Acer Aspire AS7560 review

Here are my impressions of the Acer Aspire AS7560 laptop:

  • Pros:
    • Decent keyboard, WITH full numpad
    • Supports TWO hard drives… dual hard drive support is quite rare in a machine this inexpensive
    • Responsive trackpad with good two finger scrolling
    • Easy upgrading. Loosening a few screws allows for access to two DDR3 RAM slots and two SATA hard drive bays.
  • Cons:
    • Occasional CPU noise even during relatively low load situations
      • CPU cooling fanis audible during program loading (even FireFox etc.) then the fan quickly quiets back down once the CPU intensive operation is over…
    • No USB 3.0
    • Only average wifi reception
    • Slow first boot, approximately 5+ minutes
    • Some bloatware, but surprisingly not excessive…

Windows Experience Index (WEI scale of 1.0 to 7.9)

Base score 5.2 (Determined by lowest subscore)
Processor AMD A6-3400M APU – 6.6
Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB – 5.9
Graphics AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6520G – 5.2
Gaming graphics – 6.3
Primary hard disk – 5.9

Misc Info:
Hard drive model # mk5059gsxp

Overall rating: 3.5 /5 starsΒ [starreview tpl=16]

Rating explanation: theΒ AS7560 is a capable laptop that is only held back by Β a sluggish hard drive, CPU fan noise and a display that could be better. Otherwise, this is a nice machine and if you can find it at a bargain price (<$400) then I would recommend* it πŸ™‚

 

*for better performance I would add an SSD and leave the hard drive in merely as a data drive…

42 comments

  • justin

    try to installed a 500gb 2.5 drive on the other open slot and there’s not way it will fit
    can you find any info on this laptop

    • Hi Justin,
      Thank you for your comment.

      Can you elaborate on the fit problem:
      #1 In what way is the 2.5″ 500GB drive too large to fit (too tall, too wide, too long, no mounting holes, or what?)
      #2 What model is the hard drive? (this way I can lookup the height to see if it is a 9.5mm height drive or 12.5mm drive etc.)
      #3 Does the hard drive you are adding look the same height as the one already installed in the laptop?

      With that additional info hopefully I, or another reader, can help!

      Best regards,
      -JD

  • justin

    i have the 7560-7183 which has the duel drive supports, the area where the hard drive goes is raise up a bit the one that is already installed is lower from what i think, have to get a ssd at 1.8″, which suck because i have a 2.5 500gb drive that i cant use, wd scorpio blue wd5000bevt

  • justin

    meant 1.8 mm drive

  • I have the same problem as Justin. The secondary HDD bay makes the HDD jut out of the case when seated properly. This is being the WD2500b EVS Western Digital Scorpio drive. I am pretty sure more users would love if the Aspire 7560 was labeled that only certain HDDs can fit, because that is what attracted me the most. I bought my Aspire brand spanking new for a nice price of $600 and yes I am very happy with the performance after I installed a fresh installation of Windows 7 Ultimate. I looked around for another back that fits the Aspire so as to have the second HDD but that is not prooving to be a walk in the park sadly.

    -John

    • Hi John,
      Thank you for your comment and for the additional information.

      I bet the Aspire 7560 runs nicely with a clean installation of Win7 Ultimate πŸ™‚

      Do you think a 7mm SSD (or HDD) would fit properly in the 2nd bay of the 7560? Having both a HDD in the primary slot and a (thin) SSD in the second slot would make for one killer machine! I have had good luck with both Intel and Micron 7mm SSDs.

      Best regards,
      -JD

      UPDATE: I just read your cool blog and saw that you were already thinking along those lines. Please keep us posted if you find that 7mm SSDs fit properly!

  • Sol

    Hey JD

    Do you know if the second HD port is SATA 3 also?

  • Sol

    JD,

    http://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=51316528&postcount=84

    All the HD port are SATA 3 or 600. It might register as SATA 2 or 300 because of the hardware.

