Acer Aspire 6920

by Kevin O'Brien

The all new Gemstone Blue series notebooks from Acer offer a cinematic experience with a 16-inch 16:9 ratio display, built-in subwoofer, and touch-sensitive multimedia control panel. Going beyond the multimedia experience, Acer also give this Gemstone notebook one of the most innovative designs we have seen in years. From a semi-transparent LCD cover with an LED outlined company logo to blue LED illuminated chrome screen hinges Acer really went all out to make this notebook stand out from the competition. Now does Acer really deliver a "true cinematic experience?" Read on to find out.

Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 (2.0GHz, 667MHz FSB, 2MB Level 2 cache)
• Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium
• Memory: 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)
• Hard drive: 250GB (5400rpm)
• Screen: 16" HD Acer CineCrystal (glossy) display (1366 x 768)
• Graphics: Intel X3100 integrated graphics
• Optical drive: DVD SuperMulti DL
• Ports: Ethernet, modem, VGA, microphone in, two audio out jacks, four USB ports, 5-in-1 card reader, ExpressCard slot
• Wireless: 802.11a/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
• Dimensions: 10.8" x 15.1" 1.7" (HxWxD)
• Weight: 7.3 lbs.
• MSRP as configured: $899

Build and Design

Build quality of the Acer Aspire 6920 is very solid and held up quite well during our testing. Whether it was being tossed inside of a backpack haphazardly or carried around by the edge of the palmrest, it didn't make one creak of noise. The plastics used throughout the notebook are high quality, and give it a tough feel (might even be subliminal with the brick textured palmrest) which doesn't bend under a strong grip. The glossy plastic bits located throughout, including the media control panel, held up well without showing much wear or scuffing. Those thinking about stuffing the notebook into a backpack full of heavy textbook needn't worry, as the screen cover resists a strong push without distorting the LCD, although I wouldn't go as far as standing on it.

The design of the Gemstone Blue series is a bit unlike anything I have played with or experienced before. Acer paid attention to all of the minor details when designing this notebook, leaving no surface untouched of some sort of special feature. The screen cover which can generally be a pretty basic element of a notebook has a very advanced look to it. It consisted of multiple layers and soft gradient changes from dark blue around the edges to a semi-transparent blue in the center. It is a subtle touch that you don't notice at first, but once you do it is pretty awesome. LED lighting is another design element used throughout the design of this notebook, and they can be found in many areas:

• Hinge endcaps
• Power button outline illumination
• Media control area
• Acer logo on the cover

The only areas Acer didn't really add to the design of this notebook are found on the lower end configuration models. Acer shares the same plastic trim and palmrest between models, and if your notebook didn't come equipted with HDMI, TV-Tuner, or Fingerprint scanner you are left with tacky looking blanks. The worst one is the fingerprint scanner blank, which makes it look like you have one, but it is actually black plastic bar. This even confused a few retail sites which list lower configurations as having a fingerprint scanner, even though they don't.

Screen

The 16:9 Acer CineCrystal LCD rates average compared to other notebooks, having good color and contrast, but lacking a wide viewing range. The display has a very narrow viewing sweet spot and even a small 5-10 degree change up or down will start to invert colors on the top or bottom half of the screen. Side to side viewing angles were better, but still lacking compared to other displays.

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The aspect ratio of the screen does help reduce the some of the aspect ratio correcting bars found while watching some movies, but doesn't entirely get rid of them which some might think. Depending on the movie you watch you will still have some bars, either super small, or upwards of an inch tall.

Keyboard and Touchpad

From the first day seeing this Acer notebook opened, I wasn't sure how much I would like the keyboard with the angled spacebar and right ALT key. Well I am happy to say that although the design is a bit odd, it didn't impede my typing abilities, which I was nervous about at first. The keys are great, with a shallow cupped surface, and good quiet feedback when typing. Support underneath the keyboard could be better, with some mild sag under moderate finger pressure. The layout and spacing were great and I didn't miss a full number pad, although it could have fit one if it didn't have the media controls.

