I made the purchase on the midnight of the 9th and the package got in the afternoon of the 12th! It took only 3 business days to arrive, although I only chose the super saver shipping method and it only promised to arrive in 7 business days.The packaging is good, everything is brand new-definitely not opened before. The body of the machine is also brand new, sleek, and solid, albeit its 15.6" size. It's not thick at all; maybe because I had been well prepared for it since I knew it weights about 5.7 lb.
Another important comment: about its cooling system. I think overall it exceeds my expectation. I have read comments complaining the fan's excessive noise and that cpu temp easily gets up to over 80 degree Celsius. Well, it's not the case I experience with this machine. It installs various software fast, and temp kept between 46 and 58 degree Celsius, mostly swayed around 50.
I bought it at the price of about $682. So far I'm quite satisfied. I owned a thinkpad which I thought would be much better than other cheaper brands in terms of finishes, but now I'm changing my opinions a bit.
POSITIVES
1. I bought this laptop specifically becuase I wanted the fastest CPU I could find to help me edit a book I'm working on. For a new computer (no refurb) this is currently the cheapest 64-bit i7 4-core processor laptop on the market and costs hundreds less than others I looked at: Dell, HP, Compaq, Gateway, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Asus, Lenovo (I will never buy another Lenojunko after capacitors blew in my last one), Fujitsu, IBM Thinkpad, Panasonic, etc. I didn't consider Mac. I think I paid about $649 last month directly through Amazon. With the 3-year warranty, it came to just over $800. If you can still get it this price, buy it asap. From everything I reviewed, this is a steal, as far as I'm concerned. I would give this laptop 9/10 stars.
2. My IT buddy warned me about buying an Acer for durability reasons, so I bought the "Canopy" three year extended warranty for about $143 through Amazon. Don't worry, it will pop up when you try to buy your laptop on Amazon. It covers drops, spills, electronic malfunctions, etc. Actually, Acer's 1-year warranty covers the first year and then the "Canopy" warranty kicks in for years 2 and 3. I called Canopy to verify everything before purchasing. So, at least for the next three years, I've got a screaming fast laptop under warranty. I just wish I could find a place to sell me a warranty for years 4 and 5. Does anybody know of one? If so, please send me a pm.
3. I like the sleek attention-grabbing style (you wouldn't think it was an Acer from a distance). It looks very modern, like one of the Korean or Japanese computers I've seen on college campuses and when traveling over seas. This is definitely a head turner. You've never seen a laptop like this. If you use in a public place don't be surprised when people are looking over your shoulder trying to figure out what brand it is. After they find out it's an ACER, though, they may lose interest.
4. The mouse pad is super responsive. Be sure to go into the control panel and adjust the eon mousepad settings (or whatever the proprietary mousepad software is called). It has an adjustable feature to prevent accidental palming of the mousepad while typing. I cranked that setting up as well as the sensitivity for finger scrolling and browsing. Also, it has a vertical scroll function on the far right of the pad that makes scrolling up and down pages very easy. It also comes factory set so that if you are surfing the web and want to go back one page you simply use *two* fingers, tap the mouse pad, and simultaneously move your fingers to the left. To go forward one page, you do the same thing but move your fingers to the right. If you don't like it, you can turn that setting off.
5. The extension chord is two or three feet longer than my Dell Dimension D520 chord.
6. One of the USB hubs is like a USB 2.5 or 3.0 or something (it's the blue one on the right side of the computer. I forget what it's called). It makes downloading and uploading to flash drives or external hard drives doubly fast. I always hook into that one rather than the other ones.
7. The extension chord pulls out of the laptop *very* easily, which is a plus in our house with kids flying around. . . nevertheless, this could be a negative if you don't notice that it pulled out and you run your battery down. I have my battery warning set to notify me when I reach like 20% of the battery capacity.
8. Screen resolution is incredible! Beats my Dell Dimension D520 by a long shot. Much better than our television (however, the only TV we have is an older RCA glass front analog type).
9. It has a full number pad on the right hand side, which comes in extra handy if you ever have to do any calculating, accounting or other work with numbers.
MY RESPONSE TO OTHER AMAZON CUSTOMER NEGATIVES THAT I'VE READ
I've read everything everyone else has said and, for the most part, the negatives are very minor, as follows:
1. Chiclet keys: When you get used to the chiclet keys (took me about a month), you'll be able to type faster than with a standard keyboard. Your fingers will fly unimpeded. It's hard to explain, but after the first month or so, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm wondering now if that's not why chiclet keyboards are actually used.(?) It's kind of like the difference between sprinting with cross-trainers, verses ultra-light spiked track shoes, if you understand what I'm saying.
2. Screen glare: This *may* be a problem if you're trying to watch a movie at an angle and there are bright lights in the room. So far, we've had no issues with this. However, we always turn the lights off when watching movies.
3. Fingerprints: You'll have the same issues on your eye glasses, clean plateglass window, clearcoat finish, glossy mahogany wood finish in your luxury yacht or car etc. (Not that I'll ever own one of those). OK, so you can see the fingerprints. . . that's the price of style, I suppose.
4. Offset keyboard: Ok, so the keys are offset to the left of center by an inch or so because you have a number pad on the right. My thoughts? Yes, it does take some getting used to, it took me like 2 minutes and it took my wife like 30 sec. After that, you never think of it again.
