Sunday, June 29, 2008
you'll be mine! | 6:58 AM
June 24, 2008
Call it Mr Big
PHOTO: ACER
Acer Aspire 8920GFrom $3,298
Get it from authorised dealers
A MONSTER 18.4-inch full HD screen, powerful gaming engine and great built-in speakers - what more can a gamer, movie or music lover ask for in a notebook? Indeed, Acer's latest offering - the Aspire 8920G desktop replacement notebook - had me drooling the moment I laid eyes on it.
Bulk and beauty rarely go hand in hand but Acer showed how it could. At its locked position, this giant notebook occupies the space of two mid-sized notebooks or three ultra-portables put side by side. Weighing in at 4kg, it is not something you would want to carry all day. But what makes this notebook irresistibly charming is its glossy black finish, contoured edges and the sprinkling of pretty blue LED lights.
Under the hood, you'll find mostly top of the line specifications like an Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz processor, 3 GB DDR2 SDRAM and 320GB hard disk. Additional firepower includes an 18.4-inch full HD widescreen monitor that can display up to 1,920 x 1,020 pixels. Complementing the full HD screen is a built-in 2x Blu-ray DVD burner and its beautifully designed, quick access and touch-sensitive DVD playback control buttons.
Completing the multimedia package is a set of stereo speakers packed with Cinesurround Sound 5.1 and a Turbo CineBass booster. Watching a battle scene from the movie Saving Private Ryan at full volume late one night got me an earful from my sleeping spouse.
Reluctantly putting on my headphones, I then played Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. With an Nvidia GeForce 9650M GS graphics chipset, this notebook had more than enough gaming muscle to run the game without much fuss. Not surprising, it scored an impressive 4,987 points on the 3DMark 06 benchtest.
I was equally impressed with the 112-minute battery life. Desktop replacement notebooks that I have reviewed previously, such as the HP HDX Dragon and the Dell XPS M1730, lasted no longer than 70 minutes.
Around its huge frame, Acer packs all the necessary connectivity options that I want. Apart from the standard wired and wireless networking features, there are four USB ports for external devices and a six-in-one multi-memory card reader. 'Wow factors' include a HDMI port for high definition content and a TV tuner for watching free-to-air TV channels like Arts Central. Other goodies include a webcam for video chat and a fingerprint reader for added security.
The software bundle is good to boot. Highlights include the Acer Empowering Technology suite of utilities that allow you to secure data in the notebook and perform data backup and recovery, NTi Media Maker and Norton Internet Security.
FINAL SAY
Expect to be blown away.
By Adli Yashir, an executive sub-editor with my paper
Digital Life, The Straits Times
Labels: Acer, Laptops, technology
