Acer Aspire S3-951-2634G25nss
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Average of 1 scores (from 3 reviews)
Reviews for the Acer Aspire S3-951-2634G25nss
Source: V3.co.uk Archive.org version
The Aspire S3 isn't the most attractive ultrabook on the market, but does offer excellent value for money. Standout features include the very usable keyboard, fast resume times and reasonable battery life. For business users who can do without features such as a fingerprint scanner and a Trusted Platform Module, the S3 represents a good option. Our review unit retails for £869, making it well over £250 cheaper than the Toshiba Portégé Z830, which is still the best choice for business users.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 02/15/2012
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: Gadgetspeak Archive.org version
The Acer Aspire S3 is a well built unit that can provide reasonable performance. It handled all the tasks that is was presented with during the review period. I can understand the reason why the USB and HDMI ports were located on the rear of the unit due to the constrictions placed on the width of an ultrabook but hope a better solution can be implemented in subsequent models.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 02/04/2012
Foreign Reviews
Source: Notebookjournal DE→EN Archive.org version
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 12/29/2011
Rating: performance: 90% features: 30% display: 30% mobility: 50% workmanship: 90% ergonomy: 70%
Comment
Series:
The Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook was one of the first ultrabooks to hit the market. The idea of the Ultrabook was introduced by Intel but not much of marketing had been done by them. As one of the firsts, all it had was the ‘Macbook Air lookalike’ identity. This isn’t that good to start with for the Aspire S3 as it doesn’t look as thin as the Macbook Air. The Aspire S3 also has the option to use a mechanical hard drive which gives it a significant disadvantage due to the inferior performance offered by a solid state drive offered by other manufacturers. The asking price is another unjustifiable issue. The Asus Zenbook and Dell XPS 13 are also priced around the same price range but they have much more to offer. Another issue with this ultrabook is its plastic-feel construction compared to the aluminium chassis on the Zenbook and carbon fiber feel of the XPS 13. The lack of a USB 3.0 port and backlit keyboard puts it behind most 13 inch ultrabook out there.
Being one of the earliest Ultrabook certainly has its downside. However, it’s not all bad. The Aspire S3 has a display that can tilt far back, more than any other ultrabooks that we’ve seen. It looks very much like the MacBook Pro but is much lighter and has the excellent boot time of Ultrabooks. It can wake up from sleep mode in about less than 2 seconds.
Intel HD Graphics 3000: Integrated graphics card in the Intel Sandy Bridge processors (Core ix-2xxx). The HD 3000 is the faster (internally GT2 called) version with 12 Execution Units (EUs).
Only some 3D games with very low demands are playable with these cards.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Intel Core i7: The Intel Core i7 for laptops is based on the LG1156 Core i5/i7 CPU for desktops. The base clock speed of the CPUs is relatively low, but because of a huge Turbo mode, the cores can dynamically overclock to up to 3.2 GHz (920XM). Therefore, the CPU can be as fast as high clocked dual-core CPUs (using single threaded applications) but still offer the advantage of 4 cores. Because of the large TDP of 45 W / 55 W, the CPU is only intended for large laptops.
2637M: Power saving ULV processor clocked at 1.7-2.8 GHz due to Turbo Boost. Offers an integrated HD 3000 clocked at slow 350 / 1200 MHz and a DDR3-1333 memory controller.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
13.30":
There are hardly any tablets in this display size range anymore. For subnotebooks, on the other hand, it is the standard format.
The advantage of subnotebooks is that the entire laptop can be small and therefore easily portable. The smaller display also has the advantage of requiring less power, which further improves battery life and thus mobility. The disadvantage is that reading texts is more strenuous on the eyes. High resolutions are more likely to be found in standard laptops.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.Acer: In 1976, the company was founded in Taiwan under the name Multitech and was renamed Acer or Acer Group in 1987. The product range includes, for example, laptops, tablets, smartphones, desktops, monitors, TVs and computer peripherals. Since 2007, the group has merged with Gateway Inc. and Packard Bell, which also market their own laptop product lines.
Acer computers are designed for a variety of purposes, including ultrabooks for mobile use, gaming laptops for gamers, affordable options for everyday tasks, and 2-in-1 convertible laptops for versatility. Acer's product portfolio also includes tablets that offer portable computing and multimedia capabilities.
80%: This rating is not earth-shattering. This rating must actually be seen as average, since there are about as many devices with worse ratings as better ones. A purchase recommendation can only be seen with a lot of goodwill, unless it is about websites that generally rate strictly.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.