I'm an IT professional and VERY picky when it comes to my laptop. I read the reviews on this and was mixed between the good and bad on here, so I decided to visit a Microsoft Store and check it out on my own. I immediately was amazed how thin and light this was just like a MacBook Air (which I used and had before). I compared this to the Samsung series 9 laptop and although yes I wish it had a non-glossy screen it still beats it in price tag and performance.
Pros:
-Laptop does not show any traces of fingerprints (which annoyed me with other laptops)
-Screen is very crisp and clear. Yes, its glossy but its a "comfortable glossy" like the macbook air
-Keys are very responsive and comfortable. You do have to press a bit more but I easily got used to it.
-The touchpad is the best I've ever used on any Windows laptop. Very smooth and responsive like a macbook.
-Great performance as it has the i5 processor
-Super fast bootup and screen on/off time
-Simple and basic in terms of ports (2) USB and HDMI which are positioned perfectly in the back. I see no need for laptops to have tons of ports on the sides and back adding bulk to it.
-For this price its a steal compared to what other manufacturers are charging.
Cons:
-The up/down/left/right keys are tiny, but eventually you get used to it
-Battery life is not as long as MacBook Air but its still descent for an ultrabook.
-Yes, its true that the click button below the touchpad you have to press very hard (mostly for a right click), however if you go into mouse settings and just enable "single tap" and set up "double tap" as a pop up menu, you will have no need to press down on pad at all. This has such amazing trackpad drivers that I can glide through pages and screens with no effort.
Overall, don't let the Acer name or price fool you, this laptop is a gem and best design, performance and feel I have ever seen outside of Apple. I bought mine from a Microsoft Store which has the Microsoft Signature service (basically they re-load the OS with no bloatware). If your in the market for a Windows 7 thin, fast and on the go laptop, this is the one for you!
I had this ultrabook for a week now and I can say it's amazing so far. It's thin, light, fast and comfortable. It looks good, it's quiet and cool (I mean temperature). Before I bought this I read all the reviews available online. I completely understand the reviewers have to criticize something but for me this computer works perfectly well. For example, many people say that the keys are too short. In my opinion the keys are comfy. The screen is not the best, but it's very good. This is not a gamer computer; it's for the ones that need to carry it from one place to the other. Taking into account its size and weight, I couldn't expect more from this machine. I come from a ThinkPad that is a heavy duty. I can see this computer is not as strong as the ThinkPad, but it's on a different league if you take into account the price you pay for one of the smallest computers available.
The Core i5 it's powerful enough for the tasks I perform (Web, Excel, Word, some Photoshop). The SSD for "instant on" works as magic. You open the computer and its right there asking for your password (if you setup one). Battery life seems to be good although I can imagine it will suffer in the long term as I'm not able to remove the battery when it's plugged in. On normal use (internet, mail, and few YouTube videos) you get between 4 and 5 hours. I haven't tried playing a movie yet, but I guess you'll get enough power to watch it all the way.
Buy Acer Aspire S3-951-6646 13.3-Inch Ultrabook Now
I bought the laptop for $799 on Amazon.com around Jan 2012. After it arrived, it worked OKAY. The track pad was not nearly as responsive as in a larger laptop, or in a MacBook Air, but no big deal. I can adjust to that, and I did. But there were significantly worse problems.
First problem Defective Wireless Card. (See also, e.g., the 2-star review by "The Inveterate Scofflaw 'J'"). On random occasions, perhaps once every one to three hours of use time, the wireless adapter just goes out. *POOF* No, it is not that I went out of network range, etc. Rather, the computer acts as if I had manually disabled the wireless, and there is nothing that can be done to bring it back. Rebooting will work, and I realized later that putting the computer to sleep, which takes much less time, will also cure the nuisance. So I have had to do that, usually once every several hours, randomly, whenever the wireless card craps out on me. This was not a big deal, as it usually takes no more than 10-15 seconds total to put the computer to sleep and wake it up. The quick sleep-awake response, to be fair, is a nice aspect of this computer.
Second problem Defective Hard Drive. (See also, e.g., the 1-star review by "frank"). About one month after getting this computer, I was using it on the train when all of the sudden I got a blue screen. Upon reboot, I keep getting an error message and windows will not boot. I google the error message, and learned that it was indicative of hard drive failure, and that other people whose laptops sustained a physical impact have had that message. My computer never fell. As a result of this, I shipped the computer in to Acer, and they ended up replacing the hard drive (just as I figured). So all my data was lost. Not a big deal, I only had it for a month, but still, but be warned!