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The touchpad surface was great to use, with a unique brick-like surface texture that let you finger effortlessly slip across it even if your hand was a bit sweaty. Sensitivity was excellent out of the box, and if you wanted to, you could adjust it further through the control panel. The scrolling region of the touchpad was defined with a small ridge that separated it from the main area, which had a tendency to confuse you during use. Your finger would slide over and try to scroll inside the main area, since you would think you were hitting the far edge of the touchpad.

Input and Output Ports

Port selection on the Acer Gemston Blue was decent, but was missing a few common ports that we would have liked to see. Firewire was nowhere to be found, and for those who selected lower configurations, all you get is a blank HDMI and TV tuner port. Acer included 4 USB ports, instead of just 3 which you sometimes find on 15" or even 17" notebooks. Below is the full port selection list:

• 4 USB 2.0 ports
• ExpressCard slot
• Gigabit Ethernet and modem
• 5-in-1 multi-card reader
• Headphone
• Microphone, Line-In
• VGA monitor out
• Kensington lock slot

eSata and a true docking connection were also missing. I would have personally enjoyed not seeing a modem jack and the extra space used for eSata or a proprietary docking connection.

Front: 5-in-1 multi-card reader

Rear: Subwoofer

Left: AC Power, Modem, VGA, LAN, 1 USB, Headphone/Mic/Line-in

Right: Optical Drive, 3 USB, Kensington Lock Slot

Performance and Benchmarks

The Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 processor found in our review configuration isn't exactly the fastest processor on the market, but it was more than fast enough for your average workload. Office productivity applications and internet browsers were no problems for this computer. Even more difficult tasks such as compressing audio or video files in iTunes completed without much delay. Overall most users will have a hard time telling the difference between a top of the line processor and base budget model during day to day work. Gaming and more stressful applications where something with that amount of grunt is needed.

The lack gaming abilities of the X3100 integrated graphics chipset on the other hand really put a damper on any fun with this notebook. Without a more powerful dedicated graphics chipset, you won't be able to play current or even last generation games without horrible frame rates, or even getting the game to load at all. Another downside to the X3100 graphics on this notebook is the removal of the HDMI port (come standard in higher configurations), leaving you with only VGA out for connection to a larger display.

WPrime 32M comparison results

WPrime is a benchmark similar to Super Pi in that it forces the processor to do intense mathematical calculations, but the difference is this application is multi-threaded and represents dual core processors better. Lower numbers indicate better performance.

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Acer Aspire 6920 (Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2.0GHz)	44.457s

Sony VAIO FW (Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz)

30.373s

Dell Studio 15 (Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2.0GHz)

	41.246s
HP Pavilion dv5z (Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 @ 2.1GHz)

39.745s

Dell Vostro 1510 (Core 2 Duo T5670 @ 1.8GHz)

51.875s

Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)

43.569s

Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)

	37.485s
HP Pavilion dv6500z (Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)

40.759s

Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
HP Pavilion dv6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance based on processor, hard drive, operating system, RAM, and graphics (higher scores are better):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Acer Aspire 6920 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)	4,179 PCMarks

Sony VAIO FW (2.53GHz Intel T9400, ATI Radeon HD 3470)	6,002 PCMarks

Dell Studio 15 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)

3,998 PCMarks

HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)

3,994 PCMarks

Dell Vostro 1510 (1.8GHz Intel T5670, Intel X3100)

	3,568 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	4,149 PCMarks

Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	4,616 PCMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	3,283 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores are better):

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Acer Aspire 6920 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)	605 3DMarks

Sony VAIO FW (2.53GHz Intel T9400, ATI Radeon HD 3470)	2,598 3DMarks

Dell Studio 15 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)

493 3DMarks

HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	1,599 3DMarks

Dell Vostro 1510 (1.8GHz Intel T5670, Intel X3100)	519 3DMarks

Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)

545 3DMarks

HP Pavilion dv6500z (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, NVIDIA 8400m GS)	1,551 3DMarks

Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)

	504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	2,905 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

HDTune results:

Speakers and Audio

Audio performance of the speakers found on this Acer notebook fall between above average and "sounds like earbuds cranked up." Acer included a subwoofer tube built into the hinge section of the display, which helps to add life into the music or movies that you might be watching. However, if you disable the subwoofer, the regular speakers sound horrific. They lack all midrange and bass, and sound just like small earbud headphones cranked up to a higher volume. The overall speaker performance could have been greatly improved with slightly better main speakers, but as it stands, they still rate fairly good if you keep the subwoofer turned on.

