Acer Aspire V3-772G-9829 17.3-Inch Laptop (Sophisticated Black)

1st) Solid construction. Little to no keyboard flex. And snappy keyboard with the correct amount of press and spring back. Plastic to made to look like Annodized aluminum top, but there is still some screen flex if you try to flex it. But it looks very NICE. with the screen closed the laptop is very sturdy and solid feeling. Hinges have just the right amount of tension. Not a fan of the mouse pad. But I mostly use a usb mouse anyhow. And in reality the mouse pad is not that bad.

2nd) Screen is very clear, sharp and colorful. The matte screen is a nice touch. The screen is not as nice as the HP's but you won't be disappointed. Viewing angles are not the best...but it is a laptop and when am I ever viewing this thing off angle?? The screen looks great. Very quick and responsive black to white and white to black times.

3rd) Boot time. This thing has a 5400 rpm 1TB HDD. After the necessary "config" boot. The next boot was 37 seconds to an open Internet Explorer. The next few boots were 24 Secs from switch on to open Internet Explorer. I am actually EXTREMELY pleased with that. I was going to dump the HDD and put in two 240gig SSD's, but now I will keep the 1TB 5400rpm drive and just put in the 240gig sandisk extreme in the other bay. Again...very impressed with the included HDD.

4th) At idle AND under heavy benchmarking loads this thing runs very cool. However at idle the fan is louder than I would like to see. But it is not distracting. Even under load the fan is not instrusive.

5th) The GT750M idles (when the Intel HD 4600 integrated graphics is in use) at 40c. When the GT750M is in use and at idle the idle temp is 45c. The CPU's idle at 38-42c.

Now for the temps under load: Running Furmark @ 1280x720 no AA, FPS were 18fps and after 10mins running the GPU temp maxed out at 79c! This thing stays extremely cool!

The CPU's running Prime95 after 10 mins highest average temp was 88c.

All temps were done with a room at 74F.

6th) There is the normal bloatware. Uninstall went smooth so if you are keeping Windows8 then you will be fine and will be able to uninstall the bloat. Me personally. Win8 will be wiped off 30mins after writing this review. I'll be putting win7 that bought with this laptop on the HDD and putting linux mint on my SDD.

7th) This thing is VERY light for a 17.3" laptop with installed googies. 7.03 lbs. The AC adapter is nicely sized with plenty of cord. The physical size of the laptop is perfect for me. The ASUS G75's and G750 have those huge cooling vents in the back which add 2 inches to the width. This doesn't need it and it still stays plenty cool.

8th) Speakers are adequate. They are plenty loud and sound decent enough. They are not going to win any awards but then again they are just fine. A little tinny. But not bad.

I haven't done a battery test yet. But are you really buying a 17.3" performance monster for the battery life?

I don't have any games installed yet for benchmarks (because about to wipe out Win8), but the 18fps in Furmark at 1280x720 is pretty good. You can google the performance of the GT750M. They are pretty much in line with the GTX660M. Once I get some games loaded I'll update.

All in all this is one GREAT laptop. Lots crammed into a perfect sized/weighted 17.3" laptop that doesn't get hot!

UPDATE: Battery UseJumped online and unplugged the cord. After 1 hr had 77% remaining. After 2 hrs had 55% remaining. If that keeps up the Battery will last OVER 4 Hours just surfing the internet, contributing to forums and writing reviews :) In fact hovering over the battery icon after 2 hours of use it says 2hrs 34 mins remaining.

I'm stunned! This is with me changing the settings in the Nvidia Control Panel to Prefer Maximum and Preferring the Dedicated Card instead of the integrated graphics.

I've had this computer for a couple of days now and I am really impressed with the laptop. It's quick to open programs and it has run the few games I have played on it so far with no issues. There is a bit of a learning curve with Windows 8. I have had a little trouble with the touchpad as it is quick to count a swipe as a click. I haven't played much with the settings so there may be something I can do about that. With a 17+" screen this isn't exactly going to fit in your pocket. That said between the large screen and the Dolby speakers this thing looks and sounds great.

Seems like a great machine at this price.

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