I searched long and hard for a new laptop, considering the Microsoft Surface, Lenovo Yoga, and then more traditional laptops. My criteria was that I wanted small, touchscreen, Windows 8, and HD display.
While I have tablets, they typically can't do everything (like rip a DVD to the hard drive to watch later), and some web pages still just aren't right on the tablet.
I ended up with the Acer Aspire S7 with the 11.6 inch screen, and I have no complaints. It does what it's supposed to do, in a very small package.
Here are my favorites: It starts fast! Like I can start up my android tablet (or even phone) and walk a mile before it's ready to go. This, though, is basically ready as fast as I can type in my passcode. The screen is great, and touch is accurate. Windows 8 has a learning curve, but it's a great way to navigate. The backlit keyboard is nice--I've spent too many times in the past trying to light up keys to see what I'm typing.
The negative: typing isn't perfect, as the keys don't depress super far, but it's better than a Surface touch tablet cover. The hard drive is pretty small, and ram cannot be upgraded, but that's been okay so far. I have semi-permanently installed a 64 GB micro SD card in the slot for storage space, and I made a USB backup which allowed me to remove the backup files from the hard drive freeing more space.
The other nice touch is that is comes with a Bluetooth wireless mouse that works right away, and a case that fits the laptop. The second battery clips on the back, allowing one to go without if wanting the pc to be even smaller.
It's a great little machine I definitely enjoy.
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(Updated 7/2013) So I've had this laptop about 4 months. My #1,2 and 3 criteria were weight and I LOVE LOVE LOVE how light this is. For the first time ever, I have a functional laptop I can carry around with me which I love. Did I mention how light it is? It starts up super-fast which makes it extremely usable. Did I mention the weight? That, I think, is the saving grace on this laptop. It is thin, small, and easy to pop in my bag and carry around. I hardly notice when I am carrying it which is a large change from my prior 3# computer. The screen is small, but for me, weight was the main need, so it is functional. If this were your main computer, I think you would want a 13" screen.
I actually like the touchscreen aspect, particularly the ability to increase font size. I think in a few years, this will be a nice feature. I saw a few years because it is too early in the technology now. The overall design of the Asus is lovely and it's a beautiful and well-designed interface.
BUT, and I'm afraid there are a lot of buts...
I researched laptops obsessively for a year and finally said: I need to get *something*. If you have another year to wait, I think I would recommend that before buying something new now. I should also say I am NOT a computer geek who knows a lot about computers. I am an average person, using average programs (word, excel, STATA, internet, email), and I can't always understand the complex and technical workarounds that might fix some of my challenging win 8 problems.
--It is true that the battery length is terrible (in my experience, about 3.5 hrs for routine internet surfing, email, Microsoft word, excel, etc. I haven't tried anything like watching videos or gaming. The extended battery is nice design-wise and adds a lot of battery time, but then takes away from the light weight, so it's a tradeoff. If you needed constant extended battery time AND very, very light-weight, this is not the computer for you. I don't use the battery for routine use so for me it's OK though sometimes during the day I have to limit my use so I don't run out of juice. I will need to take along the batter when I travel.
--Windows 8 is terrible. I think this is the source of most of my issues...some programs I use regularly aren't easily compatible and can take hours to figure out how to go thru unusual efforts to download, Internet Explorer and MS Word stall constantly and crash frequently. I've read all the tips on how to improve win 8, and I'm better than I was initially, but it just is a very amateur program with lots of on-going problems. I do think it was probably too early for release of this program. In a year, with revisions, it will probably work much better, and the learning curve is not as bad as people say. Win8 apps are not great--many of them lack the functionality of regular programs. For example, the app for internet explorer saves you time (easy to just touch the icon to start) but doesn't let you save favorites or have a toolbar, so it's not very practical. Many of the apps are like this--just easier to use less-convenient regular programs than half-functional apps. The apps on my iPhone are much better.
--Many of my programs (most of them, actually) stall frequently (blue circle rotates and you have to wait for 30-45 seconds). I'm guessing that's a Win 8 problem but I tried re-installing the OS and nothing changed. Remember, I'm not a computer geek; many of you are much smarter about this technology and might be able to fix these issues but I think I'm stuck with it.
--The touchpad on the Acer seems over-over-over sensitive. I'm constantly finding myself sending emails before they are done, inadvertantly increasing or decreasing my font size just because I have touched the touchpad in some unusual way. I still haven't quite figured out how this is working or how to fix it but it's just annoying. Not sure if that is a win8 or Acer problem. That said, I like the ability to easily magnify text just by touch because the 11" screen is small. Hopefully I'll figure this out eventually. For now, when I'm at home, I just use the mouse because it's much easier than the touchscreen.
