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Let me paint a picture:My background is in purchasing, I am a research nerd. I used to spend in excess of 50 million a year for the largest retailer of its kind in my industry, I am obsessive when comparing details and am even more obsessed with getting every last ounce of value for my money. I am not the most tech savvy person you will ever meet, but I believe I am above average, and I also believe I am a realistic person with regards to my expectations. This is a fantastic laptop for the majority of people, I do not intend to do heavy gaming or run heavy/complex programs. This laptop is like the F-150 of laptops (sorry Chevy fans) , yes some people need an F-250 or even F-350 for towing/hauling, but for most people an F-150 is all they will ever need.

With that said, I spent about 20 working hours comparing over 400 laptops (nerd) from all major brands, and looked at over 300 deals(super nerd) offered on laptops by all major retailers on both black friday and cyber monday. I chose this laptop for $329 on cyber monday, and although it was only $20 off, versus others that were $200 or more off, this was still the most computer for the money.

Here is why to buy this laptop:
1) Newest Kaby Lake generation 7 Intel processor, low 15 watt usage and great speed for the price. Runs quiet and cool.

2) DDR4 ram, again the latest and greatest, also happens to be the cheapest ram available. Ram prices have an inverse relationship to normal consumer priced goods. Most things cost more when new, but because PC components become obsolete so quickly, when ram is first introduced this is the product being currently manufactured, which in turn means supply can easily exceed demand, which means lower prices. Once ram is no longer being actively manufactured the supply dries up and prices increase. Also ram can EASILY be added to this laptop, takes less than 5 minutes and costs exactly $24.99 for the best available, here is the link to the 4GB stick I added: https://www.amazon.com/Ballistix-16GBx2-PC4-19200-SODIMM-260-Pin/dp/B01DGOF6GE?th=1
***Additional note about ram, I chose to purchase an additional stick of 4gb rather than a 8gb or 16gb. There is a phenomenon known as “dual channel” with regards to ram, the concept is that if you have 2 like sticks of ram (they need to match in a few tech specs), in the exact same size, ie: 2 sticks of 4gb of ram, your pc will be able to access both sticks of ram at the same time. If you have 2 mismatched sticks, like a 4gb and an 8gb, then the pc will access only 1 at a time. Therefore after talking to a computer genius friend of mine and doing about an hours research on this specific application, my best guess is that the extra money on the 8gb stick of ram would be a waste, two 4gb sticks of dual channel ram will out perform a 4gb and 8gb stick together for most applications. Also please note that for 99% of users 8gb of ram total is plenty. My personal opinion of adding more than 8gb of ram to this specific laptop would be like putting the most expensive Z rated tires on your honda accord, yes the tires might be rated for 200mph, but will you ever utilize it? If you do want to have more than 8gb of ram total, I would recommend purchasing 2 identical sticks of 8gb or 16gb ram to utilize dual channel.

3) Full 1080 HD LED back lit (vs LCD) Screen, pretty much unheard of for this price. LED backlit biggest advantage is it uses less energy, thus better battery life. Also has a matte finish screen, I prefer the look of a glossy screen (good for a desktop in a controlled lighting environment), but because laptops travel with you to different places, you often times have reflection problems with a glossy screen.

4) Battery life, best battery life you can get for anywhere close to 3x the cost of this pc. Please know that 12 hours is in best case scenario, meaning lowest screen brightness, and NOT playing videos or games or other CPU intensive tasks. Based on my first week of use I feel comfortable planning on a solid 7 to 10 hours of normal use. Please note that the battery is not easily removed, as one reviewer put, “let your future self worry about that”. ****Note on battery, ACER has a specific process for breaking in your battery. If you do not follow it you WILL limit its potential. If you are too lazy to find the manual online here is my summary of what they say: Charge laptop to full (charge light turns to blue) before you ever turn it on. Then leave the laptop plugged in while the computer updates, it will not update and boot up the first time without being plugged in. As soon as updates are completed unplug the laptop and use the PC until the battery is almost dead. Then charge it to full and immediately unplug and discharge to near empty. Do this cycle a total of 3 times to condition your battery for its best longevity.

5) Back LIT keyboard, there is no other laptop back of $800 that offers a backlit keyboard that I could find. This means the keys light up when one is pushed, you will absolutely love this feature if you have never had it. Also the keys are crisp but very easy to use, I love them.

6) Easily upgrade-able. I will briefly touch on this, because other reviews have done a fine job of addressing it. Basically to turn this PC from great to ridiculously amazing do 2 things. The first is add ram (although mine operated for almost a week very well on the stock 4GB). The second is add a SSD or Solid State Hard Drive. To make a long story short the motherboard for this PC has 2 spots for a hard drive, the SATA and the m.2. The 1TB stock hard drive is installed on the sata slot. That means the m.2 slot is open. You can either purchase a traditional sata SSD and replace the existing hard drive, or purchase a m.2 SSD and have 2 hard drives. The latter is the option I chose, I am placing the operating system and programs on the SSD because it is much quicker, and I will place files (Photos, games, music, movies) on the stock drive. ***If you decide to pull the stock hard drive, you can purchase a usb case for it and turn it into an external hard drive that connects via usb cable.

7) Newest AC wifi technology for fastest speeds

8) All the other tech stuff you want like usb 3, hdmi, CD RW drive, blah blah blah.

9) Fit and finish is excellent. Speakers are also stupid good for this price range.

Reason’s to not buy:
1) You need more of a workhorse PC
2) You print money in your basement and don’t care about value
3) You don’t like Henry Fords philosophy of “you can have any color you like as long as it is black”, because this PC only comes in the 1 color.

