This is my first personal laptop and so far it has been a great purchase. I am a gamer that also does a lot of professional audio/video recording and editing and this laptop has been able to handle everything so far without any big problems. I am still looking for a usb interface for my audio inputs and outputs (Im used to a pci card interface for my board), but thats a whole nother beast. I am able to get 48-60 fps when playing 3d games and the wireless adapter has very little latency (around 200ms, which is ok in my experience compared to other wireless setups I have used). The range of the adapter is impressive, I can get a signal much further than my wife's toshiba. Battery life is a little over 3 hours in my experience when using the web and much less when playing games. Screen size is excellent and is true 16:9 aspect ratio, which suits my hd editing perfectly. picture quality is also very good. I have watched many dvd's while staying in hotels on this unit. In my 2+ months of owning it I have had only one problem that seems to have gone away. Initially, the video driver was hanging up, causing my screen to blank out for a few seconds during 3d gameplay, but windows was able to recover quickly every time and resume play without losing anything. This has not happened in the past few weeks. Windows reported it as a driver failure and I think the driver has been updated to fix the problem. I paid a little less than the stated price of $498 at walmart for this computer and could not be happier. Goodbye desktop! My mother was impressed with the machine and bought one soon after I did with the same results, very satisfied. One word of advice in closing, make sure the unit has enough space for proper airflow during 3d acceleration, it gets warm when 3d is used due to the video being on chip.
Picked this up at Walmart for $398 the price tag on it was $498 it must have been a roll back or something. I really didn't need a computer at all however for $398 I just couldn't turn it down. I prefer macs but I have picked up a couple HP's for the same price as this with 4gb of ram,but a 15.6'' screen at a black friday sale.I mean with kids and school work and that rare occasion were you need a PC I refuse to pay over $500 bucks for a PC. No Way!!! I've burned through to many PC's to justify spending more.were as I still have the same mac running strong not one problem also fast and reliable.I also don't want to put windows on my mac forget that noise.
If your looking for speed then don't buy this PC.I use it for Internet,pictures,word processing,and ripping music.Lets face it. This is not a work horse by any means however it works fine for my family's needs. The screen is a nice backlit LED, very bright and sharp. Very nice looking and the keys are flat which I like alot. Most impotantly it is pretty damn lightweight and slim for the size of it. The Cd/DvD drive opens better than any laptop I've owned and is also pretty responsive . The outer top finish is almost like a rubber/plastic and not a fingerprint magnet like my HP's are. I am constantly cleaning finger prints off those HP shiny black glossy outer back shell. The last thing I'd like to add is it is very sharp looking with a nice trackpad. Great buy!!! Walmart must have just recently marked these down so good luck. I have a feeling they will go fast!
Buy Acer Aspire AS7741-5731 17.3" 3GB 250GB Laptop Black Now
Ive used Acers for many years since i got my first gigantic tower back in 1997 with a tower and printer for over 2200$!! Big money back then. That computer was put through the fire, moving several times, and actually after getting a laptop i put it out in a room to set, and the side was exposed(open). Cat hair, dampness, dust, static, you name it, it got inside it. I brought it back in after about 4 months and said hey why not try it, boom it started right up after a little spray down, and i was shocked, over 7 years of use. Finally the power supply went bad, due to a bad recepticle i think. So i gutted it, through in some new stuff, sold it on ebay for 550$ in 2004 for another tower. The one after lasted till 2009, and i still know who has it, and uses it all the time. So that should tell you how reliable these things are. Now you will hear stories of how the Laptops run into more problems, depending on which one you get. But there are so many 1000's of these things made all the time your gonna run into issues, not matter WHAT kind you get. Also these aren't desktops which are made for more punishment.
This version i am using now, is the same but just with the P6100 Pentium dual-core, 4 gigs of RAM, and a 500gig hard drive which i got at staples for 499$, yes thats not a typo either. The price has went back up by now i'm sure. This thing is just stellar, i already own my 3rd Acer Desktop which i made into a killer gaming rig so i stick with what i know, and what lasts. The screen on this thing is absolutely amazing, no really it has to be THE brightest screen i've ever came across on any laptop. And i've tried many. Also on that note you get 1600x900 resolution on this baby for that price as well, beat that? I dare you to even try. The speakers are very loud and clear, with dolby surround which usually isn't so great, but in this case very good. Its not a speed demon like the I series, but as i said i already have a gaming rig for all the rest i need to do. Its no slouch though, most movies ranging from 700mb to 1.00gb average around 34 to 45 minutes for coversion which isn't bad at all. Using a program like DIVX to DVD runs like a charm and you have DVD ready VSO movies in no time.
