Acer loves software, so much so that it installed a slew of apps and programs on the F15 that range from useful to flat-out bloatware. Acer-branded titles include cloud-based apps like abFiles and abPhoto, which let you access important files or photos on any device. Care Center allows you to run system diagnostics, while Power Button provides quick access to shutting the system down or putting it into Hibernate Mode.Extraneous apps include Flipboard, Amazon Kindle, Netflix, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Amazon, Twitter and a Wild Tangent Games Hub app.The Acer Aspire F15 ships with a one-year limited warranty. See how Acer fared on our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands ratings.
The $599 model of the F15 I reviewed has a 2.3-GHz Intel Core i5-6200U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and an Intel HD Graphics 520 GPU. If you're looking to save a few bucks, you can get the $499 base model, which downgrades the display from full HD to 1366 x 768. But if you want to get a bit of gaming in, you can pay $799, which gives you a discrete Nvidia GeForce 940MX GPU with 4GB of VRAM and increases the clock speed from 2.3 to 2.5-GHz.Acer managed to cram a lot of value into the Aspire F15. For $599, you get mainstream Core i5 processing power, an attractive design and a sharp, though dull, display. The true star of the system, however, is the SSD that delivers stronger boot and file transfer times than you usually find in this price range.If you want a laptop with a little more performance oomph and a better display, we recommend the Dell Inspiron 15 5000. But if you're looking for a solid all-around laptop, the Acer Aspire F15 is a strong choice.
If you have a Surface Pro 3 and your battery life has been failing to live up to expectations, you are not alone. Based on a thread in the Microsoft Answer forums and a few tips from readers, those who have devices with the Simplo batteries in them are quickly finding themselves with devices that barely hold a charge.The problem is that starting after one year of the device being used, consumers are reporting that their battery life is a small fraction of what it was when they purchased the device. While battery degradation is expected of these devices as all batteries lose their ability to hold a charge over time, what is happening with the Simplo batteries is far outside the normal wear and tear of these devices.
Several users in the Answer forums have posted the battery report from their device and it clearly shows how these batteries have collapsed in terms of functionality. The problem is quite obvious but it’s when it finally shows up is the problem; this flaw does not show up until the device is outside the standard warranty period which leaves the user on the hook for a repair which will cost upwards of $500.Microsoft has acknowledged that they are looking into the issue, which is a good sign for those who have been impacted by the problem but with no timeline for resolution, it leaves those with the issue stranded. The question becomes should you wait to see if Microsoft is going to act upon the issue or do you need to replace the device now and not waste time sitting idle while a potential solution is researched.
To see what battery you have in your Surface Pro 3, you can run the following command from command prompt: powercfg /batteryreport.Those in the forums who have the issue stated that they were told it is a hardware failure and that a software fix will not resolve their problem which means your only hope at this point is that Microsoft will extend the warranty on these devices. If the company does not, and they likely have no legal requirement to do so as this is not a safety issue, then you are out of luck.But, if the company wants to keep its good faith with consumers, and they find that the Simplo battery is flawed and fails consistently outside of the warranty period, it would be in their best interest to offer those impacted a reasonable solution.
For those who are affected, your best bet is to let Microsoft know you are seeing this hardware failure so that they can better understand the scope of the problem. You can do this by contacting support directly and I’d also recommend posting in the Answer forum as well.Dell’s XPS 15 has become the new trendsetter for big-screen laptops. Like Apple, Dell has come up with a stable, high-quality design.I try out a lot of laptops and laptop-tablet hybrids, so it’s never easy to settle on one machine for long. But Dell’s 2016 update of the XPS 15 has been my main machine for the last month. Here’s why.Big screen: Dell’s 15.6-inch display is so big that you probably won’t want anything bigger. But the company has done a good job making its biggest XPS laptop small and light for its size. The XPS 15’s almost-borderless display allows Dell to compress the chassis to the size of some 14-inch laptops. And the 3.9-pound starting weight (4.4 pounds with the larger battery) is well distributed, making it eminently portable for a 15-inch class laptop.
