A little disappointed as I recently ordered and received from amazon this Acer AS5732Z-4867 and was satisfied that it was a good, basic laptop, at a budget price. However, I discovered today, that Acer was good enough to give me a nice, integrated webcam with this model, but NO microphone, only a microphone jack to connect an external mic. When shopping for laptops, I am in the habbit of searching the specs to see if one includes a webcam and not whether it comes with a built-in mic as well. A built-in mic would be on most laptops, I thought, especially if it comes with a webcam. Not so with this model. If you are going to use the webcam for Skype or Messenger or other communications, you will have to know sign language or the other party will have to lip read unless you are willing to buy the external mic to plug into the microphone jack.UPDATE: Purchased this mic Olympus ME-52 Noise Cancellation Microphone from amazon and use it with the included black windscreen cover via the mic jack (without the extension cord). It works very well, but would have preferred the built-in kind.
The laptop's physical design is good overall but the laptop's outside case material is not of the sturdiest plastic. Compared to my wife's Dell, the plastic feels a bit flimsy. I don't think this will be a big problem in the long run, but wish the case was a bit more rugged. On the plus side, it is a bit lighter than my wife's notebook. I thought that the numeric keypad would make the keyboard feel "squashed", but I've found that it feels no different than any other notebook keyboard.
Two lights at the left palm-rest indicate power-on and charging status. Above the keyboard are buttons with indicator lights for turning the touchpad and wireless functions on and off. The hard drive activity light is also in this area. Unfortunately there are no lights to indicate when the caps lock and number lock are on, which has been somewhat annoying, especially when dealing with passwords. Everything else is comparable to a standard laptop, with no outstanding additional features.
This laptop does not come with recovery disks or even a backup partition. I guess this is standard practice for many laptops sold today. A recovery disk can be obtained from the Acer website for a fee, but I was unable to order it since the site wouldn't recognize my laptop's serial number, even after registration. Some select drivers are available for direct download, but I feel a recovery disk should be included with any new laptop or at least provided for free upon request.
There is a lot of additional trial software loaded on this laptop, with annoying popups once in a while to register or purchase a software product. I haven't found a good use for any of the products yet, and will eventually have to consider uninstalling each item. I'm assuming the included trial software is helping to keep the price of this laptop reasonable, so I find it only mildly annoying to deal with it.
Other: Wireless was easy to set up and has been reliable with good range. The track pad and scroll feature are accurate and function well. The screen is bright and easy to read. I've added a Microsoft wireless mobile mouse, which works well and makes a perfect companion to any laptop. There are only 2 USB ports, both are in use by the wireless mouse adapter and a Bluetooth adapter. I would have liked to have 1 or 2 extra USB ports available.
Despite the few minor annoyances, I am very happy with the overall performance of this laptop. I would recommend this computer to anyone looking for a good-performing budget notebook. Updated Feb 17, 2013: I see this notebook is still available for purchase. I've had no problems with mine since purchase about 3 years ago now. It gets a lot of use daily, so it doesn't get pampered in any way. Wireless performs flawlessly, bootup times are like when new, applications load quickly, internet browsing works perfectly. I've traveled with it a few times, but mostly use it at home. This notebook has held up very well both in physical appearance and performance. Extremely happy with this system!
Buy Acer AS5732Z-4867 15.6-Inch HD Display Laptop (Black) Now
Update: I actually purchased another one, still an eMachines but this time even closer to this model's specs (same CPU and RAM, vs AMD and 2GB RAM). Read my update in this review's "comments" section.I'd like to respond to Linda's complaint/review. I do agree that the mfr should be more up-front in disclosing lack of internal mic, however please let me provide a different point of view... for the benefits of other readers, at the least. I actually think a built-in webcam and no mic is the 'best of both worlds'. I know, that seems strange, but here's why.
A built-in webcam is creepy enough, but you can easily cover it with a piece of tape. We've seen in recent news that people can and DO hack into webcams and mics of people online--even (illegally so) a school providing loaner laptops to students, spying on them in their bedrooms.
