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    Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook with 240GB SSD Now Available Discussion

    Discussion in 'Notebook News and Reviews' started by Charles P. Jefferies, Nov 17, 2011.

  1. Charles P. Jefferies

    Charles P. Jefferies Lead Moderator Super Moderator

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    Last edited by a moderator: May 7, 2015
  2. downloads

    downloads No, Dee Dee, no! Super Moderator

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    It all sounds good and the upgrade would have made a top contender out of S3 if it wasn't for just one tiny detail that makes this unit completely useless- 38Wh battery which results in battery life of ~3h 30min (surfing with Wi-Fi)

    Now- if I was to decide between a Toshiba Z835 for $799 and Acer S3 for almost twice that- it would be a no-brainer. If only Acer had +50% battery life compared to what it has now...
     
  3. weinter

    weinter /dev/null

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    I think Folio is the best.
    It is the most practical of the lot.
    It doesn't sacrifice a hand and a leg just to look sexy.
    It retains a Gigabit LAN port with High Capacity Battery and 1 USB 3 Port.
    This are the factors that affect working on the laptop.
    It is also rather competitively priced.
     
  4. jameelassan

    jameelassan Notebook Enthusiast

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    cant wait to touch it it!!
     
  5. GoHack

    GoHack Notebook Consultant

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    The only drawback that I could see w/the S3, and which kept from buying it, was it's lack of memory expansion. It comes w/4 gb memory, which is soldered in. :(

    The Toshiba Portégé Z830/835 is expandable to 6 gb. It comes w/4 gb, w/one 2 gb stick soldered in, and the other, socketed, which can be replaced w/a 4 gb stick.

    .
     
  6. jupapri

    jupapri Notebook Consultant

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    just one question about this ultrabook.

    the sata port is a sata III 6gbps or a sata II 3gbps????
     
  7. SemiExpert

    SemiExpert Notebook Consultant

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    I'm not sure that increasing the hardware specifications, and the price, solves the issues surrounding the generally unimpressive case construction and downmarket feel of the Aspire S3.

    I think Acer would be well advised to go downmarket, using less expensive CPUs and even ditching the hybrid setup since the 20gb MSATA SSD doesn't seem to do much for boot times. Or perhaps Asus could pony up a few cents per unit for better quality hinges. Maybe they could save a few bucks by ditching the ridiculous metal veneer finish, since this thing is really just a plastic notebook that's a dressed up to ape a Macbook Air.

    I think the pricepoint for this sort of device, with this sort of quality is south of $500.
     
  8. galaxyhiker42

    galaxyhiker42 Newbie

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    Sad owner of the s3 here.

    The ssd driver is corrupts easily and is quickly becoming a very expensive paper weight.

    The hard drive has corrupted (bad sectors) 2x on me in the past 3 months of owning it and has ended up in the shop.

    Luckily it is still under warranty for me but I will never buy an acer again as it has slowed me down beyond belief.

    I do not recommend this product to anyone and if you own it make sure you back up your data often because once data goes bad on an SSD... Its done for or VERY expensive to get back.