Acer Computer S7-392 S7-392-9890 13.3-Inch Laptop (Crystal White)

I recently upgraded my desktop motherboard, installed a new cpu, increased the ram to 32GB and added a 500GB Samsung SSD. It now nearly instantly boots, shuts down, loads programs, processes requests and in general offers instant gratification. I have also owned notebook computers since 1990, 6 of them and wanted one offering the same gratification as my current desktop. My wife has a dated Acer Aspire One A0722-0473 that she purchased from Costco for $279 about 4 years ago. It was beginning to excessively slow down and I heard constant complaining from her about it. So I doubled the ram from 2 to 4GB and installed a Samsung 256GB SSD. It was super easy to do because Acer designed an easy way to take the bottom off to access the HD and ram slot. She is extremely happy with the results, and I grew to respect the low weight and design of this low-end machine--not adequate for my needs but still a nice form factor and speed for her. Instead of this machine that I am reviewing here I actually wanted the Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus, but only the one with 4GB ram and 128GB SSD were available-not sufficient for my needs. On top of that, it was not upgradeable. I found out that Samsung had soldered the ram in place, so that I couldn't even take the financial hit and replace the ram myself. I called Samsung customer support, and they verified that the ram couldn't be upgraded and that the warranty would be voided if I opened the back up. Soldered ram and no access to the SSD was a deal killer for me. So, I decided to look harder at this Acer A7 with 8GB ram and 256GB SSD running in RAID 0. I was a little reluctant to purchase a notebook that has glass on the back side of the screen, but now I've grown to appreciate it. The Samsung ATIV 9 Plus would have scratched whereas the Gorilla Glass is very hard to scratch. Fingerprints easily wipe off. The only plastic part of the case is on the bottom, and even that is done tastefully. The entire area around the keyboard is a matted aluminum finish--real aluminum that extends all the way the edges of the machine beyond the plastic bottom. The same goes for the area around the screen. It is the matted real aluminum that is the same edge for the front and back of the screen. Some reviewers have complained about the keys not registering when typed, especially the space bar when it is hit away from the center. Mine isn't doing that. It doesn't have the feel of my Razr gaming keyboard, but then again it's an extremely thin ultrabook. I am an accomplished touch typist and don't even need to see the keyboard to type. I'm finding this keyboard meets my expectations very well for this type of implementation in such a shallow form factor. I've also read negative reviews about access to the function keys, and this is one of the reasons I was considering the Samsung ATIV 9 Plus because it had another row of keys. I've had no issues finding keys or wasting keystrokes hitting wrong keys. The keys are also as wide apart as a conventional keyboard, which leads to fewer occurrences of unintentionally hitting multiple keys at once. I'm also not having any issues with the mouse pad as others have stated. It works just as I expect it to work. I even turn it off sometimes as I've done now as I type this using my now ancient Logitech MX1000 Bluetooth mouse instead of the keypad mouse. The built-in Bluetooth on this ACER A7 easily recognized my Bluetooth mouse and always does when it comes out of standby or from a reboot at my desk. The screen is easy to see from other than straight on, and I find it easy to magnify the area I'm looking at either by using my finger to stretch the screen wider or by using the keypad. Performance: I have many, many applications loaded on this A7, and all of them load as quickly if not faster than my high-end desktop machine with SATA6GB (Sata3). The slowest loading app is QuickBooks 2013 because it makes calls to the Web as it boots--same for the desktop. I can shut the lid on this A7 and come back directly and nearly instantly to where I was in any program. No problems with the WiFi connection disappearing as on my Lenovo ThinkPad. I can turn on tethering from my Samsung Note2 android phone and have an instant high-speed internet connection anywhere I can get 4G from Verizon around here. I still have an unlimited data plan. I have experienced absolutely no issues instantly connecting to the WiFi on my phone or to my NetGear router. I get the same download speed as my phone and other notebook connections have gotten as measured by Speedtest. It just connects and stays connected. I also use Acronis to backup to a USB 3 external HD. I do this by plugging in an external DVD played into 1 of the 2 USB3 ports on the A7, booting to Acronis on a CD on that drive and writing an image of the drive along with its hidden partitions on the A7 to the USB3 HD on the other USB3 port on the S7--no issues, and the image is created in about 10 minutes. I'm very happy with this performance (and insurance). I took this Acer A7 with me all day long and didn't bring the power cord. I only opened it each time I had to write a receipt for my business, and each time it performed flawlessly. I had it on standby from 12 hours using it intermittently