Acer T232HL bmidz 23-Inch Touch Screen LCD Display

Acer T232HL bmidz 23-Inch Touch Screen LCD Display..

GET Acer T232HL bmidz 23-Inch Touch Screen LCD Display By Acer

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87 of 88 people found the following review helpful.
Nice Monitor, with a few drawbacks
By D. Pellegrini
I purchased this monitor to experience the full effect of Windows 8 - using it as a second monitor connected to my laptop (Sony Vaio Z).

One thing I did not see mentioned anywhere - in order for Touch to work, you need to connect the USB3 cable from the monitor to your computer - in addition to one of the included video cables. I am not sure if a USB3 connection is required or if this will work with an older USB2 jack [**UPDATE** others are saying that USB2 works just fine].

This is replacing an older Dell 24-inch. The color and clarity are very good and I am not any worse off with the move down to 23 inches - frankly it looks about the same as the 24 to me.

There are a few drawbacks:
1. Reflection:
The screen is HIGHLY reflective. When it is off, it can double as a (dark) mirror. I have a window behind my desk and have had to angle this monitor a strange way to reduce reflection. When on, the reflection is not as bad, but much, much worse than my old matt-finish Dell 24"

2. The stand:
The monitor does not turn or pivot. I often grab my monitor and turn it on my desk to share with people on the other side. To accommodate this use, I will be installing a mounting arm - at additional cost. On the plus side, the kickstand leg and the plastic bottom/front bezel can be removed (with screws), which will make this look very nice mounted on an arm.

3. Speaker:
This monitor has a speaker on the back, that overrides my laptop speaker, likely because it is plugged in through the USB port. As terrible as my laptop sound is, this monitor's speaker is worse. [**UPDATE** a simple setting in Windows will let you switch back to your computer's other audio outputs].

On the plus side:

1. This monitor is significantly less expensive than the new 23" Dell Touch Monitor (S2340T)
2. It is slightly easier to get
3. It has a very nice picture
4. The touch features work very well - supports Windows 8 requirements (older touch monitors do not)
5. Includes an integrated 3 port USB3 hub on the back of the monitor
6. and comes with all the cables you might reasonably need
7. You can remove the Kickstand and plastic bottom piece - and attach to any VESA 100x100 mount

********
[UPDATE 11/7/2012]

- Others have confirmed that the USB cable works just fine with older USB2 ports. - Added a comment inline above
- Thanks to a helpful comment, I was able to quickly find the setting in my Volume control to set the speaker back to my Laptop

[UPDATE 11/11/2012]

- I ordered an Ergotron mounting arm and was able to easily remove the kickstand and bottom plastic piece. The monitor even comes with a little plastic cover to put over the screw holes left exposed by the removed kickstand.

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful.
beautiful touch monitor! great features!
By yen
I purchased this to go with my Windows 8 PC. It's really an amazing monitor and absolutely worthy of purchase. It is an IPS panel which is the reason why it's much more expensive than the typical TN panel that comprises most inexpensive LCD monitors. Because it is IPS, the viewing angles are fantastic. In addition, it has capacitive touch which makes Windows 8 really excellent to use. It can recognize up to 10 points of touch simultaneously, meaning that you can have 2 people using the screen at the same time, perhaps in a game.

The screen is extremely responsive. Soon you'll be pinching to zoom in and out. Twirling your fingers to rotate a picture. Swiping to close programs or change programs. It really is like having a tablet on a nice big screen.

I thought the display was truly beautiful. Colors are rich. Text is sharp. Watching movies was great.

It comes with all the cables need to connect the monitor to a PC: HDMI, VGA, and DVI cables. It also has a 1/8" stereo cable to hook up to your PC audio so that the computer audio comes out the monitor's speakers. It also has a USB cable that connects the monitor to the PC to enable touch. In order to have touch, you must connect the monitor to a USB port. Note that the USB cable from the monitor to PC has a unique end at the monitor side so be careful not to lose this cable as a normal USB cable doesn't appear like it will work.

In case you don't have enough USB ports available on your PC, the monitor itself has USB 3.0 compatible ports on its back so you can plug your USB devices to the monitor. I moved a web camera from the PC to the monitor.

The bottom of the monitor sits on top of a clear plastic so from a distance, it looks like the monitor is floating. The monitor is support by an arm on the back. This arm is extremely stiff so you're going to have to apply muscle to pull the arm outward so you can angle the display. You'll be apply pressure and pressure and then all of a sudden, the arm goes to the next notch. I was a little scared at first but you get used to it. I'm not sure how far out you can pivot the hinge. So I don't know how close to flat you can lay the monitor down for games like air hockey. If anyone knows, let me know in the comments. I don't want to run the risk of breaking the hinge.

There are no drivers needed to install for the monitor's touch to work. The monitor shows up as a plug n play monitor and doesn't say Acer. I don't know if Acer-specific drivers will come out in the future.

The touch works out of the box. Do no adjust the touch calibration in the control panel unless you absolutely need to. I went directly to the control panel to calibrate when I first purchased the monitor, and after calibration, I had trouble doing the Windows 8 swipes from the side of the monitor. Resetting the calibration back to default fixed the problem. So I do not recommend calibrating at all.

The speakers on the monitor are okay. They're what you get out of typical cheap computer speakers. Don't turn up the volume too high or you get distortion.

The only thing I didn't like about the package is the documentation. It is terrible. But I guess you don't need much documentation for a monitor. They should've at least said that the USB cable was required for touch to work. In the manual, it just says USB optional which while technically right (without the USB attached, you get a picture through the video cable but you don't get touch), it's misleading.

I wholly recommend this monitor. It's a very good size, and it performs as you expect. The design is good, and the features are good. I think glass, instead of plastic, along the bottom of the monitor would've looked classier but plastic is more durable.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Great desktop upgrade for Windows 8
By Ben
After upgrading my desktop to Windows 8, I wanted to get in on all the fun new touch features even without buying a new tablet. I was choosing between the Dell S2340T and this monitor but ultimately chose the Acer due to availability and price. I am very satisfied with the look and performance of the monitor.

