Anatomy
of Utrabooks (Part 2)
Reality
test
Each laptop was
evaluated by the quality of features and design. Connection scope was accounted
for network connecting ability, hard drive capacity along with features such as
physical switch to disable the wireless network or temporarily disable touchpad
while typing.
Besides, we also
tested the screen display quality of each laptop with color calibrator,
brightness measurement, color contrast and color accuracy, at the same time
with a wide range of pictures and videos to check problems such as poor viewing
angle or slow response time.
With the criteria that
couldn’t be check objectively, such as build quality, speakers and keyboards,
the scores given by 2 members of PC & Tech Authority were took the average
value result.
Acer Aspire S3
Despite of being the
lowest price ultrabooks on the market, Aspire S3 of Acer is a stable one, not
so ostentatious but attractive with the low price.
The
very first time we
were riveted on an Aspire S3 was at IFA 2011 trade exhibition in Berlin.
Due to the familiar with the computer competition, and impressed,
Ultrabook of Acer
didn’t have any impressive point until the price was mentioned.
With the price of
$1,055 for the basic model, Aspire S3 was the lowest price ultrabook until that
time, and since the moment we saw them, it seemed that Acer was busy splitting
and polishing it.
Not as impressive as
Zenbook of Asus but Aspire S3 was beautiful indeed. It was pleasantly elegant,
with frame tapered down into a charming trip around the dim glow metal cover,
and the anti-glare silver covered the rest of it. Whenever you press, screw or
even poke Aspire S3, there was immediately a little bit elasticity in the
bottom and the screen above but no serious damage. In comparision with
ultra-thin Toshiba, Acer 1.37kg was a bit heavier.
A quick glance on the
Aspire S3 configuration revealed that Acer definitely had crammed many things
into the exiguous budget. Intel Core i5-2467M processor was not a surprise at
all, as well as the 4GB storage but Acer had changed the storage settings.
Instead of an only one SSD, it had physical 320GB and 20G SSD. It was a wise
compromise, with SSD drive which was only used for hibernating data – it
couldn’t be accessed as the data storage – meanwhile, the traditional hard
drive offered a plenty of capacity for films, music and games. If an adequate
SSD was the one and only thing you strongly desire, you had to pay more for the
premium models at $1,450.
Lack of big SSD didn’t
make a big effect on the performance as you expect. With the score of 0.55 in
the Real World Benchmarks, Acer followed right after Asus Zenbook UX21. Based
on the only differentiation which was the SSD of Asus, it continuously proved
that SSD made the little difference towards the general application
performance. Of course Acer didn’t response as fast as Zenbook UX31 of Asus –
the applications took more time to load and it didn’t wake from the hibernate
mode as quick as its competitors – but according to the price difference, these
differentiation was not big at all.
Acer saved a lot about
the battery life of Aspire S3. With the 5 hours 56 minutes in the light-duty
use, Acer lost out to the longest battery life Ultrabooks.
Ergonomics
While it was easily
forgiven for the lack of performance of Aspire S3, the keyboard didn’t let us
in the mood of doing like that. The very first complaint was the ridiculously
small touchpad. It was not only difficult but the decision of stuffing Page Up
and Page Down button near the right and left arrow keys made the page of Word
and website keep moving up and down annoyingly as well. Only the one who have
the tiniest thumb can use it conveniently.
Besides, the general
comment of the keys was somehow “missing” feeling. Each keystroke all stopped
all of the sudden, and the nearby keyboard area was tough and flex-free so that
it was really inconvenient for long typing.
Elan touchpad looked
better than all: the mirror surface let our finger feel the smooth, together
with the great multi-touch zoom and scroll. However, it was incompatible with
the best competitors. It sank with a strange sound like metal pieces hitting
each other and we also had trouble making the two-fingered right-clicks all the
time.
Viewing
angle and sound
With the Dolby Home
Theater lying proudly near the power button, you would expect Acer is the
success of entertainment, but unfortunately it was not. With sound-enhancing
feature of Dolby was disabled, 2 diminutive speakers along its flank was quite
quiet and tiny. Dolby film, game and music mood improved all, added somewhat
louder volume and clarity, but the overall effect was feeble.
It was the same story
with the display screen of Acer. The sleek 13.1” screen wasn’t outstanding in
any aspect – it wasn’t bright, there was no significant contrast and narrow
viewing angle required us to tilt it back and forth to see it clearly. Even the
color reproduction wasn’t its strength at all – our test pictures revealed that
Acer had to struggle a lot to reproduce the natural skin color or the brightly
white, eye-catching without any bluish hue.
The connectivity
including 2 USB ports, 1 big-sized HDMI port in the back was disappointingly
insignificant while the SD card reader and headphone output fulfilled its
responsibility. There was nowhere for Ethernet socket, neither the USB adapter
in the box, you completely rely on the Atheros single-band 802.11n radio and
Bluetooth 4 chipset to connect.
In a nutshell, there
were plenty of needed-improving points for Acer Aspire S3, but this low price
Ultrabook still attracted the attention of many consumers. Being far from the
elegance, in the end Acer made a success in building an attractive, stable
ultrabook with lower price than its rivals – and we assumed these were fairly
enough for those who chose the second place.
|
Price: $1,055
Battery life in light-duty use: 5 hours 56 minutes.
Performance: 4 stars
Battery life: 4 stars
Features
and design:
3 stars
Value: 5 stars
Average
judgment:
4 stars
|
1. Small and flex-free
arrow keys create an inconvenient and fussy combination.
2. Fortunately, mirror
touchpad didn’t meet the halfway. Multi-touch zooming and pinching features did
a great job and the way how to control the arrow keys weren’t complicated at
all.
+ Dolby Home Theater
logo implied Acer was the dream for movie-fans, but tiny speakers and mediocre
display screen weren’t an Oscar-winning combination.
+While other
manufacturers remove the tag of “Ultrabook” by sticking the logo in the back,
Acer had its specialized silver logo for “Ultrabook” on the palm rest area.
