The Acer Guy

This is a great idea.

I love hearing your thoughts about all things Acer (and anything else for that matter) and in a review you give me a LOT to think about.

Hope you enjoy this second user review of the Aspire 5920 from Iain.

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As a freelance IT consultant, I need a laptop to be powerful and robust. I also get to use and play with a lot of kit, whether it be my own, my clients or suppliers.

It’s been time to replace the Compaq Evo that I’ve been using for a while. Whilst a sturdy machine, and of a size that’s not the smallest but no beast by any stretch of the imagination, it just can’t cut the mustard anymore. As I’ve said, I’ve used kit from many manufacturers over the years, and I decided that I would probably be best of taking a look at another Acer.

The last Acer I had myself was a TravelMate back about 5 years ago. It wasn’t the cheapest on the market, but it was the best bang for buck – the most powerful for my budget. Being a technical guy, power is one of the more important features. Being half a Scotsman, and self-employed, I don’t mind spending but I also like saving money!

Over the past few years, based on the experience of my Travelmate being reliable and serving me well, I’ve generally recommended Acer laptops to friends and family, and to date I’ve had no complaints, so this was yet another nod for me to choose from Acer’s range. This time round I wanted something a bit more media capable. For about 3 months I’d been eyeing up the Acer Ferrari 5005.

The Ferrari was almost perfect in my eyes – it had it all, size and performance. The price was reasonable for what you got a few months ago, but now the model is slightly older (but due to its spec still very good!). A mate went out and bought one when he saw me looking at it – and he’s been blown away by it. The thing that changed my mind though was the imminent release of Santa Rosa laptops – they promised more power and benefits at a lower cost than the Ferrari. I then came across the specs and a few pictures of the new Aspire 5920. Taking dual core Centrino processors of the new Santa Rosa variety. I liked everything I saw – and it wasn’t just cheaper the Ferrari, it was almost half the cost. The 5920 started to wipe the floor with competing products, and has already won a fair few awards from magazines and online tech sites.

Supply has been slow for this in-demand laptop. Finally, I was able to place an order this Tuesday just gone, and it arrived on Thursday. The first thing that hit me was how big the laptop is. I knew it wasn’t going to be small, but it is a little larger than I expected (but still not really huge). That said, it oozes quality. It looks substantial and not flimsy. I knew it was going to be larger than say the Ferrari – and that’s fine. At the end of the day, at the power/price point somethings got to give and I would rather have it slightly larger than lose say the graphics capability.

Being slightly larger though, Acer have made some good choices – decent size, uncluttered, keys and keyboard. Media keys/quick launch keys not cramped. Decent size trackpad and buttons. You don’t have to keep dropping the screen, turning the laptop round or bending over the top of it to get at the ports – except for the power they’ve all been positioned down the two sides and front.

On the ports front, I find it difficult to find anything that’s missing – there’s 4 USB, a firewire, line in/speaker/mic, HDMI, s-video, SVGA, Expresscard and an SD/Memory Stick port. Completing the externals on the sides are a DVD Re-writer and a volume wheel.

I say I find it difficult to find anything missing – but there is one thing. That’s a PC Card slot. This is actually fair enough – it’s an old technology that’s been replaced by the newer Expresscard, and most new laptops suffer from the same. This is only a problem in that those of us with PC Cards that we need (eg I have a 3G datacard for mobile net access). It’s not a show stopper by any stretch of the imagination, just something to be aware of.

I would have preferred buttons instead of a wheel for volume control. This is because I have a tendancy to knock the wheel. The good side though is that if the volume is turned up high as you boot/shutdown/go to a media website whilst in an inappropriate place, you can quickly knock the volume right down.

The DVD writer does it’s job perfectly. As with most laptop CD/DVD drives that slide out though, it is a little flimsy. That said, it’s not going to stay out, it’s only going to be ejected when inserting/swapping/removing a disc. Again, personal preference would have liked a slot-drive. Again, however, this laptop costs the right side of £800 and is overall of extremely good quality with a very good spec.

The “Gemstone” styling by BMW of the laptop appears to be like Marmite – you either love it or you hate it. To me, it’s great. The outside is shiny, like a gemstone. This looks good, but as with iPods, marks easily. Well, maybe not as easily as with an iPod, but you get the idea. A quick wipe with a cloth or even a sleeve soon changes that though! The inside has been the cause for the most debate though. It’s not white, it’s not beige, it’s not grey. It’s pearl. It looks slightly different under differnet light – but to me it works well. The overall styling is smart, modern and clean without being the tacky retro “futuristic” look from the 70s/80s/early 90s. It’s not a full-on-white white so it’s not Mac-i-fied. It’s also designed so the paint won’t rub off, so has to be a winner in my eyes.

The screen is the glossy crystalbrite variety. Whilst it can be difficult to use in bright sunlight, so can traditional CRT monitors, and even many matte-LCD screens. I like the vividness given by the crystalbrite-type screens. Next time you’re in Currys, look at the large screen monitors. Try and find an LCD screen and a plasma next to each other and showing the same DVD/program. Notice how much more vivid the plasma display is. Crystalbrite LCD screens to me offer that vividness over matte LCD screens.

The only disappointing thing about the 15.4″ screen for me is its maximum resolution. On a 4:3 monitor, I usually like to work at a resolution of 1600 x 1200. Before buying I knew the the 5920 could do a maximum of 1280 x 800. This I decided would be a necessary sacrifice to get a Santa Rosa laptop. Whilst the resolution is disappointing, it’s widescreen so does at least offer a bit more “real estate” than a 4:3 screen.

The graphics are supplied courtesy of a 256MB Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT DX10 card. I’ve not had too much of a chance to play with this as yet – but it’s a good spec card that can use the 1GB of Intel Robson technology turbo cache you also get with this laptop to boost the video memory.

Completing the media front is a sound setup with Dolby Home Theatre. Quite simply put, this is the best sound I’ve ever heard direct from a laptop and its inbuilt speakers. I know several dance DJs and producers who were impressed by the clarity from the laptop. Okay, so it’s never going to be perfect, and nothing will take away from hooking it up to a decent amp and speakers/hi-fi/etc – but I’d challenge anyone to find something better built into a laptop.

I’ve only had the laptop for 48 hours, and wanted to share my first thoughts. I can’t really offer a full tried-and-tested review as I’ve only owned it for a very short space of time. As I’ve already said, the quality is brilliant. The specification is awesome. The price point is spot on. This laptop will cater for my needs more than adequately. I’m going to be using it from here on in for both work and day-to-day usage, and will write a fuller review after using it for three or four weeks. I hope that this has given an insight for anyone considering making a purchase, and I can whole-heartedly recommend it!