Introduction
Acer Aspire R7 Notebook
I have been wanting to get a new touchscreen computer with Windows 8 for the longest while so that I can write some Metro programs using Visual Basic. Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, have made Windows 8 a mandatory requirement for developing Metro programs (either for Windows 8 or for Windows Phone 8). I did not want to update my Windows 7 workhorse (an Asus N61J notebook) after having experience the horrors of Windows 8 on a non-touch screen computer. Unfortunately, over the past year since Windows 8 was launched, not a single Windows 8 notebook met my expectations for an acceptable technical specifications/price tradeoff. The ones which met my technical specifications were too expensive, and the ones that were within my budget (less than $2000) did not meet my technical requirements.
In fact, I have went to the previous December 2012, March 2013, and June 2013 computer shows, always walking away from each one without finding that notebook that incorporates that perfect combination of price, fit, and finish. After the June 2013 exhibition, I actually found a notebook whose design I quite liked: the Acer Aspire R7.
http://www.acer.com/aspirer7/en_SG/
I didn't mind the odd placement of the trackpad, because I am not a trackpad user. For heavy duty programming, a dedicated mouse is essential. In all the notebooks that I have used since 1995, I think I spent 99.9% of the time on them using a mouse. Trackpads are useful (they are definitely better than the trackball mouse), but they are just not as precise nor as fast as a real mouse. For productivity, a real mouse is always required.
I would have bought the Acer Aspire R7 except for one teeny weeny detail: Acer doesn't sell the model with the Core i7 CPU in Singapore. For some strange reason, Singapore has been relegated with the inferior model with the slower Core i5 CPU. I don't know Acer marketing strategy, but if I am a consumer who is going to spend top dollar for a quirky design, I will be willing to pay a little more to get the model with the top end CPU. But unfortunately, that was not to be. Singapore does not get the Core i7 version of the Aspire R7, and as such, Acer does not get me as a happy customer.
(Note: the Core i7 version of the Aspire R7 is available in countries like Netherlands. Acer does make them - but chose not to offer that version in Singapore.)
Prior to September, I learnt that although Acer was still not bringing the Core i7 version of the Aspire R7 to Singapore for Comex, they were bringing the Acer Aspire V7-582PG with a Core i7 chip and more RAM (12 GB on the V7 versus 8 GB for the R7), and retailing at the same price as the Aspire R7, SGD$1698. The V7 has the boring design as all traditional notebooks, with the non-swivelling screen and the usual placement of the trackpad before the spacebar. However, it came with a 4th generation Haswell series i7-4500 chip (which is more powerful than the R7's 3rd generation Ivy Bridge i5-3337U chip), and more RAM, and since they were both $1698, I decided that perhaps I will get the Aspire V7 notebook.
And then, I discovered the HP notebook at Comex.
The HP Advantage
Since I was getting a traditional looking notebook computer, I decided to browse through the catalogues from other manufacturers for their offerings with equivalent specs. For my notebook, I required this as the basic minimum:
- Core i7 CPU
- 1 TB hard disk
- 8 GB RAM
- 15.6" touchscreen
- less than $2000
The Acer Aspire V7 had became my baseline following my disappointment with Acer's decision not to bring in the Core i7 of the Aspire R7. The Aspire V7 was the cheapest among the competition.
And then I noticed the HP brochure for the HP Envy Touchsmart 15-J006TX retailing for $1799, just $100 more than the Acer Aspire V7, and I couldn't believe my eyes:
1. The HP comes with a true quad-core Haswell i7-4702MQ chip running at 2.2 GHz. The Acer comes with a slower dual-core i7-4500U chip running at only 1.8 GHz.
2. The HP comes with a whopping 16 GB of RAM, topping even the 12 GB RAM on the Acer.
3. The HP comes with FOUR USB 3.0 ports. In contrast, Acer is stingily offering just one USB 3.0 port, and two USB 2.0 ports.