Pros:
- IPS screen, 1920x1080
- Comes with all the cables you could need (HDMI, DVI, VGA, USB3, power)
- Can stand upright, lay down, or be wall mounted (bracket not included)
- No need to install drivers, it just worked

Cons:
- Some of the new tablets cost around the same price
- Integrated speakers aren't that great

Notes:
1. The stand's hinge is very tight out of the box, but with careful force, it will move into position.
2. The screen is glossy, so glare could be a problem under some conditions.
3. Fingerprints don't show up too much at first, but keep a cleaning cloth handy nonetheless.
4. If you want to use HDMI, check if your video card has a full size or mini-HDMI connector.

(written using the touch keyboard)

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Acer Aspire S7-392-9890 13.3-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook (Crystal White)

Acer Aspire S7-392-9890 13.3-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook (Crystal White)..

Buy Acer Aspire S7-392-9890 13.3-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook (Crystal White) By Acer

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412 of 435 people found the following review helpful.
[Updated-Windows 8.1] Exceeded My Expectations and the speakers....
By YingWei
Last Updated December 09, 2013 [Windows 8.1 review]
==============================
Reason for purchase:
==============================
Been waiting almost a year now for Haswell to come out after leaks were given online, and it meets and exceeds my expectation through and through. I was looking for a replacement for my 3-year old Acer TimelineX laptop and decided I'm not going to go cheap when it came to buying a laptop since I was tired of flimsy screen that feel like they'll break if pressed in the middle. It was either the Acer S7, the Asus Zenbook Infinity, or Samsung Ativ Book Plus HD for my replacement laptop. Chose the S7 over the Zenbook Infinity and Ativ Book for 3 reasons:

1) This is Acer's third iteration of the S7 compared to Asus Zenbook Infinity which will be it's first. First generations for new designs usually have more kinks/issues that I'm trying to avoid when I'm paying over $1000+ for a laptop, you'd expect it to be flawless to an extent.

2) Owned an Acer and Asus laptop before, and Acer always knew what they were doing when it came to power efficiency versus Asus which for some reason or another has issues with power consumption levels. (this is from my experience)

3) Samsung decided not to increase the max ram amount to 8GB, which is shame since ram is crucial in multitasking especially for apps on windows 8

======
Pros:
======
--Battery Life!: just doing regular task like checking emails and browsing online at 70% brightness I was able to get 8-9 hours! which is amazing, this is why I waited for Haswell =) (assuming if you have 99% battery at start)

--Boot Time: Switching from an HDD on windows 7 to an SSD on windows 8 was mind blowing, from 2-4 minutes to only 2-4 seconds just made me love this laptop more than I already do. Albeit windows 8 is cheating a bit with their hybrid shutdown design, overall this is what I was expecting.

--Design: thin and light, ergonomic to feel albeit I was expecting a smoother finish on the edges but overall I don't know if there is another laptop that looks this good.

--Case: I was surprised that Acer included a leather case that really makes this laptop look like a fashion statement a plus for me, one less thing to buy =)

======
Cons:
======
--No adapters: I was surprised that Acer didn't include an ethernet dongle like they did with previous versions of this laptop which was disappointing since I need it for when I use the laptop at work

--Bloatware: this is typical but Acer like any other company included sponsored apps and their own homebrew apps of their own.

--Speakers: speakers are located on sides of the laptop near the bottom so the sound comes out muffled but I'm a headphone type person so this doesn't bother me much.

====================================
Answers to questions asked/ Updates
====================================
--Fan: the fan doesn't make a peep even on huge overload of online gaming which was surprising but the laptop does heat up at the rear end of laptop (hinge area) if you block the vents on the bottom.

=====================Update: July 18, 2013 (Day 3 with Laptop)=====================

--Cooling: when the manufacturer said to avoid blocking the vents they meant it, the laptop started to get moderately hot. Although granted I was running a lot of adobe software (photoshop, illustrator, dreamweaver, fireworks, etc...) the laptop fan didn't make any noise which was good. Just needed to remember that this isn't a desktop.

--Vent location: air enters and exits on the back bottom vents that stretches across the entire back (below the hinge side).

--SSD Space: 195GB are available after you remove most of the bloatware.

--Battery During Heavy Use: When I was running the laptop with Adobe Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and fireworks I was able to get to 6hours and 13 minutes of constant runtime which was awesome to me as a website developer on the go.

--Battery life (100% brightness): around 7 hours if at 99% full battery (please note the S7 comes with an automatic sensor like your smartphone to adjust brightness so the battery will last longer, automatically on by default)

=====================Updated: July 19, 2013 (Day 4 with Laptop)=====================

--Changed from 4 to 5 stars, decided 1 star off for speakers didn't make sense when it's an ultrabook and I use my headphones most of the time.

--Updated some of my statements on battery life, this was after bloatware was removed and I had Kaspersky 2013 and skydrive desktop app always running in the background, automatic updates and scans does drain the battery faster (no breaks)

--Automatic Brightness: to turn off automatic brightness control panel->Edit Plan Setting-> Change Advance Power Setting (clickable text)->Display(header)-> Enable Adaptive Brightness-> choose off or on

--Battery Life (w/ automatic Brightness off): at 100% brightness the battery lasted at ~6-7 hours just browsing the web, watching videos ~5/6 depending if your running videos on 1080p or 720p.

--Touchpad: very responsive and customizable, recommend you adjust everything on the touchpad so you get the most out of the multi-gestures

--Screen Resolution: spending a couple hours watching videos on this laptop was superb and I can't imagine switching. Colors were crisp and clear, a huge gap in clarity from my old laptop's resolution (720p)

--Keyboard Layout: a bit weird at first but the organization is pretty convenient where all the hotkeys are easier to reach and alot faster than a tradition keyboard.

--Backlit Keyboard: awesome feature that only enhanced the laptop, the brightness is adjustable/turns on automatically when it gets dark which was convenient

--Webcam: resolution is at .9megapixel which is pretty low but the sensors on the webcam are top notch especially at night, I thought SONY were the only ones with night sensors for their webcams but Acer actually implemented their own variation or they outsourced w/ sony which is awesome. I was able to see my face clearly in a pitch black room no lighting except the laptop screen.

