1/30/15
Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition re-evaluation
They're not a moment ago desktop replacements anymore. Acer's hottest gaming rig, the Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition (starting by the side of $1,099, $1,499 in the same way as configured) is svelte an adequate amount of to place in the sphere of a report bag, but powerful an adequate amount of to take the part of your favorite games. The 15.6-inch structure in addition gets bonus points meant for adding together a 4K show with plethora of multimedia software. However, squat battery life and an uncomfortable baby grand keeps the Nitro Black from rising in the sphere of the ranks.
Design
I'd like to think with the aim of the Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition is ridged meant for my pleasure. The lid, which has a black dull terminate, skin texture numerous vertical ridges with the aim of sound like a washboard whilst I run my fingernails across the get out. Innuendo aside, the Nitro is single of folks predictably considerable tackle you'll catch sitting in the sphere of superlative bad buy. It's not bad looking, but it doesn't standstill available, either. The company adds selected unthinking bling in the sphere of the form of a shiny silver chrome center and an Acer logo in the sphere of the focus of the lid.
The majority of the palm breather and baby grand deck are made of black dull soft-touch terminate. The baby grand sits in the sphere of its to some extent recessed deck by the side of the top of the deck, leaving a shaving of deep space meant for the slim power button and plethora of space meant for a fair and square hefty touchpad.
By the side of 4.8 pounds and measuring 15.3 x 10.1 x 0.8~0.9 inches, the Nitro Black is fair and square light meant for a mainstream gaming laptop, matching the HP premonition (4.8 pounds, 15.1 x 9.7 x 0.78 inches). It's much easier to manage than the bulky Lenovo Y70 converge (5.6 pounds, 15.2 x 10.4 x 0.9 inches), but nowhere in the vicinity of in the same way as light in the same way as the MSI GS60 Ghost (4.2 pounds, 15.4 x 10.5 x 0.78 inches).
Show
The Nitro Black is a part of the growing weapon of laptops with 4K displays, but this screen isn't in the same way as cheerful in the same way as it is colorful.
On the plus margin, the 15.6-inch, 3840 x 2160 panel offers broad viewing angles with solid color reproduction. Watching the 4K "Interstellar" promo, the sky blazed a brilliant blue despite a colossal billowy dust cloud. Matthew McConaughey's eyes were often the main spit of each site, adding together an intense contrast to his coffee, weathered skin. The panel showed inedible the meticulous indentations in the sphere of his spacesuit in the same way as well in the same way as the fine wrinkles and furrows crisscrossing his stand in front of.
Whilst tested meant for color reproduction, the Nitro Black bump 97.8 percent, elevated than the 83.9 percent kind be more or less and the Y70 converge (87 percent). It's lone to some extent underneath the HP premonition and the GS60 Ghost, both of which measured 98 percent.
However, ensign were far from accurate. On the Delta-E test, the Nitro Black jagged 10.5, which is far from the textbook 0 ideal and the kind be more or less of 6. The premonition was somewhat better by the side of 10.1, while the Y70 converge and GS60 scored 2.7 and 2.9, correspondingly.
The Nitro Black's show might come about super-high res, but it's not with the aim of cheerful. The laptop bump lone 212 nits on the light indicator, underneath the 253 mainstream be more or less. That's much brighter than the Y70 Touch's measly190 nits. However, it's barely a flicker compared with the premonition (269 nits) and the Ghost (299 nits).
Audio
Paired with Dolby's Digital Plus software, the V15 Nitro Black's speakers get by to blow the roof inedible nearly everyone laptops in the sphere of its burden period. The laptop measured a loud 97 decibels on our audio test, blowing onwards the 86 dB mainstream be more or less. The Y50-70 and GS60 Ghost obtained 88 and 84 dB, while the premonition delivered 78 dB.
Whilst I on track running around the massive humankind of Far Cry 4, my ears were bombarded with a disharmony of growls, screeches and grunts, courtesy of the rampant wildlife. The next of kin harmony and tranquil was crushed by the punchy faltering of gunfire and frantic drumbeats whilst I bare a nest of enemy soldiers. Whipping available my grenade launcher, a departing fleet erupted in the sphere of a weighty explosion.
However, the speakers were a lesser amount of impressive whilst listening to melody. In the same way as I listened to smudge Ronson's "Uptown temper," the percussion was quieter than I would allow preferred, making it cruel to distinguish it from the breather of the song.
