Comments on: Acer Aspire AS14108414 11.6Inch Sapphire Blue Laptop 6

By: Ahki M. Lateef

Ahki M. Lateef — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:27:49 +0000

I LOVE my little laptop!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have been using my acer aspire for 1 month and I have no complaints. I had been looking for something small to carry around and this is just perfect! Red is my favorite color so that is an added bonus for me. The only thing I wish it had was a cd drive, so i could load my cds to it and have my music saved and then download to my itouch. I figure it would have to be a little bigger for that and that would defeat the purpose of having such a small laptop. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a cute little laptop to serve as their main computer. After hearing how much I loved this computer, my brother ordered one for his wife. She loves hers too.

By: Clyde McShizzle

Clyde McShizzle — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:17:49 +0000

Excellent little laptop
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve had mine for a day now and so far so good. It was packaged well, the box was in great condition, and the machine powered right up. I’m not a big fan of Vista, so I ordered the free upgrade to Windows 7 32-bit.

Thoughts:

- Boots up surprisingly fast. Faster than my far more powerful Windows 7 HTPC.

- Comes loaded with a lot of garbage software. Truly useless stuff. I’ve uninstalled half of it but there’s still quite a few to go.

- Before ordering I read a number of bad reviews about the keyboard. I was worried before I received the machine, but my fears proved to be wasted energy. I have absolutely no issues with the keyboard at all after putting it through it’s paces.

- Battery life seems pretty good. Looks like it will average about six hours per charge, just as advertised.

- Quality seems to be on par with other laptops in this price range. No issues with my unit at all.

- The integrated graphics chip is a little better than I thought it would be. I downloaded the Half Life 2 demo off of Steam to test it out and it ran like a champ at it’s native resolution. This makes me pretty confident that this machine will be able to play most games from five years ago and back, which was unexpected at this price range. Low settings might be needed, but still, it’s nice to be able to game when desired.

- Watched a few video clips in Windows Media Player and listened to some music. Everything ran fine. The speakers sound about as good as you can expect at this size and price range (decent).

- This laptop picked my WiFi network up without much hassle. Setup with my router took all of five minutes. Picks up the signal without interruption in every area of my apartment.

Note: I bought my unit off of Amazon on Thanksgiving Day for $299 ($289 after Discover Card discount applied). At that price this thing is a steal. At it’s regular price ($400 – $450) I’d say it’s very competitive with other laptops with a comparable feature set.

Definitely recommended.

By: J. Mcbee

J. Mcbee — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:23:22 +0000

Broke after 6 hours
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
It would have been nice to be able to write a full review on the merits of this laptop, but mine only lasted 6 hours. I received the package, opened it up, powered things on and went through setup. Put it aside and the next time I went to use it it wouldn’t power on. Acer told me to send it back as it was a problem that they would need to fix. I’m kind of hesitant to have it replaced, but I picked it up at a great price on black friday.

By: C. Salas

C. Salas — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:26:36 +0000

Great small laptop
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
What an amazing machine… Acer did a tremendous job here.

I have spent a fair bit of time using netbooks, and while the increased size of the aspire 1410 does make it ever so slightly less lap worthy, the screen’s usability more than makes up. I would have to say that 10-12 inches is perfect for a laptop that is used primarily to surf the web.

As for the performance, the only thing it cannot do, that you might reasonably expect or want it to do (this is obviously not a machine to do high end cad work on…) is HD video. Here it is somewhat hit or miss depending on what application, plug in, source, full screen or not, etc. you are trying to view. Currently, you cannot have guaranteed smooth HD video in this form factor for $399 (price I paid at BJs) from any manufacturer as far as I can tell.

As for usability, the keyboard and trackpad are great, it has HDMI out and I sometimes plug it into my LCD tv to look at pictures etc. – this works flawlessly. Negative comments regarding the keyboard or trackpad should largely be disregarded. Having read a million reviews for laptops, I think this is a very personal thing, and you should try the keyboard and trackpad before you buy if you can (like at best buy etc.) One guys rough trackpad is perfect for somebody else. If the mouse jumps because at this size with your hands the inside meat of your palms brushes the trackpad, is that a design flaw (note this is an example, I don’t actually have this problem)? Overall it is one of the nicer trackpad/keyboard combos for me… I like a trackpad that feels like matte finish plastic (vs. smooth, shiny plastic or really fine grit sandpaper) and that is what this has.

What else… no CDROM is obviously a huge BENEFIT for form factor. Yes you’ll need an external if you want back up DVDs… It would be nice if you could make a backup USB instead, but you can’t. I made the DVDs and can restore if I need to.

The screen is gorgeous.

Windows 7 rocks (about time, microsoft)

Ger one!

By: Another who doesn't watch much TV

Another who doesn't watch much TV — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 22:26:07 +0000

Great mid-sized portable
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is an excellent machine; it was easy to set up out of the box, is light weight, and a -lot- quicker than prior (slightly smaller) netbooks I’ve worked with (atom powered).

The 802.11n usually is holding 117 to 130 Mbps (that’s good) from the living room; admittedly, only about 25 feet / one wall.

I did apply for the upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit [english] via Acer’s website. Be advised this upgrade offer is only good until the end of January, 2010, and you can only upgrade to the version shipped.

