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When you close the lid the MagicFlip shuts itself automatically with another whirr. The mechanism is rather loud, and you won't get any thanks for activating it in a library or other quiet environment.
It's great to see Thunderbolt make an appearance here, and there's no doubt that the MagicFlip idea delivers a 'wow' factor. But we're not convinced it's a good idea. What if the mechanics or the button break? The MagicFlip will then be stuck either open or — worse — closed.
We also aren't too happy with the main ports being on the back of the chassis. They're not very accessible here — you either have to walk round the desk, turn the Aspire S5 around or lift the notebook like Acer BTP-550P Battery , Acer BTP-73E1 Battery , Acer BATCL50L Battery , Acer TravelMate 290 Battery , Acer TravelMate 4000 Battery , Acer TravelMate 2300 Battery , Acer Aspire 1680 Battery , Acer Aspire 1410 Battery , Acer TravelMate 4500 Battery , Acer LCBTP03003 Battery , Acer Aspire 3820 Battery , Acer Aspire 5820 Battery to use them. Side-mounted ports are far more ergonomic.
The remaining ports and connectors are an SD/MMC-compatible card reader on the left edge and a headset/microphone combo jack on the right. The power switch is on the left, and the power socket is at the back.
The isolation-style keyboard is comfortable to use at full touch-typing speeds. It's well made and very responsive under the fingers, although heavy-handed typists may notice some flex. The cursor keys are small, and include embedded volume and screen brightness controls.
The touchpad is relatively large, which has its good and bad points. One the one hand it's easy to sweep the cursor around the screen, and there's plenty of room for two-finger gesture controls. However, it's also easy to accidentally tap or sweep the touchpad when typing. Although it can be disabled with an Fn key combination, we'd prefer a dedicated key near the touchpad for this task. The touchpad has a buttonless design that we don't generally like, but it works well enough in this case.
The S5's 13.3in. 'CineCrystal' screen has a reflective finish that makes it good for video viewing, but less suitable for working in bright lighting. Viewing angles aren't great, especially on the vertical plane. The LED-backlit TFT's resolution is the standard 1,366 by 768 pixels.