Acer Aspire 4720z Mini-Review

I just got an Acer Aspire 4720z, and I like it a lot:

Pros:
  • Excellent value - Includes every feature I was looking for. No real weak spots
  • Sturdy construction - I don't know how it holds up to drops (and I hope I never have to find out), but the feel is very solid. This is a stark contrast to my creaky/wobly HP dv1040us
  • Light colored keyboard makes it easier to see the keys in the dark (even though there's no back light)
  • Standard, barrel-style, right-angle AC connector. Dell, I spit on you and your 3 prong, fragile, clumbsy, 3-prong f-you of an AC adapter that shipped with the Dell Inspiron 1100
  • Hardware volume control - At first I was bummed-out because there was no function key combination for volume control. This became irrelevant as soon as I realized there's a hardware volume dial! Sweetness.
Annoyances
  • Blinking harddrive and wireless indicator lights above the keyboard are very distracting. I couldn't find a software solution to disabling them, so I will probably opt for a hardware fix (i.e electrical tape)
  • No middle mouse button, or I don't know what software I need to get the system to do anything useful with the directional pad between the left and right mouse buttons under the touchpad

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