=====================Updated: July 21, 2013 (Day 6 with Laptop)=====================

--Wireless Signal: the Intel Dual-band 7260 + Bluetooth 4.0 for some reason started to act up by dropping signals in 5 bar areas, fixed issue by uninstalling the driver, and reinstalling the driver available from Acer's Support page.

--To download driver: go to Acer US -> click on "Support" tab -> click "Driver & Manuals" icon w/ wrench & hammer -> type "Aspire S7-392" in search by model text box & search (looks like nothing loaded but bottom of the page changed with list of drivers) -> look for "Wireless LAN Driver" -> click "Download" -> extract file using Winrar or Z-zip -> click "Drivers" folder -> click "win8" folder -> double click "DPInst64.exe" to install the driver (do this after driver is uninstalled and make sure Intel PROSet/Wireless software is NOT installed on the computer)

--To uninstall the driver: go to control panel -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change Adaptor Settings (left menu) -> right-click network card icon -> properties -> click "Configure" -> click "Driver" tab -> click "uninstall" driver

=====================Updated: July 22, 2013 (Day 7 with Laptop)=====================
--Updated Wireless Card issue from previous update.

--SSD Drive Info: 2X 128GB SSD (Formatted in Raid 0) from Kingston using Intel Trimming Technology

=====================Updated: July 31, 2013 (Day 16 with Laptop)=====================
--Updated Reason for Purchase, Touchpad comment, Wireless Card Comment & Cooling Comment

--Screen Protector: unnecessary since touch-screen is scratch resistant

--Maintenance: used Philips SVC1116F/27 LCD, LED and Plasma Screen Cleaner to clean both sides of the laptop once or twice a weeks to make the glass clean and clear =)

--Touchpad Software: Synaptic v8.1 Clickpad multi-gesture touchpad, similar to the apple touchpad.

--Warranty: Amazon sells the version with a 2-year limited Warranty

--Screen Resolution: Amazon sells the 1920X1080 version, the 2560x1440 isn't sold in the United States

--Dolby Home Theatre v4: at first I thought this was just the speaker version but it's actually an audio software built into the laptop that allows you to easily change the amplitude and clarity of sound for both the speakers and headphones, you can also save customized settings in the extra slots a plus for me since I'm an audiophile =)

--Ram: 8GB of ram is a necessity for any ultrabook and Acer finally understood that, no more memory dump issues since there's enough ram for running all my programs at once =)

=====================Updated: August 5, 2013 (Day 21 with Laptop)=====================

--After 3 weeks with the laptop, I'm glad I purchased this machine, never have to wait for the laptop to start-up since it's instant, working with adobe software (illustrator, photoshop, dreamweaver, etc...) hasn't been more seamless, and the build of the laptop couldn't be better, solid aluminum at its finest =)

--Only complaint now is the power button which should have been placed on the keyboard side of the laptop. Having the button on the side is really not smart since grabbing the laptop on its side can result in accidental pressing (happened to me a couple times), easy fix though is to change the properties of the button to do nothing, it'll still turn on the laptop when it's shutdown :)

--To change button properties: go to "Control Panel" -> click "Power Options" (icon with battery & plug) -> on left side menu click "Choose what the power buttons do" -> change the setting for "When I press the power button" to desired setting for both columns (Battery and when plugged) -> click "Save Changes"

=====================Updated: August 14, 2013 (Day 30 with Laptop)=====================
--A month has past since I got the laptop and I have to say I don't regret being one of the first few people who bought this laptop when it came out at retail price $1649. At first I had wireless issues but found out last week it was my router that kept dropping the signal on me, fixed it with the ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router. Now I'm developing programs and websites faster than ever. My old laptop would crash on me every other day so having a laptop that probably won't ever crash on me is huge relief also.

--One thing I do recommend that everyone get with this laptop is a cooling stand such as the Cooler Master NotePal ErgoStand II - Adjustable Laptop Cooling Stand with LED Light Strip for three reasons.
----1) Although the twin fan 2nd generation is whisper quiet that does come with a cost as the hinge area does get somewhat hot.
----2) Laptops are faster when they are cooled so your benefiting by making the computer consistently fast =)
----3) Having a laptop stand helps with posture and fatigue so you aren't constantly bending your neck and back :)

=====================Updated: September 15, 2013 (Day 61 with Laptop)=====================
--2 whole months have passed and I'm still loving the laptop as I did the first time I received it. You really can't beat instant startup after shutting down, I've come to rely on this feature too much lol. I haven't had any recent issues, everything has been running so smoothly. The wireless issue hasn't occurred at all after switching routers which I'm thankful for.

--Availability: Based on the trend for the past 2 months, Amazon usually receives a new shipment every week (on a Sunday normally). When they do run out they post an estimated "3 to 4 weeks" shipping but this is a worst case scenario if there were too many orders placed (probably the holidays is when this is true).

=====================Updated: October 17, 2013 (Day 93 with Laptop)=====================
--Windows 8.1 update was simple, updated through the Microsoft App Store Icon. Should be the first icon you see when you open the app, if you don't see it please update your computer to the latest windows 8 update then go back to the Store App Icon.
--Update is ~3.6GB and took ~10-15mins to install, make sure power adaptor is plugged in and don't have any external usb or dongles hooked up otherwise the update will not install, learned the hard way =(
--One thing I noticed, got ~5-10GB in space back from the OS since Windows 8.1 is way smaller than Windows 8
--Defragmenting actually started to trim the SSD compared on Windows 8
--Customizing startup to launch with Desktop Mode was easy, just need to adjust a setting on the Taskbar properties under "Navigation"
--Hibernate mode issue of sometimes turning back on by itself got fixed
--Drivers seem to work a lot better mainly wifi, got better signal than usual in most areas
--Battery life increased a tad ~10-20min since apps are more efficient/ updated

