Acer Aspire S7-392-6807 13.3-Inch WQHD Touchscreen Ultrabook (Crystal White)

First, let me cover Windows 8.1 and then I will talk about the laptop.I was a little worried about using Windows 8.1 due to the negative perception of it across the internet. I had windows 7 prior and loved it. I had played around with Windows 8.1 at stores a little but that was the extent of my experience with it. I have had this laptop with windows 8.1 now for a week. I love Windows 8.1!Speed:Why, do I love it? Windows 8.1 is blazing fast! It blows Windows 7 out of the water. Here are a couple of specs that I have timed. Boot time: 5 seconds, Shutdown time: 4 seconds, Wake time: 2 seconds. Those times are seen by me almost every time. Some variation but that is the average. With my old Windows 7 laptop my shutdown time was near 30 seconds sometimes. In some cases it took a minute! I know that the hardware was inferior but not enough to account for that. The OS is just much faster on these items. When navigating around the OS everything is smooth and fast. I have as yet seen no lagging. By this point I have installed all of the software that I run on my new aspire S7 and it has not effected the operation of the machine much at all. With the small SSD that comes with this machine I store most of my "work files" on an external drive and use the SSD purely for the OS and programs.Usability:Speed is not the complaint from most people about Windows 8.1. Rather it is usability because the OS has undergone a dramatic revision. Most notably the desktop is not the primary use mode. It is now the start screen consisting of "live tiles". I had to read some tutorials online on how to truly use Windows 8.1 as intended but I am glad I did. I had installed some program that allowed me to get the start menu back. However, I have already gotten rid of it and gone back to Windows 8.1 as intended. Once you learn how to navigate and customize the start screen and the desktop mode you will love Windows 8.1.Touchscreen:I didn't really "want" a touchscreen laptop but this had it and I wanted this laptop so whatever, right. Oh my was I an idiot! The touchscreen is amazing! I can't stress this point enough. Amazing! Amazing! One more time. Amazing! I rarely use the trackpad and don't even consider using a mouse. It just started happening naturally. Now, I use a combo of keyboard for typing and touchscreen for almost everything else. Also, as a side note, if you don't know your windows keyboard shortcuts you are doing yourself a disservice.Ok, now for the Laptop review:Speed:Here I am not talking about the OS. Yes, I know it plays a part. However, the 4th gen i5 in this laptop is great. I do a LOT of image processing. By a LOT I mean batches of 700 images at a time. I do this for scanning books. Long story. Anyway, the process is much faster for me on this laptop. I am actually surprised at how much faster. A note here: When I max out the processor in this way it practically guzzles the battery. I ran around 750 images through my process and it took about 1 hour and 40 minutes. It took my battery from 100% to about 30%. I am fairly certain that most of you will not push the processor this hard for this long consistently so it isn't something for you to worry about.Battery:That brings me to battery. While That works out to just over 2 hours in the previous scenario for batter life that is not typical use. When I use this laptop for "normal" things (internet, email, movies, etc.) I typically get around 8 hours or more of battery life. I want to say that the most I have gotten is around 10 hours. That was extremely light use though. I think on average with normal use you will get around 7 to 8 hours. That is pretty solid. It might not match a macbook air but it gets pretty close. Additionally, the feature set on the Aspire S7 blows the macbook air away (touchscreen for one). I know because it was this laptop and the air that I was considering. I didn't want OSX so I was going to use bootcamp to put windows on. I am so grateful that I decided to get this instead. One last quick feature that is better is the full-sized HDMI port on the Aspire S7. I do at least 2 presentations a week. Sometimes many more. I didn't want to get a dongle. That is just an extra thing to carry and an extra expense.Keyboard and trackpad:As I mentioned you will begin to use the touchscreen so much that the trackpad will be something that is used only sparingly. It is pretty solid but nothing that will wow you. The keyboard is ok but I have noticed that the space key takes extra pressure the way that I type. I am slowly getting use to it but that seems to be the way of these things. Every laptop I have ever owned has its own issues. I am nearly perfect at typing with it now after a week. I still don't get all of my spaces in but am definitely getting better. With my work I like having a dedicated number pad and separate home and end keys. This doesn't have that but I really didn't expect it. I knew what I was getting into with a laptop this small. When I am doing a really heavy amount of work I will probably be using my desktop anyway.Design and Looks:This little laptop is beautiful. It is very sturdy. and I don't feel like I have to be gentle with it like some of my laptops in the past. The lid also lays out flat and inline with the keyboard. This is cool and nice when you have several people that need to see something. However, as of yet I haven't discovered that many uses for this feature. I thought it might be nice for touchscreen games that simulate the old family board games. That would be kind of cool to do with the family. The Aspire S7 is just so thin and light. It is really amazing that I can get a laptop this thin with 2 USB 3.0, 1 full HDMI, 1 Display, 1SD card reader, and audio combo port. If you are familiar with the macbook air it is similar in size and weight.I will hopefully update this review after 6 months and 1 year. Get it!

