Jeds sample review #1

Acer ASPIRE 5735
The acer ASPIRE can be found for incredibly cheap prices considering the specs. You don't need to be in the know to understand that 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive has more fire power then your average laptop - you'd be even more shocked to learn you can buy it for a paltry £390 from PC World. It comes with a DVD rewriter and several free DVD's. It also, to complement this, has an SD Memory Card port. Four USB ports have never yet let me down - never have I felt like I need more then I already have. It comes with wireless internet onboard which can be switched on and off at the touch of a button. There are also bluetooth capabilities. It comes with a copy of Windows Vista (genuine!) Home Premium but most major retailers will downgrade it to XP at your request. I would recommend that but anyone who knows anything about computers will know it already - that however is a story for a different day.

The positives. Well, the processor is decent enough (Core 2 Duo T6400) and with the RAM to support it this is a laptop to watch your film, chat to your friends, upload some pictures, type your essays - possibly all at the same time. For casual and business use, there is really little competition. It comes with McAfee AV for the first month as well and if it hit the spot to you, you can renew it for a discounted price.

It has an integrated microphone (medium quality) and webcam (medium quality) so video conferencing (for conversations and teleconferencing of medium formality) is well within your grasp here. The DVD rewriter works very well in conjunction with the SD memory card slot, allowing quick burning of films that I myself have recorded.

The keyboard and screen definitely give a huge value-for-money deal. The LCD HD is wider than usual (15.6')and this in turn produces a wider keyboard. The keyboard is the best laptop keyboard I have ever used - after 10 years of base unit use before getting my first laptop, the transition was made incredibly easy. The mousepad has some handy zoom and scroll functions integrated in. Media hotkeys are also available to work alongside your chosen media program.

The negatives. There are a few negatives here, and that is mainly tied up the Graphics capabilities. It feels almost like a waste, to have such a nice, high clarity screen and then to have a piece of average junk wired up to it. Playing games is a no-no. Sure, your computer has the power and speed to run a game and watch a film at the same time but it just doesn't have the pixel translation you so dearly require. Average games (I tested Half Life, Counter Strike and Doom. All FPS's with low-medium GFX demands) will look awful and above that (HL2, Doom 3, GTAIV) will just break. Horribly. Even .gifs will be slower on this thing! I can play Football Manager just fine but even then the match animations are clunky. Please avoid if you're looking for anything to play on.

The battery. The battery life in the outside environment, due in no small part to the large screen, isn't great. Depending on what you're doing (listening to music, watching a film, typing your essay) the battery lasts anywhere between 1 and 3 hours. This has annoyed me no end in the past so I can only recommend you take as many steps as you can. Away from your mains, use minimal brightness, quiet volume and avoid long videos. If you don't want to have a useless laptop in about an hour.

This fact, coupled with it's wide screen and keyboard (therefore larger, heavier), means the laptop is most useful inside the home setting. Sure, in business class they have mains plugs in the walls but elsewhere, you may come up short. Taking it out to snatch an hour of work or research is great but for use on a train journey or even a long car journey, expect to be disappointed. Once you've got it plugged into the wall though, it's a joy to behold. There just isn't much, within its graphics capabilities, that it cannot do. I also note that it doesn't get nearly as hot as many laptops you see nowadays, which makes it a lot more useful as a LAPtop. It won't scorch your thighs! A responsible laptop for responsible people.