=====================Updated: November 17, 2013 (Day 123 with Laptop Windows 8.1)========
--If brightness setting doesn't work, it's an indication that there is an update and you will have to restart the computer to get brightness setting back. It's annoying sometimes but it does make sure your system is always up to date.
--Acer also released an updated version of the wireless card driver for Win 8.1, so now all wifi issues are non-existent. If you experience any wifi issues, manually download and update the driver from Acers support page.
--I've been quiet vocal on how the speakers for the S7 has been the downside to the machine but after updating to Win 8.1 and reinstalling the realtek audio driver from Acer's support page. The speakers now sound a lot clearer and crisper, but maybe this is because of my cooling stand also but the sound is literally surround sound when I change the sound mode on the Dolby Home Theatre to Movie mode. (You can change the sound profile by going the Dolby Home Theater program in the minimized icons on the taskbar)

=====================Updated: December 09, 2013 (Day 145 with Laptop Windows 8.1)========
--After a couple weeks with the improved speaker software, I've figured that in order to get the surround sound feel you have to put the volume at minimum %80 or higher otherwise the sound will sound muffled like it did before but otherwise, you feel immersed in the movie or videos you watch with this laptop. One reason I figured was that ~80% the audio software starts to mega amplifies the sound in a good way making the speakers sound clearer than they were before. I don't exactly how but they did the amplifying but it made me love this laptop even more :D

================================================
Will update regularly or as questions are asked
================================================

141 of 157 people found the following review helpful.
Returning (BEWARE Fundamental Hardware Issue)
By Scott Reisig
While certainly a beautiful product, the hardware has a specific issue where it is thought the grounding plate can easily become jostled resulting in the laptop randomly shutting down. The issue was detailed extensively on Acer's support forum for last's year (Ivy Bridge based) S7. Apparently Acer DID NOT fix the flaw for this Haswell based S7. The original thread discovering the issue is here:

[...]

I bought this device for my fiance's use for medical school. She was very delicate to the machine with simple non-computational intensive tasks. The machine started to randomly shut down within the first week or so. When contacting Acer and going through their troubleshooting scenarios, they realized (as I already had) that it was not a software issue, but a hardware one. It was arranged to have the ultrabook sent to their facilities in Texas for repair. The outrageous part here was Acer has the audacity to ask that I PURCHASE A SHIPPING BOX AND PAY FOR THE SHIPPING! Due to the time constraints of my fiance's need for a computer, I shipped the ultrabook overnight delivery hoping to reduce the turnaround time. Total cost to shipping with insurance (valuing the device at $1600) $145..........................

Days go by, calling Acer to get a more specific status other than (received, in repair, etc.) is futile. We finally received the ultrabook 8 days later. The paperwork stated they needed to "reseat the motherboard and update the BIOS" but it did not specify what exactly was the issue. With my fiance happy that it's back, all is well (even though I'm still ticked I needed to pay for the shipping of a brand new defective product). Within another week.....the issue is back...lovely.......

Calling Acer, this time not interested in runarounds, I state the device is defective. Not surprisingly they wanted me to PAY AND SHIP it back to them. I instead demanded that they send a brand new S7 (non-refurbished which many manufactures sneakily do) to me. Once I confirmed the new ultrabook is non-defective, I will send back the defective device. Of course Acer would not do such a thing. You know, the common customer service required for any PC vendor. I asked to speak with the supervisor, was told they were busy and will call me back in 30 minutes. No call...........

Frustrated I call Amazon. Explained the situation (the ultrabook was 8 days past its return period). Amazon agreed to allow me to return the device and provide a refund. This is exactly why I'm a Amazon customer. Fantastic customer service. Acer not so much. Defective products happen from time to time, but making the customer pay out of pocket and waste their time is NOT customer service, it's garbage.

Acer did manage to call me back 8 hours later "ready to talk". I informed them I will be returning the device to Amazon and getting my refund. The supervisor said "Sorry", then click.......

214 of 244 people found the following review helpful.
Great new Haswell Ultrabook with a few glaring flaws
By J. McMahon
I have a short, but demanding list of requirements in a laptop. I regularly travel internationally and I use my laptop for both normal office tasks and high-performance processing.

My list is:
Lightweight, 13 or less, 3lb or less, full HD screen or better, Core i7 CPU, 8GB RAM or more, 256GB SSD+, good battery life ~5+ hours. I'm unwilling to budge on any of these items. This makes for a very short list of potential laptops. In 2011, ONLY the Sony Vaio Z (my current laptop) offered all these features, but is getting long in the tooth. This year, there are more options, and the Acer S7 appears to be an attractive one.

Pros:

Battery life. 6-8 hours under normal WiFi, 60-80% brightness, browser, video playback, Outlook usage. Typcial business usage.Battery life is great, as I believe it will be on many/most Haswell-powered lightweight Ultrabooks. I'm pretty confident they could slap the new chipset and CPU into last years' hardware and nearly double battery life. It's amazing. But that's nothing specific to this laptop. The new Sony Vaio Pro 11/13 also see the same battery benefits.

Fan. This system is silent. Even under load, the system occasionally got warm, but was always extremely quiet, the fans were imperceptible.

SSD speed. Amazing read speeds, middling write speeds. Has 2x 128GB Kingston SSD's in a RAID0. Now that Intel's RST supports TRIM in RAID, these SSD's should last plenty long even in a RAID. Boot times and load times were good as expected. I'd expect the same kind of performance with any other Haswell laptops with SSD's.

Build quality. Looks nice. Feels premium, solid, and tough. No flex, no screen wobble, which is big for a touchscreen laptop. Unfortunately, the edges of the screen are quite sharp, which seems strange and unnecessary.

Screen. A good quality, good color, full-HD screen. Has some minor light bleed at the corners, but is only visible on full black. I'd hoped to see the model with the 2560x1440 screen, but it appears this isn't available yet.

Speakers. I've seen other reviewers knock the speakers. Coming from the horrific speakers on the Vaio Z, anything is a step up. I found the speakers to be reasonably good, with the note that they do face down from the front edge of the laptop. This means if you have it on a hard surface you'll get good sound, but on a soft surface or on a lap, the sound may be muffled.

Leather case is neat and attractive.