--If you do buy an Acer, the first thing you need to do is write down your serial number (which is oddly not marked anywhere on the physical body of the computer--you have to do some special queries available on-line to figure out how to find it from the SSD). I tell you this because if you have a problem, you cannot ask a SINGLE question to Acer support without your serial number. If your machine won't boot correctly (as happened to me for several weeks and according to my on-line search has happened to many other Acer users), you can't do the usual query process to get your serial number so you are totally out of luck.
Do I regret my purchase? Well, no, because if weight is your top criteria and you need a full-fledged laptop, there just isn't much out there to beat this. Nothing better than a 2# laptop. The design is gorgeous, keyboard is nice (one key sticks), and overall I can deal or work around the flaws with my needs. But this wouldn't work for everyone. If I had been able to wait a year, I think that would have been ideal. Hopefully there will be upgrades to win 8 and things will be better. If not, I may be looking for another computer in a year or two.
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Update, 07/17/2013:
Well, after two months, I have a $1,100 doorstop. My S7 is completely, absolutely, positively dead. It won't start up, no LED's light up to show that anything is going on, no LED's light up to show that the charger is plugged in -it is just a lump of worthlessness. I've used it very sparingly -less than once a week, I think I could call it. It has always been protected by a sleeve or a case, even while it's been sitting in a drawer. The only way I could have been more gentle with it would have been to have just put it in a drawer, and never touched it again.
All I can do now is send it away, and hope that it will come back some day. And then see if it will last longer than another two months. Unfortunately, Acer's online forum has quite a few messages about S7 notebooks failing at around two months of life, and it doesn't look like a single one has ever been repaired -Acer hasn't had the parts to fix them. I can only send it off and see if that state of affairs has changed or not.
So, I'm changing my rating to one star, and I'd give it zero if I could. It was absolutely wonderful while it worked, but I've never had a notebook utterly fail on me before this -I've had perhaps a dozen notebooks that never had any issues, whatsoever. Truth be told, I had heard of some reliability problems with the S7, but I figured I'd try my luck. All I can do is recommend against trying to push your luck, like I did.
And now I return you to my original review, written in much happier days:
I'm happy with my S7-191-6447. I find the Windows 8 "tiles" interface to be absolutely, completely, 100% useless, but happily, you can use programs such as Classic Shell that will let you avoid the tiles, and use the regular, old Start button menu that you know and you've been happy with for the past decade or two. Indeed, I use Classic Shell, a free program, and I recommend it highly.
With the tiles out of the way, I find Windows 8 to be pretty nice, and it feels absolutely "minimal" -not like there are a million things running in the background, like I've felt with other Windows versions. I had one old program that Windows 8 reported as "incompatible," but you can just right-click an icon that launches the program, choose Properties, and then get in there and choose to run it in a compatibility mode for an older Windows version. I chose Windows Vista, and that program has run just fine, ever since.
I gave the computer 5 stars, even though it usually gets knocked back for its battery life and a few other odd bits. Personally, the battery life is plenty for my needs, even without the external battery. The keyboard takes a bit of practice to get comfortable with, but that's always going to be the case with a small, thin notebook like this. Yes, many folks want more RAM and more disk space, but this is essentially the default configuration of an official "ultrabook."
Otherwise, the computer checks all of the boxes I want: Ultra-small and lightweight, 1920 x 1080 IPS screen (it is fantastic), illuminated keyboard, and so on. I absolutely appreciate the MicroSD slot -like many other folks, I've fitted a 64GB card in there, and so far, that's where I keep all of my personal data, including gigabytes of pictures, music, and videos.
The computer is very quiet -when not under heavy loads, it is essentially noise-free. The fan will start running when you do give it a bit of a load, but even then it's still very quiet.
The sound is quite good for a tiny ultrabook like this -of course, there isn't anything approaching "real bass," but otherwise it's far better than most notebooks I've owned.
And so on. In the end, it's a very competent notebook that's as small and light as you can get, with an excellent screen and good features such as the illluminated keyboard and the MicroSD slot. It also comes with a fine, minimal case, the external battery, and a Bluetooth mouse that just connects right up the first time you plug the batteries into it. There are more obvious things that might be dealbreakers for you, such as the battery life, the amount of disc space, and so on, but those are well-documented -I hope that I might have given you some good information about some of the less-obvious things.