Since I plan to shortly upgrade to 4 gig of ram, I am running Win 7, x64 ultimate. No hitches – install from USB was extremely quick. It found every piece of hardware included on this laptop, either from the install source or via networking with Microsoft. There was no need to download drivers manually from Acer’s site (though Acer does have Windows 7 specific drivers listed, for both 32 and 64 bit versions).

My specific model is the last one listed :

Acer Aspire AS1410-8913 LX.SAB0X.073 red

Acer Aspire AS1410-8804 LX.SA70X.066 black

Acer Aspire AS1410-8414 LX.SA90X.059 blue

but they are identical, other than the color. There are plenty of good reviews here on this model – my checking here convinced me to buy this model, and I haven’t been disappointed.

I just received a second model, same color, for a family member.

By: G. mica

G. mica — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:53:39 +0000

Great little book, but quality is hit or miss
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I got so I could be more mobile during the holidays. It arrived and wouldnt work off the battery, as soon as you unplugged it even when it said the battery was 100% charged, it would die. Still waiting to see how amazon handles the situation because ACER has poor support and the idea of shipping the laptop to Acer to get fixed means I wont have it back till January….the eyes on you amazon.

I have it three stars because this negatively influenced my experience with the unit. It is very much a great little unit, the full size key board, the sleek touch pad, its feature filled (minus the BlueTooth) with the camer, HD screen and card reader. I also noticed a sim card slot in the back but i think thats available on a different variation of this model.

If you want something that will get you through the day at a solid price this is a good bet, but be prepared that you may be one of the unlucky ones like myself.

I’ll keep you updated on this battery / logic board fiasco.

By: C. Shubert

C. Shubert — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:55:51 +0000

Great choice for netbook fans
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This was my third attempt at finding a netbook that would meet my power user needs. My first was a MSI Wind that I turned into a “Hackintosh”. While it worked ok, I didn’t like the keyboard and trackpad. My next was a Dell Mini 10, but with only a gig of ram and the HD screen crammed into a 10″ screen, it too left me wanting.

This Acer, my first of this brand, has really been a delight. I upped the ram to the max, 4gig, and am amazed how fast it is even with Vista HE. I wanted a netbook that had a HD screen resolution, a full sized keyboard, and the guts to run Photoshop CS4 and Bridge without choking… and boy does this. Even though the 32bit version of Vista I have only recognizes 3gigs of ram, it still is amazing and quick. I can’t wait to see how this runs with Windows 7. My copy is on its way and I will load it on as soon as I get it.

No computer like this will ever be able to do all the heavy lifting like a full sized laptop or desktop unit, that is not their goal. But to find one that for under $500 will do most of it and still have the ultra portability, well, that is just a good deal to me.

By: Fred K

Fred K — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:57:30 +0000

Great deal @ $299 price point
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Recently received the one I ordered during Black Friday sale and have to say I am very pleased. On the other hand, after a day or so of use, I’m confident that I would look elsewhere for a more powerful machine if I had to pay much more than the $299 I paid for it. Biggest drawback: The CPU/RAM combination makes for heavy duty hard drive input-output in almost all programs/apps. I suppose this can be improved upon by the addition of more RAM, which is something I plan to do when I see a good deal. Back to the positive side: it does what I need it to do: streaming iTunes to the home entertainment system + web browsing + email; the display is bright and clear — even when on battery power config. Other pluses: full size keyboard is easy to use, and battery life looks to be near advertised spec under normal use. Other quick observations:

(+) very light and compact, (-) but also very plasticy

(-) touchpad/pointing device is a little tricky to learn to use

(-) Series of ‘important’ (didn’t select any ‘optional’) Vista updates took almost 3-hrs to complete/install

(-) moderate amount of bloatware programs, games, etc that needed to be removed

(+) free Windows 7 upgrade available for order through Acer’s web site

(+) nice hard drive capacity (250GB)

Again, if you can snare one at or near the $300 price point, I highly recommend.

By: K. Liang

K. Liang — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:27:23 +0000

QC needs major improvement
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Just got the laptop a two days ago. The laptop is light and is a great for someone who doesn’t need a lot of power. If you to replace a desktop with this laptop, you need to continue looking as this laptop just doesn’t have that kind of power. (It’s a bit slow to start up) But what irked me the most is that the laptop came damaged. the keyboard is stuck and i have to pry it up with a key…good thing Amazon is taking care of it for me. Otherwise, i’d have to deal directly with Acer and that won’t be good.

By: M. Tamez

M. Tamez — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:29:24 +0000

Awesome machine so far!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Well I’ve never been compelled to write a review but this little machine deserves it. I’ve only had it for a few days so far but I am really enjoying everything it has to offer. I got this for $299.99 and it is worth every penny. Upgraded to 4 GB of ram and installed Win 7-64 bit Pro and it runs very smooth. I’ve only tested 720p MKV files but they play without a hitch. At first it hiccuped frequently and seemed a bit slow on VLC media player. I installed FFDSHOW x64 and used Windows Media Player and it was smooth while only using 20-30% of the CPU.

To me you get the best of both worlds. Portability and a big enough screen and keyboard.