Cons:

Keyboard. Tactile feedback is good, keypress depth is good, backlight is nice, BUT... The keys don't consistently register unless pressed down from the center. That is to say, if you're used to touch-typing on another keyboard and you try to use this one, you'll regularly have to go back to re-press keys that aren't registering. Here's what's happening, if you press a key, but don't press in the center, the key goes down far enough that the tactile feel would have you think it's registered. That's to say you actual feel and hear the "click" of the keypress, without the key registering. This alone was a deal-breaker for me. Maybe it's something that can be fixed in software somehow, maybe by making the keyboard more sensitive to these "partial" presses, but this made typing on this laptop irritating and unwieldy. I fear this is a hardware design issue that would be unfixable. I suppose I could have persisted to try to ensure I press each key hard and perfectly in the center, but I was too frustrated to try.

Other haven't had the same problem, so it is possible my unit was defective, but still, the experience was bad enough that I wouldn't want to try again.

Clickpad. Yet another new generation of touchpad that seems worse than previous generations. I don't know why touchpad technology seems to be going downhill, but this seems like a good example. The pad feels just like a Macbook touchpad, but without the great driver implementation that Apple has. It's a single piece of material, with no physical left or right-click buttons. It looks nice, but that's the end of the similarities. It's reactive and sensitive as well as adjustable. Despite all the configuration options, I couldn't get the touchpad to work in a way that felt natural and for this reason found it uncomfortable to use the touchpad much of the time.

Here's the problem:
When clicking, whether by pressing where pointing to click, or by pressing the lower left corner of the pad to click at the same time as pointing, the cursor would often move slightly, meaning that I would often have to try two or three times to click accurately if I was trying to click on something small. If you turn off scaling, 1920x1080 on a 13" screen means everything is pretty small...Usually these types of touchpads (I've used plenty) have a designated dead area near the bottom that you can use to left or right click without that touch being factored into the overall cursor motion. This did not appear to be the case and was not configurable. I tried to hunt down newer drivers, even trying some non-Acer drivers, but was unable to resolve this. Maybe I use the trackpad differently than others, I typically use two fingers, one to point and another to click.

The Apple touchpad/clickpad is smart enough not to use a second touch to change the location of the cursor allowing you to use a finger for clicking and holding without it moving the cursor. It does this without needing a dedicated click area. Also, the Apple touchpad features the ability to touch the pad with two fingers to right click at the current location, negating the need for a right click area. This touchpad does not have this feature.

Lack of F-keys. The laptop has no dedicated F-keys (F1, F2, F3, etc...). Instead it uses the number keys along with the Fn button. This is fine as long as you don't use these regularly (Alt+F4 for instance). I do use them regularly, so I found this annoying. I'd rather them be small than nonexistent. I assume these keys were done away with to make room for the S7's cooling, which is admittedly excellent.

Although relatively light, the laptop seemed heavy for it's size. I'm coming from a Vaio Z, so maybe the step up in weight from carbon fiber is noticeable to me where it wouldn't be to to others.

The power power on the laptop and the corresponding plug were tiny. I was afraid that it might get bent. The laptop gives off a quiet beep when the power is connected, which is nice, but the plug does not stay very securely. I suppose given the battery life, most users might unplug this laptop before using.

Cover and screen are fingerprint magnets. But I suppose that's to be expected of glass. It made me wish the screen wasn't a touch screen, so I would want to avoid touching it.

Bloatware. As is the norm on most laptops these days, Windows is chock full of Acer's "helpful" programs. Unfortunately, it's difficult to tell which programs actually serve some kind of purpose and which don't.

WiFi performance with the dual band Intel 7260 was initially AWFUL. That's to say 20% signal strength on this laptop next to my Vaio Z with the older Intel WiFi card at 90%. I was amazed to see this from an Intel WiFi card, which I normally find to be exemplary. I managed to dig up a new driver that was not yet available from Intel's site and was able to achieve normal WiFi performance.

Battery. Although battery life was great, the battery showed 5% wear after a week of usage! This is as shown by BatteryBar. Most of my laptops stay under 5% until well over a year of usage. The high wear right off the bat with a 5% loss in capacity was very concerning as to the quality of the battery in the S7.

Conclusion:

In the end, I wanted to love it, but the keyboard and the touchpad were too painful to use for an extended period of time and I ended up returning it. As always, Amazon returns and customer service are excellent.

Next on my list is the Asus Zenbook Infinity, which should have the higher-res screen the US-spec S7 lacks. Gorilla Glass 3 instead of 2 on the lid, and will ship with Windows 8.1, meaning they may already have worked out the 8.1 driver issues we're bound to see with laptops like the S7 that are released just months before 8.1 is released. Fingers crossed.

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Acer H236HL bid 23-Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor

Acer H236HL bid 23-Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor..

GET Acer H236HL bid 23-Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor By Acer

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39 of 40 people found the following review helpful.
2013 new monitor, bought for multiscreen, compare with ASUS
By Kelvin Wong
This is an initial review, I will update later with a more thorough review of the picture quality. I'm an engineer, so I'm technologically savvy and very picky, but not well versed in monitor picture quality metrics, so I will run some tests on a later date. I think it's important to state that I am planning to use this monitor for a multiscreen solution, so a thin bezel was a factor in my purchase. If you plan to line up more than one of these side by side, you would have noticed this model and perhaps the ASUS VN247H-P for their relatively thinner bezels. There isn't a whole lot of information out for these two monitors, because they both came out just this year about a month ago, so maybe you can take advantage of the research I did. When I bought this monitor the ASUS model had free shipping and a discount making it $20 cheaper, but at the time of writing that discount is gone and the monitor is actually $10 more compared to this one. I'm guessing because that monitor is very popular as well.

This monitor is amazingly sleek, imagine a 1.5 cm thick slice of glass and metal, and all the connectors barely protrude out the back. The packaging it came in was two slabs of styrofoam with seemingly not much space in between, where the monitor was sandwiched. I was surprised because this monitor is actually frameless, and that was not stated in the description, which is obviously great. A comparable model with a frameless design is the ASUS MX239H, also out recently, but that one retails for $230. I really think Acer outdid itself here, but their marketing is just not as ostentatious about their product as ASUS. Why do I say that? Besides the design of this monitor matching the $230 counterpart of ASUS, this monitor is IPS! while the earlier ASUS model I mentioned (now selling for $190) is only TN! AND the stand of that monitor has received complaints to be flimsy. Not here, this stand is solid and it is METAL, not plastic! A $700 monitor I bought a few years back from Samsung didn't even have this! I doubt the ASUS counterpart does either. This is in every way a $230+ product if I use ASUS as a benchmark, which of course is legitimate as ASUS is revered as the more reliable and quality brand. This is a steal.