The keys are very close to the body of the computer and very touch sensitive, which i like a lot, but it can make you more prone to mistakes if you type as fast as i do. Also the computer comes with 3mb of L3 cache, which also helps give it a boost in processing speed. So for the price your getting much more than you will with much more expensive brands. Especially for a 17.3 in screen. The web cam is great, none are out of this world, but it does what it does, and does it well. The laptop is very thin, even though its large and only weighs around 7.5lbs. So its very easy to tout around with you. The mouse pad is the only thing that can be a little figity at times, but just use it with extra caution, especially when typing. It doesnt run hot in the least, highest temperature i've seen on it using speed fan is around 45C. Even under heavy work load. Wireless is great and pics up a great signal no matter where you are with the new Acer Nplify boost.
There is a walmart version of this computer and its ok if you don't want a lot of space and a little decrease in performance, only 3 gigs which isn't bad, and only a 250gig HD which is not so good. So check out Staples and see if they still sell these at this price, it may not last long. The scores for Windows are as follows btw. Also this version review on here with the 3 gigs, and the older 1.86ghz, i would steer clear off unless you just wanna browse, if so its fine, plus the screen doesnt look nearly as good. I have a friend with one. So here are the Windows specs.
Calculations per second....5.7
Memory Operations per second.....5.9
Desktop for Windows Aero....4.6
3D gaming and Graphics....5.1(not bad for intel HD graphics), usually its down in the 3's
Data transfer rate-5.8
So for what it is you can't beat it, i've seen Sony Vaios that don't even rate that high for 699 or more. So get one of these(the staples or walmart brand that is) with the P6100, you'll be glad for the extra performance. I know i am, love it.
Read Best Reviews of Acer Aspire AS7741-5731 17.3" 3GB 250GB Laptop Black Here
The screen is big and bright and is a nice looking unit. Basically I like just about everything about this thing except it is damn slow most the time. Everything is updated, virus free but it has been slow right out of the box with all the updates. I wouldnt buy another one.
Want Acer Aspire AS7741-5731 17.3" 3GB 250GB Laptop Black Discount?
Had this laptop for two weeks, bought it from walmart. After the two weeks the only program I put on it was bitdefender antivirus and system mechanic, shortly after it crashed. Rebooted everything and removed all the non oem clutter, which is mostly useless stuff anyway. The ram seemed to cut in half by itself and the hard drive cut its speed in half. Needless to say I got rid of windows because aero is too over bearing on this thing, and installed ubuntu 11.4, still having the lag from the hdd but the ram is back to normal. I would not recommend this to anyone, do not buy! I went to acer's website and you have to see if your eligible for free tech advice, otherwise you have to pay the site for the questions because their product absolutely blows. DO NOT BUY!!!!!!!!!!!
I exchanged my Lenovo z585 for this awesome laptop! I didn't get it from Amazon but the store I bought it from doesn't give you the option to leave a review. My Lenovo was an AMD A10 with much more ram but this Asus is so much faster! I even downloaded MapleStory just to see how long it would take to download, install, load and play and it actually downloaded pretty quick. Of course installing takes quite awhile but still faster than Lenovo. When I tried to install on the Lenovo, it kept failing midway. Loading took a couple of minutes, where the Lenovo took over 20 minutes. Also, the game plays much better on the Asus. The Lenovo was constantly lagging! The A10 is supposed to be the equivalent of I7 but it runs worse than I3. So if you're going to get a laptop, get this one! Asus is known for a really good and reliable motherboard. The failure statistics are much lower than almost every other company. Lenovo is right there with HP and Dell. I haven't had mine long but have used it constantly since I got it and I have not had any issues with it. Also, ASUS gives you 1 year accidental warranty.
