Since this device I have found in advance not a single review of exactly I would like to here more closely on my impressions:
1. Processing
Optically the notebook even looks better than the pictures. The matte surface is kept in a plain blue black, but very elegant, which I personally like very much. Thus, the housing offers no attack surface for ugly fingerprints and is less sensitive to scratches. The housing and the hinges make a very strong impression. The lid stays in all positions.
Criticisms: the display edges can push the housing slightly. Also the DVD drive is (as with most notebooks in this price category) extremely rickety. The Open button on that might be slightly more pronounced. It is very difficult to feel, if you want to open the drive - but at least the drive is working properly.
2. Equipment
Especially many ports, the laptop does not, but for me as a normal user is doing everything necessary (3x USB, HDMI, VGA, LAN, card reader, headphone and microphone). An eSATA port is missing, I do not need personally but. Unfavorably the USB ports are mounted on both sides, sitting very far on the device front. If you plug in speakers or a mouse here, the cable is like to get in the way. For it provides the notebook both Gigabit Ethernet, as well as Bluetooth.
In the software are as always many useless trial versions installed, but the number is still manageable and they are also uninstalled quickly. Unfortunately, a recovery CD is not in. For the manufacturers would still quiet can invest 2 euros. With the installed program "Acer eRecovery Management" but that is quite easy to do luckily itself. In my 4 normal DVDs and for the driver again 1 DVD were for the system needed (so you can at least equal to test the burner).
3. Keyboard / Mouse
The individual keys are quite large, but. Without great gaps where dirt could collect (on the other hand, of course, you get him out of there bad, but what if coming in =) Only the four arrow keys are rather small arg, because about two additional buttons are for the euro and dollar sign. The keys are very flat, which makes typing a bit unusual. Especially if you have previously worked on a normal Desktopt keyboard, comes a bit shaky before this keyboard initially. But quickly you get used to it and then also here typing is comfortable.
The mouse pad works perfectly and does what it should. However, I use generally prefer an external mouse.
4. Display
A decisive reason for buying was clearly the matte display, which is incomprehensible white still very rare to find. With my old notebook, the strong reflections were very annoying, especially after prolonged operation. As an anti-glare surface is much more pleasant and easier on the eyes!
At first I was a bit confused, because one could read in my Internet research of öftern that matt displays are often very dark and dull and bad colors would.
When TravelMate 5742G-5464G64Mnss However, this is no way to be! I was very pleasantly surprised how good the presentation. The contrast is sufficient, of course, not a glossy display zoom, but the colors are still very natural and comfortable. Den with matte displays often criticized black level what I think is right. Milky the display is not in any case!
With a side angle, the display remains surprisingly legible. Only when viewed from above, the image is very quickly illegible.
The brightness deserves another plus. In interiors, the maximum setting is even so bright that it almost disappears - here goes one of the middle steps absolutely. Outdoors it seems to be in turn to good. The lowest brightness level (to save power) is still legible.
The AR coating of the display is also great. In my testing with a desk lamp no distracting reflections on the screen were visible.
5. Heat And Noise
In terms of operating volume this notebook has a full 5 star rating! In office use, it is muksmäuschenstill. You have to go very close to Ran at all to hear. If you did not know that it's, you might even think it was from. For processor-intensive applications such as games occasionally switches add the fan, who was still super quiet and above all pleasant, however - no droning or rattling! Only the DVD drive is fairly loud when it is running (can but then after).
On the left side of the keyboard (in the area of the fan) the housing is slightly warm during normal operation, but it remains within the normal range. For longer runs at full speed (eg in games), the device will significantly warm, but not hot.
6. Speaker
To make it short: the speaker (it is only one) is abysmal. In small claims naturally enough, but my favorite music is so not fun. The volume is indeed ok, but all the way up the speaker begins to rattle. Here you should think seriously about external speakers.
7. Performance
The i5 processor with 2.5 Ghz is very fast and will probably last another couple of years. The hard disk on the other hand is rather slow, but I find not bad. Who wants it even faster if necessary can still retrofit an SSD hard drive. Positive is the large storage capacity with 650GB which is absolutely sufficient for normal users. For comparison: My desktop PC has only 500GB and even after 2 years inundate just about 1/3 full!
The GeForce GT420 is not the latest and fastest graphics card, but while still a pretty good middle-class graphics card with DirectX 11. I'm not a big gamer, nevertheless me a reasonably good graphics card was important for GIS programs in the study.
The only game which allowed me to test the gaming performance so far is Lord of the Rings Online. Here everything runs smoothly even on high detail. It looks like I can with more demanding games not say, but this there is also an extra graphics card tests.
The 4GB of memory is also very good and can be even to 8GB extend, but is currently completely unnecessary.
8. Battery life
Is a pity that the notebook does not support Nvidia Optimus technology. Nevertheless, I find the battery power is sufficient. She moves in the area of most multimedia notebooks in this price range. When burning the recovery DVDs that WiFi was out, the brightness slightly reduced and the battery ran for about 3.5 hours. Without drive usage and minimum brightness it holds possibly a little longer. At higher loads it is certainly less than 3 hrs., But exact battery life I could not measure before.
Here again the most important advantages and disadvantages:
+ Matte display with very good brightness
+ Simple but elegant design without piano lacquer
+ Overall robust housing
+ Very quiet
+ Strong i5 processor
+ Good middle-class graphics card
+ Large hard drive
- Display edge pressed
- Bad speakers
- Slightly rickety, loud DVD drive
- Some slow hard disk
- Keyboard at first getting used to
Conclusion:
Overall, I am very satisfied. The TravelMate 5742G-5464G64Mnss is a good blend of office and multimedia notebook with light gamer qualities. The minuses are not particularly serious in my opinion. More can not be expected from a notebook for 650. The powerful processor will be enough for a few years and the graphics card for my needs well.
Especially the good display and the simple design have very to me.
I've been using the notebook mainly for office applications (also like in the garden or on the train) and from time to time a little game (no high-end games). For these purposes, this laptop is really highly recommended!
Half a star I have to deduct for the aforementioned penalty points. Due to its excellent price / performance ratio I round up the evaluation, however on 5 stars.
Overall, 4.5 out of 5 stars