5. Fan noise: I honestly worried about this after reading the complaints before purchasing. My thoughts after owning it? If that little amount of noise is all you have to complain about. . . then you are definitely spoiled. I remember our first PC Junior. . .it sounded like a tornado. I can't believe this bothers people. If we lived in a perfect world, some people would still find things to complain about.
6. Battery life: I don't know what anyone is complaining about here. This thing has the longest battery life out of all 4 laptops I've ever owned. Again. . . maybe you're spoiled.(?) Maybe I don't know what I'm missing.(?)
7. Size: It's not like it's 10 lbs. and bulky. Come on. It is very thin, yet wide. I care less about size than functionality. As long as it is a performer, I'm happy. Also the extra wide screen is a plus when watching movies.
8. Shareware extras: Or, whatever you call all those extra programs that are already loaded on the desktop. Some of these are actually useful for us (Skype, etc.). For the rest? Just delete them. No biggy.
9. I read a complaint about the mousepad being less responsive than Dell. I don't know what you're talking about. Have you adjusted your settings to your specifications? If anything, it may be *too* responsive. In that case, readjust your settings down a little.
MY NEGATIVES (This is why I would give 9 instead of 10 stars).
1. The speakers aren't as loud as I would like (are they for any laptop?) Can ACER speakers be upgraded to make them louder? If anyone knows, could you send me a pm?
2. The speaker cover, which runs the width of the laptop just above the keyboard, is a mesh screen that can collect debris. My solution? Blow it out with a can of compressed air once a month is the only thing I know to do. Unless you want to cover the holes with some transparent tape, which would be awkward.
3. I like the rubber strap on the Dell laptop power cord as opposed to the velcro strap on the Acer cord. "Acer, go to the rubber strap!"
4. The ACER brand isn't especially associated with durability, from what my IT buddy tells me. I will definitely keep you updated if anything EVER goes wrong with this machine.
5. It didn't come with a full version of MS Office (it has some type of cheesy mini-version; something like, MS Office Light). You either have to buy MS Office or download some freeware like OpenOffice from CNET.
6. This computer comes with no digitally-generated free standing hologram images, mind activated functionality, or flux capacitor for time travel. I guess I can deal with that for now.
Buy Acer AS5755-9401 15.6-Inch Laptop (Glossy Black) Now
I am just blown away by the power and performance of this product!This is a replacement for my wife's laptop. I grew tired of hearing 'Ah come on!!"
I'd have to tell her "Honey step away from the computer til it's done updating!" LOL! I checked the rankings of performance by processor and hers was bench marked ranked 463rd at the time of purchase. This one is ranked 19th!
(!Just checked, and they have released some new processors and this one has dropped to 52nd. Understandable The number one ranked will never stay there long.)
This unit is sleek, quiet and runs surprisingly cool. Has built in WiDi for streaming HD content to your HDTV.
The sound quality is very good and the screen size and quality is very nice.
Number the pad is a big plus
Now she is happy!
Read Best Reviews of Acer AS5755-9401 15.6-Inch Laptop (Glossy Black) Here
first time i got this, the space bar key wasn't quite working right so i promptly returned it(amazon was very good about it-no hassles) and got it ordered again. i was sure i wanted to order this laptop again as soon as i turned it on.windows 7, i7 is new to me and it felt like such an update from my older system.
it has a larger keyboard with number keys like a regular home pc keyboard which is convenient.
the one negative with the layout of the keys though is that the volume adjustment requires the use of 2 buttonsthat is really a pain. i mean if you turn something on and it suddenly blasts into a loud volume, you better have both your hands free to turn it down or mute. i think that that's probably the most significant thing they got wrong.
so far, i've had no issues with it (i've had it for about a month). i really like the smooth keys, that it comes with USB 3.0 port, WiDi, complete photoshop elements. it's got a lot of likable features.
all in all, a very good buy.
also, i forgot to add, another feature i like of it is the inbuilt post-it.. i love post-its for pcs and this one had a program with it.. love it.
UPDATE:
I have now had this pc for 9 months. 3 days ago, when i was trying to turn it on, it started making a loud beeping noise. After recovery, it turned on but not all the way so i had to manually shut it and turn it on again. Same thing happened with the loud beeping noise all over again. After a couple of times, it finally turned on but there was some problem still like i couldn't scroll pages in any web browser and on clicking an icon, another one opened. Not sure what the problem was so i turned it off.
This afternoon, i tried again and it turned on normal but very slow but the thing with the browsing and wrong program opening still happened.
i have no idea what is wrong with it. I have yet to take it to someone to get it analysed and fixed, however, i did a quick check online and it seems that i'm not the only one having this problem. i saw a few other posts talking about the loud beeping.
I am disappointed that the laptop got problems so soon. I was mostly travelling with my work laptop last year and have 'lightly to medium' used this one. Certainly not an everyday heavy used case. It is just bad that it malfunctioned so easily.
I originally gave this 5 stars but with its performance over time, i have to downgrade it to 1 star.
Want Acer AS5755-9401 15.6-Inch Laptop (Glossy Black) Discount?
I bought this for my wife and she loves it. This is a great computer for a reasonable price. Everything works great and I would buy another one for my self but it they don't have any available right now. Crossing my fingers and hoping they will have more soon.
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