Acer Aspire AS1410-8414 11.6-Inch Sapphire Blue Laptop - 6 Hour Battery Life Reviewed by ‘57 Lone Star. (USA)
Satisfied Rating (10/10)

I’ve had this little machine for about 2-3 weeks now, and absolutely love it. This is my sixth laptop, and far and away the best for my needs. Let me preface this review by saying I only use my computer for very basic stuff: web browsing and email, storing photos, basic office functions (word processing and spreadsheets), and simple financial accounting (Quickbooks). However, we have several homes so it is important to me to be able to conveniently take my computer with me wherever we happen to be staying. I also use it extensively on long trips while riding in our truck. My boyfriend drives, and I while away the time surfing the web, responding to emails, staying in touch with my business, messing around on ebay, etc. We have Verizon wireless, which works beautifully for long, interstate trips, and the machine spends a lot of time on my lap. I don’t use it for gaming, watching movies, or running multiple applications simultaneously.

My previous laptop was an Everex Stepnote, which I grew to like a lot too. It was the first small screen (12.1″), fairly light (about 4.5 lbs.) machine I had owned, and I grew to love its portablility, especially given the amount we travel. I quickly adjusted to the smaller screen size, had no problem with the keyboard, and would still be using it except the start-up chip on the motherboard went bad, and since it was only a $500 laptop it wasn’t worth fixing.

Then I began my extensive search for a replacement (that model Stepnote is no longer made), and found it was harder than I thought. On one end of the spectrum were the netbooks. I liked that they were attractively priced, ran cool, and were super light and portable. However, I was concerned about the Atom processor running too slow. That processor may have been just fine for my needs, but it worried me (especially considering the time and effort to transfer programs and files to a new computer). I was also wary of no optical drive, and on at least some machines the battery life seemed rather limited.

On the other end of the spectrum were the ultraportable laptops. They seemed to do it all, but the big drawback for me was price. It quickly became evident that I would be way north of $1,000, and I just didn’t want to pay that much, especially when my previous machine worked great for less than half that amount.

Finally, after reading zillions of reviews, and scouring the web for information and recommendations, I came upon the Aspire 1410. It had a terrific price ($450), seemed to have a decent processor, adequate RAM (which is also easily and cheaply upgraded), and all the features I wanted except for the optical drive. In that regard, I simply resigned myself to buying an external drive (about $50) to use when I needed it, which is mostly just for loading software I have on CDs. To me, it was the perfect (and only) machine that sort of bridged the gap between inexpensive netbooks and very expensive ultraportables.

Now that I have it, I’m absolutely thrilled with my decision. The things I love about it are: very light, thin and portable, runs real cool, is virtually silent, has long battery life, very bright and clear screen, very comfortable keyboard with a great feel, very comfortable mouse arrangement, seems as fast or faster than any of my previous laptops (including one fairly high-end, $2,000 machine), and the “feel” (i.e., quality) is great as far as I’m concerned. I like it so much, I’m now happy that my Everex failed.

About the only drawbacks to this little computer from my standpoint are the lack of an optical drive (which has turned out to be no big deal) and faint, rather poor quality speakers. I’m sure there must be some way to include some decent speakers, or at least allow the volume to be turned up, and hope Acer will work on that aspect. However, everything else is so great on this little computer that I’m willing to overlook that and still give it five stars. I may experiment with earphones to see if that helps, but sound is not that important to me anyway so I’m not sure I will even bother.

I also note that this computer has a number of other nice features that other reviewers have commented on (such as HDMI out, a good webcam, etc.). I currently do not use any of those features, but they may be important to some users, so are worth mentioning.

All in all, I think Acer has a clear winner with the 1410. If you’re looking for something (as I was) to bridge the gap between netbooks and expensive ultraportables, I don’t think you could make a better choice than the Acer 1410.

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