MY AMAZON REVIEW: Acer Aspire S7-392-9890 13.3-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook

pscrosby

FYI...

 

Much to love about this model since arriving last week. And lots of other PRO statements on Amazon with which I agree, but three major *dumb* design CONS that may interest some folks:

1) PORT DESIGN ISSUES:
One of the only 4 ports on this model - the "Acer Converter Port" - is unique configuration to Acer alone, so it's useless for any other maker's adapters, cables, dongles. And Acer only offers a $25 "Mini CP to VGA Converter" to hook up a monitor. Acer offers a combination "VGA / LAN cable" for other models which I'm seeking, but Acer Executives have confirmed there is NO production, plan, or interest in providing one. So this complete lack of use for this "ACP" port compromises the model's capacity to connect to high-speed LAN and limits the global utility of such an otherwise powerful PC.

2) KEYBOARD DESIGN ISSUE #1:
Several critical keys - CapsLock, plus 4 directional arrows: up, down, right, left - are HALF-SIZED KEYS, really tiny, fingernail only, on this already small-sized 'chicklet' keyboard. So many typos, erasures, jumped browser tabs, that I've needed to go back to Dragon naturally Speaking dictation software. BEWARE BIG FINGERED USERS.

3) KEYBOARD DESIGN ISSUE #2:
The pretty silver keyboard and same colored keys have almost invisible grey lettering on the keys; imagine the designer who thought up a gray on silver UI! ('m a flailing touch typist, so I often need to look ate the keys to reorient myself.) But the soft blue backlight really helps - IF you could set the backlight to being ALWAYS ON at its BRIGHTEST level, without fading in/out based on ambient light, keyboard usage. NO settings found yet via skimpy user manual, online community or tech support...sheesh! Typing in the dark, I am.

Cory-Acer

Thank you for the review. We appreciate constructive critism, especially when it is well laid out. This is type of information that I can feed back to the appropriate teams.