Mary E Teeter (Sep 18, 2017)
on Amazon
BUY THIS THING!! ok, seriously, this is THE deal of the season so far. Yes the new i5 has lower base clocks than last generations 7200, the better to extend battery life to right around 9-10 hours depending on what you are doin. However, Intel's new cpu management system jumps the cpu clocks, (All Four Cores) instantly up to 3.4 ghz whenever some power is needed:) The laptop is AMAZINGLY fast for a portable i5. Next, the new Nvidia MX150 gpu is astoundingly capable, (once you update all the nvidia graphics and intel graphics drivers). It appears that I can now play pretty much ALL of the current "A" list games at medium or better settings ON AN ULTRABOOK!!! Then you start listening for all the fan racket---WAIT!! There ISN't ANY:), How Acer pulled this off is beyond my understanding, but this thing stays both QUIET and COOL. I was just shaking my head in amazement. OK, on the screen, we're talking full Gorilla Glass lamination. It is Strong AND Tough. Now the glass does add a bit of reflection in the wrong light, but the screen is plenty bright, and the colors are deep and rich. Check mark for ACER fixing the prior Screen Complaints. Ok, next, you seen a macbook pro's port selection lately? YUK!, ACER has put them ALL in this one for you: The Hdmi out is FULL SIZE, (no fooling around with the delicate Micro jobs); The USB 3.0's (two of em) are also FULL SIZED, strong, and don't need adapters. PLUS, there is even a Full SIZED Legacy USB 2.0 port!! THEN you look and see a USB 3.1 Type C, and discover it actually works!:) AND a 3.5 audio plug for headphones AND Mic combo's. GOT a bunch of full sized SD cards full of photos etc? Acer got you covered with a fullsized reader. sooo, you can use the adapters for your cellphone SDHC, SDXC all that stuff and read em all :). Then there's the fingerprint reader for logins, Not too shabby and it worx sweet :) The keyboard is a joy to type on. YOu can write books on this thing w/o thinking about it, AND you can do it in total darkness cause it is BACKLIT:) The brushed metal chassis is Top Notch and beautiful without being plastic gawdy. The speakers can even fill a room with awfully decent sound unlike practially every other thin and light you've ever heard. I could go on and on, Oh, the included m2. SSD is actually NVME and FAST:) The Ram is Dual Channel:)Bottom line, I couldn't find a thing lacking in this thin and light all round do it all laptop. If you're only going to have one, this is the one to get. YOU can spend close to twice as much and get one heck of lot less. Only a professional Photo graphics production type who needs the ultimate in high rez screens and commercially required color conformity in their portable 'workstation' , might look elsewhere, on the other hand, for a personal take anywhere, and do anything laptop, I'll bet they would still want one of these. :) Unless, they are also artists who NEED a touch screen and Pen. and in that case, stay tuned for Acer's later models, this laptop lays out completely flat, i.e. 180 degrees, so its ready for a model with those people in mind.UPDATE: Oct 9, 2017. Ok, managed to open the laptop to peek inside.And, at least in MY laptop, some of the Acer provided answers to questions here appear incorrect.Inside is a second M2 80mm format storage slot. I have not yet confirmed whether it is a sata only M2, or another pcie 3/4 slot like the primary. According to My diagnostics it appears to be wired up, but will try to confirm within the next couple of days when i can get my hands on another M2. stick. Also, the existing m2 has an Intel 600p stick in it.-not as fast as the top line Samsung pro chips, but still darn fast and with a five year warranty!!Next the mem is indeed limited to 8gigs and is soldered to the mboard.The cooling system is quite robust with a single fan but two substantial copper heat pipes supplying the heat exhaust radiator. In general the interior is tidy, well laid out, and employs quality components.CAUTION, if you are not experienced in opening up precision laprtops/phones etc. do not even think about fishing around inside. You may seriously damage this laptop. However, that is not to say it cannot be opened, its just not for the inexperienced or faint of heart.One last thing, it IS possible to 'enhance' the performance of this laptop SUBSTANTIALY utilizing the Intel XTU utility, even to the point of exceeding the performance of the prev gen I7 7700Hq chip, which IS saying something.:) It makes it possible to code/encode vids etc. within a reasonalble time frame AND, IF you use a GOOD laptop cooler etc., you can also tweak the MX 150 and thus experience a considerable increase in gaming fps.Like I said, this laptop is a steal for the money.
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