You can't turn an internal mic off (no mfr provides a hard switch). You can disable it in the OS, but it's inconvenient, and you have to trust the OS and apps that nothing's switching it back on. Plus (and maybe most importantly, if not realistically), internal mics usually SUCK. Even if it's good, it's generally too far away and too close to the speakers when integrated. So what you usually get, is a built-in mic which stays on all the time, with the creepy security risk (and Google saying someday it will eavesdrop on your mic and if it hears a dog barking in the background, will spam you with dog food ads, for instance)... and you end up using an external mic anyway. Maybe you've had good luck with integrated microphones? I know I haven't. Nothing beats a headset, or something close to your mouth.... especially if you're using the laptop's speakers to hear your party.
A few years ago I had the opposite experience. I bought a laptop with no webcam, and it had an internal mic which wasn't documented. I'd had it about a year when I installed a recording program, and noticed it was picking up noises when I was just trying out the program (with no input). The quality was so low it wasn't useful, and the fact I had a useless mic which was only a security and creepiness liability made it an albatross. I wished they made laptops WITH webcams, but NO integrated mics, but I didn't think anyone would do that. Then I bought this laptop (not this actual model, but similar) and was so happy--but surprised--that there was no internal mic. Really. YMMV.
Let me make a comment on my laptop. I have an emachines version which is identical but mine has a lower-power AMD CPU with a lower-capacity hard drive. Chassis and hardware should be identical. I was astounded at the quality of my webcam. It does appear to be only QVGA (quarter VGA), but the quality is better than the VGA cams I've seen. And because it's QVGA, it updates a 4x faster on the user's end (seems smoother, more motion-y). Best of all, it really is "optimized for low-light" like it says on the computer. If you have a white background on your screen, the light from the screen is enough for the webcam to pick you up fine in an UNLIT room (too bad Skype has a black background; I can't seem to change it). (And it works fine in well-lit rooms too; no 'overexposure'.) One low-powered light on in the room is good enough for this webcam (exceedingly rare to find on an integrated cam IMO). Which is really nice for those late-night conversations, which is really when you want to use a webcam, right? I can tell you firsthand it's substantially better than a late-gen iMac webcam which didn't do well in existing artificial light.
Over the internet, I let a friend a choose between my integrated webcam and a well-respected USB VGA webcam I'd previously bought. I didn't say which was which, nor give techincal details, just: "which do you prefer?". My party chose my integrated webcam, to my surprise (and delight). Almost all integrated webcams are crappy, and I've never heard of one which is actually excellent. Plus, it is aimed right at me, taking into account proper screen angle. It's as if someone knew what they were doing when they designed it!
Personally, I use a little over-the-ear mic which came with that previous webcam I mentioned (now made obsolete by the excellent internal cam). These are really cheap to buy on the net. You can also get little "stalk" right-angle connector mics which are made for notebooks as you just plug it into the jack and angle it at you. But something close to your mouth is best. meritline, dealextreme, pcmicrostore, amazon of course and many others sell cheap mics of wildly varying style and quality. You can leave the stalk type ones connected--the smaller the stalk, obviously the easier it is to leave connected but the father away it'll be from you. Other options would be a USB 'speakerphone', also pretty handy, but that's more wires, or an adapter (which you can get on Amazon) which allows you to use your 2.5mm connector cordless phone headset in your computer.
With this laptop, ALL the connectors are in the right place. Very rare. The sound, power, and network ports are all on the left--where God intended them to be :) . You don't have a power cable running out one side of you and a network cable out the other. Everything comes in at the left (yes!). There is nothing on the back, and nothing on the right to interfere with your mouse hand except for the optical drive, which again is also in the correct place for you to replace disks.
In the front, you have the card reader--which is a good card reader. It's BOOTABLE, and faster than a USB card reader I have. Yeah it's a little difficult to get to, and the action is very positive (you have to push pretty hard on the card to get it to pop back out), but I see that as a good thing, as the card is flush and is not going to pop out accidentally pushing up against you.
Honstly, I wish I had this model (I think it's a new model). What I'd really like to know is how often the fan turns on when idling in this model? Mine is really quiet. Fan doesn't run much, and is quiet when it does. My 160GB drive is the quietest drive I think I've ever heard, and I hope this 250GB is too, as it's only 5600rpm. A lot of the 250GB drives are 7200rpm, which are quite noisier, and not worth the speed tradeoff for me (I use a 7200rpm in my work laptop daily, so I know). I only have 2GB RAM and most for users running Windows 7 (Windows 6.1 technically), that's enough. However, if you open tons of web tabs, it is possible to max out in Windows 64-bit (I was surprised). 3GB or 4 would be enough for me but I'm a power user. This has 3, or 50% more than my 2GB. (The RAM inside may also be DDR3, which if true would be contrary to some spec lists.)
