Acer Aspire S7-391-6810 13.3-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook

Hi let me say this is the first time I'm writing a review of any type on Amazon or anywhere else. So I'm particularly proud that my review is mostly positive.

So the positives:-

(1) Light and its the most practically slim PC you can get while retaining as many of the necessary characteristics one needs to be productive; its has (2) fast USB3 ports, neatly located in the upper right side of the laptop.

(2) The design is very cool and attractive and I've been getting inquires from friend like ooowwee cool MacBook LOL; its not but looks just as good as any well designed piece of tech worthy of Apple engineering.

(3) The complementary accessories that comes with the Ultrabook such as the wireless Bluetooth mouse and neat carrying case was a nice touch as well and very unexpected; maybe I didn't read the product packaging before I bought it but I didn't expect it so it was a nice gesture.

(4) Loaded with a few good Acer approved apps for win8, such as their music and file storage options nothing I going to immediately take up but its free, so thanks.

(5) Overall system performance well in a word excellent; I can't find a single thing wrong from boot to windows shut down or sleep mode. Truth is I'm now getting to understand win8 allot has changed so its impacting my productivity a little but that nothing to do with the system and all to do with me.

But like everything else they are some caveats so the Cons :-

(1) The location of the power button is poorly conceived since its along the left side and near power cord I keep hitting the power button by accident NOT-GOOD it happens to often.

(2) The idea of a touchscreen laptop seens sexy but its not... I keep having to clean the darn thing and windows 8 isn't ready for primetime as yet but that not Acer's fault.

So my over all rating for this sweet piece of tech is 8.5

Just bought a unit from a local store. I agree with another review...the touch screen is a great match with Win8. However, I have noticed two issues. The keyboard seems to be quite sensitive. When I type normally like I would on my old laptop, I've noticed that some keystrokes were registered more than once, and hence, causing certain letters to repeat. As a result, I have to use backspace often to correct typing errors. Alternativelyy, I could let computer do auto correct butt auto-correct isn't always accurate. Notice the previous sentence has the extra "y" and extra "t" from repeated letters and they were not auto-corrected.

Also, the touchpad seems to be loose. Even with very light tapping with finger tip, the touch pad makes some clacky noises as if it may come off. I don't know if the touchpad is normal. But, I am going to stores to try out demo units to see if those touchpads have the same issue.

-----------Update

Checked with the store, clacky/loose touchpad isn't normal. But it was easily fixed by tighten two screws (on the bottom side) underneath the touchpad.

"Repeating letters" issue while typing is not as severe if I place the unit firmly on a table. Since it's an ultrabook, many will do typing in a less-than-optimal position. Based on my research, the sensitivity of the keyboard may be optimized for soft/touch typist due to its shallow key travel.

Battery life is about 4 hours on normal & mixed use. Although I'd wish it's longer, I can live with it since it's such a thin laptop.

----------Update

Put the unit to sleep by closing the lid when battery indicator was at 20%. 8 hours later. It was at 18%. So, 8-hour sleep drained 2% of power. Don't know if that's good or bad...but my first impression is that it's not as good as advertised. 6% power consumption within 24 hours means it can only stand by for 17 days (assuming linear power consumption).

Besides the clacky touchpad, which is easily fixed, the whole unit has superb fit & finish. Edges are very sharp, especially around the screen. It gives an impression that one may cut oneself easily. I've forced my fingertips and palms thru all edges without any cuts. I can't say the same for other body parts though...try at your own risk.

High resolution screen is GREAT. However, it's a double-edged sword. All clickable menu, buttons, links become so small that it is difficuult to click them using fingertips. This is particularly worse around the corners. e.g. I couuld eaislyy close the window instead of resizing it at upper right corner.

--------Update

I am still finding my ways around Win8. But I can confidently say that if you don't want or don't care about Win8, you should save yourself $200 and look for other excellent ultrabooks that have no touch screens. In addition, a large, responsive, and accurate multi-gesture touchpad can be just as effective for Win8 (i.e. about 80%-90%). So, a touch screen is really just a nice-to-have for Win8 but not a necessity. This unit's touchpad is quite good...so I find myself using the touch screen less and less for productivity work. However, I use the touch screen almost exclusively for leisure browsing of web sites where typing is not really needed.

After a few days of using it, I can confidently say that one should realistically expect the battery life to be no more than 4 hours. If you tweak the power saving configurations, you may squeeze another hour or two out of it.

--------Update

Noticed that wifi isn't reliable (i.e. disconnected) whenever I am at busy or low quality hotspots. I have not experienced this with my 2-year old Sony laptop. I suspect this may have to do with the power management configuration/setting.

After using the unit extensively for about one week, I'd say the sensitive/touchy keyboard is the only remaining annoyance for me. I also wish it has longer battery life but it's a conscious trade-off for such a thin ultrabook. Overall, it's a very gorgeous ultrabook with beautiful glass top that you can even serve sushi and sashimi on it.

-------------Update

The intermittent wifi disconnects (while on battery) can be fixed or minimized by changing the property in advanced power management for 'wifi adaptor'. Change it from max battery to max performance.

I am starting to warm up to the Win8 Metro/Modern UI. Certain activities are just more efficient if you simply lift your arm/finger to point & click on a touch screen ... instead of (a) lift your arm/finger onto touchpad, (b) move the mouse cursor to the desired button/link, and (c) click or tap the touchpad.

Win8 definitely requires you to "mix & match" how you use tablet/phone and how you use a traditional PC/laptop. It just takes time to warm up to it.

Of course, you need to have a touch screen to take full advantage of Win8 Metro/Modern UI. However, a touch screen isn't a must for Win8 because you can also change Win8 back to the classic Windows interface.

Buy Acer Aspire S7-391-6810 13.3-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook Now

Hello there,

I received this ultrabook as a gift and now I'm giving you my first impressions as a review. I'm writing this review using my Acer S7-391-6810 to be exact :)

I have to say I'm impressed with the performance of this little computer and found the following on the positive side:

Gorgeous... ohh boy it is good looking.

Very thin

Solid, you can handle the ultrabook while walking or standing using one hand on one of the lower corner of the keyboard while typing with the other hand.

The main body and the keyboard face is aluminium while the screen is an aluminium frame sandwiched between white glass (gorilla they say but i just can't tell)

The bottom of the UB is plastic though the whole package does justify the price range because it does feels premium.

Very good performance and i looove the touch screen.

Includes a very light plastic bluetooth mouse but i do like it.

Also includes the ethernet and vga dongles so the price you pay is almost all you need.

On the bad side, I respectfully disagree with reviewers saying the keyboard is rubbish. It is NOT and I'm saying this writing with mine... the keyboard while not as good as the one in my Macbook Pro, is good nevertheless, but I do agree with reviewers saying the touchpad is rubbish... well it is...it is so rubbish that before I found a feasible solution for mine, I was thinking Acer included a mouse for you to stay away from it.

The thing is though, I just can't tolerate the tapping function of none of the touch pads I've ever used in my life and this one is by no means an exception... I was about to throw away this UltraBook because of the pad but I gave it a second chance doing what I did with my Powerbook, Macbook, Macbook Pro old and new... I deactivated the tapping function with a little bit more tweak. Let's see what I did:

On the desktop mode or whatever the windows 7 like mode name is (I'm a mac user and while I do like Windows 8 I'm not familiar with the names yet :) ), look for the icons on the lower right corner. There's a touchpad icon, double click on it and a touchpad control panel appears.

Disable tapping

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