4. One of the HP USB 3.0 port is also a USB charging port, which means that when the notebook is off, you can still use that USB port to charge your handphone/MP3 player's battery. The Acer does not come with any USB charging port.
5. Although I don't really need an optical drive, the HP provides a free USB external DVD drive. The Acer does not come with any optical drive.
6. The HP battery is user removable/replaceable. The Acer's battery is sealed inside the chassis (which means that you must send the notebook to Acer's service centre to have them change the battery for you).
And all these HP advantages for just $100 more than the Acer! I was sold.
(You can compare the specs for the HP and the Acer here:
- HP notebook specs
- Acer notebook specs
And amazingly, when I went down to Comex to physically buy the HP notebook, the salesman (from Newstead Technologies) offered me an instant $100 discount. This meant that the HP notebook price was only $1699, just $1 more than the Acer notebook's price. I was extremely pleased to be given this discount.
Things I Like
Backlit Keyboard
This is my first computer with a backlit keyboard. The backlight can be turned on or off from the [F5] function key. This is very useful for watching movies with the ceiling lights turned off, as I can now press the volume keys without fumbling for them in the dark. However, the keys caps themselves do not fully cover the hole where the key sits, so the backlight is leaking from all 4 sides of each key. It would be nice if the key cap fully covers the hole so that none of the backlight leaks through the edges of each key. I will need to pay attention to other computers with keyboard backlighting to see if they suffer from this problem. It may not really be an issue, but I find the light seeping from the key cap edges a bit jarring.
Finger Print Sensor
I have never owned a notebook with a finger print sensor before, but after using it to automatically log in to Windows, I am sold! This is really, really easy and convenient. And secure to boot. In fact, I think finger print sensors should be incorporated into devices like our handphones, so that we do not need to input a password to clear the lockscreen each and every time we need to use the phone.
If the finger print sensor technology can be used everywhere - including our own programs - we may even dispense with the need for changing our passwords every few months, as some applications force us to do. What is the purpose of a password? It is to authenticate and validate that we are who we say we are. And isn't a biometric value like my finger print the best authentication method there is? It may even dispense the need for carrying a security token as required by some applications that require 2-factor authentication. Unfortunately, all this hinges on the pervasiveness and ubiquity of finger print sensors. This is not the case at the moment.
HDMI to VGA Connector
Although the HP notebook does not contain a VGA port (it only comes with a HDMI port), which might be a problem should you need to connect the notebook to an old projector that only sports VGA ports, HP has actually supplied a "HDMI to VGA" converter in the box. The salesman who attended to me did not know this, and had told me that it was necessary to buy the converter separately (he said that such an accessory would cost about $50). I am glad that it was free.
Beats Audio
Beats Audio is one of the "selling points" of this notebook. I think the sound is very good, but frankly, I can't really tell the difference. I find the sound excellent on my Asus notebook (my Asus notebook boasts of SonicMaster sound), my previous Dell notebook with Creative Soundblaster sound, and my previous Compaq notebook with JBL sound.
I think if you pay more than $1000 for a notebook, you will get a system with pretty good sound. You really need to be a soundphile to be able to discern the differences between Beats Audio, Creative, JBL, and SonicMaster etc.
Things I Don't Like
Screen Tilt Angle is Limited
It is not possible to tilt the screen beyond 100 degrees. When the lid is opened and tilted as far back as it will go, the screen is actually blocked by the keyboard base, preventing it from tilting beyond 100 degrees.
I actually prefer to tilt the screen further back, to say about 110 to 120 degrees, but the design of the notebook prevents this. I overcame this by raising the front of the keyboard base, but it means that I will have to find stoppers to raise the front feet of the keyboard base every time I want to do this.
I think HP designed the screen this way because the screen is a touch screen. With this design, when your fingers are pressing against the touchscreen, the screen will not be pushed downwards because of the resistance against the keyboard base. The 100 degrees angle is probably the optimum angle that the HP engineers have deemed useful for a touch screen, which is why the tilt angle is restricted so. The need for a firm support at the back of the touch screen is why I much prefer the Acer Aspire R7 design, where the easel hinge will provide extremely firm support when the R7 is used in kiosk mode.