The headphone jack worked very well without any static or hiss if you were watching a movie or listening to music in a more private setting. For a notebook, I still think a users best friend is a good set of "cans."

Battery Life

On the balanced profile with screen brightness set to 60% and wireless enabled, the Acer Gemstone pulled off 4 hours and 6 minutes of battery life with the 4400mAh battery. This is well above average, even compared against notebooks equipped with much higher capacity batteries.

Heat and Noise

Thermal performance is better than average, where even under heavy stress, like in the middle of benchmarking, the notebook is barely above room temperature in all of the important areas. The palmrests were slightly above room temperature and the bottom of the was fairly cool as well. The only warm spot that you notice with it sitting on your lap is right at the back corner of the notebook near the CPU exhaust vent.

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Even while maintaining a very cool outside temperature, the system doesn't really emit much fan noise. During normal operation the system has the fan completely off or at a very slow speed, which you can only hear if your head is right above the exhaust vent. During stressful activities such as benchmarking or encoding video, the fan increases speed, but still within the whisper range.

Conclusion

The Acer Gemstone Blue series has one of the coolest designs we have seen in our office in quite a long time. The attention to detail is astounding, especially with the screen cover where you realize the color isn't a solid blue, but instead a smooth transition to a lighter color towards centered Acer logo. Even the screen hinges weren't overlooked, with the chrome accents and inner blue LED lighting when plugged in. While our review model lacked HDMI out and a Blu-ray drive, it still handled downloaded HD content (720P) and DVD movies just fine. The built-in subwoofer performed well, but covered up the anemic audio that the main drivers put out.

For the going price of $899 this notebook configuration is a lukewarm deal, but if you find it on sale for $699 (which we have seen) it turns into a great deal for all that you get.

Pros

• Solid build quality
• Cool screen cover paint finish
• Chrome and LED trimmed pieces everywhere
• Operates with lap friendly temperatures
• Great battery life

Cons

• Anemic main speaker drivers
• Mild keyboard flex under typing pressure
• Poor screen viewing angles

READ MORE - Acer Aspire 6920

Acer Aspire One D250

by Jerry Jackson Acer managed to strike gold in the middle of a global economic crisis thanks to their affordable Acer Aspire One netbooks. These low-cost, ultraportable laptops have quickly become popular travel companions for people who don't want to haul a heavy notebook to Starbucks. The latest 10-inch Acer Aspire One, the D250 series, offers a great balance of features at a starting price of less than $300. Read on to find out more about the Acer Aspire One D250-1165.

Acer Aspire One D250-1165 features the following specifications:

• Operating System: Genuine Windows XP
• Processor: Intel Atom N270 Processor 1.60GHz
• Memory: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM (533MHz)
• Internal Storage: 160GB 5400 rpm SATA HDD
• Display: 10.1-inch diagonal WSVGA+ (1024x600)
• Graphics: Intel GMA 950
• Wireless: 54g Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
• Expansion: 5-in-1 media card slot
• Ports and connectors: (3) USB 2.0 ports, VGA OUT, power connector, RJ-45/Ethernet (10/100), stereo headphone/line out, stereo microphone in, 0.3 megapixel (VGA) webcam
• Dimensions (H x W x D): 1 x 10.2 x 7.2 inches (including feet)
• Weight: 2.4 lbs (not including weight of AC adapter).
• Power: 3-cell Lithium-Ion battery (2200mAh, 25Wh)
• Warranty: One-year standard warranty
• MSRP: $329.99 ($299.95 Retail Price)
  

Build and Design
The Acer Aspire One D250-1165 is a low-cost version of the new D250 series netbooks and features a smaller battery and no Bluetooth in order to drop the retail price below $300. One very interesting item of note is that the D250 is actually slightly thinner than the original Acer Aspire One 150 series which used a smaller 8.9-inch screen. Like the original Aspire One, the D250 uses glossy plastics on the top of the screen cover as well as around the entire LCD. At times the reflective boarder does get on your nerves if you are in a brightly lit room with many sources of glare.

