the backwards laptop

 I've been subscribed to new eBay listings for Acer R7-571 for a long time. It's a funny laptop from a time Acer was exploring the idea of different form-factors. This one didn't catch on, but it has always been so novel to me, that I've just had to have it.

The Acer R7-571 has one gimmick- The touchpad is placed above the keyboard. I think this machine was marketed to creatives and people who would probably only use a mouse or touchscreen on their computer. With an intel i5-4300U, 8GB DDR3 RAM, and a 1TB HDD, this machine was never a great machine for graphics designers, but it could fair well as a youtube and email machine.

Unrestricted fun

When I got the opportunity to purchase this device for a rather reasonable $70, I jumped on it.

The apparent only issue with the machine was that when pligged in, it turned off. A replacement battery is only around $30. So a total investment of $100 is not unreasonable to me.

I pressed "Buy it Now" and waited patiently by my door for nine days and nights...

On the Saturday afternoon when UPS arrived, I was greeted with a grim discovery,
my friend, R7-571, was damaged in transit due to inadequate packaging

quite the bleak scene indeed

bloodbath

this is so unfortunate and very much avoidable. Had the seller used more paper to minimize the amount of wiggle the laptop could sustain in shipment, it could have survived its journey from Illinois.

As you know, I'm not shy about repairing broken laptops, the only issue is the price involved with it. the cost of simply getting a replacement lid and palmrest is $54. When factoring the new battery price, the total potential price for this machine would be $150!

I have contacted the seller about the unfortunate circumstances. Ideally we can work out some sort of partial refund so that we both can walk away from this deal happy.

In the mean time, I will stare longingly at this busted up device on my shelf