Part of why I leaned towards the Acer because there is another reviewer, much better informed than myself regarding picture quality that reviewed about half a dozen of these screens, and gave ASUS a fairly low rating in general and said the one bright spot was another Acer he got. Regarding the IPS, I can have this screen dead perpendicular to my face and still make out the picture, it's that ridiculous. Not that you ever need to watch movies that way but if that's your thing, your time has come. IPS sells at a premium to TN so this is a great feature over the ASUS. On arrival, there are no stuck or dead pixels that I can see yet, I will check again more throughly later. One word of caution, although frameless, the screen is not borderless. Like the $230 ASUS model, the border just sits under the glass, I will update with the exact width later, but I'm guessing it's 1.5 cm. I think the fact that Acer is sort of an underdog to ASUS and has less marketing forces it to price its products more aggressively so this is definitely great value for a beautiful piece of hardware.

Another thing regarding Amazon, their customer service is phenomenal. The monitor was shipped to an old address of mine. My orders default to that address from 5 years ago, and presumably I did not click my new address or it did not register. Either way, when I called, Erin H from customer service did not give me any hassle, did not charge extra shipping, and actually shipped me another unit immediately! She even put in 2-day shipping! This is unreal. So they basically took the risk of losing or breaking that other monitor and just gave me a brand new different unit at no charge with faster shipping. The unit came the next day. I honestly cannot think of a way their service can be improved. I hope Erin gets a raise.

All in all, I'm glad I went through Amazon. My alternative was newegg, and nothing against them, I'm just saying Amazon is great. The monitor is spectacular. I will update later with some picture tests and metrics. I have not tweaked anything not downloaded any color drivers/enhancers as some ASUS monitor reviewers suggest as crucial for their models.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
Better than I expected! Love it!
By Chris
Pros:
-Gloss screen, seems like glass(good quality)
-Great Back lighting! more than enough....had to turn it down
-Interface to adjust things is EASY to use...learned it in 1-2min
-Best bezel I've ever seen on a monitor
seriously...i'm tired of seeing monitors with horrible flashy glossy bezels, this is how its done right
-the monitor's stand is GREAT and doesn't shake as much as other monitors....looks simple and gets the job done...i love it because it doesn't look flashy and plastic-y...its very elegant
-IPS panel, great viewing angles and color
-DVI INPUT
I'm listing that as a Pro because I'm starting to see monitors without DVI and only hdmi/VGA
-All cables included! including a vga cable....I feel sorry for you if you're using a vga cable, no offense.
-No dead pixel! yay!
-PRICE, very good for what you get (currently 180$)
-surround 3 Monitor Gaming? look no further, this is it.
btw i'm jealous if you are surround gaming with 3 of these Beauties.

Cons:
None, unless you dislike glossy screens
....or if you like TN panels better

Other thoughts:
-I bought this monitor because its a glossy monitor, why?, because I like my blacks not to be gray and text to be crystal clear.
-I always hear people complaining about gloss, they obviously don't care about color accuracy (I cant stand matte finishes personally)
-This monitor actually matches with my Corsair 650D pretty well.
-This panel is PERFECT for artists and photo editors.
-I feel that there needs to be more online reviews and pictures of this monitor online.
-This monitor seems to blow away all the other monitors at its price point currently.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Amazing picture quality
By user
I decided to purchase 3 of these glossy 1080p monitors instead of an apple cinema display. I'm so glad I did, not only are 3 of these monitors $400 cheaper, but you get so much more screen area for applications. Games seem to be much more realistic on this glossy screen than the matte screen that I used to have of the same size, its harder to see the pixels, and the colors pop off the screen. Don't rate this product low because the image doesn't go all the way to the edge of the monitor, you should already know that before you buy it. I can say that these are still better for multi-screen gaming and multitasking than almost all other monitors I've looked at because even thought the image doesn't go all the way to the edge, it's still very close to the edge. The fake brushed aluminum (plastic) base and bottom frame looks great, you get the look of brushed aluminum, but without fingerprints. I recommend this monitor to everyone, its just perfect. The only bad thing about this monitor would be that it doesn't have mounting holes on the back, but again, you should know this prior to buying. It has VGA, DVI, and HDMI connections. And I must say, the first game I played on this monitor was Crysis 1 maxed settings, and WOW, it was like a different game compared to my old matte 23" 1080p screen, just amazing with glossy finish. I also wish the power button on the lower right corner was placed right under the acer logo on the center of the frame not only making it easier to locate, but being right where the support arm is, the monitor will remain completly still when being turned on or off. The acer logo looks great too, cant really see it without looking hard, its black and blends in well with the frame.

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Acer C720P Chromebook (11.6-Inch Touchscreen, 2GB) Moonstone White

Acer C720P Chromebook (11.6-Inch Touchscreen, 2GB) Moonstone White..

Grab Now Acer C720P Chromebook (11.6-Inch Touchscreen, 2GB) Moonstone White By Acer

Most helpful customer reviews

317 of 331 people found the following review helpful.
Chromebook the Third
By A. Dent
Acer's C720p is our third Chromebook (large family) and it follows Samsung's, purchased a little over one year ago and HP's Chromebook 11 a couple of months ago. We are very happy with all three and we're likely to purchase more so, let me start by answering the obvious question (see next paragraph).

WHY A CHROMEBOOK?

There's so much to say here but let me make a quick summary. And never forget that we are talking about an 'under 300' device here because, yes, anything that costs 3˕ 4˕ 5 times as much should do better most of the time.

