I'm a college student who just needed laptop for basic, general use. That includes basic internet browsing (often with many tabs), opening multiple, large, textbook-sized PDFs, running large powerpoints that professors often use and running programs like Skype, usually all at the same time. I'm also a computer enthusiast; I'm accustomed to high performance parts.
And I chose this laptop.
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BASIC INFO
This is the first laptop I've owned. Right out of the box, WEI rates the memory, desktop graphics and hard drive at 5.9, "gaming" graphics are rated at 6.5 and the processor is rated at 6.7; thus the overall system rating is 5.9.
Like most laptops, this one also has bloatware. This was a nonissue for me since I did a clean installation of Windows 7.
Note that the processor actually comes clocked at 1.5 GHz and not 1.4 GHz as Amazon has stated in the specifications.
The laptop has 4GB of memory; there are two sticks of 2GB RAM. The model is Samsung M471B5773CHS-CH9. 512MB of memory is shared with the APU, leaving 3.47GB for the rest of the system.
The 1.3 MP camera works. Nothing much else to say about this.
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AESTHETICS
Its design is sleek and simple. Nothing gaudy and that's how I like it.
The laptop has a glossy screen which may present glare problems if you use it outdoors. There is no glare when used indoors unless you're in exceptionally bright lighting. The monitor's viewing angle is decent; people sitting next to you shouldn't have a problem viewing your screen. There's no indicator light for when the webcam is activated.
The spaced out keys make it slightly easier to type, but there has never been a laptop keyboard I truly ever liked. Sadly, there are no indicators for caps lock or num lock.
The status indicator LEDs (power, HDD activity, etc.) are not overly bright. Good.
The speakers aren't anything spectacular, but I wasn't expecting them to be great.
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PERFORMANCE AT STOCK SETTINGS, STOCK PARTS
Battery life is pathetic. It has six cells, but that is irrelevant as there is no industry standard for cell size. What matters is the rating in watt-hours; for this battery, it's rated at 48 watt-hours. That means it can provide 48 watts for one hour. This laptop uses 18-25 watts during normal use and up to 40-47 watts with more intensive loads, such as gaming. With that said, the battery will only last 2-3 hours at best. Don't expect to game for more than an hour on battery.
At idle and maximum brightness, the laptop draws 13.8-14.4 watts of power. At idle and minimum brightness, power draw falls to 10.3-10.9 watts. Based on those measurements, the battery will only last the advertised four hours if you leave the laptop idle.
I stressed it for one hour with Prime95; no errors or warnings occurred.
While stressing it with Prime95, power draw stays around 44-46 watts. CPU temperature went up to a maximum of 64°C (about 150°F) which is well within acceptable ranges, even for a mobile processor. Temperature was monitored using Core Temp. If those temperatures alarm you, keep in mind this was a stress test that runs the computer at 100% for the entire duration of the test; temperatures will not reach those numbers under normal usage.
The fan speeds up as temperature rises, but it isn't noisy. During the stress test, the bottom gets warm enough to be uncomfortable if it was in your lap; the left side of the keyboard surface also gets slightly warmer, but it is barely noticeable.
The hard drive is a 500GB 5400 RPM Toshiba MK5059GSXP. It isn't terribly slow, but slow enough to make me impatient. Perhaps I'm just spoiled by the SSD I have on my desktop. Not a con, but not a good thing either. Most users probably won't notice a difference.
As for gaming, Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 runs at 30-40 FPS on medium textures and no AA. However, the frame rate isn't very stable and would be a problem in multiplayer; dropping down to the lowest settings smoothes things out considerably. Skyrim runs at 28-35 frames with a mix of medium-high settings. The frame rate isn't high, but in this case it is very playable because it stays stable and smooth. Heat was not a problem while gaming; I played Skyrim for two hours and the temperature averaged 56°C and reached a maximum of 61°C.
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PERFORMANCE AFTER UPGRADES, OVERCLOCKING
I upgraded the memory to a set of 8GB (2x4GB) sticks from Corsair bought through Amazon; WEI memory rating went up to 7.3.
I plan on replacing the hard drive with a 128GB SSD, most likely a Crucial M4 or a Samsung 830. I'm just waiting for a good sale.
At stock, the A6 processor is clocked at 1.5 GHz @ 1.0125 volts. Using K10STAT 1.54, I have the processor overclocked to 2.1 GHz at the same voltage. I ran Prime95 for 24 hours without errors or warnings. Interestingly enough, I can also undervolt and overclock it at the same time to 2.0 GHz @ 0.9875 V.
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CONCLUSION
With Prime's free two day shipping and at $399.99 I paid, this is a great laptop. I'm quite happy with my purchase.