The S7 is a great little computer. Is light and very capable. My reason for purchasing it was to get a lighter laptop. My personal laptop is a desktop replacement Fujitsu Life book with 17" screen. I have changed jobs and radically increased my commute and mobile work time. I need something light with serious battery life. Most of my work is standard office tasks, but I need to do basic audio and video editing along with graphic design and layout on a regular basis. I've done this well on my large format laptop and really didn't expect to do my creative work on my new "small" laptop.My decision came down to the Lenovo Yoga 2 pro, I believe, and the Acer. I choose the Acer because the price dropped on Amazon and it fit my budget. It was initially a sort of second choice. At this point however I'm very pleased.With the haswell I5 cpu and the ssd, it is fast and capable. The screen is way better than I expected. The construction, build quality is great. I'm not anti apple, but I wish my apple friends didn't think I bought it just because it's built like an apple. I prefer a more subtle look and don't like people to notice my laptop, but it is good quality and nice looking.I quickly found that this S7 could do all of my work with ease and I could do all my work on it with ease. Having just started wearing glasses for reading I didn't have high expectations of the small screen. It has been no problem.I've been using Windows 8 without a touch screen for over a year. I find it easy to work with. I'm easy with a touch pad or mouse, but have preferred a mouse. With the S7 I've forgone the mouse and found a coordinated use of touch and touchpad to go very well. Change isn't always easy and there are times a mouse would be better but I easily function without it.This is my first real chiclet keyboard. I've read reviews that panned Acer's choice of an atypical keyboard layout, but with a little thought it works very well. Remembering to press two keys for home or end and that they are not where they used to be requires a bit of thought. They could have added a row of keys, but it's really not needed.The only problem I've had is with the touch pad and gestures. I don't know if it's an Acer problem or Windows problem, but at times that seem random my window will suddenly zoom in of out. It's easily recoverable (with a "ctrl + 0") but a bit irritating.I love the lay flat screen. I don't present or share with it, I just type in bed with it.Battery life really is good and because the screen is so good you can really stretch battery life if you like by turning down the backlighting. I wish the charger cable is longer. I'm sure the plan is for the user to charge then use. With a two hour working commute in to my office, I do have to bring my cable if I want to work till I get home. The connectors are cluncky and don't fit the sleek laptop. I need to get a second charger for my office desk, or maybe an alternative charger..The S7 even comes with its own cool nice looking little pouch. Is very functional and good protection for drops or bag abuse.In close I'd say this is an excellent laptop. The addition of its diminutive size, ssd speed, great screen and long battery life have really made me a happy owner to this point.------------------Follow up after 9 months of ownership--------------------------Still a great computer.nagging issues:1. Blue screen of death shows up a little too often on days of prolonged use, typically during charging on hot days.2. Apparently the SSD is actually 2 SSD's in a Raid 0 configuration. One of the two ssd units has reported as failed at least once, however, whatever happened hasn't seemed to affected performance hence.3. The resolution of the screen is so high, I have lots of work space, however my aging eyes can't always keep up and I do have to zoom in on a lot of things now.4. People still keep noticing my computer. They keep asking what t is. I've had at least 5 people tell me they are going to get what I have. I don't know if these people followed through or not, but they are typically people who like Apple style but want windows under the hood.5. The back lighting of the keyboard doesn't work due to the reflection of the screen off the tops of the keys. It sounds strange, but if its dark I can't see the back lighting of the letters and numbers because of the glare from the screen unless I shield the keys from the screen like with a piece of paper or my hand. Then I can see the key's lit up. Good thing I don't use it in the dark much and can touch type.6. Power cord is too short at home.7. Screen picks up finger grease and stuff off the keys when the screen is closed. Keep that cloth they send with it. It's a tool not just window dressing. I wish I could find mine.8. Screen gets small dents easily but doesn't seem to impact performance.Great things:1. Still fast.2. Touch screen is great for presentations.3. Finish still looks new and women still like the pouch it comes with. I do too.4. Still light weight.5. Still plenty of room on the drive, but this is primarily a work machine. Entertainment role is limited to rare streaming.I am still very pleased with this laptop.