Build quality looks quite good and the construction feels strong enough to handle being tossed around inside a book bag without much concern for its safety (well apart from possible scratches to the glossy surfaces). We detected some flexing in the LCD lid plastics and bottom of the chassis when we squeezed the D250 while holding it folded in half, but overall this is a solid little netbook.

One nice design feature in the D250 is easy access for upgrades. Compared to the original Acer Aspire One, the D250 is extremely easy to upgrade. Flip the netbook over and you'll find three access panels for the hard drive, RAM, and the mini-PCIe card slot. The mini-PCIe card slot is obviously open for built-in broadband wireless access, so you should be able to buy this netbook directly from wireless carriers depending on the carriers and data plans in your area.

Screen and Speakers
The new Aspire One uses a fairly standard LED-backlit display panel with a 1024x600 native resolution. The glossy screen looks identical to what we're seeing in most netbooks: the glossy screen offers good color and contrast, but glare and reflections indoors under strong lights or outdoors under direct sunlight can be a problem. Again, although the 1024x600 resolution is pretty standard for a netbook these days, I'd much rather see a 1366x768 screen in the next Aspire One. Vertical viewing angles are average, with some strong color inversion when viewing from below and some over-exposed colors when viewed from above. Horizontal viewing angles are better with colors staying accurate at extremely wide viewing angles.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The Aspire One D250 uses a surprisingly cramped keyboard that is virtually identical to the keyboard used on the original Aspire One 150 series. Considering that the original Aspire One was a smaller netbook with a 8.9-inch screen it's rather disappointing that Acer didn't use a larger keyboard. Despite the small key size, the typing surface feels strong with no keyboard flex and individual keys feel strong with no wobble. One aspect that I really enjoy about the keyboard layout is the dedicated page up and page down buttons.

Still, the cramped keyboard will cause problems for more than a few owners. Since the keys are small and unusually close together you have to look at the keys when typing rather than using touch typing methods. Here's a quick example of what I can type when looking at the keys:

"This is what it's like to type a document on the Acer Aspire One keyboard if you are looking at the keys."

Here's a quick example of what I can type using the traditional touch typing method:

"This is ehat it's like to type a document on the Acer Aspore One keyboard ig you are looking st the screen."

The Synaptics touchpad used on the D250 is a little small considering that most 10-inch netbooks are getting larger touchpads these days. The touchpad is gesture-enabled and this allows you to use multi-finger gestures such as "pinching" your fingers together or "pulling" your fingers apart to zoom in or out. You can also use a spiral motion to activate the "chiral scroll" feature. The Synaptics control panel in Windows also allows you to customize these gestures as well. The touchpad surface provides smooth, fluid movement but the small size takes some getting used to. The left and right touchpad buttons are located beneath a single rocker-style button, but with no separation between the left and right side it's easy to accidentally press the middle of the touchpad button when you're trying to press the left or right side. The touchpad buttons have extremely shallow feedback, so it isn't always easy to feel when you have or have not pressed a button.

The D250 also includes a dedicated wireless on/off switch on the front of the notebook--something that's nice to have when traveling and isn't available on many netbooks from other manufacturers.

Input and Output Ports
The Aspire One D250 provides a good selection of ports despite the thin profile of the chassis. You get three USB 2.0 ports, a 5-in-1 media card reader, headphone and microphone jacks, Ethernet port, and a standard VGA out port. It's nice to see a standard set of ports considering that several other netbooks sacrifice ports in order to achieve a thin profile.

Here is a quick tour around the Acer Aspire One D250-1165:

Front view: Wi-Fi on/off switch.

