- Intel Core i5 3210M 2.5 GHz (3 MB Cache)
- 4 GB SDRAM
- 500 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
- 15.6-Inch Screen, NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M
- Windows 8, 4.5-hour battery life
To begin, I've owned laptops in both 14" and 17" sizes and specifically chose this 15-inch model based on my previous experiences with each. The screen size is perfect for productivity while keeping the machine small enough for lugging around. At around 5 pounds, I have no trouble carrying it to the next room or outside so portability is great. My first impression out of the box was that this is an elegant looking machine but you probably won't draw attention like you would with an ultrabook (which I actually like!)
I really like the responsiveness of the keyboard, though I feel like it will take some "breaking in" before the keys are well-suited for typing long documents. The display is crisp and colors are showing up nicely. I'd probably rate it a 7 or 8 based on the display quality alone.
Several reviews have stated that the touchpad is difficult to use, and to some extent I would agree. However, there is one setting, namely the horizontal scrolling setting, that can be turned off in the Elan touchpad configuration (from the taskbar) which will almost eliminate the touchpad issue that the CNET and notebook review sites don't mention. I believe Acer simply didn't factor in the horizontal scroll ability from Elan because there are arrows for the vertical scroll on the touchpad, but none for horizontal.
Windows 8 has some issues, but they aren't related to the notebook itself and this isn't a windows 8 review so I won't badmouth nor rate Acer on these grounds. Specifically there should have been better support for users without a touch screen device (I refuse to use a display with fingerprints on it) but that blame should fall on Microsoft, not acer.
There is a good deal of pre-installed software, but much of it seems somewhat useful. I usually remove about 80-100% of pre-installed manufacturer programs on the first boot, but with this machine I kept about 40% of the software to at least give them a chance.
Solid performance, zero lag, and everything just seems to work. No trouble with any of the hardware thus far (still first day of use) and I'm generally feeling really good about this purchase with the help of those black Friday discounts!
I may update this review in a few weeks once I've had some more time to get used to it, but I wanted to average out the overall ratings of this system because at least the first review was completely biased based on the experience of the operating system alone and the ability to play games. Please don't waste our time and badmouth the entire system in your reviews because you had a bad experience with a few aspects of it.
Buy Acer Aspire V3-571G-6407 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Now
I own the previous model of this laptop. Acer upgraded the new model from Windows 7 to Windows 8. The only other difference between the two models is that Acer swapped out the second generation sandy bridge i5 processor for the the new third gen ivy bridge i5 processor. The new i5 3210m processor has a slight performance increase of 5 percent, better graphics performance, and should get slightly better battery life as compared to the old 2450m.
With that said, here is my review for the previous model. Everything else I said will still apply.
It took nine days from the time I ordered the laptop until it was delivered.
Several components of this laptop can be upgraded/tweaked to increase the overall performance of the laptop. The Nvidia graphic interface can be adjusted in Windows to a high performance mode which will override the Intel graphics. The Nvidia 630m gives a noticeable performance boost. The Nvidia GPU puts a serious drain on the battery if you aren't plugged in to the wall. Make sure to check that your Nvidia graphics card is updated with the newest drivers that are available.
I also installed 4GB of additional DDR3 RAM in the empty slot. I went with the 20$ budget RAM that Amazon suggested as an accessory. And finally, I spent a few hours cloning the 5400rpm hard drive onto a new Sandisk Extreme 240GB SSD. It was my first time cloning a drive and it turned into a huge headache, but I learned a lot. I'm seeing read speeds of 480 MB/S on the new SSD. After I got windows up and running on the SSD, I went through and uninstalled all of the bloatware that Acer pre-installs and cleaned up the junk programs running in memory.
After upgrades, this budget laptop is almost exactly on par for performance with the most expensive version of the new Macbook Pro with the Ivy Bridge i7 processor that costs over twice as much. With the upgrades, my laptop boots up in less than ten seconds. After upgrades, your Windows experience index should be around a 7. According to Windows, "A computer with a base score of 6.0 or 7.0 has a faster hard disk, and can support high-end, graphics-intensive experiences, such as multiplayer and 3‑D gaming and recording and playback of HDTV content."
