Acer Aspire 5552G-7641

I just got one of these last week from Newegg. They were on sale for $619.99 around Easter so I picked one up while I could. It actually arrived on the 1st week of May, but of course I got one with a bad LCD and I had to RMA it. Its replacement came last week and it works great. It's got a Quad core Phenom N970 with a 1gb AMD Radeon 6650m.

I didn't see a lot of people posting about it here so I figured I'd start a thread. For the price, this is a beast of a laptop that runs games very well at medium to high settings. I got rid of my gaming desktop and my Dell M5030 to get this because I was tired of having 2 computers.

The only cons I have are that the internal speaker REALLY sucks (there's only one speaker, and it's way too quiet and when you CAN hear it the quality is terrible) and that the laptop generates more heat than I've ever experienced with any other laptop. It's fine when sitting on my desk, but when it's on my lap it's almost unbearable. Probably going to invest in a cooling pad. Also the BIOS doesn't support wake-on-lan. I know most people probably don't care (since it's a freaking laptop ) but I actually use it pretty frequently.

Seems like Acer is releasing BIOS updates and whatnot on a fairly regular basis. I wish I could use genuine AMD drivers, but apparently the 11.5 Catalysts don't support the 6650m yet.

 

I just bought this laptop from newegg, as well. I'll post my thoughts after it arrives.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215037

 

I'm considering the three-core version for $550 from Amazon
Amazon.com: Acer AS5552G-7632 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mesh Black): Computer & Accessories

So how bad is the heat? If it's unbearable on the lap, would the keyboard be hot when it's on a desk? I really hate it when the chasis heats up -- one of the reasons why I'm still very hesitant about going with this machine.

 

I have the same model, well, not exactly - it's the 5552G-7464, since a few days ago. Yep, the speaker is bad, but I work around it by using a speaker/headphones.

Not sure if it's only me, but the LCD screen seems to be low quality with a visible screen-door effect. Otherwise, it's bright. Can anyone else confirm this?

The rest is rock-solid. Excellent performance for the price. I haven't tested the heat yet, but I'll probably get a cooling pad.

 

Nothing has gotten too hot with mine but I've yet to run games on it. Really happy with it so far, besides the speaker, but I knew about that prior to purchasing. I'll post when I run Left 4 Dead 2 on it tomorrow.

 

Those who want to can try undervolting the Phenom Processor.

 

This laptop does run hot while playing games, as it should, since it's got a fairly powerful Video card and quad-core cpu. It runs pretty cool when you're just using it for other things.
I paired mine with a COOLER MASTER Notebook Cooling Model NotePal U2 and that keeps it plenty cool, it also feels alright on my lap.
I've run Crysis 2, BFBC2, Black Ops, and L4D2. They all run just fine at decent frame rates.

The screen doesn't seem very high quality like someone else stated, but it is definitely playable. The screen is also a fingerprint magnet. The sound isn't the greatest if you're just listening through the speakers.

Also, the load times seem a little longer than usual because of the slower hdd, but once you're in the game that's not really an issue. The overall desktop experience, boot speeds, and web browsing is very fast and crisp.
The keyboard feels pretty good and it's got a really cool mesh finish.

I paid 650$ for it and I am very impressed with what I've got.

 

I don't have much more to add than has already been said but I said I'd post after playing some games. It heats up but I don't have it on my lap so it's not an issue. Runs everything I've installed well-- L4D2, Portal 2, Just Cause 2, TF2 etc.

I'm very impressed with the speed and the only issue I've encountered, besides the already discussed speaker, is some input lag on the touchpad. It's a non-issue for me now as I picked up a Logitech MX518 mouse.

I'd highly recommend this laptop in a bang for buck scenario. I like it better than the Macbook I've been using. Now to see how well it holds up over time.