Rear view: No ports here, just the hinges and battery.

Left side view: Ethernet, heat vent, VGA out, USB 2.0 port, microphone and headphone jacks.

Right side view: 5-in-1 card reader, two USB 2.0 ports, power jack and security lock slot.

Performance and Benchmarks
There isn't much to be said in the performance section of a netbook review. If you've read our reviews of other netbooks that use the Intel Atom processors then you know that all Atom-based netbooks have nearly identical performance in terms of actual real-world use. Overall performance with the Intel Atom platform is very reasonable for daily activities like Web browsing, email, using Microsoft Office, listening to music, and watching standard definition (480p) movies. If you're in a bind you can even use photo editing software like Photoshop or GIMP for basic image editing.

The weak performance of the Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics combined with the Intel Atom means this isn't going to be your next multimedia laptop. The integrated graphics processor (IGP) is powerful enough to handle displaying a PowerPoint presentation on a projector or watching DVD quality video, but a netbook with this hardware is really only intended to provide "good enough" performance for quick Web access while you're away from your primary PC.

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240 seconds
HP Pavilion dv2 (AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 @ 1.60GHz)	103.521 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)	114.749 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)	116.030 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)	116.421 seconds
HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz)	123.281 seconds
Acer Aspire One D250-1165 (Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz)	124.829 seconds
Acer Aspire One 150-1635 (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz)	125.812 seconds
Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (2009) (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz)	126.406 seconds
Samsung NC20 (VIA Nano ULV U2250 @ 1.30GHz)	173.968 seconds

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Sony VAIO TZ (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950)	2,446 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv2 (1.60GHz AMD Athlon Neo, ATI Radeon HD 3410 512MB)	2,191 PCMarks
ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, NVIDIA 9300M 256MB)	1,851 PCMarks
Toshiba Portege R500 (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950)	1,839 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	1,637 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	1,564 PCMarks
Acer Aspire One 150-1635 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)	1,555 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	1,535 PCMarks
Acer Aspire One D250-1165 (1.60GHz Intel Atom N270, Intel GMA 950)	1,456 PCMarks
Samsung NC20 (1.30GHz VIA Nano ULV U2250, VIA Chrome9 HC3)	1,441 PCMarks
HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GM1 950)	1,437 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results against netbooks @ 1024 x 768 resolution:

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
HP Pavilion dv2 (1.60GHz AMD Athlon Neo, ATI Radeon HD 3410 512MB)	1,520 3DMarks
ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, NVIDIA 9300M 256MB)	1,417 3DMarks
Samsung NC20 (1.30GHz VIA Nano ULV U2250, VIA Chrome9 HC3)	151 3DMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	127 3DMarks
Acer Aspire One 150-1635 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)	122 3DMarks
Acer Aspire One D250-1165 (1.60GHz Intel Atom N270, Intel GMA 950)	120 3DMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	116 3DMarks
HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GM1 950)	112 3DMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	92 3DMarks
Sony VAIO P (1.33GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 500, Windows Vista)	88 3DMarks

In our ongoing quest to provide helpful information to our readers we are adding the following video playback table to our reviews of netbooks. Since netbooks are starting to be used for mobile entertainment (watching movie trailers or streaming video) it's important to know how a netbook performs when trying to play a simple video file. We selected a family-friendly movie trailer and downloaded three different versions in 480p, 720p, and 1080p resolutions. We used the CCCP Codec Pack for decoding and Media Player Classic Homecinema (version 1.1.796.0) for playing all of the video files.

Video Playback Performance:

Video Resolution	CPU Usage	Playback Comments
480p	30%-40% (hyperthreading)	Plays flawlessly
720p	40%-50% (hyperthreading)	Plays with a few dropped frames
1080p	55%-70% (hyperthreading)	Plays with severe stutter, dropped frames and broken audio

HDTune for the built-in hard drive:

Heat and Noise
Temperatures on the new Aspire One are in line with what we've come to expect from netbooks with Intel Atom processors. Temperature readings taken from the outside of the plastic chassis remained "lap friendly" during normal use. The only time that temperature readings spiked was when the CPU was being stressed with video playback.

