So, I've been gone. I’m horrible at
making promises—and then keeping them. But, some things have happened since I
last left, and I figure it would be a good idea to touch base with the old
Workshop, starting with some big news: I bought a new laptop, and this means
one thing: a review.
I used
to have an old Dell laptop, and before that an old Dell desktop. It made
playing video games, for the lack of a better set of words, completely
impossible. They ran Vista. They had no graphics properties. They had DDR2 RAM.
Oh, it was a sad, bleak existence of playing TF2 on a trade server, oh pity thy
name is Santa. However, in November I decided to end this torment, and looked
for a new source of life blood to keep me going.
I’ve
been looking at computers for the last 3 years, and never bothered to get one,
mostly because I’m the greatest recorded procrastinator in the world. But, I
couldn’t stand the death of my laptop to a computer virus, and really began the
process. I figured my luck was all right, since it was near black Friday that I
may strike a good deal—and one came up. I was on Newegg trying to find a good
deal when I saw the words “Acer” on one of them. Normally, I had my eyes on one
of the Asus “Republic of Gamer’s” models, but all of them were above $900, well
out of my cheap-ass budget range. But, I decided to click on it, and to my
surprise it came out with fantastic specs.
However,
it was priced at $750, which was still uncomfortable to me. I took the models
name and pushed it into Google. It informed me that my best option was buying
directly from Acer at $700, and after doing some calculations, I took the
model, and from it I currently type to you now. It’s not bad for a $700
computer. But, then again it was supposed to be a straight $900 model. It’s
specifications are:
- · Model: Acer Aspire V3-771
- · OS: Windows 8: 64 Bit
- · Processor: Intel i7-3632 QM clocked at 2.20GHz with 8 CPUs
- · Memory: 6 gigs DDR3
- · Graphics: nVidia GeForce GT 640M (2 gigs of memory)
- · 17.3” HD monitor
- · 750 gig HDD
However, you didn’t come here to
read about how this laptop works. When this thing arrived I pulled it out and immediately
noticed after setup that I was having problems with the display. Some colors,
mostly greens and blues would “flicker” white, and would really ruin the
experience of the monitor. I called up Acer and told them about the problem,
and after a small debate about who would pay for the shipping, I sent it back
to them. I have to admit, this was nearly heart-breaking to me. Nothing makes a
purchase go awry like a DOA. However, when it came back I found that its
problems were gone, and I finally began to enjoy the system.
This computer is, as can be
expected, nicely fast. It’s a big, fat laptop made for big needs. It’s got
plenty of USB ports, a full keyboard and numpad, and when it’s working, a
fantastic screen. The i7 makes for powerful computing, 6 gigs of RAM, although
perhaps a bit small for the future, are quite nice and handle my needs, and the
640M plays games nicely. On TF2 and League of Legends and Fallout: New Vegas I
can play on full settings and still get 60 fps, as long as explosions don’t dominate
the screen. This laptop has done everything I have thrown at it, and continues
to go on.
However, it is not without its
faults. Firstly, although some are fans of shiny, luminescent finished, I
personally think it’s just made for smudging. There are also no indicators for
Caps lock, Num lock and the sort. They may not be necessary for a laptop to
work, but it can be annoying if you accidentally bump it, and then later on you’re
typing in caps without knowing it. The arrow keys are very erratic and almost
seem to decide which direction they want to go it, at least when using them on
some applications, which baffles me. Lastly, I’ve seen the prior mentioned pixilation
issues return—and at the moment are still on the laptop. I haven’t gotten to
calling Acer at the moment, as it doesn’t make work on it impossible only much
less enjoyable and annoying. I have no idea as per why the laptop would get it
twice, but it’s quite saddening. Such a fantastic laptop does not deserve to be
ruined by such an asinine issue.
In the end, this is nearly a
perfect laptop, at least for my needs. Yes, it could have more RAM or the
indicator lights, but what do you expect from a low-price laptop? However, if I
had paid $200 less than its general retail price, and I can definitely say that
I was paying full price, I don’t think I would have bought it, that, and the
fact that I’m going to have it repaired for a second time makes it nearly not
worth it at this price. However on sale,
and in working order, I would hugely recommend this laptop. If you’re in the
market for a new laptop, I would suggest shopping around, but be careful. You
never know if it’s going to work.
--Santa