˕ If counting 'hours' and excluding 'work hours', Chromebooks are our most used computers and by 'computer' I mean PCs, laptops and tablets.
˕ Malware, spyware, adware˕ free. Since nothing is manually 'installed' on the Chromebook, I can't see how one would ever be infected. I am now actually turning on and using a Chromebook to open suspicious emails or click on dubious URLs that I'd rather not touch from a laptop or PC.
˕ Chromium happens to be one of the safest OS. I don't know if this is common knowledge but Google is constantly challenging hackers to crack it. And, as far as I know, Chromium wasn't cracked yet.
˕ Easy to share among any number of users without any concerns for compromising privacy. If you have a Google account you simply sign in and you are going to be within your own, personal environment, including Chrome extensions, shortcuts and so forth.
˕ Constantly updated and upgraded. Google updates Chromium every few weeks and I found my Chromebook actually getting better all the time rather than getting slower and slower and gradually falling into obsolescence.
˕ Nearly maintenance free. Whenever I don't use a tablet or even a laptop for a while they tend to get very busy for a few minutes or longer once I turn them back on. Tablets, especially, are almost impossible to use until all those dozens of updates/upgrades download and install. Not the case for Chromebooks. Whatever upgrades may take place out in the clouds they don't hit my Chromebook. Whenever I call up an app, I get it in its latest version.
˕ The attached keyboard helps a lot. Yes, you can pair a keyboard and even a mouse to a tablet but the Chromebook's keyboard is always there, it also negates the need of a stand or even some protecting case.
˕ Chromium is streamlined and efficiently focused where it matters, on the everyday uses most of us need a 'computer' most of the time.
˕ While you don't get the top of the line CPU on a $299 Chromebook, performance is much better than that same CPU on a traditional laptop because there's no need to constantly run virus scans, there is on disk fragmentation to deal with, among other things.
˕ No need to worry about backups and losing your data. Yes, keeping your important or very personal data in the cloud is not something that I do or I would advise anyone to do but 'everything else' should reside in the cloud just fine and the odds of that data ever being lost are quite small.
˕ Quite versatile. You can easily pair your Chromebook with Bluetooth (or dongled) mice, keyboards and speakers. And you can even use a remote desktop app to access a 'true' PC when you really need one. You can make phone calls and video calls and you can even play some games.
˕ Runs Ubuntu. I haven't tried it yet myself because... well... I have Ubuntu running on a PC already but if you Google Chromebook Ubuntu or Chromebook Linux you will get a few posts that explain exactly how it's done.
˕ Works offline too. Yes, it's not a laptop but there are apps that work well offline and if you don't trust Google's cloud you can access your own local NAS at least for viewing docs, PowerPoint slides or playing videos. There must be a way to save edited docs in your own cloud rather than Google's but I didn't spend much time trying to figure it out yet.
˕ Relatively low prince, 11.6" display and light weight seem to be just about right for something that typically you'd be using to browse the Web while watching TV or take to and from school.

WHY NOT A CHROMEBOOK?

Yes, Chromebooks can't do everything. Google's productivity suites notwithstanding, they are mainly and they are best at media consumption rather than production. Nobody should buy a Chromebook and expect to be able to edit video or perform some heavy word processing or do some hard˕ core gaming even though you CAN do them, it's just that you can do them better on a PC or laptop or tablet. My experience is that a Chromebook can't do 'everything'. Tablets are more portable, PCs and laptops are more powerful but, to me, my Chromebook is the most fun to use device and it's likely to stay this way. I am not going to call it my 'second' or 'third' or 'first' computer but, objectively, it's the one I most use outside business hours if what we measure is 'hours'. Chromebooks, now that we have three of them around are what our kids prefer for their school˕ related activity and most of their entertainment, when not playing games.

ACER's C720p

Haven't spent a lot of time with the 720p but, and not surprisingly so, it's all very familiar because this is our third Chromebook. The 720p is not 'exactly like' HPs or Samsung's but it's easily recognizable as a Chromebook and that's a good thing.

There are many common features between our three Chromebooks but there are quite a few important differences so here's what it's probably worth to mention:

˕ Touch, of course. I didn't spend a lot of time with the much more expensive Pixel but the C720p does what I expected. It's not an iPad or a Nexus 7 when it comes to responsiveness but it's quite decent and it's good to have options.
˕ The LED 1366 x 768p HD display resolution is no different from the other Chromebooks and I would say it's somewhere in between HPs (better) and Samsung's. But the differences are minor.
˕ USB 3.0, USB 2.0 and HDMI ports plus the SD card slot make the C720p a relatively easy to connect device, especially when compared to HPs.
˕ Intel Celeron 2955U processor with (only) 2GB of DDR3 RAM makes it the fastest Chromebook. I suspect that a 4GB model is going to be available soon but even with 2GB it still feels fine.
˕ Decent speakers. Quite impressive, in fact for their size.
˕ Great keyboard, as far as the chicklets keyboards come. I prefer it to the others but keyboards can be such a personal thing. It's the typical Chromebook layout and the key travel is good. As a touch typist it took me little time to get used to it.
˕ Good battery life. They promise 7˕ 8 hours. I don't know how realistic that may be but at 75% brightness ours ran for almost six ours after a full charge.
˕ Same freebies Google: 100GB in the clouds for 2 years being the most attractive.

RATING

I am not going to compare Acer's Chromebook with the Pixel or some top of the line laptop. I noticed that many 'pro' reviewers are complaining because the 200˕ 300 dollar Chromebooks are not 'high end' and aren't as nice as the Pixel and such. Well... did anyone check the prices? So, yes, let me make a 'duh' statement: this Chromebook is not as good as devices that sell for 3 times or 4 times as much so anyone who doesn't mind paying more should pay more and get one of those. Even though... look at some reasons above for why one may prefer a Chromebook to a laptop or a tablet, regardless of price.

Acer's device is at least as good and in some way better than my now one year old, often used and much trusted Samsung and, while not as pretty, it seems to be speedier and definitely much better connected than HPs. The price difference can be justified by the touch capability which is nice to know it's there.

Chromebooks and the C720p are not for everyone and they are not a universal computing device but, if used for what they are meant to be used, they are as good and as a revolutionary device as tablets.

129 of 133 people found the following review helpful.
Fast, Light, and Fun to Use
By George F. Rice
My wife pre-ordered the C720P as my Christmas gift, but we couldn't wait to exchange our "big" gift - after 27 years, we understand each other well. :-D So when the box arrived last night (delayed 3 excruciating days by the recent ice storm), I became a brand new Chromebook owner.

