The notebooks have played an important role in the daily life of anyone either a businessman or student or someone else who do not want to be a slave of desktop machine. The notebooks are still in talk as many manufacturers introduce new technology in their notebooks as ASUS includes Thunderbolt port in their notebooks and Apple use the IPS screen in their MacBooks before anyone else. I like my notebook to have all the new connectivity options for example: it must have USB 3.0, Bluetooth 4.0, Ethernet port and HDMI. Your requirements depend upon your needs. Today the beauty on the Bench is an Acer notebook which is Acer Aspire M3-481.
The Acer Aspire M3-481 has very thin design and the case looks really good which is made with aluminum and the grey silver color scheme is also very nice looking as well. The Acer Aspire M3-481 looks very attractive. The bottom unit and the side of the Acer Aspire M3-481 are made with the black plastic which matches the overall look of the notebook. The problem we found with the case is that there is some softness in case especially above the optical drive and on the other side of the notebook which is not good for notebook. The back of the lid also have some softness and it could be bend a little with some pressure so Overall Acer Aspire M3-481 has decent design.
The Acer Aspire M3-481 has 14 inch TN LED panel display of LG which offer the resolution of 1366x768. As it is a TN LED panel and we had some bad experiences with it as poor image quality and brightness and very limited viewing angles except the Samsung Series 7 Chronos 770Z7E which has better TN LED display. The brightness of the display is a bit low than the average level of TN LED displays we had test so far of different notebook of various brands. The image quality is good of the Acer Aspire M3-481 but the contrast ratio is also a bit lower than the standard level. The viewing angles of the notebook are (horizontal) decent but the (vertical) angles are very limited and user will only be able to use the things on screen from the ideal position. All these things make it a bit difficult to work outdoor on Acer Aspire M3-481 as reflection also cause of problem. Overall Acer Aspire M3-481 has bit lower level display than standard displays as a mid-level notebook.
The Acer Aspire M3-481 has a Chiclet style keyboard with the backlighting which make is perfect for the night use and the Numpad is not available. The size of keys is pretty decent for typing and the smooth keys with a little resistance make it prefect for typing and we found it quite good as far as accurate typing is concerned and it never miss a tap during our test. The Acer Aspire M3-481 has clickpad which is of decent size with the feature of multi-gesture and if also done well during our test of touchpad. The keys are integrated into surface as it is a clickpad so all the surface is clickable. It also done well in multi gesture test and we are really pleased with touchpad. Overall Acer Aspire M3-481 has nice touchpad and keyboard.
Acer provides Dolby Audio software with Acer Aspire M3-481 which is good for user to control the sound of their notebook. The two stereo speakers are located on the bottom side which is not ideal position for the speakers for any notebook. The sound quality is bit shaky and the max volume is pretty decent. The base is very low and we recommend use external speakers if you want better sound quality. Overall Acer Aspire M3-481 has decent speakers.
The Acer Aspire M3-481 runs cooler in the idle mode when we runs few normal tasks as office work and the temperature were low as expected but they raised very fast and we measure high temperatures all around the notebook especially on the keyboard and on the left side as well. The noise of the fan of the Acer Aspire M3-481 was a bit low in the idle mode but the fan never turn off during idle tasking but it runs a bit louder while loud i.e. when we run some benchmarks to test the notebook. We recommend to do not use it on lap while doing some heavy tasking so Overall Acer Aspire M3-481 runs hot and louder under load.
The Acer Aspire M3-481 has Bluetooth 4.0 and latest Wifi module for high speed wireless connectivity and it has 2x USB 3.0, AC-in for power adaptor, HDMI port, Ethernet port and Kingston lock port on the rear side and it has card reader and audio port on the right side. It has only optical drive on the left side. It has power button on the front side so it has all the necessary connectivity options for the user. Overall Acer Aspire M3-481 has all the necessary connectivity options for the user.
The Acer Aspire M3-481 has 6 Cell Lithium-ion battery of 54 watts which manage to keep it running for about 512 minutes which is really great battery life for any notebook. We measure battery life by doing the normal tasks as a normal user is going to do on his/ her notebook, for example, typing while listening audio songs, watching HD movie/ clips, surfing web via Wifi, MS-Office work etc. to get the most realistic result. Overall Acer Aspire M3-481 has top class battery life.
The Acer Aspire M3-481 is really a good decision to make, it has some good things and few bad things for example. It has good keyboard and touchpad, good connectivity options, decent speakers, great battery life. It has poor display and inconsistent build quality and it runs louder and on high temps which stop me to give it 4/5 scores. The ultimate decision is your and it depends on your need and budget so first decide on which things, you are ready to compromise and on which you can't.
- Good connectivity options.
- Good keyboard and touchpad.
- Decent speakers.
- Good performance in benchmarks.
- Great battery life.
- Decent design.
- Poor display.
- Runs louder and high temperatures.
- Inconsistent build quality.
