- Intel Core i5 3317U 1.7 GHz (3 MB Cache)
- 6 GB SDRAM
- 500 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
- 11.6-Inch Screen, Intel HD Graphics 4000
- Windows 8, 5-hour battery life
This is a pretty decent laptop, especially considering that it's a few hundred dollars less than many of similarly sized Ultrabook alternatives if you're shopping around for an 11.6" form factor.
While it's less svelte than the ultrabooks and the battery life isn't fantastic, it's definitely a big step up in computing horsepower (an i5 processor, 6GB of RAM) from cheaper alternatives. You can also buy the same series and save $150 going w/ an i3 and 4GB RAM instead, which is probably a better deal for most people: Acer Aspire V5-171-6675 11.6-Inch Laptop (Silver). Or, if you don't need a workhorse, you could save even a hundred more w/ the Aspire One/other netbook style notebooks (lots less horsepower, but missing things like USB 3.0, Bluetooth 4.0, etc). If you don't need Windows at all, that new Samsung Chromebook (Wi-Fi, 11.6-Inch) is $250 and looks darn sexy.
There are lots of reviews online (search for Acer Aspire V5 reviews) that have video and do a good job of covering things. I'll just add a few notes from the perspective of someone's that's used a lot of hardware and software, but mostly uses Macs right now (and a Macbook Air for my primary laptop).
* Build-quality, svelteness is nowhere near the MBA of course, but overall it's well put together. The keyboard feels good and the hinge and overall chassis seems solid, doesn't squeak, etc. The hinge opens to almost 180 degrees, which is sort of nice.
* Screen is decent for the price range (as long as you don't compare w/ high-end IPS screen) glossy, but bright enough, if a bit washed out.
* Keyboard is good overall, but the arrow keys are teeny tiny.
* The trackpad is decent except for one thing that makes it nearly unusable by default the right-click is enabled for the right side, but it responds way too far left (there are no hard buttons, it's all software based) so that if you're right handed, and depending I suppose on the size of your hands and how you use the keyboard, you will end up right-clicking all the time when you mean to left-click. The only solution I could find w/ the included Elan Smart-Pad software was to make the right corner also be a regular click and assign right-click to a two-finger click. The trackpad supports gestures and two finger scrolling works fine but the "inertial scrolling" is complete crap and should be disabled.
* The AC adapter is a bit strange it's a big vertical wallwart. If you are using a powerstrip that is aligned vertically, you'll need to put it at the end.
* Setup was fine for a PC faster and less intrusive than a horrible Samsung Windows 7 Netbook I set up last year. Still, it took about 30min for the "PC Decrapifier" software to clean out the vendor junk.
* Haven't stressed it out, but haven't heard much fan noise.
* This laptop was primarily bought as a Windows testing bench at our office, but one of the reasons I bought this was also to check out Windows 8. Turns out, so far, I don't like it at all and much prefer Windows 7. As a general consumer, you may as well go w/ the latest since that'll be supported better in the future, but if you're happy w/ Windows 7, I'd try to see if you could find a laptop w/ Windows 7.
For the specs I was looking for (11.6", lightweight/compact, decent processing power) I think the V5 is a good value the best option I could find. The other laptop I was looking at was the Sony VAIO E11 Series SVE11125CXB 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black) , but the processor is much weaker (Brazos 2.0 about 2x older netbooks, but nowhere near the i5 on the Aspire V5), it's chunkier, and the battery life worse.
If you have the budget and you're planning to use this as your primary computer, I'd strongly recommend that you at the very least give some of the ultrabooks (Acer Aspire S7, Samsung S9, and of course the Apple Macbook Air) a spin, paying attention to how their screens, keyboards, and trackpads feel you may find that the extra price will be worthwhile for something that you spend hours everyday using.
Buy Acer Aspire V5-171-6422 11.6-Inch Laptop (Silky Silver) Now
I bought this on black Friday lightning deal to replace my HP DM1Z laptop which is comparable. For reference it's an AMD Zacate E-350 dual core with switching discrete graphics and 4GB ram. Anyhow, the little E-350 was not cutting it when I had lots of browser windows open or when watching videos it would get choppy and annoying.
With this new Acer that is no longer a problem. The i5 in here chugs along super fast and has made things very pleasant. The HD4000 is adequate for anything you would likely want to on a 11.6" screened laptop. I don't find myself angry with slowdowns or issues playing youtube videos, or having 30 tabs open with remote control sessions to multiple other computers.
Things I like:
-Size: It's a great, very portable, lightweight package that has the benefit of having real ports. Keyboard is good, touchpad is fine for the most part. It's thin with good hinges.
-CPU/power: It's plenty fast for all the normal business apps, Netflix, youtube, etc. things running with a ton of stuff open. It's great not having a sacrifice in performance to get the small form factor anymore. It seems to run cool too, haven't heard the fan and it's been comfortable to have on my lap for extended periods of time.