Honest reviews on Acer Aspire S7-191-6447 11.6-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook (Silver)
My main criteria in the purchase of this product was weight. In that aspect, it shines! However, there are other issues one may want to consider. Is it because it was a refurb? I think not and am glad I didn't go the Full Monty price wise. But honestly and in reality, after reading all the reviews on line, I knew I was taking a bit of a chance on this model. Edit 05/25/13: I am uping my rating to 3 stars since I have now been able to get wireless and bluetooth working satisfactorily. Overall: I like this unit as long as it will continue to work
External build quality is good. However...
Both bluetooth and wireless failed after 3 days. Yes, yes, I know all about the driver issues, I know all about the power-saving issues. I did my homework before it even arrived, the proper steps were taken and it worked fine for 3 days and that was it. Nothing I could do could restore it-this is a hardware/driver issue pure and simple. Sent it in for repair at Acer Warranty, who just sent me an email saying their testing cannot confirm my issues so therefore, they are sending it back to me with nothing fixed.
Edit 05/25/13: They must have done something at Warranty repair because the unit did come back with the wireless working but the bluetooth was still inoperative and nothing had been done about it. So after much online research, I was able to fix it by doing a complete wipe and re-installing Windows 8 from the Recovery stick that I had created. My undoing originally, was installing the updated wireless and bluetooth drivers from the Acer support website when I first got the machine. I see as of this writing that they have a new wireless driver with last digits of .234. I think I had installed .217. Anyway, I've got everything working by rolling back the drivers to original OEM install and everything is working and I am leaving it at that.
The touch-pad is now OK by using the OEM installed driver with no update.
Keyboard is not great-but not horrible, just a little shallow. This unit is so thin that they didn't have many options. Most people can live with it including me.
Display is very good and I had no issues with the touchscreen which worked well. The resolution may be too high for some on an 11.6 display... scaling up to 125% makes it much better for older eyes.
Battery life is not great. But again, in this small unit running an i5 where are you going to put it? At least they sent along an external battery that should about double it. I got about 2:40 running the unit normally... surfing, listening to music and the display brightness where I like it during the daytime. The external battery will about double that.
Interesting arrangement on the internal SSD storage. It is designed as two SSD's on one card with a common controller in RAID0 mode from the factory. So you end up with a very fast striped 128 gig drive. You can disable the RAID set and have two slower 64 gig SSD drives. I did it and have Windows on one drive and Linux on the other which was a good way to dual boot if you don't mind data moving a bit slower on the non-RAID setup.
In order to do any of that, you must disable UEFI which is easily done regardless of what I have read in other reviews. Booting from flash drives, again, no issue as long as you are in legacy mode in the BIOS. I also found that if I use the Recovery stick to re-install Windows 8 onto the system with legacy BIOS enabled that I no longer have to deal with UEFI at all. Good if dual booting, but of course, no malware protection at boot up if that is a concern.
Last thought... Immediately make a 16 gig USB Recovery stick so that you can recover Windows 8 if necessary. Also, please note: Be careful if you intend to use Paragon Backup for partition/disk imagining. I cannot get the USB recovery tool to boot with the Acer BIOS so the disk images that I made with Paragon couldn't be used. For some reason the Acer BIOS sees the Paragon produced software on the USB as floppy media and will not boot it. Partition table is out of place or something like that. Anyway, Acronis backup works OK.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Acer Aspire S7-191-6447 11.6-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook (Silver)
This is the fastest laptop I've ever used. It looks amazing and it feels amazing. It runs the fans only when necessary meaning it's very quiet. It's incredibly light, and it feels sturdy.
The lid is 100% gorilla glass with an aluminium border. This scares me a little, and I'm wondering how long before I smash it.
I have installed Ubuntu Linux 13.04 on it and it works pretty much without issue the hardware works out of the box including wifi, bluetooth, touchscreen etc. I only booted into Windows 8 once to get into UEFI recovery mode before I wiped the thing. Windows 8 looked horrible blurry dialogs mixed among the crisp interface, icons which weren't properly aligned horrible. Who uses that? If you don't want to use Linux just buy a Mac, seriously.
If you want to install Ubuntu on yours, disable UEFI, disable RAID (You use the RAID support in Ubuntu). I used the network install from a USB stick takes 2-3 minutes for a full install.
There are no words for the ELAN touchpad and keyboard. They are complete crap. If you don't hit the keys bang on centre, they don't register writing this review is painful some keys I have to hit 3 times, I used to be a fast typist. The touchpad is over-sensitive and you can't get the pointer near smaller items what a joke. The touchscreen is great, however. I try to use an external keyboard and mouse when I can.
I did use the acer bluetooth mouse for a while but it randomly disconnects every 10 minutes or so, so I stopped using it.
I wish there were more USB ports, but I understand why there aren't.
Overall I'm happy, hence 4 stars, but acer need to cut that ELAN contract quickly before it kills them.
