Acer's HD DVD-equipped Aspire 9800 laptop released

Sure, LG's got a 15-inch laptop for HD DVD lovers, and Toshiba has a 17-inch model sporting one of those sweet HD optical drives, but if you want this tech in a 20-inch notebook, then Acer's Aspire 9800 is the only way to go. Just released today, the 9800 has a lot more going for it than just that high definition drive, including a Centrino Duo chipset, nVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics, and a 1,680 x 1,050 CrystalBrite display. You're also getting up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM, 240GB worth of HDD storage (or 120GB in a RAID 1 configuration), a hybrid analog / DVB-T TV tuner, and for piping those HD DVD movies out to your big screen, an HDCP-enabled HDMI output. All in all, a pretty attractive set of features -- but really, you should expect nothing less from a $2,800 machine.

[Via laptoping]

[SJ @ Jul 31st 2006 6:14PM]

For a 20 inch screen the resolution should have been 1920 X 1200.

[hmurchison @ Jul 31st 2006 6:17PM]

Nice laptop. If they had chosen a 1920x1200 20" LCD the price would have jumped well over $3k.

It has HDMI out so I don't think that is much of a limitation since you "are" talking about a 20" monitor here and not 50" or larger.

[Erel @ Jul 31st 2006 6:20PM]

I think the resolution ruins it. All the other ones with Blu-Ray (not sure about HD-DVD) have a resolution of 1080p to match-up the next-generation storage medium compatibility that it provides.

[LukeA @ Jul 31st 2006 6:24PM]

20 in? Who needs that?

Plus it weighs 17 lbs and is 2.4 in thick. And only has Centrino.

[Eric Cartman @ Jul 31st 2006 6:24PM]

Just wait a year this laptop will cost $1500 then you can buy 2.

[LukeA @ Jul 31st 2006 6:35PM]

@Eric Cartman

You already can get these same capabilities for $1800. It's called an iMac.

By the way, what's the battery life on this Acer?

[David @ Jul 31st 2006 6:39PM]

Since when has the iMac came with a HD-DVD drive?...

[ryan @ Jul 31st 2006 7:15PM]

or a battery...

[Jason @ Jul 31st 2006 7:42PM]

Not a bad price for a premium laptop. This is just a bit more than what I paid for my 733-MHz Vaio laptop, back in '98 or 9.

One question: they're selling a tuner that does DVB-T in the U.S.? I'd prefer ATSC.

[Z @ Jul 31st 2006 8:47PM]

Wow, I've been waiting to buy this for months, Im so glad it's been released. HD-DVD and HDMI, 20.1 inch screen, what more could you want? Now to Newegg, time ot buy it.

[Z @ Aug 1st 2006 8:30AM]

Hey Z, Z here. We get another Z, we'll put people to sleep.


Joking aside, this looks like a really nice laptop, but I would have liked to see UXGA res on the widescreen, especially at 20".

I also would have liked to have seen dual nVIDIA 512MB GeForce Go 7900 GTX SLI graphics on this thing with 1 GB worth of graphics memory. If Alienware can do it with their mALX, then so can Acer.

And a Core 2 Duo (or C2Duo Extreme) proc would be preferrable, but I suppose the mobile versions of this aren't available yet.

The last thing I'd want would be HD-DVD-RW, but these aren't available on laptops yet, either.

Oh I forgot, integrate a biometric fingerprint reader, dual-link DVI, and a backlit keyboard, and THEN we're good to go.

Make those seven changes, along with the notebooks other specs, and I'm sold, big time.


As far as true HD is concerned, since HDCP is the gateway to true HD, all the components have to support HDCP - optical drive, video cards, LCD screen, and HDMI and/or DVI ports. Otherwise, the computer won't display true HD content.

I hope Acer managed to get that right.

[Z @ Aug 1st 2006 9:04AM]

I also discovered that the TV tuner is not built in, but external, which is stupid.

All TV tuners need to be internal, otherwise, what's the point?

So make that eight changes they need to make.

[Z @ Aug 1st 2006 9:27AM]

OK, a couple of corrections...

CNet reported that the TV tuner is external, but I just read a review over at Trusted Reviews that had a 9800 with the tuner integrated. So either Acer changed this aspect of the laptop after this review, or CNet didn't actually pay attention to what they were looking at when reviewing the unit. I guess we'll know for certain at some point. So based on conflicting info, I suppose it's 50/50 as to whether or not the tuner is actually built in.

Also, it seems that the computer has a DVI port, not HDMI.

Read the review: http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?page=7056&head=0

[khanhfat @ Aug 1st 2006 11:56AM]

I've seen this Laptop at Microcenter Yesterday (Houston). This thing is damm big. IT's like a freaking TV than a laptop. it costs u 3 grand. The graphic card in there is not top of the line so u won't expect good gaming experience in there.