Acer - Aspire R 15 2-in-1 15.6" Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive - Steel gray

After using this laptop for a full week, I've decided to use it as my go-to Windows laptop for traveling and productivity. It's a great size and is packed with great features for its price. However, in order for it to meet my needs, I had to do a bit of tweaking. Here's my take. GOOD: - Nice design. With its brushed metal finish and thin form factor, this is a premium-looking laptop that will stand out alongside others in this price range. - Generous selection of ports. There are 3 USB ports, a USB 3.1 port, HDMI, and an SD card slot. This should be more than enough for most users. - Good performance. With an i5 processor and 8GB of RAM, there should be enough power here for any home or office scenario. Gamers and graphic designers should look elsewhere. - Gorgeous screen. It's an IPS panel, so viewing angles are great and colors are rich. There a bit of light bleed around the edges, but it's only noticeable on pure-black screens. - 2-in-1 functionality is nice. The screen flips back seamlessly and the touch screen is very responsive. COULD BE BETTER: - Battery life. I struggle to get much more than 5 hours on a single charge. - Loud fan. Seems to kick on a little too frequently for my tastes. When you flip the laptop into tablet mode, the fan makes an audible clicking sound when the keyboard is upside down. - Cramped keyboard. It's nice that a number pad is included on the right side, but it seems to have made all of the other keys a little too narrow. It's certainly usable, but it's not the most comfortable laptop keyboard. - Awkward positioning of power and volume buttons. They're on the right side of the laptop and are rather hard to press. - The base is a little wobbly when the screen is tilted too far back. The left-hand corner in particluar doesn't seem to stay flush against a desk after the screen reaches a certain angle. BAD: - Tons of bloatware is included by default, such as McAfee and silly games that want you to pay for the full versions. Acer's "cloud" software is also included, and you'll be pestered to sign up for an Acer account as soon as you start the computer. Just ignore and uninstall all of this software. - The hard drive is a sluggish 5,400-rpm mechanical drive, and it really struggles to keep up with most tasks. Maybe I'm jaded by my other laptop with a solid state drive (SSD), but I simply couldn't handle the slow drive included with this laptop. The first thing I did was pop off the bottom cover and replace the hard drive with an SSD. OVERALL This is a great laptop for the price, but it needs a few tweaks if you want to turn it into a real workhorse. The first thing any buyer should do is replace the mechanical hard drive with an SSD and reinstall a clean copy of Windows 10 without the Acer bloatware. Once that's done, you're left with a sleek-looking laptop with ample power and versatility. Just be aware of the odd quirks such as a cramped keyboard, average battery life, and fan noise.

Starting off with the packaging it is well protected without going overboard. There are separate areas for the laptop, and other parts to keep it from getting scratched. In the box is a charger and cable, a quick start guide, and of course the laptop with a nice protective sleeve to keep it from getting scratched or damaged while its in the box. When I opened it I was surprised at how great the metal finish is. It really looks sharp. When I got it plugged in it was almost fully charged already which was nice. I went through the normal set up for Windows 10. And connected to my Wifi router and was ready to go. The laptop has both 2.4 and 5ghz bands which is the first laptop I've had that had the 5ghz which is nice. There are so many other electronics in the house that use 2.4ghz, so its nice to be able to switch over to 5ghz if necessary. It also has 4 USB ports (Two 3.0, One 2.0, and One Type C), 8gb of Ram (no need to add ram), a 3220mah Battery, Intel i5-6200U processor, and a 15” 1080p Multi Touch Screen. And of course it has a 360 degree screen so you can flip it over and use it like a tablet if you wanted. One thing to note is that this laptop does not have an optical drive. But I stopped using that on my other laptop years ago so its not missed. And if there ever was a need for one there are plenty of external ones out there. It also does not have an Ethernet port, but the Wifi is solid and fast enough that it doesn't need one. But with this as well if you need Ethernet there are plenty of USB Ethernet adapters available if you want to go with a wired connection. I've had quite a few laptops, and use them as my main PC. But this is my first touch screen laptop I've had and its great. It is replacing another Acer laptop I have which is a 17” ES1-711. And this new laptop outperforms the lower spec ES1-711 in every way other than screen size. The laptop is also beautiful, easily the nicest laptop I have ever had. The brushed metal gives it a sleek look that also should help if it was ever dropped. The first thing I noticed when I got it booted up was just how much better the screen looked. This is also my first 1080p laptop. The text and images are crystal clear. It is very fast opening and closing programs, with no lag. The touch screen is very responsive and I had no issues where I needed to tap several times to get it to register the touch. The Wifi performance is great as well. I'm not sure what Acer did to improve wireless performance but it definitely helped. In conclusion I am very happy with this laptop and it will be my main PC for years to come. If you are looking for a great performing and sharp looking laptop this is a great choice. The Silver look and Intel Core i5 processor combine for the nicest laptop I have ever had, and a great choice for anyone shopping for a laptop.