Up/Down Arrow Keys are Half Keys
As a programmer, I do a lot of editing, and I use the arrow keys a lot. I don't like the use of half keys for the Up and Down arrow keys that seems to be prevalent in all HP notebooks:
Even my old Asus notebook has full keys for the Up and Down arrows. I don't know why HP couldn't design theirs like Asus, and use full sized keys for these. With the half-sized up/down keys, I find myself constantly going in the wrong direction when I try to depress this key.
Since there is a numeric keypad, which can be toggled between numerics and arrow keys via the [Num Lock] key, I am now making myself use the [8] and [2] keys on the numeric keypad as the Up and Down arrow keys instead. However, it is not easy to learn a new keyboarding habit that has been ingrained into me from years of using keyboards with full sized Up and Down arrow keys.
Glossy Screen
I never did like glossy screens. They are too reflective, and the screen glare can make it difficult to do typing and programming.
Unfortunately, matte screens are not a standard offering nowadays. Normally, I will have to pay for and affix a matte screen protector over the LCD screen.
For this new HP notebook, I notice that the reflection is not as severe as my previous notebook. Although the display is still a glossy and reflective screen, the reflection seems a bit more diffused, and is not as bad as my Asus notebook.
I believe this could be because some newer touchscreens uses thinner glass, and the narrow glass width reduces the reflection considerably. For example, both the Apple iPad and the Microsoft Surface is supposed to use such glass, which reduces the amount of reflection and glare.
I am not sure if this is also the case with this HP notebook, although I think the iPad and the Surface are less reflective than this HP notebook. However, as the reflectiveness on this HP notebook is not as bad as the Asus, I will try to put up with it for a few more weeks before deciding whether I can live with the reflectiveness, or to shell out the money for a matte screen protector.
Changes I Made
Windows 8 Missing Start Menu
Honestly speaking, the Desktop mode of Windows 8 is severely hampered by the missing Start menu. When Microsoft deliberately removed the Start menu from the Windows 8 Desktop, they revealed themselves as caring only about their own benefit instead of their users concerns.
Is it really necessary to force everyone to abandon the Start menu? The new Metro Start screen doesn't make sense if you are running Windows 8 on a non-touchscreen computer, and you are only using the traditional keyboard and mouse for your inputs. Microsoft did not bother to consider usability for customers owning these non-touchscreen computers, and force the Metro Start screen to all and sundry.
Luckily, customers have an alternative. They simply stayed with Windows 7, and not bothered to upgrade to Windows 8. Which is really a pity because Windows 8 is actually quite a good operating system, marred by the flawed Metro Start screen for non-touchscreen users.
Most Windows users are extremely familiar with the Start menu, having been "trained" by Microsoft on this for the past 17 years (since 1995 with the introduction of the Start menu in Windows 95). Now, Microsoft is telling their customers to discard all their knowledge and experience with the Start menu for the new fangled Metro Start screen, which actually doesn't work well at all if your computer doesn't have a touchscreen! The Metro Start screen is absolutely inefficient for navigating if you can only use the mouse.
Also, the Metro Start screen forces the user to learn new ways of doing the same things. There is absolutely zero value-add.
What Microsoft should have done right from the beginning is to offer both the Metro Start screen as well as the traditional Start menu together in Windows 8, and let the users choose their preferred mode of operation. In fact, if Microsoft is user caring enough, they would have done that from the get go. Did they? Obviously not. Hence the huge hoo-hah and the negative backlash against Windows 8. If more than 90% of your customers prefer to use the Start menu on a non-touch PC, and you ignore them, then be prepared to suffer the consequences.
