Acer TravelMate's 5730G series (Acer Travelmate 5730-842G25N)

Member Name: Stefan V.

Product:	Acer Travelmate 5730-842G25N
Date:	22/06/09 (138 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Power at your fingertips

Disadvantages: Vista comes with a bundle of useless software

So, I've bought this laptop a few days ago and after getting away with the preinstalled vista and the huge number of little software included in the package I have to say it is one of the best devices I've came across.

Main advantages:
1: Core 2 Duo P8400, ranking a number 37 in notebookcheck's review ( which is pretty good, comparing with 5800 or the most common processor in this price range - the t4200).
2: Most of the models come with the HD 3470 which is a really good video card from ATI Radeon. I've installed a few games too, like F.E.A.R., Medal of Honor Airborne, Need for Speed Pro Street and they work really well on maximum details.
3: 320 gb from a western digital hard disk.
4: comfortable keyboard with a decent travel and sturdy build quality. I've came across lenovo's with really nasty keyboards that flexed in the middle. It's nice seeing that acer have made an effort with this issue.
5: Bright, crisp display.
6: Useful productivity keys
7: Built in camera works great and has a nice clear picture and near it there's a built in microphone which provides great sound quality.
8: HDMI port, eSata, 4 USBs, video out, an acer plug will give you decent connectivity without any hassle.
9: Fingerprint thingy is a nice gadget to show off to friends and an important security device for those who need one.
10: 4 GB of ram will provide sufficient coverage.

Now the not so pleasing bits:
1: It comes with a lot and I mean a lot of useless software provided by acer. One of them is the Mcafee antivirus which is a piece of **** . I highly recommend uninstalling immediately without even letting it update. I guarantee it will take ages and it won't be very pleasing. Mine kept getting a bluescreen while it installed the same software like twice a day and overloading the process tree. A great alternative is the AVG antivirus - it's free !

* off topic *: I had some difficulties uninstalling Mcafee.. while it was doing so, like half way through it stalled and sure enough, a bluescreen appeared. After a forced restart, it wouldn't uninstall anymore so I googled some troubleshooting with Mcafee and I found a small software provided by Mcafee called: Mcafee removal tool. Also to remove some of the useless startup software go to start -> control panel -> administrative settings -> system configuration and go on the start-up tab and uncheck what you think it is unnecessary ( if you're not using the finger print reader: acer bioprotection.. other software would be the launch manager, e-power, nti back-up and a few others ).

2: I had to deactivate most of the software included in the package, like Acer BioProtection, Launch manager, e-power, nti back-up since they were useless.
3: There's a strong driver conflict with the touchpad. Once deactivated, if you restart your computer you'll notice the keyboard won't work for like 5-10 minutes. Probably it's only me who's having this issue but anyway it is really annoying since i keep touching the pad with my hands while typing.
4: It gets quite hot, there are a few of usb powered fans for laptops so it's a good idea getting one of those. I've seen prices ranging from 10 to 30 $ so it's not so expensive.
5: A little on the heavy side. I've previously owned an HP 6720s and it was slimmer and a little bit lighter. It's not so bad thou.

All in all, I have to say it is a pretty good laptop, with all the right stuff to make it worth buying: really good built quality, 4 GB of Ram, 320 GB of storage, Core 2 Duo T8400, wireless lan with N-Draft and the very important HD 3470. There are some minor software related issues but if you follow my indications from this review you'll be pretty safe running anything you want on your good ol' TravelMate notebook.

Other alternatives would be: HP 6730s, Dell 1545, Asus-something, MSI Megabook, Toshiba A300 or L300.

Stefan V.

If you have questions regarding this product, e-mail me on codrinstefan2103@live.com .

Summary: Great value for your money

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