My computer arrives in two weeks or so, and the invoice says that a new hard drive was installed. So far so good, but one day later, the computer starts doing clicking sounds randomly, and then I get a blue screen. Upon reboot, the clicking sounds (which are annoying an scary, think about fingernails on chalkboard) continue and I get an error message about have no boot drive.
Conclusion: This computer was a bad decision, and the problems discussed herein are likely a product of Acer trying to use sub-par technology in an ultra-thin laptop. MacBook Air laptops, for example, all have solid state drives -no disk drives. I think having an actual disk drive in such a thin computer is asking for trouble. Similar issues may have been with the poor contact between the wireless card and the mainboard.
At any rate, I am happy that Amazon.com has a very easy return policy for defective computers.
Read Best Reviews of Acer Aspire S3-951-6646 13.3-Inch Ultrabook Here
So, I won this thing on the Acer A Day Give Away. (So I might be a little biased, cause they just gave me a free computer.)
I was sort of in the market for a new laptop, and I really was not looking for a ultrabook. I'm more of a big clunky machine with a big screen and all the bells and whistles type of guy.
Imagine my surprise when I got this thing and have found that I really, really like it. I don't have an issue with the noise, nor do I mind the lack of CD drive. I think the start up time is fast, and the laptop overall is a great little machine. It feels really sturdy to me, despite the light weight. I really like that it does not get hot... like, at all. I had it running on battery power for nearly 4 hours the other day, shut it off, and felt the underside. It was tepid.
I read reviews before I got the laptop that the keys were an issue. Some people complained about the keys not having the right amount of heft, which caused them to miss keys, or were unable to hit the arrow keys. Again, I like big things. Big keyboards included. That said. I don't have an issue, at all with the keyboard. I've not had any problems with the arrow keys. In fact, my only issue so far is that there are no dedicated function keys. There are function keys, but they're not dedicated (That is I'd like to have a volume control, playback controls for video, etc.)
I'm a big fan of the multitouch trackpad. I love that I can use gestures to make stuff happen. Took me a while to figure out how to use them correctly, but now that I have, I'm enjoying it. My only complaint is that you cannot create your own gestures, and can only use a predefined list of finger motions to trigger a predefined list of actions -at least, using the stock software (I do not know of alternate software at the moment).
Beyond that, it came with a lot of bloatware. Easily fixed, but a minor annoyance.
___________________
Edit: Exactly one year to the day after I received this thing, the trackpad stopped functioning properly and I cannot penetrate ACER's paywall to their warranty support. Absolutely no one has helped me with this. They're being very, very unhelpful and that has completely changed my opinion of this product.
I would not buy this computer again, nor would I have any future business dealings with ACER because of their (obviously) well timed product failures, and refusal to help their customers.
Want Acer Aspire S3-951-6646 13.3-Inch Ultrabook Discount?
I usually do not write reviews, but felt what I read was not correct. This computer is great. The keyboard which some have said is bad is not the case. I had an Apple laptop and found it similar. The screen is great and I've got Slingbox which is TV internet and it looks great. The small buttons on the right get real!! no big deal. This things starts up before i blink!! The speed and connection are great!! I did a lot of research before buying and when I clicked send in the buying cart, I initiallly had remorse as I was wishing that I was being too cheap and a few hundred would have made my life complete. When i got the computer. What a great surprise. The top is great. As for plastic, it does not feel cheap, but smart in cost. Also, my Mac was hot on the bottom, this computer is cool on bottom. Not sure why but it is. The layout is great. The hinge is fine, no problem that I see that some reported. Love the keyboard, which the experts said was lacking. Still not sure what they are talking about. I can buy almost two of these computers for what the others are charging. No Brainer!! Buy it!! P.S. They came out with a new one that is $1400 with SDD and i7. Get the i5 not that big a difference to pay $700 extra.
Save 6% Off
worked great for about 3 months then got slow and its not a virus I downloaded Macfee the top of the line online sucurity. In the past 3 months I renstaled vista still runs crappy I feel that 400 dollars is too much and if it was selling for 100 you could consider it (1 GB not 2 GB RAM)