Acer - Aspire R 15 2-in-1 15.6 Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive What am I reviewing? An Acer Aspire R 15 R5-571T-59DC - Flip design - Core i5 6200U / 2.3 GHz - Win 10 Home 64-bit - 8 GB RAM - 1 TB HDD - no ODD - 15.6 IPS touchscreen 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) - HD Graphics 520 - 802.11ac - steel gray. Useful features beyond those in the above description: Glossy Screen; Weighs 4.5 lbs.; 4 USB Ports (3 are 3.0); HDMI out; built-in SD media reader; built-in Dual-Band Wireless; back-lit keyboard; headphone/microphone combo-jack; web-cam with mics. [Confession: I’m mostly a Mac Person. Yeah. I like my computing easy, minimal drama, and compatible with my other tech tools. Considering my personal bias, this review could be a bit unfair to the Acer, but you decide if it is.] Summary: I rather enjoyed this nicely featured 2-in-1 laptop. It does nifty tricks that make computing fun. I’ve included some pictures to illustrate some of these features. I love the dual nature of the Acer. If you use a tablet a lot, you sometimes find yourself reaching over to tap a video PLAY button, or to drag a table across the screen. Son-of-a-gun, but, it actually works on the Acer laptop. Or, on those occasions when I want to set the computer where a vertical table can be displayed . . . vertically, it’s easy enough to accomplish. In fact, the Acer Aspire has a full suite of tablet features that allow you to rotate it fully while keeping a properly oriented screen image. The pop-up keyboard substitutes for the real keyboard when that is useful, or drag it out of the way. A simple test of finger drawing on the screen was successful. This Acer Aspire is not as light as a simple tablet, but it will run circles around them all with its computing capability. This laptop has a very bright, very colorful, highly detailed screen that invites long-term use. The high gloss screen finish may influence your setup, ‘cause it’s reflective. But, I’m drawn to the crisp and colorful images for my photo editing and simply orient the screen away from windows. I’m not equipped to test speed, but everything snapped open, scrolled without hesitation, or presented videos as expected. Opening multiple screens had no impact on performance for this music playing, photo editing, spreadsheet making, email and web browser user. The Acer laptop computer was always stable and unperturbed by my demands Photo or music collectors are probably going to want to add a DVD/CD player, but they’re cheap. Sure, Acer could have included a DVD player, but why? You’re not getting software that way anymore and much of your music and movies are also downloaded. You’re not going to need to buy an SD reader (included), and you’re not going to run out of input ports, with such an impressive number included. You won’t need to add a keyboard. I love the way the back-lit keyboard comes awake as soon as I touch it, and it has a nice typist’s feel. And, it has a full sized number pad, on the right where you’d look for it. In fact, the entire computer has an extremely high quality feel and finish — it seems like it’s carved out of a block of aluminum. It comes across as a premium piece of technology in every way. Very nice computer that appears to offer quite a lot of value. Other stuff: I didn’t test battery life, because I leave my laptops plugged in. I’m not a heavy-duty game player, so you’ll need to read other reviews for some other observations about game support. One annoyance: the power button sticks out on the right side, making it easy to shut down the laptop if you try setting it on that side for vertical display (a rather rare occurrence). The plug sticks out of the left side meaning you’ll be unplugging it to set it on that side. (again. probably a rare occurrence). This is a very nice computer that appears to offer quite a lot of value. I can’t imagine not checking out the Acer Aspire R15 at the store if you really need a full featured laptop but are also tempted by tablets.