Baby grand and Touchpad
Elementary, the talented things: The Nitro Black's baby grand is hefty with generous spacing, a complete amount pad and cheerful red backlighting. At present meant for the bad stuff. Fundamental actuation wasn't too shabby by the side of 55g, but the keys are stiff and allow very shallow travel by the side of 1.25 mm, which is underneath the acceptable range of 1.5-2 mm.
In the same way as a consequence, the overall typing experience was uncomfortable, with my fingers constantly bottoming available. Still, I managed to bump 60 lexis apiece meticulous on the Ten Thumbs Typing tutor, besting my usual 55 lexis apiece meticulous.
The 4.25 x 3-inch touchpad provided fast, smooth functionality, plus two-finger scroll and rotate in the same way as well in the same way as Windows 8.1 gestures. The substructure corners of the pad were adequate in the same way as sincere and gone click buttons despite their mushy criticism.
Cook
The Aspire V15 Nitro keeps its cool in everyday wastage but gets spicy on the substructure whilst in performance games. Next streaming a full-screen Hulu capture on tape meant for 15 minutes, the laptop's touchpad and undercarriage measured 74 and 87 degrees Fahrenheit, correspondingly. The deep space concerning the G and H keys was much hotter by the side of 97 degrees, which is a connect degrees beyond our 95 degree comfort threshold.
Things heated up considerably once upon a time I on track in performance Far Cry 4. Next 15 minutes, the touchpad rose to 91 degrees while the deep space concerning the G and H keys bump 98 degrees. The focus of the notebook's undercarriage jumped to a toasty 101 degrees.
Webcam
The laptop's 720p webcam does a solid duty of capturing color. Under headquarters lighting, my orange shirt gleamed and the red in the sphere of my co-worker's checked shirt popped. However, my skin tone looked washed available and the picture was complete of digital clatter. If you poverty added allocate meant for capture on tape chats or else podcasting, it would come about superlative to look elsewhere.
Ports
You'll catch a trio of USB 3.0 ports on the sincere margin of the notebook along with HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet and jacks meant for a headset and power.
There's a Kensington lock on the gone margin and a SD tag bookworm on the front sincere lip of the laptop.
Gaming and Graphics
Like nearly everyone other unimportant gaming notebooks I've reviewed recently, the Aspire V15 Nitro packs an Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M GPU with 2GB of VRAM, which is fine meant for in performance games by the side of 1080p. A moment ago don't expect smooth dogfight by the side of 4K.
Whilst I played Far Cry 4 by the side of 1080p on eminent, the Nitro Black Edition delivered 35 fps, which dropped to a stuttering 7 fps whilst I cranked the solution to 3840 x 2160. Attempts to decline the graphics quality didn't help pick up the position; middle lone lifted the frame rate to 12 fps while Low produced 15 fps.
In the BioShock large yardstick, the Nitro Black averaged 43 fps, beyond the kind be more or less of 35 fps. The Lenovo converge Y70 converge, MSI GS60 Ghost and HP premonition, which in addition allow a GTX 860M GPU, scored 35, 42, and 42 fps, correspondingly.
The Nitro Black worked up a sweat on the resource-taxing Metro: Carry on Light, but still delivered 70 fps by the side of 1080p on low, dusting the 53 fps be more or less. The premonition and the Y70 converge bump 66 and 63 fps, correspondingly, while the Ghost achieved 53 fps.
Near was a three-way strap whilst the settings were misused to eminent. The Nitro Black, the Y70 converge and the premonition obtained an unplayable 16 fps, while the Ghost was a only some frames behind by the side of 12 fps.
Added: Superlative Gaming Laptops
By the side of its native 3840 x 2160 on low, the Nitro Black jagged a framerate of 23 fps, underneath the Laptop Mag 30 fps playability threshold. However, that's a frame elevated than the Y70 converge (2160p), which matched the 22 fps kind be more or less.
Whilst the Nitro Black ran the 3DMark FireStrike Extreme, the laptop delivered 1,844, just about twice the 959 be more or less. With the aim of was an adequate amount of to beat both the Y70 converge (1,809) and the Ghost (1,301), but not the HP premonition (1,855).
The laptop is in addition outfitted with an Intel HD Graphics 4600 GPU meant for a lesser amount of graphic-taxing functions, such in the same way as bowdlerization papers or else watching capture on tape.
The Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition can grasp its own in the sphere of the gaming arena, but it's a moment ago in the same way as convincing in the sphere of overall performance, gratitude to a 2.5-GHz Intel mainstay i7-4710HQ workstation and 16GB of RAM. The laptop streamed a full-screen episode of The Awesomes while running a complete regularity look at with 10 initiate tabs in the sphere of Internet traveler, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox with no missing a beat.
