Acer Aspire S7 Notebook Review: Acer's new Aspire S7-392-6807 is a refresh of last year's model. The gorgeous Windows 8.1 Ultrabook offers dynamic Haswell performance and a new high-definition WQHD display according to Laptop Mag.
Covered in Corning's Gorilla Glass 2, the all-white Acer Aspire S7-392-6807 has sharp-straight edges line with aluminum unibody, and a silver, straw-width hinge that has two subtle indicator lights for power and battery. The Acer logo in metallic gray is on the lid and lights up when the computer is on.
The sleek, 13.3-inch display is shielded by Gorilla Glass, giving it an air of class and security. Under the cover is a silver surface that holds a matte-silver Chiclet-style keyboard with a rectangular touchpad with rounded corners. A vent runs horizontally on the white bottom of the notebook and two speakers are place on either side closer to the front.
According to Lapotop Magazine, 'Acer bumped up the S7's 13-inch IPS display to WQHD (2560 x 1440 pixels), and the result is a stunning visual experience.
The S7 packs the same resolution as the Zenbook UX301 (2560 x 1440p), but it's not as sharp as the MacBook Pro (2560 x 1600p) and the ATIV Book 9 (3200 x 1800p).
Probably due to the higher resolution, text in windows and websites such as Laptopmag.com and NYTimes.com had pixelated edges.
Registering 276 lux on our brightness meter, the Aspire S7 is brighter than the ultraportable average (250 lux) and the ATIV Book 9 Plus (251 lux) but dimmer than the Zenbook UX301 (368 lux) and the MacBook Pro 13-inch with Retina display (340 lux).'
The speakers on the base of the Aspire S7 provided booming but thin sound.
Based on 'Laptop Mag's audio test (playing a tone and measuring from 23 inches), the S7 notched 82 decibels, slightly lower than the ultraportable average (84 db). However, it did outdo the Zenbook (80 dB).'
'Acer added 0.3mm (0.01 inches) of key-travel distance to the new S7, making the black-on-silver island keyboard more comfortable to type on. We still wish the keyboard offered more depth, but given its sleek aesthetic, this is a minor trade-off. On the Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor test, we scored an average of 85.2 words per minute with a 1.6 percent error rate, which is better than our desktop average of 77 wpm (no errors). The keyboard also features adjustable LED backlighting, which was bright and even.' Laptop Mag added.
The new Aspire S7 comes with a cooling system called TwinSir that uses two high speed fans, one pulls cool air in while the other releases hot air.
The Aspire S7 720p webcam took grainy but accurately colored pictures. It also 'packs plenty of connectivity options, including an HDMI-out port with HDCP support, an Acer Converter Port and two USB 3.0 ports for faster media transfer. The USB port on the right side even supports power-off charging so you can juice up your other devices without having to turn on your laptop,' review said.
It has a 1.6-GHz Intel Core i5-4200U Haswell CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB solid-state drive (SSD) that can be considered speedy device for daily tasks.
According to Laptop Mag review, 'Acer says it has improved the battery life on this version of the S7, but our test results paint a different picture. The notebook's 4-cell 6,280-mAh lithium-polymer battery (the same as the one in its predecessor) lasted just 6 hours and 44 minutes on Laptop Mag's battery test, which involves continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi. While that's on a par with the ultraportable average (6:44), it's more than 2 hours less than the runtime of the previous S7 (8:53), and trails the Zenbook (7:54), the ATIV Book (8:06) and the MacBook Pro (9:31).'
Aspire S7 is running Windows 8.1. Acer packages its Recovery Management, Live Updater tools and User Manual, with the typical apps you'd expect on a Windows notebook, such as Skype, Xbox Music, Bing and Internet Explorer.