Because it is an APU, the CPU and GPU are closer to each other physically and logically, allowing it to perform much better than it otherwise would. I don't plan on gaming on this, but it's nice to know it performs decently well.
The battery life sucks, but I don't mind bringing the charger with me. Once classes resume in the fall, the only place I'll be using the laptop is in the labs or library between classes. I'm there for four-seven hours at a time anyway which pushes the limits of most batteries anyway.
I have been researching laptops for quite a few weeks before I decided to purchase this one. The goal for me was to find a laptop powerful enough for gaming for $500 or less. Yes, the options were very low, but then I found this beauty. I can play games like World of Warcraft and League of Legends at nearly the highest settings with no screen tearing, lag, etc. Everything runs surprisingly smooth. I've played WoW for a few hours in a row without the laptop overheating. I would also like to mention that this laptop is very quiet. It is not noisy at all.
Pros
-Powerful for the price
-No noise when on for hours even in games
-No overheating
-Keys are nice and quiet
-Sleek and attractive design
-Etc!
Cons
-Speakers are not the greatest, but not a huge enough flaw to worry about in my opinion
-Can't think of anything else!
So yes, I must give it a 5 out of 5! This laptop is worth every penny! If you are on a tight budget but desire a laptop for gaming, this is the laptop for you!
Buy Acer Aspire AS5560-7402 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Now
I bought this to replace my desktop which was getting old 6 or 7 years old now). With a budget of 56 hundred dollars. After lots of researching, I came across this as the best deal. Acer listed the price at $499, but when I cam to Amazon it was $429, compared to other sites which had it for over $500. It has been a week or so since I got this, and I'm impressed. It is my first laptop and I wasn't sure what to expect. It runs games and other programs smoothly, and the machine stays cool most of the time. I ran WoW at 30 FPS steady on all settings set at "Good" and I run League of Legends at 25-30 frames on "High" settings. For the price and a decent upgrade for an older computer, I recommend this.
Read Best Reviews of Acer Aspire AS5560-7402 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Here
My dad helped me purchase this Acer Aspire 5560-7402 laptop. We managed to get it at the price of 400 dollars and payed a little extra for the 2 day shipping. Amazon got the laptop here in perfect shape in less than 24 hours!
Be aware that there is a lot of "bloat-ware" installed from the beginning. I was rather vicarious and uninstalled a little too much in the beginning which caused some issues with the wireless. I ended up having to do a complete system restore, and I was lucky that Acer had such an option. Essentially it was a big reset button. So I'm just saying be careful with what you uninstall in the programs menu.
Also, another thing that confused me a bit in the beginning was the mention of "Turbo CORE technology" which clocks the CPU up to 2.4Ghz. I thought that there would be a some software that would give the the option to "Turbo" or Overclock your CPU, but found no such thing. After some research, Turbo Core Technology essentially Overclocks for a few Milliseconds, only when it is needed most (during a stressful in-game match for example). I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes, but it sounds pretty cool. Just be aware that you really are purchasing a laptop with a 1.5Ghz quad-core CPU, not 2.4Ghz. (Only for fractions of a second).
The games I have played are all online: World of Tanks, Diablo 3, and Team Fortress 2. I keep them on a low to medium graphical setting, because I prefer a silky smooth frame rate. I have played for a couple hours straight while running Skype without any complaints from my new laptop.
:THE PROS:
Price.
Rock solid gaming performance.
The Laptop Microphone works surprisingly well. I do all of my gaming while on Skype, and haven't heard any complaints from my friends as far as background noise, humming noise, static, etc.
If I had to complain about some things, here they are :THE CONS:
The volume control is too sensitive for my liking. I prefer a "dial" type of volume adjustment, not the "Fn+arrow". Just one bar can make a huge difference in volume, especially with headphones.
The colors are not as vibrant as I would like them to be on my monitor. Perhaps I could adjust it more to my liking, but out of the box, I'm not blown away.
In short, this laptop is exactly what I needed.
It provides me with online gaming power at an awesome price.
Want Acer Aspire AS5560-7402 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?
PROs: The design is slick. Thin and very lightweight for a 15.6" laptop. Windows live ratings: processor: 6.7, gaming graphics: 6.7, meaning you can play most of the recent games in low/medium settings, use photoshop and illustrator with no problems. Few laptops in this price range have comparable or better graphics card. Super-fast boot and shut-down. Silent and cool, no overheating problem at all. No hardware problems in 1 month of use.
CONs: The price fluctuates madly, must check other comparable laptops and websites before making a purchase. Many bloatware, took me almost a day to uninstall all.
Highly recommended if you need a little more than a word processor and a web browser but not looking for a monster gaming laptop.
I have to say that this laptop is one hell of a deal.
