Acer Aspire 1680 > Reviews > Aspire to an Acer

Author's product rating:   

Speed	Very fast
Look & Feel	Excellent
Comfort & Portability	Good
Robustness & Durability	Excellent
Value For Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Extensive features and ports, wifi capability, multimedia facitlities
Disadvantages:	not many, usb ports are a bit too close together

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

In choosing a laptop I went through a number of thought processes. Having previously had a desktop I was frustrated by the fact that I always had to go to it, I had to put it on a desk and I had to vacuum around it !

Before purchasing the laptop I had set up a wireless network in the house to avoid an unsightly and costly extension into my spare room.

So I had a desktop that was stationary and a home that was wireless enabled .... get the picture?

Then my desktop broke.

It was simple .. time to get a laptop.

Time to get a laptop that was wireless enabled (Pentium M/Centrino technology in built)

Time to get a new laptop that is bang up to date and with some future proofing (increasingly more difficult as laptops increase features almost daily it seems).

In deciding on a laptop which one ? There are a mind blowing number out there.

But having assessed some models and suppliers it dawned on me that many models are essentially the same but re-badged.

Step in Acer, the fastest growing laptop supplier in Europe (at time of purchase) both under its own name and re-badged.

It became clear that Acer on a like for like comparison were invariably cheaper than the competition. As they were also building for some of that competition you knew you weren't losing out on quality.

I read many reviews ... all were favourable, good, very good etc.

So which Acer? ... that was simple too, an introductory offer on a new Acer model caught my eye whilst browsing the internet. It had everything I wanted, way cheaper than other brands and cheaper than lesser Acer models offered elsewhere.

So Aspire 1680 it was........ so what's it got:

- Pentium M 725 (mobile enabled processor)
- 15.4" widscreen LCD screen
- 60GB hard drive
- DVD-Dual drive (DVD+R, DVD+-RW; rewritable DVD)
- front and side access ports (usb, dv, flash card and memory stick)
- Firewire port
- DV capture port (and video capture software)
- front headphone port is very handy
- Windows XP

What's it not got:
- no MS Office (just MS Works)
- software bundle is limited but adequate (but at least you don't pay for stuff you don't actually want or need)

What's good:
- Its fast
- Wireless technology works well and simply
- Its great looking
- Its low price against the competition like for like

What's not so good:
- Amazingly its probably already out of date :-(
- Two side USB ports are too close together
- spacebar needs a firm tap to register
- That's it ... the rest is great.

I am happy with the quality and performance of this model and it has met my requirements at a price I was very pleased with.

Recommended ...