-Real ports: I love that I have an actual Ethernet port, HDMI port and VGA. I was looking at the Samsung Series 9 and the like and you have to have dongles and adapters for everything. Having the actual port and just being able to bring the laptop and not worry about 10 different dongles to actually get connected to something is priceless. Having the USB 3.0 is great as well. Ports are well laid out and easy to get to. SD card slot is nice to have as well.
-Price: This is a given, you're looking at 1100 for most of the other ultrabooks that even hit on the specs this has (gen3 i5, 6GB ram)
Things I don't like:
-This is nitpicky but I wish the touchpad was slightly farther over to the right. This is more a getting used to it issue though and it's only been better the more I use it but there were times I'd would right click instead of left on accident when using both hands on the touchpad with left pointer moving the mouse and right hand fingers to mouse button. This is more just a getting used to it thing. The multi-touch works decently well.
As mentioned the power adapter is kinda weird with no power brick in the middle but all the bulk is there by the plug. This can make it difficult to plug in to some places. There are aftermarket power adapters on amazon for 9 bucks though that have a more standard setup to ease this issue.
-Battery: Well, it's pretty close to the 5 hours or so quoted with wifi on doing normal tasks. Which is really pretty impressive for a battery that is so small. I would love the option of adding a 6 cell battery for a bit extra capacity but as of 12/4/12 they don't seem to exist for sale. Battery is fine for what it is for the most part though.
-Hard drive: Reading the reviews on this ahead of time the 500GB 5400rpm HD was said to be a weak point. I put in a 240GB SSD to replace it as soon as I got it so I can't say too much on that. For the hour I used it with the drive it seemed fine. Do note though that if you replace the hard drive with the SSD you want one that is 7MM or thinner. I already had this SSD that I had loaded into the HP and it's a 9.5mm thickness. It works but it was quite tight putting the bottom cover back on and bulges a bit. It's been fine since though so I'm not going to worry about it. If you are getting an SSD, or for anyone getting the laptop really it's a good idea to buy a cheap 16GB SD card as well. The system recovery software from Acer will format an sd card and load all the recovery files onto it in case you ever need to wipe and reload the system. Or in this case put in a ssd and have it reload the system onto that cleanly.
-Windows 8 is frustrating in a lot of ways but I'm trying to force myself to get used to it in the stock form to better be able to support clients once they inevitably get some Windows 8 machines at some point. If I didn't have that then buying Start8 for a few bucks and putting it on here would make Windows 8 great. You can do all the multi-touch gestures on the touchpad so you can get away without a touchscreen for the most part. I don't even want a touch screen laptop as who wants all the finger smears all over the screen all the time. Windows 8 is quite fast though on the bootups and shutdowns. I do give it credit there.
So overall I'm quite happy with the purchase. (Especially getting it for $439 on black Friday). This computer is a much better deal than spending twice the price for a few MM of thickness saved. Definitely a solid choice for anyone who doesn't need a big screen. (You can run multiple external monitors with it with ease for a primary desk, there are some decent USB 3.0 docking solutions.)
***Edit 1/11/13 I have added a little more on the ssd and corrected the sizing of the 9.5mm thick one I have (you still want a 7mm ideally). I've been using the laptop daily now for well over a month and love it. Still nice and fast and it works great. Make sure if you buy this to go to acers website and download the latest driver updates, most namely the driver update for the Atheros wireless drivers. The put out a x.x.x.217-v3 version that you NEED to install. This cures some weird wireless disconnection issues a number of people were having. I'm bumping this laptop up to 5 stars now that that is good.
Read Best Reviews of Acer Aspire V5-171-6422 11.6-Inch Laptop (Silky Silver) Here
I looked at many laptops before I came across this Acer Aspire V5-171-6422. I was surprised to find that it had the same processor as the MacBook Air which costs over $1,000 and has the same graphics card. The 500GB hard drive is more than enough room. This computer is much faster showing me online content and it picks up the wifi signal right away so it saves me a lot of time. Battery life is approximately 4.5 hours and this computer is slimmer than my 10.1" netbook. This is the best computer around $500 and when you figure the small 11.6" screen, it's the best small computer out there. I run dual-monitor all the time without any problem, everything runs well through the USB port. USB 3.0 port is the future and this computer includes one such port. At this point, I wouldn't consider a computer without a USB 3.0. There are other plugs and battery packs available online and you can upgrade this computer by swapping out the 2GB RAM chip to 4GB, giving you a total of 8GB. This RAM stick will only run you $20 and all you have to do is remove two screws from the underside of the computer. Great computer ACER
Want Acer Aspire V5-171-6422 11.6-Inch Laptop (Silky Silver) Discount?
I've owned about 3 different ACER laptops. All of them were great, but this one takes it to the next level.
