I got brought the Acer Aspire two years ago as a birthday present and it has been a faithful friend ever since. Not once has it broken, internally or externally, and thats saying a lot considering the amount of times i've dropped it or knocked it off my desk. Its a compact and durable piece of kit with no flimbsy of breakable add ons.

It comes pre set up with the Windows 7 operating system so there is no need for any sort of installation from the get go, and it runs smooth as anything. The keyboard is as standard, the keys made of a strong plastic to withstand the force of anything below a hammer hitting it, and the mouse pad is sensitive without being too hard to control, as it is with other laptops.

Unfortunately the Aspire has a poor battery life, an hour tops, and can be pretty unreliable without the cable plugged in, so be warned when typing any important documents to save regularly. Also there are not really any built in extras such as a webcam or bluetooth which can be a bit of an annoyance at times. The built in speakers are small and really have to be on full volume to get a satisfactory sound from them.

Essentially the aspire is everything you need in a laptop and although it is missing a few modern innovations that some people may like or require, it is nevertheless and all round good buy.