Acer Iconia Tab A100 battery

Review Acer Aspire S7 391 Ultrabook
The S7 is Acer's ultrabook F1 car. This applies not only to the 13.3-inch form factor, but also to the hardware. On the outside - a gem made of solid magnesium and Gorilla Glass 2. On the inside - Core i7, 256 GB RAID SSD, and a Full HD IPS panel. That's right: outstanding viewing angles and vibrant colors in an Acer notebook. This is something that has not happened before. Even the sister model S5-391, a high-end ultrabook with similar hardware (i7, RAID) only had an HD panel with meager contrast and viewing angles of an ordinary laptop. Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 battery Acer Aspire M5 battery ACER Aspire S Series battery

Another rarity: the Aspire S7 is our first test candidate running Windows 8. With a 1300 to 1700 Euros price tag (our test unit, ~$1684 to $2202), the luxury model does not cost petty cash. But if it delivers the promised display, performance, and workmanship, then the price is competitive. You can read all that you need to know about the 14-inch Aspire S7 in our detailed review.

The rivals are: Asus Zenbook UX31A (FHD IPS), Samsung Series 9 900X3C and Apple MacBook Air 13 (Unibody). ACER Aspire S7 Series battery
Acer has really put an effort into making the case stable, despite its thinness (maximum height of 12 mm plus 1.5 mm for the feet). We are pleasantly surprised: the base unit is almost stiff as a board; the chassis cannot be bent either lengthwise, or diagonally.

During prolonged typing on the train, we noticed a drawback: the front and side raised edges of the working space are pretty sharp. The edgy look has its visual appeal, but also its downsides in everyday use. The raised side edges have two functions according to Acer: they stabilize the base unit and allow for a deeper immersion of the display lid (reduced height). Acer Aspire S Series battery

The lid consists of an aluminum frame, in which a Gorilla Glass II is used on the outside as a stiffening surface. This does attract fingerprints, but also adds strength. The lid can be twisted only to a limited extent.

The working space is not entirely flat - the keys lie in a slight groove. This serves to even the edges of the keys with the rest of the surface. This is an important detail, since the display panel lies flush with the work surface. To prevent the display from being scratched or dented by the keys, the bezel has a small rubber strip. But it does not protrude out. Can this function properly? Acer Aspire S3 battery

We noticed that when the lid is closed, the aluminum TFT frame and the magnesium work space come in direct contact. This might lead to abrasions after some time. We advise users to always transport the device with the polishing cloth placed on the keyboard. Given that Acer has manufactured it precisely to a tenth of a millimeter, the gap between the panel and the keys is extremely small. Even the touch typing markings could come in contact with the display. ACER Aspire V3 battery

Such a flat notebook raises the question of efficient cooling. Acer claims to have solved this problem via the dual fans. One fan draws cool air in (small opening) and the other one blows the hot air out through the radiator (large opening). The processor is, per usual, connected to the radiator via a copper heat pipe. In the Emissions section we'll discuss whether this helps with the noise and heating.

The S7 has no maintenance covers; the battery is integrated. There isn't much to upgrade or exchange. The two SSDs (RAID 0) are small modules connected to the SATA ports (no 2.5- and 1.8-inch SSD). The system memory (4 GB) is soldered. ACER Aspire 8943G battery

Performance

The Intel Core i7-3517U (2 x 1.9 GHz) is an ultra-low voltage processor with a TDP (thermal design power) of 17 W. According to Acer there will be an S7 model with Core i5-3317U. The frequency can be increased via Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.0 GHz (single-core load). We must take into account the temperature (performance drops when too hot), which we will clarify in the processor section. ACER Aspire Ethos 8943G battery

The Ivy Bridge i7 has a memory controller for DDR3 RAM and an Intel HD 4000 on board. In our test system the 4096 MB is permanently installed and thus not expandable. The storage consists of two mSATA modules, each with 128 GB capacity. The Lite-On CMT-128L3M modules in RAID 0 array (striping – acceleration without redundancy) have already provided for a very high performance in the Aspire S5-391. ACER Aspire One E100 battery

Processor

The Aspire S7 with the i7 costs 1700 Euros (~$2202). Does a cheaper i5 version suffice? We think so, since the Cinebench tests show this: the maximum performance difference is 15%. The R11.5 graph confirms: the TwinAir cooling system aids the Turbo Boost surprisingly well. The Samsung 900X3C and Aspire S5-391 with the same processor are 6-10% slower. Acer Iconia 6120 battery

Let us take a closer look: the frequency during CPU multi tests is constantly at 2.8 GHz. Only the stress test scenario with Prime95 on all cores dropped the Turbo temporarily down to 2.7 GHz. This is good news to everybody who feared throttling problems because of the 12 mm chassis.

What the R11.5 test identifies is not proven by Wprime (S5-191 +17%), Super Pi, and Cinebench R10 Single/Multi (+/- 0%). In the "worst" case, the i7 of the Aspire S7 is on an equal level. On battery power one does not have to give up performance. The R11.5 Tests (also OpenGL via GPU) showed identical results. Acer Iconia 6886 battery

Graphics Card

The performance of the HD 4000 graphics chip has been proven in countless notebooks and subnotebooks. It is considerably faster than the HD 3000 predecessor, although there are large fluctuations among individual units. Refer to our Performance and Scaling Overview of Intel HD Graphics 4000.