Dell is one of the few top-tier laptop manufacturers to use a so-called bezel-less (borderless) display (though others are finally beginning to catch on). This accomplishes two critical things: it makes for a really cool looking laptop and, as I said above, it keeps the weight and size down. Dell has also done this with great success on the XPS 13, which is essentially a smaller version of the XPS 15.But getting back to the display’s size. What a 15.6-inch screen gets you is something pretty close to a standalone desktop display. It’s easy to unplug my external 25-inch Dell display and just use the XPS’s. In fact, if I owned an XPS 15 there would be really no reason for an external display. That’s why a big-screen laptop will always have a following: it’s essentially a movable desktop PC.
And be warned, once you start using a big-screen laptop, it’s really hard to go back to anything under 14 inches. Dell makes it even harder if you opt for the 4K Ultra HD (3,840-by-2,160) touch display – it has 3 million more pixels than the display on Apple’s 15.4-inch MacBook Pro. Made by Japan-based Sharp and co-developed with Dell, it’s easily the best big display I’ve used on a laptop. Windows 10 in high resolution is very different than Windows running on a lower-resolution laptop. And Dell and Sharp have done their homework with color accuracy and color reproduction.
Materials: Dell’s choice of materials sets it apart from the competition too. In order to keep the weight down, Dell uses a carbon fiber composite on the area surrounding the keyboard and touchpad. The soft feel of the weaved carbon fiber while you type is a nice contrast with the all-aluminum laptops prevalent today – the MacBook being the most prominent example. The only downside is that the carbon fiber can be a body oil magnet. (I find I generally need to clean the area around the touchpad every other day with a soft cloth moistened with soapy water.) The rest of the laptop (top and bottom) is aluminum. Overall, it’s a remarkably sturdy machine considering its light weight and thickness – only 0.66 inches at its thickest point.
Performance: The model I have packs a lot of punch with Intel’s newest i7-6700HQ 6th generation quad-core processor. It also has a no-holds-barred feature set, including 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a fast 512GB solid-state drive, an Nvidia GTX 960M graphics chip, and an 84 WHr (watt-hour) battery.Big-screen laptops are often fast, because they can accommodate robust cooling systems and fans to keep even the speediest silicon from overheating. Fast silicon does make a difference. There really isn’t anything that can slow down the XPS 15 that I’m using. Opening a browser with dozens of tabs, or playing a 1080p video full-screen while tweaking an Excel spreadsheet, or diving into photo or video editing doesn’t faze it. And while I don’t play games, it can also keep up with some of the faster gaming laptops, based on tech site reviews. All of that speed can make it painful to return to less performance-oriented laptops.
Battery life: My computer has the extra-large battery so the XPS 15 can stay charged all day based on my on-and-off usage, as long as you turn down the display brightness to about 60 percent and don’t spend a lot of time watching movies or playing 1080p games. Battery life will jump appreciably if you opt for the cheaper version of the XPS 15 with a less-power-hungry, standard-resolution display.Ports/connectors: The XPS 15 comes with an SD card slot, two USB 3.0 connectors, an HDMI port, and a USB-C/ThunderBolt 3 port.Price: Pricing starts at $999 for a model with a standard-resolution (1,920-by-1,080) display and dual-core processor and jumps quickly into the $1,600 to $2,950 range if you opt for the high-resolution display and quad-core processor.
Living in a high-tech hub such as Champaign-Urbana accrues many benefits. One of those is highly knowledgeable readers. We recently wrote about just a few major companies manufacturing the majority of lithium batteries. A reader, who makes his living involving batteries, responded:I have personally visited at least 15 factories in Asia (small and large) producing lithium polymer batteries. From my 25 years of experience doing business in China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea I'd venture to say that there are hundreds of factories producing lipo batteries like the one being discussed. Quality varies widely. My advice would be to look at consumer reviews of the manufacturer's and/or seller's batteries. Even so, buying an off-brand battery is a gamble. I've witnessed batteries in production for big name brands even at some small to medium sized factories, particularly for special applications.
Otherwise I agree with all that you mentioned.I don't offer investment advice, but lithium batteries (and the basic elements of lithium and aluminum) should be a profitable investment these days. The ultra-hot electric car company, Tesla searches the world to procure and secure the elements to make lithium polymer batteries at its Gigafactory in Nevada. This is truer now than a year ago after Tesla took far more orders for its forthcoming Model 3 than anticipated. The company needs batteries to power at least 325,000 cars during the first year of production. With Tesla vacuuming up all the necessary raw materials for lithium batteries it could cause smartphone, tablet and laptop battery costs to rise. Fortunately, those applications employ very small batteries compared with those to power automobiles.