The Acer Aspire AS5742G-482G50Mnkk is a very affordable laptop that combines performance and graphics into a 15.6-inch laptop. This desktop replacement laptop has a good selection of hardware,including a 500GB hard drive.
The has a plastic chassis, with lid and palm rest panels imprinted with a decorative textured pattern. The texture provides a nice feel. The unit is quite thin, measuring only 1.3 inches at its thickest point, but the plastic construction results in a slightly wobbly screen.
Equipped with a 15.6-inch screen, the Acer Aspire AS5742G has a 1366-by-768 resolution, meaning you won't be able to view movies in full, 1080p HD—720p is still a fair trade. However, you can use the included HDMI port to hook it up to your HDTV to display content in 1080p.
The full-size, chiclet-style keyboard is complimented by a 10-key numeric pad, which adds some number crunching functionality. Unlike most chiclet-style keyboards, in which a distinct square button is used, Acer uses a floating wafer top design. The result is a keyboard that looks and feels great, but may have problems with dust accumulation and easily broken keys. The touchpad has a silky matte finish, which feels great under the fingertips.
The Acer Aspire AS5742G comes ewith a healthy selection of input and output ports. Connections include a VGA output, Ethernet port, HDMI output, microphone and headphone connections, a two-format card reader (SD and MMC), three USB ports, an 8x Super-multi DVD drive/burner, and a 1.3-megapixel webcam.
The Ethernet port on the left side of the laptop provides a wired networking connection. The connection is set further into the body of the laptop than the rest of the ports, nearly a centimeter into the chassis. In addition to this wired connection, there's also built-in 802.11B/G/N Wi-Fi.
The 2.66-GHz Intel Core i5-480M CPU proved to be a strong performer in processing tasks, scoring an impressive 6,151 in PCMark Vantage benchmark tests. Likewise, the AS5742G's Core i5 processor coupled with 4GB of DDR3 memory helped it earn top scores in our Handbrake (2 minutes 48 seconds), Cinebench R11.5 (2.26), and Photoshop CS5 (5:01) tests.
Instead of using Intel's inexpensive, integrated graphics, the AS5742G has a dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 540M graphics processor, which provides far better performance in 3D-oriented tests.
Because of its strong performance scores across the board, the Acer Aspire AS5742G is worth a look from anyone in the market for a laptop for $671.99 from laptopsretail.com/. If you're in the market for the latest and greatest features or jaw-dropping design, this unit is more than capable of handling all of your computing needs.