Below are images indicating the temperature readings (listed in degrees Fahrenheit) taken inside our office where the ambient temperature was 74 degrees Fahrenheit.

Battery
Acer claims that the Acer Aspire One D250-1165 provides "up to 3 hours of battery life" from the 3-cell battery. Even if the D250 indeed lasted that long it would be relatively pathetic compared to the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA with a 6-cell battery that lasts more than 9 hours.

In our test with the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active, and XP set to the laptop/portable power profile the system stayed on for 2 hours and 32 minutes of constant use. If we turned down the screen brightness to the lowest setting and disabled Wi-Fi then I'm reasonably sure the D250 could have lasted more than 3 hours. It's worth mentioning that the Aspire One D250 series is also available with a 6-cell battery, and that the 6-cell battery version should provide better battery life.

Conclusion
Although the Acer Aspire One D250-1165 offers a great value for less than $300, I can't help but feel a little less than impressed. Acer used a small keyboard, small touchpad, and worst of all a small battery on what is otherwise a fantastic netbook.

Considering how crowded the netbook market has become over the last year I really expected Acer to deliver more with their 10-inch netbook. Yes, it costs less than $300, but that price looks less impressive when other netbooks have better keyboards, better touchpads, and MUCH better battery life for less than $400.

As I've said before with netbooks, I'd like to see a higher resolution screen and better graphics solution, but when it comes to the Aspire One D250 I'd settle for a better keyboard, touchpad, and battery. Still, if you're looking for a low-cost laptop to take with you to the coffee shop then the Acer Aspire One D250-1165 might prove to be a very good choice.

Pros:

• Low Price
• Nice build quality
• Easy access for upgrades

Cons:

• Poor battery life
• Small keyboard
• Still uses weak integrated graphics
• Bad touchpad buttons

READ MORE - Acer Aspire One D250

Acer Aspire 8940G

The Acer Aspire 8940G is a desktop replacement system packing an Intel Core i7 processor, NVIDIA 250M dedicated graphics, Blu-ray, and a massive 18.4" 1080P display. Acer built this system to not only handle everyday gaming, but also to be the multimedia hub in your dorm room or home office. With extra perks such as a backlit keyboard and touch-sensitive media buttons, is there anything not to love in the Aspire 8940G? Read our full review to find out.

Our Acer Aspire 8940G Specifications:

• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
• Intel Core i7-720QM (1.6GHzGHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB Cache)
• 18.4" WUXGA FHD LCD display at 1920x1080
• NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M with 1GB GDDR3 memory
• Intel 5100AGN Wireless, Broadcom Gigabit LAN
• 4GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM (2GB x 2)
• 500GB Western Digital 5400RPM Hard Drive
• Blu-ray/DVD SuperMulti
• Webcam, Acer CineSurround speakers, backlit keyboard
• 120W (19V x 6.32A) 100-240V AC Adapter
• 8-cell 71Wh 14.8v 4800mAh Lithium Ion battery
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 17.34 x 11.62 x 1.22-1.73"
• Weight: 9lbs 5.5oz
• 1-year warranty
• Price as configured: $1,329

Build and Design
Acer shares the same overall look and feel throughout many of their notebook lines. The Acer Aspire 8940G shows quite a bit of resemblance to the Acer Aspire One ... keeping the same hinge shape and position as well as the protruding rear-edge of the main body that you can see when the lid is closed. The side profile of the 8940G doesn't look much thicker than a smaller 15" or 17" notebook. The sloped front and rear edge do a great job of masking thickness even further while also making it more comfortable to carry. Inside you have a completely flat surface containing the keyboard, touchpad, speakers, and multimedia keys. The keyboard is even recessed just enough so the flat keys lay flush with the outer bezel. Acer did an excellent job of making this laptop look user friendly and organized by keeping so many controls within a finger's reach.

