Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Summary:
This is a very decent Laptop. I ordered it with the intentions of using it as my main gaming machine and to do business on. I was a little concerned about it being able to handle the latest games, but it seemed to have the best chance for the price point ($650 at the time of this review). Overall it performs very well and I have not encountered a serious problem with it.
Pros:
According to the Windows 7 Experience Rating, this system scores a 5.7 out of the available 7.9. The highest score points went to the RAM and the lowest went to the Hard Drive (which received a 5.7). In games this system performs very nicely. It can run Battlefield Bad Company 2 on all high settings at Maximum Resolution (as long as you turn anti-aliasing down to 1x). It's a very smooth process. The Trackpad is responsive and the single button works well. The screen is sharp and has a maximum resolution of 1600x900. It includes a full Keyboard (chicklet style) and a full Number Pad. It has 3 USB 2.0 Ports as well as a SD Card Reader. The casing does not seem like it would be prone to fingerprints. The speakers work well, although there is no bass (Subwoofer).
Cons:
The biggest Con that affects performance is the Hard Drive. This system comes loaded with a 500 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive. The standard for this class of machine is a 7200 RPM drive (which would bring up performance considerably). The whole casing is 100% plastic which could potentially make it prone to breaking at some point. Many modern laptops come with full or partial Aluminum cases which would reduce the potential for damage. The 5650 Dedicated Graphics Card only has a 128-bit Interface. This is really a bottleneck for performance and will slow the flow of data from the video card to the rest of the system. Most high-class video cards come with a 256-bit interface or above. This package also does not include any driver disks. For me this was a problem because the first thing that I did was to install Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. Windows 7 does not come with any support for your Wireless Card or Ethernet Card. So after you install it, you have no way of getting online to download Drivers from the Acer Website. I ended up tethering my cell phone to the computer to be able to download the wireless driver. When you look at all the drivers for this laptop model on the Acer website, they list 2 different wireless drivers (aetheros and broadcom). Just for your reference, this machine uses the Broadcom driver. The battery life is about 1.5-2 hours. This is probably acceptable considering that it's a 6-cell battery that is powering a gaming machine. The 17.3" Screen is glossy, so it may not be ideal for well-lit environments (lots of glare/reflections).
Conclusion:
This is a great machine for the price that can run modern games right out of the box. It can also easily be upgraded to keep it modern. The Triple-Core processor can be upgraded to a 35watt or 45watt Phenom II Quad Core Processor for a big boost of performance. The RAM can be replaced with 8 GB of DDR3 1333 Mhz RAM. The Video Card can also be removed and upgraded (recommended to get rid of the 128-bit model that ships with this system). The biggest upgrade would be to go with a Solid State Hard Drive. This was the lowest score point for the system and would wildly improve the performance. Unfortunately this system only has 1 Hard Drive slot, so you may need to go with a big SSD which would be very expensive. Still, it is a great upgrade opportunity for this system. You may also want to consider a 9-Cell Battery to get a little more time away from your plug. Overall I would highly recommend this system to anyone that is looking for a gaming monster that isn't $1,000.
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Acer Aspire 7551G: Mobile Cinematic Entertainment
Enjoy a portable theater experience with the Acer Aspire 7551G (AS7551G-6477) PC laptop, which features a 17.3-inch CineCrystal display with a fast response time so that fast action moves seamlessly across the screen and a 16:9 aspect ratio--perfect for viewing content created for the widescreen. The two built-in speakers produce vividly realistic audio. You'll also be able to connect this laptop to your HDTV via the HDMI port.
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