The laptop kept back up the talented viewing on the Geekbench 3 overall performance test, scoring 12,843. The HP premonition, which in addition has the same CPU, bump 12,687, while the 2.4-GHz Intel mainstay i7-4700HQ-powered Lenovo Y70 converge and the MSI GS60 Ghost jagged 12,748 and 12,605, correspondingly.
On the box file turning over Test, the Nitro Black (256GB SSD with a 1TB 5,400-rpm cruel drive) lived up to its VIP with a turning over rate of 203.6 MBps, just about doubling the 109.2 MBps be more or less. With the aim of was added than an adequate amount of to cook the Ghost (128GB SSD with a 1TB 7,200-rpm cruel drive) and the Y70 converge (dual 128GB SSDs with a 1TB 5,400-rpm cruel drive), which bump 91 and 42 MBps, correspondingly. However, the Omen's 512GB SSD delivered a blistering 268 MBps.
In the OpenOffice worksheet Macro Test, the Nitro Black matched 20,000 names and addresses in the sphere of 3 minutes and 55 seconds. That's earlier than the 5:28 be more or less in the same way as well in the same way as the Y70 converge and the Ghost, which posted time of 3:59 and 4:00. The premonition was to some extent earlier by the side of 3:53.
Battery Test
Really, the Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition is portable, but you're not leaving to come about heartrending too far from an outlet. In the Laptop Mag Battery Test, in the sphere of which a notebook continuously surfs the a tangled web in excess of Wi-Fi by the side of 100 nits of brightness, the laptop lasted lone 2 hours and 48 minutes. That's well underneath the 6:30 mainstream be more or less.
The Lenovo Y70 converge fared somewhat better by the side of 3:40, while the HP premonition posted a measure of 4:06. However, the MSI GS60 Ghost lasted an even longer 4:53.
Software and Warranty
Despite targeting gamers, Acer stuffed the Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition to the gills with multimedia and productivity apps. Meant for fans of Google Docs, Acer has position at once a suite of cloud-based, bring-your-own-computer apps with the aim of syncs all your Microsoft headquarters apps across policy. AbDocs lets you access Word, Excel and PowerPoint library, while abFiles allows access to each box file on your notebook, plus ZIP on your cell device.
Acer has rebranded its multimedia take home.Fi apps, take home.Fi Photo and capture on tape into ab programs. The apps still aggregate all of your photos and videos, allowing access across policy.
Other Acer-branded software includes the diagnostic-focused custody pivot, Recovery Management and Power Management. The company in addition integrated Quick Access, which lets you toggle settings meant for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and net Sharing.
Third-party group apps include Fresh Paint, Zinio, Evernote converge, eBay, Booking.Com, Amazon, Flipboard, Hulu Plus, Accuweather.Com, subsequently put out, a magazine aggregator and Netflix. The laptop in addition skin texture Wild Tangent Games, which has a hefty directory of casual games. However, V15 Nitro shoppers willpower custody a lesser amount of.
The Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition comes with a one-year imperfect warranty.
Configurations
My re-evaluation division of the Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition ($1,499) has a 2.5-GHz Intel mainstay i7-4710HQ workstation with 16GB of RAM, 256GB SSD with a 1TB 5,400-rpm cruel drive, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M GPU with 2GB of VRAM and an Intel HD Graphics 4600 GPU.
The $1,099 pedestal perfect is configured with a 2.5-GHz Intel mainstay i7-4710HQ CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB 5,400-rpm cruel drive, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M GPU with 2GB of VRAM and an Intel HD Graphics 4600 GPU.
The Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition has a portion leaving meant for it. The $1,499 laptop offers solid overall performance and haste with surprisingly loud audio in the sphere of a considerable, if undistinguished, frame. You'll in addition urge respectable gaming performance, provided you're not in performance by the side of native solution. However, Acer packs in the sphere of far too much bloatware, and its battery life is too squat meant for a cell regularity.
I'd mention saving up and investing in the sphere of the MSI GS60 Ghost. By the side of $1,599, it has a lovely 1080p show, comfortable baby grand with longer battery life and comparable performance. However, the Nitro Black is talented preference meant for multimedia fans interested in the sphere of a 4K show.
1/29/15
Microsoft conclusively has an Outlook app with the aim of doesn't suck
Outlook Laptop battery users: The put off on behalf of a proper email app is in excess of. Microsoft rolled banned new to the job native Outlook apps on behalf of iOS and machine Thursday.
The new to the job apps are more or less repackaged versions of Acompli, the email app Microsoft acquired carry on time.