    It’s a little confusing but the computer will register 3 ports (According sis Sandra)

    G1= DVD-Rom = SATA-150
    G2=1st HD (The original HD max is SATA 2, hence SATA 300 but if a SSD is here with a SATA 3 capable, it’ll register up to that)
    G3=2nd HD (Same as G2)

    According to Waam on the forum, it’s possible to put a 7mm HD in the 2nd hard drive, by removing some plastic on the cover. There isn’t bracket or anything but because of the tight squeeze of the cover and some cardboard box cushion ^-^, it’ll work on the cheap.

    that’s my plan so far πŸ™‚

    The expensive option is buy another cover, and 2nd HD bracket. with at least 3 weeks worth of shipping time: Credit to SlickNickPick

  • seb

    Hello John JD,

    I recently bought a 7560-7657
    I was briefly using it for audio by using the mini jack out/headphone socket to amplifier.
    Unfortunately, the female socket is so poor quality, just a few times putting the mini jack in and out wiped out the earth so constant hum (DC). I’ve contacted Acer but since the first email they sent back, I’ve had no more responses – that – I will follow up (UK), but thought you might be interested.

    My question is, is there any way side from the mini jack o/p to get high Q audio from the machine?

    Would be grateful for your answer.

    Peace

    Seb

    • Hi Sev,
      Thank you for your comment, that is a real bummer about your audio jack issue with the 7560 πŸ™

      Here are a couple options that come to mind:
      #1 use a high quality USB audio adapter:
      Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II USB Analog & Digital Audio Adapter
      Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Amigo II USB Sound Card & Headset Adapter
      etc.
      With those you should achieve excellent quality and you don’t have to worry about the poor integrated audio jack on your otherwise nice laptop.
      #2 Utilize the HDMI output on your laptop, which also passes digital audio
      +So if you are connecting to a display/projector/other device that has HDMI then you are good to go…
      +Otherwise, you could use something like this: http://www.ambery.com/hdautorcasts.html which converts the digital HDMI audio signal to analog audio
      -one drawback to this approach is that video is also being output, which could be problematic depending on your application…
      -and of course if you’re just trying to plug some headphones in, all of that would be a real pain
      #3 Use bluetooth audio out
      +allows you to connect to a wide variety of bluetooth headsets, speakers, headphones, etc.
      -output lag can be an issue
      -audio fidelity may not be the best (but there should be no hiss/humm etc.)

      #4 Use USB headphones
      +this is a decent option if you are looking for a purely digital connection between your laptop and some quality headphones
      +USB speakers are also an option, but are generally not very high fidelity IMHO

      So, my top recommendation at the moment would be a high quality USB audio adapter or a USB headset/headphones. I had good luck with Turtle Beach back in the early 2000’s and they have a reputation for quality IMHO. However, you may be able to find something even cheaper/smaller that works well for you πŸ™‚ Also, I have had good experience with Logitech USB audio devices.

      I hope some of these options will be helpful to you, and perhaps you will come up with a GOOD audio solution that will compliment your very nice laptop!

      Best regards,
      -JD

  • seb

    Hi J.D.,

    thanks for your swift and comprehensive reply, however, i think i didn’t explain my needs clearly enough. I am a purist audiophile and only use external amplifier and domestic HQ loudspeakers. Therefore, I just want a stereo output other than the (now ruined) headphone socket. Your reply implies that the USB o/p’s also have audio output, so I guess I need a USB adapter that give stereo audio output, preferably terminated with RCA jack connections?

    Looking forward to your response,

    Thanks

    Seb

  • Eva

    What would a slow HDD affect? Just downloading and things like that, or would it actually slow down gaming, web surfing, and video watching? And by how much? Would it be very noticable?

    • Hi Eva,
      Thank you for your questions.

      A slow HDD will affect anything that requires disk access. To use your examples:
      #1 a game should load faster and switch between levels faster (i.e. you will encounter less load times), however once you are IN the game and playing a level there will likely be little difference between a fast SSD and slow HDD
      #2 web surfing should not be affected very much by a slow HDD, though initially launching the web browser may be faster with a SSD
      #3 if the video is stored locally on your computer, then a fast SSD would start playing the video sooner… but once it is loaded then video watching should not show much difference between a slow HDD and a fast SSD (if you are streaming the video from the internet, then some of the SSDs advantage is negated unless local caching comes into play)

      After those answers, you may be wondering why a fast SSD is better than a slow HDD. The answer comes in responsiveness, particular load times. Here are examples:
      #1 booting into Windows occurs much faster
      #2 resuming from suspend/hibernate mode can be much faster
      #3 loading big programs like Photoshop or even FireFox/Chrome/IE will be faster
      #4 (bonus) a SSD is generally much more rugged than a HDD, as a SSD has no moving parts while a HDD has multiple moving parts and platters spinning at thousands of revolutions per minute (RPM)

      Finally, a SSD generally just makes the computer feel faster and be more responsive. I dislike waiting on my computers and a slow HDD can be a real bottleneck for performing many different tasks. However, if all you are doing is surfing the web and watching videos that you store on your hard drive then a HDD may be a better deal since they are comparatively much less expensive.