Notebook manufacturers face a difficult task when it comes to making large notebooks that feel sturdy but aren't overweight. Wider panels require more bracing to reduce flex and heavier notebooks require stronger panels so they don't flex under their own weight. The Aspire 8940G feels very well built with a solid frame and only minimal flex on the screen cover when the notebook is shut. The palrmest feels durable and shows no signs of flex even under strong pressure. The same applies to the keyboard and upper bezel, which show only minimal signs of flex under heavy pressure. The one complaint I have with the build quality of the notebook is the use of glossy plastics which scratch and smudge easily. If you are a neat freak then those smudge-prone glossy surfaces might get on your nerves over time.

The upgradability factor of this notebook looks great thanks to a single access panel on the bottom of the chassis. Simply remove the panel and you have access to the dual hard drive bays (one of which is unused in this configuration), two system memory slots, two mini-PCIe slots, and a partial view of the processor socket. I saw no "warranty void if removed" stickers anywhere, including the screws holding the heatsink onto the processor. If you want to add a second hard drive you will need to purchase a spare retention bracket, which mounts to the back of the drive, to prevent it from sliding out of place. The open mini-PCIe slot appears to be intended for an onboard TV-tuner, and as such doesn't have WWAN-antennas pre-installed.

Screen and Speakers
The 18.4" screen on the Aspire 8940G is an "all-glass" style with a protective layer covering the actual display panel. This gives the notebook a very clean and polished look, but also increases glare and reflections. With the notebook turned off the screen surface resembles a mirror and reflects the entire room around you. These reflections are reduced when the screen is on and displaying bright colors. In terms of overall quality the screen looks very nice with good color reproduction and above average contrast. The screen really draws you in while watching movies or viewing pictures ... as if you were viewing that place in person. Black levels look great and the only noticeable areas of light bleed are near the edges of the screen and only visible with the brightness set to 100%. Vertical viewing angles look good until you pivot the screen forward or back roughly 15 to 20 degrees. Horizontal viewing angles look nice right up until reflections off the screen start to overpower the image being displayed. At peak brightness the screen is still easily visible in bright office conditions as well as sitting near a window with the sun casting over the notebook.

Acer includes a 5.1 Cinematic Surround system on the Aspire 8940G that seems to sound a step above most notebooks. The audio system features five speakers, including a Tuba CineBass Booster to increase low-frequency sound. In practice the speakers produced a great surround experience, but I felt the peak volume levels were lacking. Even with the system volume set to 100%, the speakers were nowhere near being over-driven. This causes some trouble if you expect to use the system to watch a movie in your bedroom with it sitting on a dresser rather than on your lap. This can be avoided though if you use external speakers or a home theater system connected to the notebook.

Keyboard and Touchpad
Even though many notebooks are switching to Chiclet-style keyboards these days, Acer still uses a traditional design with thin flat-top keys instead. The design resembles lily patties sitting on a pond with a very thin top and the support structure tucked neatly out of view. The keyboard also offers a backlit which gives you great key visibility in dark settings. The underlying light elements are adequately shielded, preventing "light bleed" unless you view the keyboard at an angle shallower than 45 degrees. The backlight is non-adjustable in brightness, but you can turn it off completely.

The keyboard is very comfortable for typing thanks to properly sized keys and good spacing. The large 18.4" footprint allows Acer to incorporate a full-size keyboard as well as a full number pad. There is almost no "wiggle" or lateral key travel when you move your hand around the keyboard despite the thin looking keys. The keys are easy to trigger with roughly average pressure required and when pressed give off a very small click sound. The broad palmrest works very well for cradling your hands and wrists. Typing for hours at the notebook isn't a problem unless it is on your lap ... in which case your legs might not enjoy the weight.