when I needed to. At the end of the day the battery registered 95% full. My other notebooks' batteries would have left me high and dry--not to mention that they pretty much choked when it came time to run QuickBooks 2013, which needs too much horsepower these days to run on older notebooks. Also easily got onto the internet via my Note2--instant connection with great speeds through Verizon 4G in Pleasanton, CA for the day. Using in Bed: I don't have to prop myself up to use it. I just straighten out the screen to 180 degrees, and the edge sits on my covers. This way the screen is much higher and in my line-of-sight without having to kink my neck or nearly look over my cheeks and nose to see the screen. It weighs so little that I don't really notice the weight on a thin edge. I use the bed duvet to disperse the weight, I suppose. The leather case that comes with it fits extremely well and is very well made. I will use it when in clean conditions but also purchased a Thule case at an Apple Store made for a 13" MacBook Air that is black and also fits the S7 perfectly snugly. The case won't show dirt, and will protect the S7 edges if dropped on edge. I originally paid over $3,500 for the ThinkPad this A7 replaces. I've disliked the ThinkPad for all of the 7 years. I am extremely happy and satisfied with the purchase of this Acer S7. So far, I've grown to really appreciate this Acer A7. Update March 16, 2014: Replaced this Acer on 12/13/2013 with a Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus Model# NP940X3G-K05US that cost $1799 at the local brick and mortar Microsoft retail store. Two months later Microsoft lowered the price $200. I threatened to return it because the Samsung bundled apps weren't on their MS model, and they gave me a refund of $300. I kept the Samsung Ativ 9 Plus with same specs as the Acer, but better 4K resolution screen and much better key board. I don't look at the keys when I type and began to realize that I had to make corrections where the space bar didn't register about 1/3 the time. I sold the Acer A7 to a friend in January for $1200. The keyboard is no problem for him because he's a "hunt and pecker" typist. I had no other issues with the Acer other than the keyboard.

Received in August and it did worked perfectly until the 10/07/2013. Then it died , Hard Drive failure. It has been since with Acer. I can't find out when I will get it back , calling only gave me the follow statement from the rep. We take 7 to 10 business days. If after that you don't receive it back we will try to find out what is the issue. Well got an email today that the repair was done. But no shipping notification yet. So service is bad , if you need to be without the computer for 2 weeks at least. As I said very good until it died. But I had hard drive failures before , but never like this , like a lamp bulb. It simply turned off. Gone. Nothing I could do to try to recover files or boot it in safe mode, something. It just stopped . I'm not happy with it and not happy with the service. Specially with the communication and the information that is available. It looks good in the beginning because you receive an email that they received the laptop and it is going to be diagnosed by a technician and repaired. Then a status page you can access , and that is it , they don't update the status and you can't find out about it until is done. In my case today. But still I don't have a clue when I will get the laptop back. Something to consider when you buy it. Update 10/18/2013 Got an email today from Acer that it was shipped today but 3 days business type of shipment , so I will receive it only on tuesday of next week , again it shows the disconnection that the service has with the customer. I need it for tomorrow , not for tuesday. Was even willing to pay for the freight but I guess they don't care. Incredible that a company like Acer does not care about they customers. Update10/30/2013- My computer was left on overnight and in the morning I was greeted with a blue screen again telling me there was no drive to boot , no system. Tried to recover from an usb recovery but since the drive was not there there was nothing to recover to. Called first level Acer ,as usual he listen to the story and told me I had to send it in again( They are there just to ship your unit). I said no and he escalated to 2nd level. The guy a bit more knowledgeable ask me to enter in the bios , after many tries I was able to enter with the USB drive , but he was surprised that there was 2 Kingston sad drives , he said it was suppose to be just one. I told in that as far as I know there are two sad drives 128 gig each in raid 0. He said that it was a remote possibility but there was no other way , I had to send it in( I can see they don't know much about the product). This time they pay ground shipping 4 business days and expedite on the way back , plus 7 to 10 days to fix it. So again I will be without it for at least 2 weeks and god knows if it is not going to come back with the same problem. He said he escalated the issue in repairs and they will really test the unit ( Mean they really don't test much on level one) I took one star for this issue but I feel they deserve a zero. Representative was very polite , even though I was very angry and for that I commend him. but the quality of this unit and the service is much lower then any other computer I ever had. Lost everything in the first time and I can see I will lose all my data again this time. I have a backup but it will take days to restore it since I made sure I restore only data so not to bring to the machine any problem in the settings. I'm very disappointed with the quality of the unit and the repair center. Also you can't find out the status of the repair , only when it arrives and after they ship it back to you. Not acceptable, Please take this review into account when you decide to purchase this unit. I will update when I receive the unit back in 2 weeks. So frustrating. 