      Here is a SSD that I have personally used and that I highly recommend: Crucial 128 GB m4 SSD. It offers excellent performance, reasonable pricing and good reliability.

      I hope this was helpful and please let me know if you have any other questions!

      Best regards,
      -JD

  • Eva

    Thank you very much. My worries are at rest. Although I would like it to be faster, I’m perfectly fine with loading being a little slow, as long as the program itself runs alright. I already checked the netbook I’ve been using, and the RPM is only 5400. Yeesh o.e
    So any upgrade from that will keep me impressed. Once again, thank you for the quick response.

    • Excellent Eva!

      I hope you have a great week πŸ™‚

      Best regards,
      -JD

      PS somewhere down the road, if you decide you want a speed boost but can’t deal with the low capacities (and higher prices) of SSDs, you might consider a hybrid hard drive. It is a traditional hard drive meshed with a small SSD cache, it allows for frequently accessed programs, files, etc. to be transparently cached in the SSD portion and loaded fast, whereas less used files are stored on the slower HDD portion of the drive. It is a pretty nice compromise between performance and capacity πŸ™‚ 500GB Hybrid SSD/HDD, 750GB Hybrid SSD/HDD

  • ray

    Hello!
    I looking to upgrade RAM up to 8gb, how can I know which ones are right and which ones are wrong ? Thank you

  • ray

    Thank you JD..
    This helps me a lot.. Have a nice week..:-)

  • Scott

    So that Hybrid HD fits in this model Acer with no issues ?

    • Hi Scott,
      I believe the hybrid hard drive will fit in the primary hard drive bay. It will not fit in the secondary hard drive bay.

      Best regards,
      -JD

      PS As I do not have my AS7560 anymore and so cannot verify for sure, you may want to wait for an answer from the commenter after you, as I am going to ask him to verify that the primary hard drive bay can accommodate a standard 9.5mm hard drive.

  • rolls20s

    For those of you wanting to put another hard drive into this machine, you can’t do it with the stock hard drive cover. (Even if you use a 7mm hd and remove all of the plastic flashing, it still sticks out too far; trust me, I tried.) Instead, you need the alternate 2-drive cover that actually is molded with extra depth, and it seems that you can only buy it through Acer resellers. The part # is: 60.RB002.007. Unfortunately, the cheapest one I found that was still in stock is about $50: http://www.cdsparts.com/p-3435-new-acer-aspire-7560-7560g-7750-7750g-7750z-hard-drive-cover-2-drives.aspx (This seller also sells on ebay with free shipping apparently).

    • Hi Rolls20s,
      Thank you for your helpful comment.

      Another commenter had a question about drives and I no longer have my AS7560 to check… in order to help him, could you clarify as to what thickness hard drive the primary bay supports? 9.5mm or just 7mm? Thank you!

      Best regards,
      -JD

  • rolls20s

    The drive that mine came with in the primary bay is exactly 9mm thick, and there is at least 1mm of headroom, so I’m fairly confident that a 9.5mm drive would fit. Also, I believe the secondary bay might support one as well, as long as you purchase the part I mentioned above. My reasoning here is that the adapter rails for the drive that came with the laptop lock-in to the secondary bay as well, and the rails seem made specifically for standard laptop drives. I don’t have the cover yet, but I can update once I receive it.

    • Dear rolls20s,
      Thank you very much for the prompt information about the primary bay. That is excellent news that it supports drives thicker than 7mm! Please keep us updated on the new dual hard drive cover once you receive it and have had a chance to install it in your nice laptop πŸ™‚

      Thanks again!
      -JD

  • Henry

    Hi JD,

    Thanks for the info about the SATA3 connector on the second drive bay and the potential problem in installing a second drive. Here is what I had to do to install my $80 2.5″ 8mm Crucial M4 128GB drive on my refurbished $340 as7560-7183 from Walmart.com
    1. I had to remove the drive/card from the drive enclosure for installation.
    2. I removed the INTERNAL plastic grid in the cover for the second bay with a knife (Why? Acer).
    3. I put something at the end of the drive/card to prevent the card from moving before closing the cover.
    4. Change the boot order so the pc boots from the ssd drive.