I'm very impressed with the performance so far. As a test, I simultaneously ran a dozen windows in Google Chrome, an HD movie, BitTorrent, Warcraft 3, Photoshop, and Microsoft Word. The processor gadget in Windows showed that the processor was running at only 4 percent. It handles every game I've tested on the highest settings. So far I've played Call of Duty 2, Grand Theft Auto 4, Fallout 3, Warcraft and Borderlands. It also handles video editing 1080p HD movies without any lag.
Pros:
Price/performance for this laptop is insanely good
Intel i5 processor easily handles multitasking
Upgradeable
Open slot for additional DDR3 memory
easily accessible hard drive bay
Photoshop CS6 opens in 2 seconds (after SSD upgrade)
Ridiculously fast 10 second Windows boot time (after SSD upgrade)
instantaneous wake from hibernation state
Nvidia Graphics card can run demanding video games at high/medium detail
4-5 hour battery life
DVD drive is handy (a lot of manufacturer's are phasing them out, especially in the ultrabooks)
Wireless internet worked perfectly right out of the box (because I hate downloading drivers)
Cons:
As described by other users, the black plastic outer shell on this laptop definitely shows off finger prints.
A bit heavier than it looks, but definitely reasonable
built-in speakers are not that great (they never are)
Microsoft Office 'starter' only includes Word and Excel
Read Best Reviews of Acer Aspire V3-571G-6407 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Here
I needed a cheap(er) laptop that could play games, do school, play movies; be the ultimate entertainment machine. After spending dozens of hours of research and reading way to many reviews, I came across the answer; the Acer V3. After seeing the price drop from $650 to $530, I finally made my decision and purchased this semi-gaming behemoth.
Packaging: As you might expect, it came with lots of cardboard, and lots of bubble wrap. It arrived in perfect condition however, and I am happy with the speed of the shipping. 5/5
Build: A little on the heavy side (around 5lbs.), but is not near as bad as my previous Dell Latitude. The screen is nice, winning the best screen award in the house :D, bright too. The keyboard is stellar, and it has a full number pad that is excellent for gaming. I have not been experiencing the mousepad issues other reviewers have raged about, I like it for light web browsing, but I usually prefer my gaming mouse over the mousepad. A downside, that is sure to enrage others, is that the screen, keyboard, and pretty much everything on the surface of the laptop is a extreme fingerprint magnet. While I don't mind it as long as it doesn't get on the screen, it will annoy some I'm sure. Overall, 4/5.
EDIT: I little nitpick I have is that there is no cap locks indicator. I usually don't mind this, but it does get annoying somethimes.
Gaming: The graphic card, the Nvidia 630m 1gig is a good (not great) graphic card that should be able to play most games at med/high. Below are the fps scores I've got playing games
1. Minecraft: Easily 60-120 fps, everything max, I installed optifine and some hd texture packs and still got around 60-100 fps. I tried to lag that game in Creative Mode, I blew up 100 plus tnt, had four Wither Bosses out, and it still maintained 40+ fps. Don't believe rumors that you can't install this game on Windows 8, I've been playing this game without any issues thus far, will update otherwise.
2: Feed the Beast: Around 40-60 on max. Feed the beast is a collection (60) mods for minecraft that work simultaneously.
2. Planteside 2: Around 20-40 fps on Medium; average 30. It works great while playing, I didn't try on high, and don't except it to work well. But it's still fun playing on Medium.
3. Torchlight 1: Steady 60 fps.
4. Transformers: War For Cybertron: Steady 30 fps on high, even on multiplayer.
5. Arkham Asylum: 20-30 on max.
6. Rayman Origins: Easily playable on 720p.
7. DCUO: Hovers around 30 on a mix of med. and high settings.
8. Lord of the Rings Online: Do not know the exact fps, but ran fairly smoothly on med-high.
9. Realm of the Mad God: Easily playable in 720p.
I don't have that many games installed as I am a little short on money, but with each new game I get, I will update this review. Overall: 4/5
Heat: This is a downside for me. The vent that sucks in air and circulates it around the laptop is on the bottom of the laptop, right where your leg will be if it is on your lap! This results in putting the laptop in an odd position on your lap if your gaming. I did not realize this at first while I was playing transformers and was blocking air circulation while playing. This resulted in temps reaching 65-70 C; really hot. But after I positioned to increase airflow It kept relatively cool (for gaming) at 50-60 C. You won't notice the heat too much, however, if your watching a video or surfing the web. Overall: 3/5.
