Looks at a cheap ultrabook with some
attractive features
The term 'ultrabook' is a doubled-edged
definition, because it's almost as much about what might be missing from a
portable computer as it is about what's included. Being one of these devices,
the Acer Aspire is a curious combination of conflicting objectives: to be slim
and transportable, yet powerful and well featured.
Acer
Aspire S3-391 Ultrabook
Let's cover what's in here first and move
on to what Acer left out later.
It makes more powerful Core-i7 models, but
the review S3-391 is built around the Ivy Bridge 1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, with 4GB
of RAM and Intel's HD Graphics 4000 integrated video chipset.
Even with such a powerful Hyper-Threading
dual-core CPU, that's not a game friendly solution, but it's more than
acceptable for media playback and 2D work.
The display is a crisp 13.3" TFT panel
with a natural resolution of 1366x768. The only complaint I have about it is
that Acer gave it a glossy finish, producing annoying reflections in sunlight.
Acer
Aspire S3-391 Ultrabook
In terms of connectivity, the S3-391 comes
with just two USB 3.0 ports, along with HDMI out and an SD card slot. This
model had a curious combination of a 500GB hard drive and a 20GB SSD module,
the latter providing a performance boosting cache.
All this hardware is encased in a lovely
elegant aluminium shell that might not be Apple Macbook nice, but it is rather
impressive by PC standards. It's thin yet reasonably sturdy, with a strong
hinge connecting the two halves, and gloriously finished. With this
specification and price, you should be tempted so far, because I was wondering
myself how I might justify one.
However, the hardware has a few omissions
and twists that take the shine off it somewhat. The first are those missing
items that only ultrabooks seem to get away without having. This machine has no
optical drive, no LAN port, and you can't access the internals without
dismantling the entire case. The only practical upgrade is the hard drive,
because the RAM can't be bigger than 4GB and the CPU is soldered in place.
It also has one of those annoying trackpad
designs where you bend the corners of the surface to represent mouse clicks,
which isn't pleasant to use.
The critical caveat, though, is battery
life. Acer quotes an operating time of seven hours, which sounds good, except
it entirely depends on what you're doing with the machine. A HD movie ran for
about two hours 30 minutes before the battery was done, and more intense
computations can exhaust it even quicker.
That makes the S3-391 an interesting
compromise, which, depending how you use it, could be one you can live with or
not. You might be able to create a longer battery life by upgrading it to all
SSD storage, but that will undermine the desirable price.
I've quoted the RRP price, but you can find
it for much less, and at those prices you well might be willing to accept some
of its limitations.
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Details
·
Price: $1042 RRP
·
Manufacturer: Acer
·
Website: www.acer.com
·
Model no: S3-391-53314G52add
Verdict
·
Quality: 8
·
Value: 7
·
Overall: 7
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