of windows and started fresh, using the license key under the laptop.It has three memory slots. I used the money I saved by buying this laptop to add another 4 gig of ram. I am currently running Fedora 14 with Windows 7 as a Virtualbox guest with minimal performance issues (other than video, discussed below).
Hardware: Screen is amazing. Laptop has the potential to run warm, but I use the Xpad Slim and haven't noticed any heat issues yet. The computer seems to be constructed solidly. I don't like the keyboard as much (the keys are flat squares, but they depress like a normal keyboard so I can't complain).
If you plan on using Linux, be aware that the video card driver from ATI does not support the new kernel--you'll have to google to get it to work--and you will have to blacklist drivers to get the wireless working but with some tweaking everything on the laptop but the multi-gesture function of the mouse pad works. There are some annoying video issues that I hope will be fixed with an ATI driver update (e.g. persistant watermark in the corner, sleep issues, VirtualBox issues) but hopefully that update will happen soon. Oh, and install the 32-bit version of W7 in VirtualBox or you will see a serious performance hit to the virtual machine.
From a hardware perspective this is a great deal. If you're running windows 7 only there should be no issues at all, aside from the unneeded additional bundled software that slows everything down.
Update:
The video and wireless problems have been resolved by Fedora updates (Fedora 17 x86_64), and something else must have been updated, because I re-installed windows 7 64bit in VirtualBox and found a significant performance INCREASE over the 32bit. If I ever have to run windows, I can pop in and out of it in seconds, and it now runs in what feels like native speed, with the exception of 2D video acceleration (for some reason 3D still works). I am still absolutely happy with this purchase.
Honest reviews on Acer AS7552G-6436 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)
Okay everyone just to let you know I am a gamer! I bought this to take with me to work and to school. So far I am very pleased with the laptop. The screen is epic. I have read a few complaints on the key board. Now I am very picking when it comes to my peripherals. I have always carried around a desktop key board for my gaming on the go, along with a mouse because who wants to play video games on a track pad? Well After using this key board for about 5 minutes , I no longer carry a spare key board with me. The response and the fell of the key board is enough to satisfy even the pickiest of gamers. The track pad is very fast very responsive but I still carry around a wired mouse. The feel of this laptop is very sturdy with out being over weight. Its nice solid construction makes me feel comfortable while carrying it around. The finish on the outer case is amazing. I am a finger print fanatic. With my old laptop 30% of the time I was wiping finger print smudges off of them. The finish on this thing is great no more finger prints. The interior is okay the key board rests on a nice metal finish that doesn't not attract finger prints either but the problem is the boarder around the screen and, the edge of the whole thing there is that same old shinny black plastic finger print magnet.Now lets get down to the gaming part of my review. The performance of this laptop is incredible. I was not only shocked but I was amazed at how well this thing handles games.
Frame rates:
Call of duty modern warfare 2 80-90 fps.
battle field bad company 2 30-45 fps.
Portal 2 60 fps.
fall out new vegas 60 fps.
counter strike source 60 fps.
left 4 dead 1 and 2 60 fps.
EVE online 50-80 fps.
Aion 45-60 fps.
These bench marks come from FRAPS. The video settings are maxed out at 1600x900 vsync is on for all the steam games. everything set to highest setting.
Like I said the gaming is great. that little video card powers threw pretty much anything you can throw at it.
I am not a professional laptop reviewer by any means. And I have read some awful things about this laptop threw different websites. I fell those reviews are punching this thing around pretty hard. They are also comparing it to laptop that cost 200-300 dollars more then this one. So I cant tell you to buy it or not. But what I can say is, If I needed a new laptop again, I would buy this one all over again.
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***Update*** After having this laptop for sometime I can tell you I will never purchase from ACER again. The customer support is sub-par with no driver updates coming in the last year and a half. The CPU fan is extremely loud and replacement parts are not easy to come by and Customer support cannot even provide you with part numbers. I will be going back to HP where you can get support and parts for your purchases.*****************************************************************************************************
This is a great laptop for the price I paid $725 and I am very pleased with my purchase. I can not speak to the way Acer sets up the operating system as I never even booted into it. I used a copy of 64-bit Windows with the Key from the bottom of the computer to do a fresh install from the get go. I highly recommend to download the drivers ahead of time, many are not in Windows 7 by default.
Pros:
1) Very fast using multi-threaded applications i.e. Handbrake.
2) Full size keyboard with number pad.
3) Few hardware LED's, the last laptop I had looked like a UFO. This Acer is very sedate I like the simplistic design.
4) Graphics are amazing for this price range.
5) Unit is very quite while routine operation. You can hear it pretty good while intensive operation such as encoding video.
6) Atheros Wi-Fi 802.11N is implemented quite well. I am able to get two rooms away and maintain 7MB/s transfers of large files.
7) Three DDR3 slots in mine it came with two 2Gig sticks of Kingston 1066 Ram. I am upgrading the third slot with a 4Gig stick.
8) Second hard drive bay for upgrades.
Cons:
1) Battery, only a six cell battery and the nine cell from Acer is $128.00 for a battery(wow)With mixed usage I am looking at 2hr 45min.
2) LCD screen viewing angle. Your face needs to be parallel to the screen and your eyes level with the top or the colors are completely washed out.
3) Single touch pad bar. I really wish the left and right buttons were separated, although I am getting used to this configuration.
4) Speakers are on the base right below the screen. I listen to a lot of podcasts and like to close the screen, if I do close the lid it muffles the sound.
5) Second hard drive bay requires a caddy that does not come with it.
6) Acer support website is useless and they will not provide and tech. manuals for their products,a service I have had multiple other vendors do without question.
Over all I say near $700.00 this is a deal for a 17inch DTR.
***Update**** I have seen some confusion on here as to the unreadability of the RAM. This laptop has 3 DDR3 slots that can hold 4Gigs a piece for a total of 12Gigs of RAM. Current configuration is using two of these slots leaving one free for immediate upgrade to 8Gigs.
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