Conclusion: Sometimes, and much more rarely than you would think, a manufacturer actually listens to customers and gives them everything they want at a great price. This laptop is a unicorn in the fact that it has ALL SOLID FEATURES, with 2 potentially weak spots for some users (ram and hard drive). But these are easily upgraded, and the truth is (regardless of what tech nerds might argue), 4gb of ram, and the included hard drive are more than adequate for the majority of users. The only real question you have to ask yourself is do you have the patience to wait, or will you pony up for 1 day shipping?

It’s a Great Laptop: Even Novices Like Myself Can Upgrade it (Explained)

I came into this laptop for the same reason most of you probably are; my budget is “as cheap as I can make it” while still having a functional Windows operating system (not a chromebook) for school related reasons. 350 dollars will buy you a keyboard with a number pad, a full 1080p display, 3 usbs, an hdmi output, and so on. The charging unit is L shaped which for the uninitiated, is a really good thing. Charging cords that are straight will stick straight out of your laptop which make them incredibly easy to catch onto a surface or bump with your hand which can damage the laptop or the cord, whereas L shaped chargers curve in to help prevent accidental tugs. It seems like a silly thing to talk about but you’d be surprised, especially with lower-end laptops, how problematic that can be when it isn’t L shaped (for that reason, I recommend staying away from Dell Inspirons and any other laptop like that).

For 350 dollars, the main value is in the display and for some, the full backbit keyboard which includes a number pad. This unit, of course, comes with a slow 1 tb HDD for storage which, while slow, is going to be far more than most users will need even if they’re downloading some games and HD movies. The 4 gigs of ram is serviceable. Some of you may wish to upgrade this computer but aren’t confident in your abilities so I’m here to say, it’s very simple and if I can do it, you can do it. So let’s get into it.

Upgrading the unit is very simple and if you search on youtube, you’ll find guides that show it.

Otherwise, I’ve tried to lay it out in my photos. On the back-end, there’s a large panel attached by 3 screws towards the front which you remove. I show in the photos where to place your finger under to peal the panel off. It’ll reveal the 4 gigs of RAM they’ve given you, an empty slot for you to upgrade, and what is called an M.2 slot. The M.2 slot is where you can install a second storage device in addition to the 1 tb of slow hdd that the computer comes with, and you’d be installing a fast SSD. These are empty slots so all you have to do is plug these things in, and you’re good to go.

Kingston Technology HyperX Impact 8GB 2133MHz DDR4 CL13 SODIMM Laptop Memory HX421S13IB/8 is the RAM I used to upgrade with. An additional 4 gigs should serve you well and will offer something called duel boot, which is what happens when you have two sticks of ram of the same size. If you were so inclined, you could pay for 8 gigs of ram to bring you to twelve, or buy two sticks of 4/8/16 and replace the stick they give you as the laptop can theoretically be taken up to 32. But don’t do that, honestly keep it simple and just buy an extra 4 gigs to bring yourself up to 8, or maybe 8 to bring yourself to 12 if you see yourself running many programs at once or are the type to have 50 tabs open. It’s important to match the MHz speed of 2133 and that card will do it. Anyways, you just buy the 4 or 8 gig card, plug it in as shown until it clicks in (see the video for more help) and you’re done. If you go into your computer information, you’ll see that you have more ram and you’ll be able to feel the difference. One final tip, if you aren’t in a rush, wait for something like cyber monday to get great deals.

Installing an ssd and moving your copy of windows onto it will be a world of difference in boot times. There are drives out there sized 128gb which can hold windows and that’ll get the job done for you, otherwise if you’re installing a lot of programs or games, you can buy 256gb, 500gb, they go up to 2 tb now which is insane. Again use your judgement for what you want, if you aren’t going to install large programs or games then a small one will suffice. Crucial MX300 275GB M.2 (2280) Internal Solid State Drive – CT275MX300SSD4 is what I went with, which is 256gb. I show how to install it in the pictures and youtube videos show it well. One thing I should stress is that as shown in my picture, you place it on the bolt where it should fit and then attach the screw over it. You may have to initialize the drive before you see and use it on your computer. After that, it’s a good idea to install all programs on that ssd drive and use your 1tb hdd for all your miscellaneous storage. It’s a bit of a process to move your copy of windows onto your ssd but a worthwhile one.

You can also upgrade the 1tb hhd but that seems excessive, and it can screw up the m.2. In summary, when it comes to upgrading, upgrading the ram should be your pick if you only do one as it’s cheap and will make a huge impact. Adding on an ssd is also simple. If you move windows and programs onto the ssd, and you upgrade your ram, you’ll have a real real nice laptop and it shouldn’t cost you more than 500 total. This laptop’s integrated graphics will limit it when it comes to playing modern, intensive games but the 7th generation i3 hold up strong and upgrading ram/ssd will improve that.

So hopefully this clears up some of the confusion when it comes to upgrading. This is a great budget laptop and it’s served me well for school. I’m a total novice when it comes to dealing with computer hardware and had to do a lot of reading to figure out how to upgrade this thing. The only real downside to this laptop, which is to be expected in the pricerange, is the integrated graphics card which limits its gaming possibilities but in reality, it makes much more sense to have a basic laptop and a dedicated gaming pc at home as you’ll get much more bang for your buck that way. I’m amazed by how much 350 can get you these days and can only dream about what laptop value shopping will be like 10 years from now. I strongly urge you to purchase this unit, even if you’re not going to screw around with upgrades, over spending the $1,500 Apple wants for their worst 13 inch laptop (they want 2,400 for their low-end 15 inch laptop.) Pocket the money and you could build yourself a fantastic gaming PC, or take the wife out to a nice meal, several meals, or invest in your 401k. Buying expensive laptops is a luxury with minimal value and you’d be better off spending it on other luxuries instead, as this is a new golden standard for laptops.