Acer Aspire V3-731-4649 Notebook Intel Pentium B960(2.2GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics

Pros: Big screen, plenty of power for generic home use. Initial setup was fast.

Cons: None yet. was a little nervous when I plugged it in the first time when no lights came on to show it was getting power. Came back home a while later and it fired right up though.

Other Thoughts: Windows 8 is at a minimum, different. I suspect I will like it long term but there is definitely a learning curve getting around initially. Don't be afraid of the look of the keys in the photos either, the have the same look and feel as my old HP with a more traditional looking keyboard.

Pros: Very cost-effective, good laptop for average use (office, surfing, etc.).

Cons: UEFI / BIOS boot options are horrible. Comes with Windows 8 by default, and is set in UEFI mode. This precludes any booting from anything other than the Windows Boot Manager. Switching over to BIOS mode (legacy mode) will let you boot from any device you like, however, the windows partition is now unavailable. I suppose this is done for security reasons, but it prevents any kind of maintenance should there be problems with Windows. As a computer service provider, my customers come to me to get these things fixed in a cost-effective manner. With this laptop I will now have to tell them that the only resort is a more expensive Windows reinstall. Not good.

Other Thoughts: I like the minimalistic simplicity of the acer laptops. Aside from Macbooks, they are my preferred Windows laptop -- no extra doohickies and buttons all over the place. Bare necessities. Nice.

Pros: these have dual hard drive bays

you might have have to purchase a hd caddy kit, but its worth it

Cons: some say acer is no good, but i have owned a few with no problems

Other Thoughts: nice machine, sometimes you dont need the high end cpus

upgrading the ram to 8gb and adding and ssd will do the trick

Pros: Lightweight. Runs very cool. Super quiet. Windows 8 is fantastic. Very sturdy construction.

Cons: None really. Windows 8 does not come with a very good music player. I downloaded winamp and it works great.

Other Thoughts: I enjoy games designed for windows vista operating system. I uploaded them to try them out. Their doesn't seem to be any problems using them with windows 8.