Acer R7 Review: Something Different
by Jarred Walton on August 15, 2013 12:45 AM ESTWe’re definitely late to the party when it comes to reviewing the Aspire R7, but it’s still an interesting design and we thought it was at least worth a look before we move on. And moving on we are: part of the reason why I wanted to look at the Aspire R7 is that we’ve also got the Aspire V7 in hand, and the review is nearly finished. The Aspire V7 is a far more traditional design, in that there’s no Ezel hinge and the keyboard and touchpad are in the usual places. The general aesthetic and industrial design however is very similar to the Aspire R7. What’s particularly impressive is that the V7 manages to pack more performance into a smaller chassis. But I’m getting ahead of myself; let’s first wrap up the review of the R7.
.jpg)
Acer's V7: Smaller and faster, and no Ezel hinge
I think over the last year we’ve definitely seen Acer begin to turn over a new leaf. Yes, we’ll still see budget-oriented value offerings out of the company, and the Acer Chromebook continues to be one of the best-selling laptops around – mostly because of its incredibly low price. However, the industrial design and willingness to take some risks with both the S7 and R7 give us renewed hope for the future. A continued focus on high quality displays and improved build quality coupled with a more traditional design is pretty much all we want. (And as we’ll see in the next few days, the Aspire V7 delivers exactly that.)
The other part of my conclusion is that I’m becoming increasingly convinced that Windows 8 is a serious misstep for Microsoft. I suppose we could say some of what they’ve done was almost required in order to try and compete in an increasingly crowded market, but when I look at the simplicity offered by Android and iOS and then look at the Jekyll and Hyde interface from Windows 8, I just don’t see this ending well. I feel that Windows RT needs to be its own platform, and forget about backwards compatibility. Meanwhile, Windows 8 takes the Windows RT interface and forces that on many desktop and notebook users that don’t want it, and while it’s backwards compatible with existing Windows applications, most existing Windows applications don’t play well with a touchscreen.
The good news is that with Windows 8 on desktops and notebooks, all I have to do is disable the Start Screen and ignore touchscreen interfaces and I get a similar experience overall to Windows 7, typically with faster boot times. And even if you do open or use a Metro app on occasion, it's not too difficult to do so with a mouse or touchpad (though it might be less than optimal). Going the other way isn't so easy, though, as desktop apps often don't work well at all without a mouse or touchpad. This is the problem that the Acer R7 faces, and unless/until Microsoft can fix things, at least personally I find the touchscreen to be mostly a gimmick that I don’t need – just like most of the Windows 8 apps. At least with the R7, the gigantic hybrid tablet functionality provides a use case for Windows 8 apps on a notebook, and you can continue to use the keyboard and touchpad for desktop apps.
If you’ve always wanted a 15.6-inch convertible tablet thingy, the Acer Aspire R7 might be exactly what you need. I can’t immediately think of any other competing systems, though perhaps I just haven’t looked hard enough. It’s a combination laptop/tablet/all-in-one, depending on how you want to use it, and if you’re willing to give it a bit of a chance it can function in any of those ways reasonably well. There are definitely better tablets, better laptops, and better all-in-ones, but the R7 is pretty much unique in the marketplace right now. I’d still say it’s not for me, even though I’ve enjoyed poking around at it off and on over the past month and a half, but the only real failures are the companies that refuse to innovate. I’ll definitely keep an eye on Acer to see what other interesting ideas they have to offer in the coming years.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
113 Comments
View All Comments
andrejg - Friday, August 16, 2013 - link
I think that you should divide Windows 8 criticism in two parts. One is metro and that one I can understand. The other one is the platform, kernel and everything beneath the UI, that is far better, faster, more optimized, smaller than any previous version of Windows.I did upgrade (in place over old install) my working horse (Core2duo E6400) to Windows 8 from windows 7, and it runs smoother and faster and it is an ancient HW. Also I run Windows 8 on my lattitude X2 with very slow Core 2 Duo SU9400 at 1,4Ghz and is much more fluid than Windows 7. I also upgraded my daughter's ancient HP with core2duo t5400 with 2Mb RAM and it shows...
So, i guess you'd also benefit from upgrading, and with maybe Classic shell installed one can hardly know, he's running also Metro. And I will not even go to the hyper-v capabilities of Windows 8...