The backlash against Windows 8 has grown into an animosity against Microsoft in general, producing vitriol against everything Microsoft has introduced this year, such as Surface, Windows RT, XBox One, and Windows Phone. It is sad that Microsoft has single handedly harmed themselves with this self-infliction. Apple, Google etc must be laughing their way to the bank at how Microsoft has handled things.
Ok. Enough of the Windows 8 missing Start menu rant.
Luckily, some kind folks have created a life saver utility called Classic Shell:
http://classicshell.net/
Classic Shell returns the missing Start menu to the Windows 8 Desktop, restoring much required sanity to Windows 8. There are other replacement Start menu utilities on the internet, but Classic Shell is free, and is good enough for me to unreservedly recommend it for all Windows 8 installations. Trust me, once you have installed a Start menu replacement like Classic Shell, you will stop your cursing and swearing at Microsoft for ruining your Windows experience.
My Classic Shell Menu
Function Keys Behaviour
In my previous notebook, if I press the [F8] function key, I will trigger F8. If I want to increase the volume, I need to press [Func][F8].
In the HP notebook, the behaviour has been swapped. If I press the [F8] key, I now trigger the increase volume action. If I want to trigger F8, I need to press [Func][F8] to do so.
That is, actions are now the default for the function keys. If you want to activate the traditional F1 to F10 triggers, you must press the [Func] key together with [Fx] key.
I think this makes sense if you are a consumer who only use the computer for typing emails, playing games, answering instant messages. A consumer is less likely to need the F2, F5 or F8 triggers, and more likely to want to perform actions such as increasing/decreasing the brightness/volume etc. However, for a programmer like myself, it is the reverse. I have to constantly use these function keys in programs like Visual Studio or SQL Management Studio, and I prefer to simply press [F2], [F5], [F8] to trigger them instead of [Func][F2], [Func][F5] or [Func][F8].
Luckily, there is a switch to swap the behaviour of the function keys. Unfortunately, this is not a switch that can be configured from within Windows itself. Instead, you must go into the BIOS to change this setting.
For HP notebooks, you need to press the [F10] (or [Func][F10]) key repeatedly when you power up the notebook to get into the BIOS setting. This is tricky to do because the notebook runs very quickly (thanks to the speedy CPU, I guess), and it may not be easy to time the pressing of the [F10] (or [Func][F10]) key correctly.
The steps are documented at this HP support page (link).
High Resolution Screen
The notebook has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, but only a physical screen size of 15.6 inches. This means that the pixels are very small, and text in the usual 10 point font that are very readable on my previous 15.6 inch Asus notebook with a 1366 x 768 resolution is now blindingly tiny in the HP notebook.
I have an external LCD monitor that is also a 1920 x 1080 resolution screen. However, that monitor is a 22 inches screen, which means the pixels are larger than the HP's one. 10 point font is also readable on that 22 inches screen.
This problem occurs because programmers did not design text to fit physical dimension measurements like inches or millimetres. Instead, programmers design their programs based on number of pixels. This is okay if all pixels are the same dimensions. However, with the increasing sophistication of technology, manufacturers have been able to squeeze more and more pixels into the same area.
For example, back in the 1980s, a 15 inch screen may come with only 640 x 480 resolution. The pixel dots are very large.
By the 1990s, the same 15 inch screen can now hold a 1024 x 768 resolution display. To fit more pixels into the same space, each pixel dot has to be smaller.
Now, the 15 inch screen holds a 1920 x 1080 resolution display. Each pixel is incredibly tiny as compared to the first generation.
However, if you are running a program designed with pixels instead of inches or millimetres dimensioning, a full screen program of 640 x 480 dots that looks perfect on a 15 inch screen back in the 1980s will look like it is displaying inside a postage stamp sized window if you run it on the 1920 x 1080 screen today, even though the screen is still 15 inches measured diagonally.
To display the 1980s program properly on a 2013 display, it is necessary to "scale up" the display output.