Internet connectivity: Here is where the laptop's biggest flaw is. Windows 8 will NOT connect to a WEP network on a shared key, I did not realize this and could not connect to the home network! It was a huge pain in the side to change from a WEP to a WPA-PSK network, too which my laptop connected fairly well, I still get random dropouts sometimes, but all our devices in the house are experiencing the same problem too. We still don't know the problem with it yet and hopefully it will be resolved soon. 2/5
So, if you want a cheap laptop that can play games relatively well, get this one as it has one of the cheapest price/performance ratio I've seen on amazon. While not prefect, a little heavy, a finger print magnet, and gets a little hot while gaming, and it doesn't to a WEP network on shared key, I'm quite happy with my purchase.
I will continue to update this review over time. If you have any questions regarding this laptop, please ask and I'll do my best to answer them.
Hope this helps,
J. Applesmith
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My old faithful home-built tower PC finally stopped working the week of Thanksgiving, which conveniently worked out for some Cyber Monday shopping. Aside from the automatic star from my wife for any laptop that allowed me to stop borrowing hers, I have been pleasantly surprised with this computer.
The i5 processor has blown through installing all my old programs. This has been one of the fastest re-setups I have had in a while. I ran through a batch of video rendering and compression to give it a good test run. I knew that it should run much faster than my old single core system, but I had a reduction in runtime of around 70%, which was more than I was expecting.
My days of hardcore gaming have passed, but I still play around every week or so. The system had no trouble running Civilization V and Neopolian: Total War at close to max video settings. I did get some long processing time on the larger maps for CivV, but I think that is to be expected. Good screen size, average screen resolution. The dedicated video card was a big plus when I bought this system, and it worked well for the games I have. I would recommend this as a great budget systems for games or for a gamer who wants to play the old games he has laying around.
Not overly heavy at 5 lbs. I like the full size keyboard with a numpad, again great for gaming. I have not had the problems that the other reviews have had with the touchpad, but I use a wireless mouse most of the time. Speakers have good volume and quality for built in speakers. Not a lot of bloatware pre-installed like a lot of systems I have bought. Wildtangent had to go but some of the others actually look useful.
I could not end this review without talking about Windows 8. The jury is still out for me, and since I have a license for Win7 that is not being used, I may revert. But I am going to give it some more time first. The Start tile screen freaked me out at first, but once I got to the desktop tile I felt much better. Once there everything runs pretty normally. For all those on the fence because this laptop has Win8, the old desktop look and feel is still there if you want it to be. Do not let that hold you back if you like the rest of the specs.
This is my second Acer laptop. I have had three HPs, a Toshiba, a Dell and a Sony. My past Acer has been reliable as most of the laptops I have owned and much better than the year my Dell ran before the motherboard blew. I will have to update later if any problems develop on this one.
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I used to have an Acer Aspire 7750 but it was stolen recently. So I had to search for a replacement. This is the 4th laptop I'm buying from Acer since I found it extremely reliable and affordable.
It was a bargain to find a laptop with a 1GB dedicated graphics card at this price range. I use the laptop for college work and some occasional gaming. The boot times were reasonable and applications ran quite smoothly. World of Warcraft ran at 45 fps on medium settings.
However there are a couple of problems,
First, the panels are a fingerprint magnet.
The touchpad is extremely sensitive. It is a pain to type sometimes because if the palm touches the pad, the cursor moves somewhere else and you'll have to correct it a lot.
Also, whenever I bring the laptop out of standby mode, I lose sound even though the volume control shows that sound is playing. A reboot/ hibernation fixes that problem.
The battery lasts around 4 hrs with watching movies and browsing the net.
And if you buy a laptop/smartphone/tablet, install the free open source anti-theft software Prey.