In short, there are two performance factors: The GPU clock frequency (for example 650-1350 MHz) and the capabilities of the cooling system. Our Core i7 3517U allows the HD 4000 to clock up to 1150 MHz (theoretically), this is the same as a Standard Voltage Core i5. But is the cooling efficient enough to keep this frequency constant? Apparently not, because during the R11.5 OpenGL test it varies between 950 and 1050 MHz. Acer TravelMate 8372 battery

The benchmarks show varying results, when compared to an HD 4000 in a Standard Voltage dual-core processor (+18 but also -15%; MacBook Pro 13 and T430 respectively). However, it is only fair to make the comparison with HD 4000 in other Low Voltage Core i5 and i7 notebooks. The 3DMark 06 resulted in 4953 points. Here our Aspire S7 is sometimes faster (UX31A, S5-391), the same as (900X3C) or even slower (Air 13). The processor graphics of an i5-3317U is up to 33% slower (IdeaPad U310). This varies depending on the efficiency of the cooling system, up to a tie (for example Zenbook UX32VD). Acer TravelMate 8372G battery
Gaming Performance
We tested with Anno 2070 and Risen, whether the good synthetic scores translate into real game performance. Overall, the HD 4000 system performs worse when compared to an entry-level GPU, such as the GeForce GT 620M (Asus UX32VD, +90%). The other ultrabooks do not perform better, even the Air 13 with its above-average 3DMarks 06. Thus the user must do with lower resolution and deactivated anti-aliasing (lower details). Only undemanding modern games like FIFA 13 can be played smoothly on medium settings (IdeaPad S400). Acer TravelMate 8372T battery
Temperature

In idle the ultrabook remains cool in the areas of the keyboard and the palm rest. At the top and bottom, the temperatures are more or less around 30 oC. During office use, under low load and mostly idle state, the temperature rises only by a couple of degrees. So use on the lap is possible.

Under load the temperature rises significantly (up to 48 oC), mostly in the rear area, where the processor and the cooling system are. However, below and above the keyboard, we measured temperatures of well below 40 oC. Thus the cooling fans works well. Our stress test is an extreme scenario, designed to test the effectiveness of the cooling system. Acer TravelMate 8372TG battery

During the stress test on the CPU and graphics for several hours, we noticed no CPU throttling with the S7. The Turbo Boost did not clock the processor up to 2.7 or 2.8 GHz, as with the Prime95 solo test. The 1.9 GHz is the standard frequency. Only a fall below that would indicate CPU throttling. HWinfo showed CPU temperatures at a maximum of 85 oC for the processor.

Battery Life

Power Consumption
The Low Voltage system uses a bit more energy in idle than the 13.3-inch ultrabook competition. We measured 7.2 up to 11.6 W, which is easily more than the rivals: Zenbook Prime UX31A (4.4 to 10.3 W), Aspire S5-391 with the same hardware (4.5 to 6.5 W) and Samsung 900X3C (5.2 to 10 W). These values represent the minimum and maximum energy consumption in idle state. Acer Iconia Tab W500 battery

During the stress test (CPU+GPU) the power consumption rose to 35 W. When just the processor stress test was running (Prime95 Multi), the S7 consumed 32 W. The UX31A and Samsung 900X3C need more energy (~37 W @ peak load). An i5-3317U would hardly be more energy efficient here. Most of the 13-inch notebooks with this CPU consume about 36 W in the stress test (for example Envy Spectre XT 13-2000eg).

Battery Life

The Power Manager indicates USB devices and applications that use a lot of energy. Acer Iconia Tab W501 battery

Power Consumption
The Low Voltage system uses a bit more energy in idle than the 13.3-inch ultrabook competition. We measured 7.2 up to 11.6 W, which is easily more than the rivals: Zenbook Prime UX31A (4.4 to 10.3 W), Aspire S5-391 with the same hardware (4.5 to 6.5 W) and Samsung 900X3C (5.2 to 10 W). These values represent the minimum and maximum energy consumption in idle state. Acer Iconia Tab A100 battery

During the stress test (CPU+GPU) the power consumption rose to 35 W. When just the processor stress test was running (Prime95 Multi), the S7 consumed 32 W. The UX31A and Samsung 900X3C need more energy (~37 W @ peak load). An i5-3317U would hardly be more energy efficient here. Most of the 13-inch notebooks with this CPU consume about 36 W in the stress test (for example Envy Spectre XT 13-2000eg).
Acer Aspire 4250 battery

Battery Life

The Power Manager indicates USB devices and applications that use a lot of energy.

Power Consumption
The Low Voltage system uses a bit more energy in idle than the 13.3-inch ultrabook competition. We measured 7.2 up to 11.6 W, which is easily more than the rivals: Zenbook Prime UX31A (4.4 to 10.3 W), Aspire S5-391 with the same hardware (4.5 to 6.5 W) and Samsung 900X3C (5.2 to 10 W). These values represent the minimum and maximum energy consumption in idle state. Acer Aspire 4251 battery Acer Aspire 4252 battery Acer Aspire 4253 battery Acer Aspire 4253G battery Acer Aspire 4333 battery

During the stress test (CPU+GPU) the power consumption rose to 35 W. When just the processor stress test was running (Prime95 Multi), the S7 consumed 32 W. The UX31A and Samsung 900X3C need more energy (~37 W @ peak load). An i5-3317U would hardly be more energy efficient here. Most of the 13-inch notebooks with this CPU consume about 36 W in the stress test (for example Envy Spectre XT 13-2000eg).