------------------------------------
Windows 8:
This laptop, when I first received it was very good. It worked, keyboard is very accurate, touchpad takes some getting used to. Windows 8 is OKAY. But the changes from windows 7 are a bit disappointing. It just doesn't have that "windows feel" anymore. I think Microsoft should rethink/rework the Windows 8 operating system a bit. It's too much to take in, and quite frankly, I think Microsoft is trying to 'copy' what Apple is doing; they're taking it way too far.
Immediately, I was disappointed with Metro. I absolutely cannot manage without the start menu! As well, with this laptop, using metro is kind of difficult. The touch pad is kind of all over the place sometimes, and takes you some place you don't want to go. Basically, I'd just tap the touch pad gently and end up clicking something in metro accidentally. This caused me so much frustration!!!
Overall, Windows 8 was just a huge disappointment to me. I don't know about anyone else, but I need more leeway when I use a computer.
-------------------------------
Linux Mint:
So after about 2 weeks, I tried Linux. I put Linux Mint on it, and surprisingly, it worked really well!! However, the brightness and touchpad were not working properly. I managed to fix the brightness, but the touchpad was a bit buggy still. The problem with the touchpad was scrolling and right click. Right Click wouldn't work unless you used 'two fingers'. Which meant I had to tap the touch pad with two fingers. It was a minor annoyance. The wireless was another major issue. For some reason in Linux, the wireless card would constantly drop. And it also would take for ever to reconnect. The only way to reconnect fast enough was to restart the whole system.
So pretty much, Linux needs a bit of updates for this laptop. The touchpad really works against you and does what ever it wants from time to time in Linux. And the wireless issue was just a huge turn off.
--------------------------------
Windows 7 downgrade:
And finally, 2 days ago, I downgraded back to windows 7. And guess what? IT WORKS FLAWLESSLY!!! It wasn't an actual downgrade, I had an OEM copy of windows 7 with a key to use. The performance difference between windows 7 and 8 on this laptop are VERY noticeable. Windows 8 kind of lags in desktop mode. But on Windows 7, I get no more lag, and everything runs smoothly.
Acer is such a great company when it comes to drivers. Most companies will not provide Windows 7 drivers. The reason for this is because they want to force you to use windows 8. Acer however, understands a users preference, and offers Windows 7 drivers in case you feel uncomfortable with windows 8. SO ACER GETS MY THUMBS UP!
All the drivers work, and I find the touch pad responds a lot better in Windows 7, compared to Windows 8 and Linux. Windows 7 works very well on this laptop, and I do recommend it if you want to downgrade to windows 7.
All I did was plug in an external USB cd-rom, and installed windows 7 pretty much that way. It's very simple.
-----------------------------------
PROS AND CONS
-----------------------------------
PROS:
1)Sleek
2)Runs decent
3)Intel HD 4000 can actually run some games. I'm not saying on high settings. Played Guild Wars 2, Left 4 dead, Killing Floor, etc; and they all run pretty well on this on low-med settings. But this isn't a gaming laptop, so don't expect anything like eye-candy gaming experience. This laptop serves it's purpose for me quite well.
4)i5 processor is SO GOOD!!!
5)USB 3, Bluetooth and HDMI
6)Overall Sexy silver look
CONS:
1)A bit flimsy (try not to rest anything heavy on it)
2)Network NIC (not the wireless). For some reason, an RJ45 cable refuses to fit properly in it. Don't know if that is a design flaw, or maybe I need better network cables.
3)Keyboard will betray you a few times. But this isn't a major con, it just takes some getting used to if you have big hands.
4)Battery could be better
5)....Wait stop. There are no more cons!
Yeah this laptop is too good for any big cons. It's a very decent semi-Ultra Book.
Other thoughts:
One more thing I noticed with this laptop, is it cannot get dirty! I usually leave my work spaces kind of messy after use. But this laptop has such a clean feel to it, you can hardly notice if there is a mess on it. I've had dust, pieces of hair, even some potato chips fall on it. It comes off very easily. Also, the Keyboard is fitted in a way, where it is impossible for any mess to get inside the laptop. Acer designed this so well, it's almost Dirt-Resistant!
I don't normally make reviews on Amazon, so please consider getting this laptop. It will not disappoint you, even if you like windows 8!
Save 13% Off
I originally bought this computer because it was small and portable but also packed a little bit of a punch. I have owned it for a couple months and I love it so far. I am not a huge fan of Windows 8 but can't blame Acer for that.
Pros: Very portable, Durable, Quick start up, Keyboard isn't as small as i thought it would, Price.
Cons: Miss a back light beneath the keyboard, Mousepad isn't as responsive as other computers i have used (macbooks). The keys on the keyboard don't have a high quality feel when you hit the keys (being picky)
Overall i would highly suggest this computer if you are looking for a step right above the lower level i3 processor computers. The price is great for what you get. If you are looking for a computer above the lower level $350 computers and the $699 i7 computers this is a great pick.