The touchpad is a very large Synaptics model that rates very high on my list of best touchpads. It is quick to respond to fast movements, showing no discernable lag at any time. The surface texture is a soft matte finish that makes it easy to slide your finger across whether completely dry or slightly damp from sweat. The only significant complaint I have is the size. This touchpad is so much larger than most of the touchpads that I use that I end up clicking the bottom edge of the touchpad instead of the actual buttons. If you like big touchpads you will love the touchpad on the Aspire 8940G. The touchpad buttons are the same width as the touchpad surface and have a very short throw. Each button gives off a higher pitched clicking sound when you press down. Acer also includes a button to disable the touchpad to prevent accidental movement when using an external mouse. This button is located to the right side of the touchpad and lights up when activated.

Ports and Features
The port selection on the Acer Aspire 8940G is phenomenal. Acer gives you four dedicated USB ports, one eSATA/USB combo port, Firewire 400, VGA, HDMI, DisplayPort, LAN, and audio jacks including digital audio out. To load pictures from a digital camera, there is a flush-mount SDHC-card slot on the front side of the notebook.

Front: SDHC-card slot

Rear: Exhaust vent and Tuba CineBass Booster

Left: AC-power, LAN, VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI, eSATA/USB Combo, one USB, FireWire, Audio jacks, ExpressCard/54

Right: Two USB, BLu-ray drive, one USB, Kensongton lock slot

On the left and right side of the keyboard there are touch-sensitive control keys. The left side has three buttons including one for Wi-Fi On/Off, one for Bluetooth On/Off, and another to access the Acer Backup Manager. The right side offers media quick-access keys including a Media Center button, hold button, skip, play/pause, stop, and fast forward controls, and a switch to enable or disable the touch sensitive buttons. The volume control is a metal rotating dial that gives a slightly more precise method to adjust the volume than a touch-sensitive slider.

Performance and Benchmarks
The Asipre 8940G performs very well in games as well as playing high-definition video. The Intel Core i7 processor didn't even work up a sweat while we pushed 720P and 1080P video its way. While it is pretty sure this system would have no problem playing Blu-ray movies, we were unable to test playback since Acer didn't include software to decode Blu-ray movies. PowerDVD or another equivalent software package is usually included with systems that offer Blu-ray drives as an option, but we guess Acer wanted to save on the cost of licensing fees and left this up to the customer. The NVIDIA GTS 250M graphics handled Left 4 Dead at 1920x1080 resolution with high detail settings very well. Playing with multiple zombies on the screen framerates still stayed above 30FPS with the average being in the lower 40s. If the detail settings were tweaked slightly or the resolution was lowered to 1280x768, I don't see any reason why you couldn't get framerates above 60FPS.

Wprime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark06 measures overall graphics performance for gaming (higher scores mean better performance):

HDTune storage drive performance test:

Heat and Noise
The Acer Aspire 8940G maintains very good temperatures even though it has an Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GTS 250M graphics card. Heat coming through the palmrest and keyboard is minimal while running stressful benchmarks and games. The only hotspot worth noting on the top of the system is near the left side of the touchpad, which crept up to 91 degrees Fahrenheit after stressing the CPU and graphics card for more than 30 minutes. Fan noise is very tolerable when the system is performing run-of-the-mill activities. If the processor and graphics card utilization is low the fan is either off or spinning very slow. While gaming the fan throttled between its slower and faster speeds, neither of which was louder than most notebooks.

Battery Life
Battery life is never the strength of large notebooks, even more so when you combine the large screen with a powerful processor and dedicated graphics card. The Acer 8940G stayed on for 3 hours and 10 minutes in our battery test with the screen brightness set to 70%, the power profile set to "balanced," and the wireless active. Power consumption varied between 18 and 24 watts during the test.

Conclusion
The Acer Aspire 8940G is a well built and good looking multimedia notebook that can also game. The sound system is great if you can get past the weaker volume levels. The spacious 18.4" display is great for sharing a movie in a small room; something that might be difficult with a 15" or 17" notebook. System performance is very good with the Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GTS 250M graphics ... although slightly less than true gaming notebooks. The biggest strength of the 8940G though is its $1,329 price, which is lower than any other Core i7 system currently on the market.

Pros:

• Huge touchpad
• Comfortable backlit keyboard
• Beautiful display

Cons:

• Knee breaking 9lbs 5.5oz
• No Blu-ray software

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