Likewise, I could use the more powerful T4400 processor in this model, I just don't know if it creates extra heat. The mobile Intels are very efficient. I have an AMD but one of the newer low-powered variants... but gutless compared to this. However, my fan is usually off in idle, only coming on a couple seconds every once in awhile after it's been on for awhile. I'd want to keep that--and want to know if this T4400 is cool enough it behaves similarly. Max heat of a T4400 is in the thirties of watts; my AMD creates 15 watts max, but max heat rating is not a good indication of idle usage. Anecdotal stories are much more useful.
Having used my laptop enough now, I like it so much (everything being in the right place, etc) that I'd pay extra for what I have now with more ram and a better processor--if that did not mean more noise. I've seen a lot of crappy laptops in my day (crappy=bad heat management/noisy, bad keyboards, and ports/connectors in illogical places). So I'm soliciting any feedback?
There's no perfect laptop, but I think the fact that this one's 'thicker' than most laptops these days yields hidden benefits that outway lack of thinness (and the lappy is pretty lightweight when you take the battery out, if you use w/a cord like I do). I have some issues with the keyboard, and yes there are only 2 USB ports (macbook only gives you 1?). But the intangibles are high here, including the very nice glossy screen, almost equivalent with HP/Compaq.
The keys are almost 'stealth chiclet', or 'hybrid'. They have good travel (unlike chiclet), and are larger (unlike chiclet), but have no bevel (like chiclet), and only an imperceptible curve (essentially flat), which makes it surprisingly hard for your fingers to find the keys in the dark (and keyboard is unlit). That said, they're nice and big and feel good due to good travel. Key location is above average, not perfect. They missed an opportunity to put page-up/page-down where they put those half-sized arrow keys. Why just leave that part of the keyboard as a blank hole, and make a button half-size, when you could either put a full-sized key there or put another half-size key above it? Again, nothing's perfect. I'm not a fan of numberpads, so I sacrificed the keypad and assigned a slew of non-character keys to it using a freeware app called KeyTweak. Now a pretty happy camper.
If you go through Windows 7 power management in Control Panel and get aggressive on the 'power saver' profile (including aggressive screen dimming), as well as turn off the stupid Aero interface and other animations/effects, you can squeeze about 50% more battery time out. Disabling wireless helps, if you can, and also frees up about 50MB of memory.
I love the laptop overall, and friends who see it are envious. Thinner is not necessarily better. Read reviews of the newer thinner Acer models and you'll see reviews are not as good. Most common complaints about this chassis form factor is only 2 USB ports, the silly layout of the number pad, the flat keys, and an occasional "slow Wi-Fi" problem I've seen in reviews which appears to be hardware-related (mine is fine and quite fast, actually). So if you get one, test out your wi-fi speed within the exchange period.
Read Best Reviews of Acer AS5732Z-4867 15.6-Inch HD Display Laptop (Black) Here
This is a good basic computer, and I purchased it specifically because it came with a webcam. Who now days would get a webcam on their computer without a microphone?? It doesnt make sense. I see that another person wrote a review with another point of view, but clearly thats not why people usually buy computers, and I'm sure Acer wanted to save $$ so it omitted the Microphone. Whats even more ridiculous is on the computer itself where the camera is on the top of the monitor, there is a call out saying "WEBCAM OPTIMIZED FOR LOW LIGHT VIDEO CHATTING" Chatting is the key word here, you cant chat with someone when there is no microphone. (Unless you can read their lips) besides the no Microphone issue, this is a good computer for the price, very light and portable. I purchased a Olympus ME-12 Noise Canceling Microphone from Amazon which works great with the laptop but would have much rather had it as a part of the computer than having this mic stick out as an added accessory.Want Acer AS5732Z-4867 15.6-Inch HD Display Laptop (Black) Discount?
I was a little skeptic about this... the name "Acer", wasn't a familiar name to me. I've always had the "OTHER" type. I have to tell you that, I really love this product. I use it everyday, all day.I would recommend this to everyone.
You won't be sorry!
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