Acer Aspire 1690WLMi

Author's product rating:   

Speed	Fast
Look & Feel	Excellent
Comfort & Portability	Satisfactory
Robustness & Durability	Good
Value For Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Superb value for money, shockingly fast
Disadvantages:	Not really very many

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I myself own one of these laptops; I am absolutely pleased with the purchase.

The purchase was made last Christmas, when this laptop contained some of the most up-to-date technology easily rivalling laptops at twice the price for raw power. I am able to use it for computer gaming of the latest games at some of the highest graphics settings; a recent purchase was Rome:Total War and there are no problems running at full graphics capability available at all.

Most of the power for the video gaming is stored in a wonderful yet understated little Graphics Card- the ATI X700, with a 64MB cache enabling decent 3D image manipulation.

There are some issues to watch out for, however- check over the internet, phone up etc. to find this laptop with 512MB of DDR2 memory. It can retail elsewhere with DDR memory which is neither as fast nor has such good power consumption.

Despite being officially 'a desktop replacement' I have very little difficulty taking this with me. Good care has enabled it to look about as good as it did straight out of the box and the battery life, when well-tended, can provide a solid 3 or maybe more hours of word processing, and perhaps up to 2 hours of gaming, depending (obviously) on the demands of the program.

The screen deserves a paragraph all to itself- it has drawn many admiring comments for its sheen and clarity- it is large, easy to read, and fast enough to run fast programs. The screen is a pleasure to watch DVDs on, not a halfway-house between a portable media player and a television as some laptops tend to be. I would be perfectly happy watching DVDs on this laptop.

For a year ago the price was superb; evidently it is important to consider the raw specifications with regards to value, but do not neglect the other aspects such as build quality. Acer is I feel the best value computer seller in terms of raw power, and at first I was dubious about the build quality and customer support I was to receive as penance for paying so little.

The build quality, whilst nothing to write home about, seems fine- nothing bends that shouldn't, the keyboard is rock solid- a valuable asset on a laptop, and one quite rare- the fan is quiet, often silent. The speakers are capable of coping with the greatest stresses- as i write I am being assailed by the crescendi in Jenkins' Benedictus from the Armed Man:A Mass for Peace- and though of course on a laptop, certainly at this end of the market, the sound system is not going to be stunning- they are perfectly apt for my purposes. It is worth noting that when working etc. in a busy environment one tends to use earphones anyhow. I run Sibelius 4, often a good test for the quality of sound reproduction of a computer, and the reproduced MIDI sounds are, again, clear and well-stated.

As for customer support, unfortunately I had an opportunity to sample this within months of purchase, which I expected to be horrific. My problem was with the screen- often one side, say a third, would cut out entirely. A quick phone call and the friendly man said that this was a well-documented problem, it was the fault of the screen supplier, and did I still have the original packaging? I answered yes, I did, and he said a courier would be round at a time for me to organise.

I called the courier to organise a date and time, they were on time. Acer evidently uses well-trusted companies. They took the laptop to Plymouth at no charge, changed the screen and had it back to me within a week. All this was at no charge and inclusive of the warranty coverage for- I believe- 6 months (this may differ depending on the wholesaler so check). Since then I have had no hardware problems (only software...which ought to be attributed to Microsoft...!).

Overlall, if the original packaging is kept, this laptop turns out to be an absolute gem. The wireless signal reception is improved by a system called Acer SignalUp, and connection is begun simply by pushing a button and using the Connection tool.

This has been with me abroad, on board a boat, and several times in a bag to college or friends' houses. It is suitably robust if you take care of it.

I can see myself using this laptop for many years yet. I am very happy with the purchase indeed.

Just one note; as with all things of this nature, if this is intended as a gift, it may be best to relinquish the feature of surprise to secure the blessing of the recipient, particularly if they are more knowledgeable in this field than the person giving the gift. This is NOT a small laptop and is designed for SPEED, not PORTABILITY.