Acer R7 Review: Something Different
by Jarred Walton on August 15, 2013 12:45 AM ESTAcer’s marketing material mentions that they rethought everything about the notebook when designing the R7, and I’m definitely not going to dispute that. Yes, this is still a laptop at its core, but things have been moved around in some surprising and perhaps interesting ways. The Ezel hinge and touchscreen are the primary discussion here, and the R7 comes with supposedly five different operating modes: regular laptop, laptop with the screen shifted forward, tablet, floating table, and presentation mode (flip screen laptop). The question most people will have is whether or not the changes made to accommodate the Ezel hinge are actually worthwhile.
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Realistically, the floating table mode is pretty much useless as far as I’m concerned, and the presentation mode is only marginally interesting. Still, some people might occasionally use those modes. It’s the other three modes that are going to pull the lion's share of the duty, so let’s look at each of those.
First, you can just open up the display and use the R7 as a regular laptop. What you’ll immediately notice however is that the touchpad isn’t where it’s supposed to be, and in fact there are no palm rests. Some people might hold their hands above the keyboard while typing, but I tend to rest my wrists on whatever surface is in front of the keyboard – be that palm rests, desk, or something else. I can type reasonably well on the R7, and I have no real complaints about the keyboard layout – in fact I actually like it – but the missing palm rests definitely detract from the overall typing experience. The good news is that if you’re the type that has issues with inadvertently activating the touchpad while typing, that won’t happen with the R7. The bad news is that the touchpad is in a weird location, and I should also note that the notebook feels quite back heavy due to the weight of the touchscreen and cover.
The second mode, and the one that I’m most likely to use with the R7, is as a laptop with the screen pulled forward. You still have the issues associated with the missing palm rests, but the idea is that the touchscreen is easier to reach this way. I should mention that the touchpad works okay, and it uses Elan Tech hardware, but it can still be a little bit choppy. The touchscreen on the other hand works well as an input device, providing a smooth scrolling experience and all of the other usual gestures. Except, not all applications fully recognize the touchscreen gestures, so for example swiping with a single finger to scroll doesn’t always work. This is mostly a problem with third-party apps that haven’t been updated to recognize Windows 8 gestures, but it still happens more than I’d like. Also, grabbing smaller elements like scrollbars for the edge of a window to resize can be difficult with a touchscreen – there’s just not enough precision to pull it off properly.
On the whole, this is certainly an interesting idea, and for people that really like touchscreens it might actually be preferable to a standard laptop design. However, I do think there needs to be a bit of tweaking to the current design to get it right. Mostly, the laptop just feels a lot heavier than you would expect, and being heavy means you are less likely to carry it around which means you’re not using it as a laptop. In a sense, the R7 is like a smaller, portable all-in-one that happens to have the ability to function as a laptop if you need it.
Finally, we have tablet mode, where you lay the top panel flat against the keyboard (or at least almost flat). I’m not sure most people are interested in a 15.6-inch tablet, and when you add on the bulk of the keyboard and hinge it becomes an even more difficult prospect to carry around. This is definitely the heaviest, largest tablet that I’ve ever tried to use, and while it can work as a tablet, it’s not something I found necessary on a regular basis. Showing friends or family pictures on a 1.5 pound tablet is one thing; passing around a 5.3 pound tablet is another!
Of course, any time you use the touchscreen you also run into the usual touchscreen problem: fingerprints. On a laptop with a 15.6-inch screen, I find this is an even bigger issue. It’s pretty easy to wipe off the touchscreen on a smartphone, but even a 10-inch tablet usually requires that you have a microfiber cloth on hand. With something the size of the R7, fingerprints run wild! And even when you’re careful, there’s always the chance that a stray spec of grit will leave a scratch instead of just wiping off. I also feel like the LCD backlight needs to be brighter; I measured maximum white levels of just shy of 300 nits, where most smartphones and tablets are more likely to hit 400+ nits. Obviously, having a large display running at higher backlight levels can easily chew up a lot of battery life, and as we’ll see in a moment battery life isn’t one of the strong points of the R7.
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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).