Acer Aspire 5755G 15.6 inch Laptop (Intel Core i7-2670QM Processor, 6 GB RAM, 750 GB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit)

I have the i7 6GB RAM variant.

The good:
- Build quality isn't bad. Acer don't have a fantastic reputation in this regard, but although it's fully made of plastic (as opposed to the Al/Mg chassis of some, more expensive competitors) it doesn't feel cheap or flimsy. The backing is a kind of matte, grooved finish that, while not turning any heads, is definitely functional and doesn't attract smudges or fingerprints that easily.

- It has a chiclet keyboard, which is fine to type on, though you might want to keep some kind of air blaster handy to keep the odd crumb from lodging underneath. The inclusion of a number pad is also very handy. There's a function key, as common on laptops, combining with keys to toggle wifi, sleep, screen backlight, touchpad (very useful if, like me, you use a mouse and hate accidentally triggering laptop touchpads when typing), mute, volume and screen brightness. There are also a few for play/pause, stop and previous/next track above the number pad.

- The specs speak for themselves, really. This will handle pretty much anything you throw at it, with the nVidia Optimus technology working well. The integrated graphics aren't too shoddy, being of Sandy Bridge descent, so you can actually configure the nVidia chip to keep quiet for everything that isn't a game (on a per-application basis).

- The touchpad is of a reasonable size. With the Synaptics drivers installed it's possible to do some "multitouch" gestures (though I don't think it's a "true" multitouch device). Two-fingered scrolling works well once you get the hang of it, but I wouldn't rely on the touchpad for daily work unless I had to. There is, however, a dedicated scrolling area on the right of the pad, which is nice.

- The webcam gives a decent picture - 1.3MP isn't going to do any photography, but it's plenty for Skype etc. Speaking of which, there's an in-built microphone somewhere, as well as headphones and mic ports (a "combo audio jack" for headsets), so you're good to video call out of the box.

- Decent battery life if you take care of the battery (tips: keep the battery between 40%-80% charged; take it out of the laptop if you're using it plugged in and you're not charging it). You might be able to squeeze five hours out of it, though likely less if you're wifi'ing and multi-tasking (and who wouldn't with an i7 at their disposal?)

- USB 3.0 is a nice inclusion, and means you don't have to worry about HDD space if you buy a USB 3.0 external HDD.

The not-so-good:

- The screen is bright, being LED backlit. It isn't, however, particularly impressive, being of 1366x768 (so not 1080p) resolution, and viewing angles aren't great, which is to be expected from a TN panel (try and find an example of a TN panel vs. the higher quality IPS panel to really see the difference). To make matters worse (in my opinion), it's a glossy finish, so beware of any light actually shining onto the screen. It's definitely viewable, but I've seen many a better screen on other laptops.

- The CPU fan is noisy. There's a powerful processor, with discrete graphics, so you know there'll be heat, but the fan really could be a lot quieter.

- The memory card reader has an annoying mechanism that makes you remove a tray before you insert a card. An annoyance, really.

- A good dollop of bloatware pre-installed - best to buy a licence of Windows 7 and reformat it when you get it. Just make sure you make a note of (and if necessary, download) the drivers first! There's no working NIC driver from a clean installation, so you'd be well advised to download the required drivers from Acer's website and put them on a USB stick.

- The speakers are a bit rubbish, but then they're laptop speakers, and to be fair, I think they're above average. I don't think I've heard a good pair of laptop speakers yet.

In summary, a solid buy.

Very powerful laptop. Runs Magix Music Maker Premium (music studio and creation) with no crashes or audio problems. Runs Pinnacle Video Studio 15 (video editing) easily and renders complex special fx in real time instead of having to wait ages. Runs Skyrim (graphically intensive game)on very high settings easily and smoothly. Everything seems fantastic.......but....I'm a little concerned about the screen, not the resolution or the quality of the image, I'm pleased with both of them. It's just that quite often it will give out a little rushing sound,not enough to distract you from anything, but when this happens and you touch the top of the screen, or even hover your hand slightly above the screen, or close the screen, it lets out a high pitched squeal, like if a singer put his microphone too close to a speaker,(?)and if you gently tap the casing on the back of the screen, the taps seem to be amplified through the speakers. (?) I've never experienced this on a laptop before. As it comes with Amazons 12month guarantee, I'm not too concerned, as I don't make a habit of holding onto the top of the screen when I'm using it, but it's something I'll keep my eye on (other uses on the web have also mentioned this). But, overall I think it's a fantastic laptop!
*****UPDATE**** Thanks to the comments of some helpful guys, I have sorted out the tinny whistling sound by adjusting onboard microphone settings. I now have a perfect Laptop and give it 5 out of 5 stars***** :-)

I've had this laptop for several months and not a glimmer of a problem with it. The high performance specs at this price offer tremendous value whether you're gaming, watching Blu-ray movies, browsing the internet, or just doing some humble word processing. It's fast and gets the job done effectively. The build is strong but not too heavy to be carried around, the keyboard is robust, and the design pleasingly understated (I have the one in faux woodgrain burgundy - stylish). Battery life depends on what you're doing, so don't let the various and often conflicting estimates put you off. My only quibble is with the brightness of the screen, which doesn't dim as low as I would like it. But I've sorted out that minor issue by downloading a free dimmer software which safely overrides the default settings and allows me to take the brightness down to a more comfortable level for my ageing eyes. Highly recommended.