11/08/2013 update Received the unit back after 9 days , incredible. I called Acer probably 6 times , finally received a call back from David in corporate customers relations. He just apologized for all the headaches. Better then nothing. I lost all my data again and had this time the SSD replaced. So let's hope the issue is resolved , I will update this tread in 2 weeks so I will know better if this time the problem is fixed. At the same time my daughter had a problem with her Macbook pro and had apple care , they took the unit at the store and called me every day to update on the status , the repair took 3 days , and she had the keyboard and touch pad replaced. What is important was the speed of the repair , and the incredible communication apple had with me. A good example of how to handle customers. If only they made touch screen laptops. If you buy this unit , that I have to say is great when it works and you doný have any problems with it you are lucky and should be very happy. But if something goes wrong be prepared for the pain. Update 11/20/2013 Computer is going to die again , David is MIA and I feel that it was a big mistake buying this model and brand.I was greeted yesterday by the same errors and blue screen , then it started to work again. Called customers relations and this time spoke with Diane , she said David was in and she will make sure he call me back. Actually he did called me back yesterday after a week and I'm trying to get strength to call him back and listen to him telling me they need the unit for repair. The support phone, you will talk to someone in India first , they don't even know this unit has 2 ssd drives in Raid 0 , they keep saying that it is just one SSD with 256 gb ( Second level support in the USA tells the same story), so it does not give a lot of confidence because you know they don't know what they are talking about. Now I will call David , he will tell me that I need to send the the unit again and we will keep doing this until I get tired and move on to another brand notebook. Don't know even if I want a new unit from them ( Diane said it will not happen) since I will have to start over again for the third time. Here is the warning , don't buy it for many reasons ( The ability to lose an wifi connection is one) All the ssd problems and the horrible support , really horrible. I can understand that there are issues with hardware , but when you talk to the technicians you will understand my frustration. Update 11/30/2013 Unit died as expected , ssd failure , and spoke with David and Diane from corporate customer care ( Care) . David agreed on sending me a new unit with the same specs , I did received it after 2 days and it came in a brown box , but it does look new , all the setup went with no error messages and I believe my problem is resolved. I doubt that I will have the same issue. Maybe a different one but not the same issue. All is ok , just I'm really frustrated that it took them so much to come to the decision that I needed a new machine. And the level of service they have , level 1 ( In India I think) and level 2 is horrible , much lower then anything else I know. Dell , Apple , HP , Sony. They deserve the title of worse technical service. At least at corporate after a lot of calling and talking I got a new machine. But I had to fight for it. I have to admit that as a solution I'm happy , I just think that they had to reach this conclusion much sooner. As for the Original unit I believe that they just reloaded the software in it 2 times and I think the issue was the ssd controller not the ssd itself , also believe that they never changed it the ssd , but now it is the past. If you are going to buy this unit I still think it is a fast good looking light and modern laptop , very light and well constructed. But if you are not lucky and you get a bad unit be prepared for a ride. Hope this is the end for me on this issue. Hopefully I will enjoy the computer from now on. Update 12/20/2013 LAst one for sure. Machine died again , the replacement , same way as the other. SSD failure. So many things that can be. I asked Acer for a refund , they offered a replacement. I called Amazon since I purchased here and they are kind enough to take it back. Will return it tomorrow. And buy something else , not an Acer , never again. Spoke with tech support first level and second level , then corporate customer service. All for them to say the only option was a replacement unit. , they cant give me a refund even after 4 failures and 2 units. Shame on Acer. Don't buy Acer because one day you will need real service and you will not have it. I'm out. Sad story specially for me.