Acompli aimed to hard itself apart from other email clients by focusing on multitasking. The app integrated a built-in calendar and skin texture with the aim of made it easier to get hold of attachments and get in touch with in a row with no digging through your inbox — all of which relay in excess of to the new to the job Outlook-branded apps.
The apps additionally preserve support non-Microsoft email accounts, so Gmail and Yahoo users can persist to Laptop battery function the Outlook app — to the same degree of Thursday Acompli's iOS and machine apps yearn for redirect to Outlook.
Microsoft's new to the job Outlook app yearn for survive very familiar to folks who give used Acompli.
The new to the job apps yearn for survive long-awaited news to longtime Outlook users who until at present largely relied on either third-party email apps or else net apps. Previously, Microsoft technically had cell versions of Outlook through its Outlook net app, OWA, which was to be had to iPhone and a little machine users but it was far from ideal. The app was narrow to administrative center 365's sphere users so folks with outlook.Com or else individual accounts couldn't function the service and many found the user experience to survive not there.
"Let’s features it, OWA isn't even really an app," Acompli first in command Javier Soltero, who fixed Microsoft following the acquisition, wrote carry on time. "It’s a slow-loading Laptop battery net app wrapped in the sphere of native Chrome."
The new to the job Outlook app experience yearn for additionally relay in excess of to the touch-optimized version of Outlook on behalf of Windows 10. The new to the job Outlook app experience yearn for additionally relay in excess of to the touch-optimized version of Outlook on behalf of Windows 10. To the same degree with Microsoft's prior machine app releases, the at the outset version of Outlook on behalf of machine yearn for turn up with a "preview" label to the same degree Microsoft looks on behalf of criticism from users with dissimilar types of policy.
Speaking of "preview" apps,Laptop battery Microsoft is additionally removing the label from the machine tablet versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint apps, which were at the outset announced in the sphere of November. Like their iOS counterparts, the administrative center apps on behalf of machine are complimentary.
1/26/15
Acquire an Acer Aspire Switch 10 hybrid PC
It's a laptop. Rebuff it's a tablet! It's two, two, two computers in the sphere of single!
In the sphere of other lexis, it's a hybrid. And very often folks jacks-of-two-trades are a master of not any. Today's deal, however, appears to rate pretty well on both fronts.
In favor of a restricted occasion, and while food carry on, the Microsoft put in storage has the Acer Aspire Switch 10 SW5-012-12L7 Signature Edition in favor of $229 shipped. Regular fee: $349. Fee elsewhere: $299.
The aptly named Switch is a 10.1-inch Windows 8.1 logic with a screen with the aim of can pop complimentary from its baby grand, effectively shrugging inedible laptop duty in the sphere of bolster of tablet goodness.
This happens via a nifty magnetic "snap hinge" with the aim of allows in favor of four various demonstrate modes, something you typically see to it that with convertible systems, not hybrids. Good.
Other specs include an Atom workstation, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of solid-state luggage compartment, and a battery with the aim of ought to carry on you by the side of smallest amount 6 hours, by the side of smallest amount according to CNET's reconsider of the Switch 10. With the aim of reconsider praised the system's baby grand, touchpad and aforementioned versatility, but dinged its top-heavy design and restricted luggage compartment. You can add other via microSD or else USB, of curriculum, but I'm bummed to see to it that the baby grand has lone a single USB docks, and it's USB 2.0. Why, Acer, why?
Still, in favor of $229 dazed the exit, this is a pretty harmonious logic, especially in favor of someone who doesn't need a ton of power but does poverty a spacious tablet with a baby grand tie up. Plus, you acquire a one-year headquarters 365 individual subscription! (It says so real in the sphere of the class, even though there's a separate bad buy option with the aim of would seem to put it to somebody it overheads add-on.)
Opinion?
Bonus deal: Still haven't pulled the trigger on an Amazon Prime subscription? Your patience has paid inedible: Tomorrow lone, Amazon strength of character be present offering a 1-year Prime membership in favor of $72. (Remember, the deal kicks in the sphere of tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 24. Real at present it's recently the regular signup call.) Regular fee: $99. Regretful, current subscribers, this is in favor of newcomers lone. (Newcomers can in addition watch all 10 episodes of Amazon's newly feted run "Transparent," again tomorrow lone, even with no a subscription.)
The same as I've famous many time or else, Prime is all kinds of splendid, with perks plus complimentary 2-day shipping on near everything, an exclusive streaming deal with HBO and a growing store of Spotify-style streaming melody.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)