Unfortunately, there isn't really a global setting that can scale up all applications neatly. Programs written in the 1980s may need a scale up factor different from that of programs designed in the 1990s, and another factor for programs designed in the early 2000s. Windows have a crude scaling factor setting that can be applied on everything, but may make the output not as nice as it could be. It would be best if the individual applications provide some way of resizing the font. This way, these applications can be fine tuned manually to display the output in a manner that you are comfortable with.
For programmers writing new programs, I think it is essential that user interfaces are designed with all these conditions in mind. For example, if you are writing a program that can run on a 5 inch phone, a 10 inch tablet, a 15 inch notebook, a 22 inch monitor, or a 42 inch TV, you may need to simply layout the user interface elements for each form factor, and ignore resolution altogether. For instance, if you design a application with the 5 inch form factor in mind, then whether a 5 inch phone has a 480 x 800 resolution, or a finer 800 x 1280 resolution, or a super-fine 1080 x 1920 resolution, your program will scale itself properly because it was laid out for a 5 inch form factor, and not to some pixel dot resolution that did not consider the size of the pixel in mind.
Virtual PC/Hyper-V
As a programmer who need to support some legacy applications that can only run in Windows XP, it was essential that I can still run these Windows XP programs on my new Windows 8 operating system notebook.
In Windows 7 Professional edition, Microsoft provided a utility called "XP Mode" which was actually running a program called Virtual PC. Virtual PC provided users the capability to create and run "virtual machines" on top of their Windows 7 Pro machine. With Virtual PC, you can create a Windows XP virtual machine to run all the legacy applications that are not compatible with Windows 7. (Note: the Virtual PC program is not provided in the Windows 7 Home Edition. Windows 7 Home Edition users need to use a free alternative, Oracle Virtual Box, to create a Windows XP virtual machine to run on top of their Windows Home PC.)
In Windows 8 (Professional), the equivalent utility to Virtual PC is called Hyper-V. I was tremendously relieved that Hyper-V can use the VHD files created by Virtual PC in Windows 7, which made the migration to Windows 8 much less fearful than I had imagined. If Hyper-V was not able to use my existing VHD files, I would have needed to create new Hyper-V virtual machines, install the Windows XP operating system in the new Hyper-V virtual machines, and then waste valuable time setting up the Windows XP environment inside the Hyper-V virtual machine. By being backward compatible with Virtual PC, my fears were allayed.
120W Power Supply Adapter
The HP notebook uses a 120W power adapter (existing notebooks typically use either a 65W or 90W power adapter).
I always like to carry a separate power adapter that I can keep in my notebook bag, so that I don't make the mistake of leaving the house without the notebook's power supply. I have committed this mistake more times than I remember, so buying a second power supply adapter for every notebook has always been on my list.
However, HP doesn't seem to sell this 120W power supply at their online store. And the 90W version that they list in their stored is priced at a whopping $171 !!! (link)
For reference, I normally pay only $40 for a 3rd-party power supply adapter for my previous notebooks. So far, the cheapest was for my old Dell Inspiron 15, which was only $30 from the Dell website.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find 3rd-party 120W power supply adapters at Challenger or CyberActive (they have outlets at Northpoint Shopping Mall). So for the moment, I still have to remember to disconnect and carry the sole power adapter with me every time I pack up the notebook. Hopefully, these 3rd-party 120W power supplies will soon be readily available in the market, and more importantly, at a reasonable price ($171 is definitely not a reasonable price!)
Conclusion
I like this machine. It may not be perfect, and it may not have everything. However, it is truly value for money. I have always associated HP with "High Priced" products. I am really surprised with this notebook that HP can actually offer competitively priced products too.
I am already very happy with the huge improvements in the technical specifications over my Asus notebook. The old Asus notebook carries a first generation i7-720QM chip, which runs very slow and extremely hot, as compared to this HP speed demon with its cool-running Haswell chip. Other touches like 16GB RAM, four USB 3.0 ports, amazing touchscreen, is just added icing on a very delicious cake. And considering that I only paid $1699 (instead of the advertised $1799 list price) for this, I am one very happy camper with my new toy.
