Acer Aspire - 17.3" - Intel Core i7 4th Gen 4702MQ (2.20GHz) - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M - 8 GB DDR3 - 1TB HDD - Windows 8 - Gaming Laptop (V3-772G-9653 )

Pros: Easy expandability, good processor and video card.

Cons: The usual Windows 8 gripes but not really an issue after you get used to it. I wish Acer threw in a backlit keyboard at this price point.

Overall Review: Really the best bang for your buck (at $899). A Haswell chip with HD 4600 and a GTX 760M at this price is a good deal. I don't really game but I played demos of Mass Effect 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic just to see how well the graphics worked. Both played fine with ultra setting in 1080p. I'll mainly be using this for ArcGIS, Citilabs Cube/Voyager transportation modeling, video editing and encoding, Open Office suite, and an occasional game. I will probably throw in some extra RAM, an SSD and maybe Blu-ray down the road. You can get them included for a little more but the component quality isn't as good if you pick the parts yourself. The design of this laptop allows easy access to add RAM, a second hard drive, or an mSATA SSD. I may also replace the wifi card. Newegg has them for $20 which will add WiDi capability...

Pros: Really fast and runs every game I've thrown at it at max settings. Works well and the internal temperatures stay really low. Worth the money.

Cons: Not really that many cons. When I got it for the first time it crashed after I started it up but Windows worked itself out and it's been working great since then.

Overall Review: If you need a relatively cheap laptop for gaming and other purposes I would recommend this one.

Pros: -Good i7 processor for laptop -Good build quality -Decent speakers -Great keyboard -Easy to expand/install new hardware -Good GPU -Good Funtion key layout

Cons: -1TB HDD is 5200rpm vs 7200rpm -Only 6 cell battery (9 would be better for a power machine style laptop) -Keyboard not backlit -Touchpad a bit large -Integrated left and right click buttons with touchpad -The arrow keys are small -Keyboard is lower than palm rest/touchpad -Sound jack is too loud; have to listen to music with headphone on 10% volume

Overall Review: This is a fast and good laptop for the price. Got this and a SSD for under $1,000. Would work great for moderate gaming and drafting/video editing/photoshop. Pros definitely outweigh the Cons. If your looking for a laptop in the $1200-1300 range this would be a great way to safe some money.

Pros: Fast laptop, good specs. Added SSD to it and have sub 7 second boot time. Keyboard is decent and the laptop looks professional

Cons: Laptop comes with two hard drive spaces, yet no 2.5 inch caddy. I guess I will have to get into contact with acer to find the right caddy so I can add the initial harddrive back into the computer as a storage bin. Complete and total hassle. A laptop with extra hard drive spaces that is over 500 bucks should have a 10 dollar metal caddy.

Overall Review: Great laptop, but I now have to sift through Acer's website to find a caddy.

Pros: Fast Graphics DDR3 1600mem Capable processor Very thin ie less than one inch. Full keyboard. Good looks with black brushed aluminum looks.

Cons: Comes with a lot of bloat ware, but what laptop doesn't these days? Not full Hd (1080p)

Overall Review: Very capable laptop in its price range. Gaming grade.

Pros: Great Screen, Great Specs. Build seems strong.

Cons: After about 7 months it completely died while playing Medieval Total War. Very expensive to return and fix. Hdmi has been buggy although I hear that is an intel problem. Touch pad is awful but fine if using external mouse.

Pros: good performance...when it works

Cons: faulty parts

Overall Review: Horrible repair quality. Had to send back for repairs (dead HDD and bad keyboard). just got it back and now the HDD is STILL dead and the keyboard repair person must have missed a screw...the back plating is bowed out. Now they want me to send it back for another "two week estimated" evaluation of the repairs needed. Asked if they would test it for me before sending it back, which they responded, "if it doesnt work, we can waive the fee to send it back again". not a satisfied customer :/

Pros: Great price, great hardware, great looks, sturdy feel.

Cons: Cannot run any games or graphic intensive programs without crashing or overheating! Wireless card randomly disconnects all the time. Buggy touchpad. Bloatware.

Overall Review: It's so sad that that using the graphics card will cause the laptop to fail. The graphics card is the only real reason i bought this specific laptop. Acer support says this laptop was not defective yet it was discontinued after only a few months of sale...