New S7-392 - impressions and issues (no internet connection!)

So, my 392-9890 arrive today. I've spent the last several hours tinkering with it... and I have to say, I have mixed feelings.

Firstly, and most pressing, as the title indicates: the internet connection is just gone. It WAS fine, for quite a while, then suddenly, after a few hours, no dice. It simply will not connect to the network that it was fine connecting to before (and that three other computers + one smartphone are all connected to with no problems). The diagnostic tools in Windows 8 led nowhere. So, that's kind of a huge problem.

Secondly, an oddity. My Escape key is... well, lopsided, for lack of a better word. Here:

It's like the keycap isn't sitting straight on the part underneath. While the aesthetic of it doesn't bother me (it looks weird but not to the point of distraction), I do worry about it coming loose at some point if it's not really properly attached. Also, the "you have to hit it CENTER ON or the key won't register" issue is worse with that key.

Speaking of that: this has been talked about a lot with regards to this machine, and I have noticed this since getting mine. Fortunately, it only fairly rarely causes actual problems because of the way I type; I hit the center most of the time anyway. But I do "miss" by hitting a bit off to the side every now and then, resulting the key stroke not registering.

Windows 8 updates are SLOW. As in, it's trying to download and install a few of them (a whopping seven updates!), and it sits on the "now downloading" screen (with that green bar sliding through over and over) for like five minutes, saying progress is at 0%, and then finally it actually begins to download them. No idea if this is an S7 thing, a Windows 8 thing, or simply an issue with my particular unit.

The backlight LOOKS cool, but A) it actually makes the keys harder to see in some circumstances, i.e.. in "medium" light where it's not especially bright but not all that dark. And even in a very dark room, it's kind of wonky, because the brightness coming from the screen washes the keyboard out, and causes that blending of silver keys with a pale greenish backlight to become worse. yes, it does buzz. This is another thing I've seen discussed a lot around the net with regards to the S7; by most accounts, it's not a per-unit flaw but a design flaw, and all S7s do it. Mine is no different. It is quite subtle, and thankfully isn't one of those high-pitched whine type sounds that could hurt my ears. Usually I can't hear it, but if I have no music going and it's late at night, I definitely know it's there.

My touchpad drivers are already up to date (the version on my S7 is the same as the one on the Acer site), so updating the driver is apparently not the solution to the sort of stutter I get every now and then. I'll be moving the cursor around, then suddenly the touchpad just will not respond for about 0.5 to 1.5 seconds or so, then it will be fine again.

The battery life I'm not sure about. It's too soon to make a definite call, but it only lasted just under 4 hours. Granted, I wasn't just idly scrolling through the web, I was installing updates and applications. Are those activities demanding enough to reduce the promised 7-8 hours down to less than 4? Maybe... I'm not really sure. I'll keep an eye on what kind of life I get over the next several days. One thing that did bother me: I drained it down till the "low battery" warning came up (which happened when it hit 10%), as per Acer's recommendation, then plugged it back in and closed the lid. I waited an hour and a half, opened it up again... the battery was at 50%. To gain only 40% while charging with the lid closed... I'm certainly not an expert on expected charge times, but that seems mighty slow to me.

That's kind of a laundry list, isn't it. There certainly are things to like here: the screen is absolutely amazing, the aesthetics of the computer are among the best I've ever seen in any gadget, the touch screen is very responsive, and the build quality seems solid in terms of the chassis itself (no excessive flexing when I pick it up, etc). But, that's a lot of irritants I just listed off, on top of one thing that cannot be called an irritant but must be called a serious problem (no connection). I'm fairly certain that even if, weeks or months from now, every last one of the above issues were somehow solved, it would entail a lot of finagling and tweaking and time spent researching things online to get there. And that may not even happen; some of those flaws may be there to stay. And some, such as the backlight issues, are not defects in my unit, but are present in every S7; they will persist even if I return this and get another one. And all of that doesn't even get into the issues I knew about before I even bought the thing (such as: knowing I'd need to try and adjust to having to hit Fn to use function keys; being a heavy keyboard shortcut user, I'm still not sure if I'll be able to make that adjustment or not.)

So, I dunno. I want to like it, but for a grand total of 1600 after tax, I'm not sure I can live with all that. I have 30 days, of course, before I need to return it, so I'll at least give it some time and see if I can solve the wi-fi problem if nothing else. But I must admit to being a bit underwhelmed.