Where do I even begin? This device has so many great features that I fear I won't be able to mention them all. I'll start with the looks. The brushed metal finish looks amazing! It is also nice to touch. I personally think this laptop looks and feels like a premium, sturdy device. The screen flips a full 360° from regular laptop mode, to tent mode, to presentation mode and all the way to tablet mode. It is very versatile! It has a backlight under the keyboard so seeing the keys in low light condition is a breeze. The keyboard also has a full number pad too! The high definition touchscreen works flawlessly and seems to be completely accurate. I watched high definition video footage and I was amazed at the clarity! This laptop has an Intel Core i5 processor and 1 TB of storage space. It is PLENTY fast enough to handle lots of tasks all at once. It comes preloaded with windows 10 software as well. One of the features I was most amazed with is the battery life! This battery far exceeds any other battery in laptops I have purchased in the past. The dolby speakers sound awesome too! The screen has a webcam built into it however i typically do not use one so i never found the opportunity to test it out. It does NOT come with a disc drive however that is really not needed anymore and it is certainly not a deal breaker in my opinion. If you see this device in a store and think it is a premium device, that's because it is! Buy it! You won't regret it!

This laptop would be a great travel companion. Screen can be folded all the way to the back making this laptop a big tablet, Windows recognizes it as a "tablet mode" and adjusts the interface so that's easy to use that way. Tablet mode is a great idea if your space is limited such as a car or an airplane. That is if you don't mind wiping your fingerprints off the screen later. Overall construction is very nice and solid, aluminum top cover and plastic bottom make it easy to hold and it does not get real hot to the touch while working. Bottom is fairly easy to take off (philips screwdriver and plastic prying tools needed) allowing access to the single memory slot and a hard drive (watch for hard drive - it will fall off when bottom cover is off). Laptop has a good selection of ports (including HDMI, 2x USB 3 and a USB-C!) making it easy to connect to the accessories you need. Hardware volume control paddle is located on the right side of the laptop almost next to the power switch - I actually send laptop to sleep couple of times while trying to adjust the speaker volume, so be careful. Screen resolution is a full 1920x1080 HD but the space under the screen (where the Acer logo is) feels unused - I wish Acer did extend the screen to the bottom a bit more. From the beginning - my laptop had a very noticeable green tint to the screen which I had to correct using the Windows color calibration tool - no issues after that. Keyboard and the touchpad are functional and easy to use, keyboard is backlit (either on or off, no brightness adjustment). Battery - I was able to use laptop for 4 full hours watching videos, surfing web and working on the documents before battery fully drained, it took it 3 hours to charge back to 100%. Included 45W power adapter is surprisingly small and easy to pack, supports any voltage from 100 to 240 so overseas travel is not a problem! Performance - I did not notice any delays while working with the big office documents, 8 Gb RAM (upgradeable to 12Gb) and i5 CPU have more than enough for any office tasks, however I would recommend upgrading to SSD if you require a lot of disk activity. Overall - great laptop for those who work on the go and need a good selection of ports at the workplace, strong performer!

I received this laptop yesterday and I love it. The design of this laptop is a really nice gray steel matte finish that feels smooth. The bottom of it has a little grip to it so it makes handling this bigger laptop no issue at all. The screen is 1080p and the colors are really vibrant and pop out. The keyboard is backlit and lights up as soon as you start typing. This makes it nice to see the keys in darker areas. Another thing I really like about the keyboard is the number pad on the side. I'm a frequent user of the number pad, so it's not wasted space to me on the laptop. Setup for this laptop is easy if you already have a Microsoft Live account and only takes a few minutes. Setup might take longer if you need to register for an account. You will be asked to connect to your Wi-Fi and just a few more short steps then you're ready to go. It didn't take me long to get to the desktop and I was able to download some apps with ease, get my Xbox Live account connected to the Xbox app and install other apps. I highly encourage that once you get to the desktop that you run Windows Updates first, since it might take a little bit for them to download. Now, onto an important part. How does the laptop work when you switch it to the tablet mode? First off, the hinges on this laptop are smooth and rotating into tablet mode is easy. When you switch to the tablet mode, you'll get a prompt asking if you want to use it in tablet mode. You have to tap Yes (and you can set this to remember it) and it can get funky when trying this out. Since you'll have the keyboard under your hands, you can end up hitting keys on the keyboard. Once I set this to remember my changes, I had no problem switching back and forth. When you switch back and forth, you'll see an image appear at the top of the screen indicating the tablet or the laptop. This is how you know it switched back. When in tablet mode, you can switch the orientation from landscape to portrait. It does take a few seconds for it to register and may not be as smooth as the stand-alone tablet you have at home. After a few seconds though, it works fine. The touch screen on this thing is very responsive and I am impressed. You don't have to press on icons very hard for it to register and scrolling with it is fast and fluent, just like a well rounded tablet. There is also a touch keyboard that you can bring up and use for this as well, if you don't feel like changing back to the laptop mode. The keyboard is also responsive and works well. Other features include a USB 3.1 reversible type-C connector, two USB 3.0 ports and one USB 2.0 port. There is also a built in SD card reader. This doesn't have a CD/DVD-ROM drive, which is fine, but if you still buy music CDs like me (I'm a musician), then you will have to hook up an external CD/DVD-ROM drive. This isn't a huge deal to me, since I own another computer that still has one built in that I mainly use for my music. There is also an HDMI port that you can use to hook up to a monitor or TV. If I had one complaint, it would at times be the trackpad. I found that lightly tapping it works better than clicking, but scrolling with it is very nice. You use two fingers and swipe up on the trackpad to scroll down and swipe down to scroll up. MacBook users will be very familiar with this, unless they changed this in their settings (and I'm sure you can as well). A minor complaint is that the hard drive isn't an SSD, but you get 1TB of storage and it still runs fast. Overall, this is a great laptop and if you're looking for one under $1000, I highly recommend this.