JarredWalton - Friday, August 16, 2013 - link
I did mention in the article that the kernel improvements of Win8 are worthwhile and good, and it's mostly the mess that is Metro and Metro Apps (and the Store) that are my complaint.Braumin - Friday, August 16, 2013 - link
I'll throw this in here too. You, as a power user, don't like the Start Screen. That's great, lots of people as you said have the same complaint.I, as a power user, love the Start Screen. When I'm in the desktop, I find myself missing features that are only available on the Metro Side - mostly Contracts, which are freaking amazing.
However recently my grandparents needed a new computer. I took them shopping, and they bought an Asus all-in-one with a 23" touchscreen and Windows 8. Yes, it took a bit to teach them how to do things that they used to do in Windows XP, but they love the Start Screen. Everything they need is right there, and it's all pretty dead simple to use for someone who's not too computer savvy.
You may ask why they didn't just get a tablet, but they needed something that could do more.
snajk138 - Thursday, August 15, 2013 - link
How about you using the start button that's on every keyboard to start the search? And why would you need to look at the search bar when the cursor's there already? For me it is no different from Vista/7. I hit the start button on the keyboard, start to type what I'm looking for and get the results to the left or just hit enter when I've typed enough.If you're at all worried about efficiency you shouldn't be doing this kind of thing with a mouse anyway...
JarredWalton - Thursday, August 15, 2013 - link
That works great on a tablet too, doesn't it? How about this: type "Firewall" and see what you get. I can tell you of course: on Win7 if you hit Enter you get the advanced Firewall controls, which might not be what you wanted, but three items down is the normal Firewall option in the Control Panel. On Win8, do the same and you get "No apps match your search" (unless you have some non-standard app named Firewall...), so you arrow down twice to Settings (or click it in the top-right), and there's your Windows Firewall option. Which of course is a desktop mode window. Win 8.1 is supposed to improve this, sure, but it never should have been like this to begin with.themossie - Thursday, August 15, 2013 - link
yes! yes! yes! Making you go -back- to the top right.Efficiency is important... but usability is a must.
Braumin - Friday, August 16, 2013 - link
OK I just tried it. I hit Start, typed Firewall, and the first thing to come up was Windows Firewall.I'll agree that with Windows 8, they screwed up by changing the search into Files/Settings/Apps, but that's been corrected in Windows 8.1. I know this laptop you reviewed isn't on 8.1 yet, but I think you'll find that it corrects a lot of the issues with 8.
themossie - Thursday, August 15, 2013 - link
I just hit Ctrl+Esc :-) For power users, that's great. My relatives/friends don't use the start key at all, and my coworkers rarely do - most users don't use keyboard shortcuts AT ALL.On Windows 8 you often do need to look at the search bar. Why?
There are different kinds of search results (Files, Applications, Settings) below the search bar (Top Right/Middle)... and I often need to choose what to search.
ZeDestructor - Thursday, August 15, 2013 - link
Good point, but for me: On WinVista (or XP if you replaced the start menu with one of the numerous Vista start menu clones) and up:1. Hit (physical) start button and type first 3-4 letters blindly (oh look, I condensed 2 of you steps into a single, faster, more comfortable one! I'm gonna have myself one cookie :D)
2. Search results appear at top of start menu/screen
Note on 2: If you use a vertical-left taskbar layout in Win7, the results also appear at the top-left. It simply always appear at the top-left of the menu. Win8 having a fullscreen "start menu", it remains at the top left.
In addition, searching using few letters is so much easier since you have a ton of columns for programs to go side by side, and picking the correct one is easier because the hitboxes are about twice the size now (helps when your default sensitivity is 2400 dpi)
Over and above that, you can pin significantly more stuff to the start screen, which is useful for shortcuts you use once in a while, but not all the time.
althaz - Thursday, August 15, 2013 - link
Not a bad point (you must sit mighty close to your monitor though). I guess I never thought about it because I mostly use the windows key for launching the start screen (and the glance from right-hand-side search bar to left-hand-side results is how things are supposed to be designed, people's eyes are amazing at glancing to the left - you can see this in the design of a horde of things and is a key principle in modern design).