Acer 3D laptop review: first look

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Acer wasn’t satisfied with just unveiling the dual-booting Android and Windows 7 netbook at today’s global press conference: it also revealed the world’s first mainstream 3D laptop, the Acer Aspire 5738PG (at this point, I should point out to Acer that if Apple launched a 3D laptop it probably wouldn’t give it a terrible name like 5738PG).

(And before any pedants jump in to point out to me that, actually, all laptops are 3D – yes, I know.)

The background you see above is, actually, really in 3D. That is, it uses a combination of software, hardware and specially coated glass (if you’d like more detail than this hazy description, we wrote a whole feature dedicated to the future of 3D a few months ago), and you then have to watch the image using the polarised glasses supplied.

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Acer Android netbook review: first look

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Following Acer’s announcement of its dual-boot netbook that boasts both Google Android and Windows 7, I got an opportunity to spend some time with the netbook in question: the Acer Aspire One D250 with Android.

On this occasion, it isn’t the hardware I was interested in, but the software. For this is the first netbook PC Pro has seen to include Android as the OS, and the big question is – just how well can an operating system designed to work on a phone work on a full-blown PC?

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Time for Microsoft to name its Windows 7 price

Monday, May 18th, 2009

A few months before the launch of Vista, a very senior person at Acer spilled the beans to me in a one-on-one press briefing held in Taipei, that Acer was going public with its criticism of the Vista pricing model, and that it felt it had no choice but to swallow the cost for putting Vista Home Premium onto its products rather than Vista Home Basic. Apparantly, Home Basic was the same cost as XP Home, and Vista Home Premium was some $20 more. (more…)

Acer’s new laptops and netbooks – first look

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Once upon a time, manufacturers would launch one product at a time, allowing you to soak up the details pass comment and have time for reflection. Some, however, insist on the scatter gun approach.

And Acer, having just announced a new netbook, six new laptops, two nettops, and several all-in-one PCs, including a Windows 7-equipped touchscreen model (which a spokesman said would be on the shelves on October 23) fall firmly into the latter category. (more…)

All the week’s reviews

Friday, December 5th, 2008

Free laptops for life, monitors sprouting mini offspring, Toshiba’s first netbook and an open source media player from the chaps behind Firefox – it’s been a busy week for reviews.

Firefox vs iTunes

Surely the most interesting release of the week was from Mozilla. Although its been in development for a few years, Songbird finally saw an official release, with a media player and browser in one. Darien was hopeful it could finally give him an alternative to iTunes: “Since it’s open source, freely extensible and unfettered by corporate interests, Songbird’s future looks bright.” Try it and let us know what you think.

Not just for christmas

Fujitsu stole the headlines with its offer of a free laptop every three years forever, and Jon reckons “if you’re a cheapskate and don’t mind being tied to one brand for the rest of your life it’s got to be worth looking into”. If the best you can get is the Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook S7720, however, you’ll probably be turning them down on their kind offer.

Dell’s Inspiron 1318 is a much more tempting proposition, with a price tag of just £383 exc VAT putting it dangerously close to netbook territory. Sasha was impressed by the ”portable chassis with great ergonomics and fine battery life – a potent combination”, and more than enough to earn it an award. 

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State of the netbook nation

Friday, October 17th, 2008

In the last six months, I’ve spoken to a variety of laptop vendors about netbooks, and the sheer range of opinions and strategies is fascinating.

This week, for example, I was talking to Thomas Teckentrup, the general manager of Toshiba Europe Computer Systems, and his take on netbooks was decidedly downbeat: “We have to find out the usage of these products”, he said, explaining his company’s late arrival into the market and the fact it hasn’t exactly exploded onto the scene – the Satellite NB100 is only available with one specification, and there are no options. “We [still] have to see for ourselves how consumers are going to leverage the features of a netbook,” he later added. (more…)

What type of person are you?

Friday, September 19th, 2008

There’s a continual attempt from political parties and big companies alike to define the population, and Acer is the latest to unveil its thoughts. So the question is, do you recognise yourself in any of the below?

Techno Leader
Is very advaned in technical matters. He knows what he wants: “The best and up-to-date”. He wants best performance and he is not price-sensitive. And – he can afford it. He is affluent and young.

Techno Rational
Shares the same positive attitude towards technology as Techno Leader, but his comparatively lower income makes him less ready to pay a premium for brands. (more…)

First look: Acer’s new TravelMate laptops

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

With the launch of the Centrino 2 platform, we’re expecting to see a flurry of activity from all the major manufacturers as they refresh their current ranges – or launch entirely new ones, as we saw from Sony yesterday – that are able to proudly bear the Centrino 2 sticker.

Accordingly, Acer has launched an updated range of TravelMate notebooks that fully embrace the new platform. Five laptops run the size gamut from 12.1in to 17in screens, but all promise plenty of power thanks to the inclusion of new processors. The 17in TravelMate 7730G includes the Intel Core 2 Duo T9600, T9400, P9500, P8400 or P8600 – with clock speeds ranging from 2.26GHz to 2.8GHz.

The rest of the specification promises more than enough performance for business users, too: there’s 2GB of RAM, the chance to include GeForce 9000M-series discrete graphics and one or two hard disk drives, with sizes ranging from 120 to 320GB. The entire range supports draft-n wireless, and the 6593G, 6493G and 6293G can all be equipped with optional HSDPA connections.

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Just in: Acer Aspire One

Friday, June 13th, 2008

Mini-notebooks, it seems, come to the PC Pro Labs in twos. Hot on the heels of the Asus Eee PC 901 earlier today, we now have one of Acer’s lovely little Aspire One laptops to paw over, and so far we like what we’ve seen.

Straight away it feels sturdier than the Eee, more like a real laptop in its build quality. The curvy lid has a smooth sheen and uses a slightly different type of hinge – set back like a VAIO to make for a thinner lid. The 8.9in 1,024 x 600 screen matches the Asus, yet the more grown-up styling moves it away from that laptop’s my-first-PC feel.

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Acer Aspire One fondled on video

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

If you read the first look I posted yesterday on the new Acer Aspire One then you may be interested in this short clip in which I make my debut as a hand model. Apologies for the noises in the background, including the thirsty journalists asking where the bar is…