Love it! normally I'm sceptical about Acer products but this laptop hit the mark. The IPS screen delivers amazing picture clarity and color reproduction. The processor is super fast and has no issues with multitasking. I am able to play four HD movies simultaneously with absolutely no lag. The battery can easily last me a full day and the build quality is top notch. The only cons I have, which aren't really cons is that it's a little heavy but that can be expected with a 15-inch laptop. The power cable connector is a little small, leaving me worried that it might break and finally the hard drive is quiet and fast. However, I still wish it was an SSD. Overall I would buy this again.

This laptop proved it could relied on. Sleek design with the aluminum top cover, screen hinges allow it to be folded all the way until it touches the base - making laptop a big tablet. I did not like the idea of the tablet until I actually tried it - it worked nicely! Windows turned into the "tablet mode" which enables communication with just the touch screen way easier. Plastic bottom of the laptop does not get too hot during operation so I could hold it comfortable. Screen is a full HD - 1920x1080, however I would prefer if Acer makes it a little bit bigger, using the space at the bottom where Acer logo sits - it's like 2 inches of the black plastic under the screen wasted. Out of the box screen had a horrible green tint to it (white was actually green), but Windows color calibration function corrected it. Keyboard is backlit (no brightness adjustment though - it's either on or off) which makes it readable under any conditions. Laptop has a good selection of ports - headphones, HDMI, SD card reader, 1x USB 2.0, 2xUSB 3.0 and a USB-C (and charging port of course!), no Ethernet jack which is available as a USB accessory. WiFi performance - very strong, good signal reception, Windows was showing 866Mbit/s WiFi connection speed on my home network. Battery life - while Acer claims 8 hours - I've got about 4 hours of work with the 100% screen brightness, doing all kinds of stuff - web browsing, watching videos, document editing, etc. It took it 3 hours to charge the battery back up to 100%. Charger is rated 45W and it's surprisingly tiny - very nice size for travels! Performance - Intel i5 CPU and 8Gb RAM is enough for any kind of office job - huge excel spreadsheets, Word documents - I had no problem with. It felt like hard drive performance was the limiting factor - so if you do a lot of disc intensive work - opt in for an SSD drive. Upgradeability - back cover of the laptop could be taken off fairly easy with the philips screwdriver and a plastic tools to pry it - revealing one memory upgrade slot and a hard drive. Be careful - HDD will fall out when cover is off. This makes hard drive or memory upgrade pretty easy. RAM could be extended up to 12Gb. In short: Pros: great slim design, screen resolution, surprisingly useful tablet mode, upgradeability, performance, battery life, selection of ports, it has TPM on board for corporate security needs. Cons: screen needs color calibration, power button is real close to the hardware volume controls - it's easy to send it to sleep while trying to adjust speaker volume. Overall - very good business and travel companion! It's so nice to fold the keyboard back after work and just watch a movie on that big screen!