    After all these troubles, I am pretty happy with the boot speed and system performance. I tried to order a drive cover for $12 + S&H but wasn’t successful but wasn’t willing to spend $50 for a cover.

    Thanks,
    Henry

    • Hi Henry!
      Thank you for the AWESOME instructions and tutorial on adding a second drive the AS7560. πŸ™‚ I know your info will be greatly helpful to other AS7560 owners and I appreciate you sharing πŸ™‚ Congrats on the great mod and thanks again.

      Best regards,
      -JD

      PS that is a great price ($340) that you got on the machine!

  • Robert Jennings

    I bought the 7560 after reading your review and bought an ssd drive. I have modified it to fit and the Bios sees the drive but I cannot access it from windows. Do I need to set it up as the primary drive and load the os on it or what??? Never seen this type of problem before. Thanks in advance for your help.

    • Hi Robert,
      Thank you for your question. Congratulations on putting a nice SSD in your 7560!

      If you are running Windows 7, please do the following:
      +go to the ‘Start’ menu
      +in the ‘Search’ box, type ‘Computer Management’
      +click the top result and load the ‘Computer Management’ windows component
      +once ‘Computer Management’ is loaded, go to Storage -> Disk Management
      +you should see your SSD listed there (if not, let me know)
      +right clicking on the drive should let you format it and set it up for use etc.

      -=alternative=-
      Go to ‘Device Manager->Disk Drives’ and make sure the SSD is visible (of not visible, let me know)

      If you have already tried these steps, I apologize for the redundancy. Once I hear back from you on the status of the drive (i.e. if it is actually visible to windows or not) then I can advise further.

      Thank you!

      Best regards,
      -JD

  • Robert Jennings

    Thank you so much. worked just like you said. Not real fond of Win7 and clearly not used to it. Still stuck in XP Pro mindset. LOL Time to upgrade thinking. Thanks for your help and quick response

    • Awesome Robert! Very glad it helped πŸ™‚

      Enjoy your fast SSD with your nice 7560!

      Best regards,
      -JD

      PS They really put the drive management option in a rather hidden location (just look at how many steps it takes to write it out), so don’t worry anybody could miss it, and good job checking the BIOS to make sure it shows up there, that really narrowed down the potential problems.

  • Dawn

    Hi, I just purchased the acer aspire 7560-Sb416 on ebay for 200.00, but I need a new hard drive because its making a clicking sound. THe problem is I can’t seem to find where to buy one. If you have any info PLEASE HELP! Thank you

  • David

    Hey, I just got this laptop.. it’s great! I was wondering. What could i put behind the hard drive to keep from moving around.. I cannot bring myself to pay $20 for two pieces of metal

    • Hi David,
      Thank you for your great question!

      I totally understand your feeling, the price is very exorbitant for what needs to be done (simply keeping the drive in place). Generally I go through my spare parts/odd&ends and look for something rubbery (non conductive) and soft that will secure the drive while not harming anything else. Sometimes a rubber grommet or o-ring can even do the trick if squished down to fit. I imagine by now you already solved the issue, but I just wanted to share my 2 cents πŸ˜‰

      Best regards and enjoy your awesome laptop,
      -JD

      PS I apologize for taking so long to respond to your question!

  • Pam

    I have an Acer Aspire 7560-Sb600. I think my hard drive has crashed. I have searched the web and cannot find one. Is there a universal one or does it have to match the numbers I previously typed?

    • Hi Pam,
      I am sorry to hear that your hard drive crashed!

      Thankfully the 7560 uses industry standard 2.5″ SATA hard drives (or solid state drives). There are LOTS of options out there but here is my top pick for a fast and spacious replacement hard drive: Seagate 1TB Solid State Hybrid Drive SATA 6Gbps 64MB Cache 2.5-Inch ST1000LM014.

      Note, after you install your new hard drive, you will need to re-install Windows (or restore from recovery media). The process is generally fairly easy (just following the prompts) but I just wanted to give you a heads up ahead of time!

      Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with Pam.

      Best regards,
      -JD

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