Opening the box revealed the Chromebook, power supply brick, standard PC power cable, and a "getting started" sheet. Getting started is trivial - plug it in (though it was 79% charged on arrival), pick a language, login to Google, and (optionally) follow a brief but informative tour. I've used the Chrome browser on Windows and Ubuntu desktops and my Nexus 4, so I'm already somewhat invested in the Chrome ecosystem. As a result, I felt right at home - all of my Google services and apps I had installed via the Chrome browser were ready to use, and a familiar Chromecast icon pre-connected my Chromebook to our TV.

ChromeOS feels quite natural if you've used Windows 7 - a "grid" icon in the lower left yields a start menu with your Chrome apps, with quick-launch icons and underlined active programs shown to its right. My grid has several pages, since I had already selected apps via my Chrome browsers on other machines - I instinctively swiped through the pages exactly as I would on a tablet. The lower right of the screen shows the time, volume, wifi strength, battery status, and the current user's picture (I snapped a new one with the webcam on my first login, but all that grey hair caused me to switch back to my younger self instead).

Touch interaction is so natural that my daughter, watching setup over my shoulder, asked, "So, does the touchscreen work?" I pointed out that I hadn't used the trackpad yet - all of my interaction had been touching the screen or typing. Tablets have changed the way we interact with computers of all types, so it's a huge win to have responsive and natural touch on such an inexpensive laptop. And it's really cool to go back a page in the browser just by swiping from left to right - I'll be trying this on my non-touch desktops with increasing frustration, I just just know it.

The keyboard works extremely well. I'm an 82 wpm touch typist, and have had no trouble at all whipping out this review. The layout is similar enough to a standard PC that I adapted without effort. The standard function key row uses iconography for browser, screen, and volume control and a power switch, and there's no Windows key (of course) or Delete (I use Alt-Backspace). But typing is quick and easy, and far faster for me than on my iPad, even with its optional tabletop physical keyboard.

I'm strongly biased toward over-buying RAM, so the 2 GB on this device worried me a little. However, I've had a dozen tabs open with no performance hit at all, and I loaded the Amiga 500 emulator in a Chrome browser window with very similar performance to my 16 GB quad-core Ubuntu workstation. As with most light laptops, the RAM is not expandable, so I'm relieved.

ChromeOS on this laptop is *very* fast, with a light and breezy feeling that I quite enjoy. The app store is gratifyingly large - not Android large, but enough that I haven't failed to find anything that I have needed yet. If you have an old specialty Windows program on which you depend, you'll want a more expensive Windows laptop, but otherwise, I don't think you'll have a problem finding what you want, and will be able to window shop (Chrome shop?) for many happy hours. Over a billion apps served, and the newer apps work off-line (though I have not yet tested this).

Although I've only used it for one evening, I'm exceptionally pleased with this product. My son (a senior in Computer Science) used the non-touch C720 model for his classwork last semester, running Ubuntu and ChromeOS simultaneously, and he recommended the C720P to me when I began considering a new laptop. I'm happy to recommend it to you.

UPDATE: After 4 days, I've learned a bit more. The battery lasts for about 2 days of fairly heavy and somewhat intermittent use, around 9 hours total. Wifi is rock solid, and interaction with our Chromecast is reliable and seamless. I have 18 tabs open right now, including 3 Drive documents, Gmail, Angry Birds, and the App Store, and it's just as responsive as when I first turned it on. Pinch-to-zoom works fine in apps such as Maps, but it does NOT zoom on a normal web page - I use Ctrl-+ for that. The new off-line apps worked fine when I intentionally took it out of wifi range.

The Chromebook has a large number of keyboard shortcuts, by the way - you can press Ctrl-Alt-? to bring up an on-screen "cheat sheet" keyboard overlay, then press various combinations of Ctrl, Alt, and Shift to see what each shortcut does. Pressing Esc closes the overlay and gets you back to work or play.

Still learning, and still having a blast!

120 of 129 people found the following review helpful.
A GREAT PORTABLE COMPUTER DEVICE AT A GREAT PRICE!
By drkcope
I have an Acer C720P ($299) and an Acer C720 ($199) and both are amazing machines. If you dont mind plunking down the extra $100 for the touchscreen then go for it but really you will do fine without it and save yourself $100 especially if you are buying these as gifts like I did for others in my family.

Here is a list of the APPS I use on both and it runs them fast and flawlessly:
Facebook, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Chrome Remote Desktop (flawlessly connects to my Windows 7 laptop and I can run any windows program remotely with ease), LogMeIn (flawlessly connects to my Office Desktop and I can access all my office records which is key since i am a family doc), Google Cloud Print (easily prints documents to all the printers i have set up), MyBible, Kindle, Twitter, Hootsuite, Weatherbug, Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, Google+ photos (automatically puts all my photos taken on my Iphone over to my chromebook), RUNS ALL WEBSITES INCLUDING BANKING WEBSITES and my mobile hospital app FLAWLESSLY WITH CHROME (including adobe flash player sites which my Ipad and Iphone still wont run)

The only CONS i can find so far is no SKYPE app.....If you want to do video calls then need to use GOOGLE HANGOUTS which is much less intuitive than skype....and you CANNOT hook a printer directly to a chromebook but you can use google cloud print to print easily...needs wifi connection to do most things (this is really not a problem for me as i am always connected and they have developed a number of apps that work when not connected including document writer and email offline)

Battery Life Amazing! almost 8hrs of use!
Touchscreen good but not like an Ipad (can't use your fingers to zoom in with pinch)
Touchpad very good! (and really dont need the touchscreen because touchpad works so well)
Keyboard very solid,
Can use any wireless mouse with it. (Ipad still cant utilize a mouse)
Screen brightness great.
Sound adequate but a bit tinny
USB port which can use flash drives to move and transfer files (another thing I still cant do with my Ipad)
2 years free of 100GB Google Drive (this saves you $120 right there)
12 free wifi passes while on planes (i dont fly much but still a nice convenience and saves you the $10 or so connection fee)
Free virus protection

All in all a great economical way to access the internet with ease and lightning speed and do 95% of what most people use a personal computer for this day and age.

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