Looking at the usability front, Acer has managed to produce a decent experience.
The keyboard is comfortable to type on, has a very distinctive click to each of the keys, and aside for a bit of readjusting you might have to do with keys that feel a little too small for their placement, it is a reasonably comfortable experience.
Acer’s included trackpad sits in a more unusual location in this computer, though, and that might confuse some.
Over time, we didn’t mind it, and found that it made a lot of sense if you were playing games in the traditional WASD configuration, though since nobody plays games with the trackpad, it’s also less of a factor.
At least Acer provides the option of a mouse in this laptop, thought the performance is a little mixed.
For instance, it’s reasonably easy to control in the Windows 8 desktop mode, but the gestures aren’t always reliable, with many of them missing in action no matter how many times you swipe. Gestures from the top and bottom almost always worked, while swipes from the left and right seem to be more prone to failures due to the trackpad’s position being slightly lower in height against the case.
Make these gestures slowly and you’ll be fine, but broad sweeps from a left or right direction seems to result in the action being missed.
You can, of course, skip the trackpad entirely and go with the touchscreen, which is big, colourful, and bright. The angles are pretty strong here, and aside for an overly reflective screen, we found that there was no “correct” viewing angle, which makes it lovely for looking in nearly any position.
Ten points of touch are supported here, and these tend to work best in the Windows 8 menus, but there’s also a decent stylus provided in the box that not only feels like a pen, but even offers a touch more precision than the basic broad pens we’ve used on other devices.
The stylus still works the same way, but the tip feels more refined thanks to a nib made from a small and thin spring. We wish there was somewhere to store it outside of your pocket – maybe a slot inside the laptop – but we guess that’s why we have pockets.
How you use the Aspire R7 does, of course, rely on which way you set the notebook up. Fortunately, the Ezel hinge means it can be pushed into any design and form-factor when ever you so choose, so let’s tackle these one by one.
The R7 feels best when used like a hybrid tablet laptop, with the screen set at an angle against the keys, and no mouse outside of the touchscreen visible. Like this, the screen is easy to read and close to your fingers.
The experience offered here is one of the nicest we’ve had from any hybrid tablet, though the R7 is large, and feels in many ways more like a small all-in-one desktop computer than a laptop.
If you prefer the feel of a mouse, you can push the screen back against the thick hinge and snap it into a perpendicular angle with the body of the laptop. Now, it’s a massive 15 inch laptop with the trackpad closer to the screen than the keyboard.
This feels a little odd, since the keys are further from the screen in this incarnation, and you therefore sitting away from the screen at a slightly larger distance. Pushing the screen into this position takes a little bit of effort, as there is some resistance, but once it’s in place, you’ll find it stays without any issues.
From there, there’s always the tablet mode, offering a massive 15.6 inch tablet. To get this, you pull on the display and push the hinge down, so that the screen is lying mostly fat.
We say mostly because “flat” doesn’t exist on the R7, with a slightly raised experience only offered here thanks to the existence of the hinge.
Drawing works better here than in any other mode, so keep that stylus handy.
Or if you feel like watching a movie, just flip the screen back and push it into a reversal of the classic clamshell mode, which is great for showing videos or presentations.
Interestingly, the keyboard still functions, but because you can’t actually see anything, it’s not likely to be of much use.
