Acer wants the Aspire 8940 to be your Core i7-packing portable of choice
By Ross Miller 
posted Nov 3rd 2009 6:50AM
posted Nov 3rd 2009 6:50AM
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'portable computer'
Wrong! "Transportable" is the term
Must buy a pickup for carrying it :(
No more HP for me! Thinking dell (Backlit keyboard on xps 16), asus or acer for core i7 laptop.
As someone who travels a bit (for several months at a time) for various projects, this sounds like an awesome laptop/desktop replacement and the price seems really incredible for all that you get. Certainly not something for people who like to hang out at coffee houses and bookstores.
I guess it depends on what you do. This is a lot of computer that probably isn't really necessary unless you do gaming or image-heavy work. If all you do is office work then you can get something that'll be just as fast, for less, and in a much more portable package. The term "desktop replacement" needs an update these days since portable processors and GPUs have really caught up. Perhaps we should talk about a "workstation replacement" instead...
Nice, so its got 2 Webcams. Good way to make use of the i-7. ;-S
thanks for spotting that.
But does it have a webcam?
I bought the 8930 back in early July and let me tell ya, it's a behemoth. I have issues just lugging it around my apartment, but it's a decent desktop replacement pc. I wish the 8940 was out when I was looking for a new pc.
Wow, Corei7, blu-ray, 600gb drive... just $1,349
Apple has MacBook pro with crappy core2duo, dvd-drive and 500gb storage at $2,499. That's like a $1,500 dollar Apple sticker there. Costly.
The tax is for the reliability. Duh
/sarcasm
Way to compare a product at the end of it's product cycle to a brand new laptop. You're so observant!
At least you can carry the MacBook Pro.
Dude...this is an Acer. Have you ever had an Acer?
Good luck with it lasting beyond three months. Seriously.
@laxfan0930
If it's an aging computer why does it still cost so much, shouldn't it be priced below $1000?
Sorry, why are you Highly Rated for such a stupid comment? Have you seen any other thin-n-light laptops released with a Core i7 processor? Wait until next year when Intel releases processors with a lower power requirement that will go into something like a MacBook Pro and EVERY OTHER THIN-N-LIGHT NOTEBOOK!
I won't even bother to compare the other features. Please preserve us from PC wankers that insist on comparing a portable desktop to a MacBook/MacBook Pro. No one cares. We're all quite capable of comparing computers ourselves and most people can tell the difference between something like this and a thin-n-light laptop.
Cuz he's bashing Macs, duh!
@Tom: Yes. Actually, I've owned two Acers. My three-year-old TravelMate 3252WXMi is humbly working away as the family laptop, while my eighteen-month-old Aspire 6920G is my current primary PC, and I love it. The tech support's relative garbage, but the hardware is as good as any other major OEM. You truly do get more bang for your buck.
The Aspire 8940G does indeed look like a beast, but I personally would go for the similarly equipped 5940G - Core i7, Blu-ray, and an ATi Radeon HD 4650 in a far more svelte 15.6" frame.
I'd rather get Dell studio 15 w/ an i7 for just $999, around the price of the polycarbonate unibody MacBook.
This machine is not in the same class as a macbook pro. The macbook pro is much slimmer, weighs half as much and is not made of plastic. Not bashing this product but its a different design approach that cost less. So stop comparing apples to oranges they are very different machines made for different consumers.
All this childish arguing about pc vs mac is stupid. Its like arguing what the best flavor of ice cream is, everyone has there own opinion.
The 17" MacBook Pro has an 8 hour battery life and weighs 6.6 lbs and this has 3 hour battery life and weighs 10.6 lbs.
Well, the Mac has about 11% higher vertical resolution at 1920x1200 instead of x1080. That feature matters to me, and no, I don't do gaming or watch dvds on my laptop, the 11% more information displayed goes to good use. But is it worth 1000+ more dollars for it? Hmmm... probably not. Anyways, will they release an Acer model with x1200 vertical? I hope so.
I wonder why they aren't telling you how much it weight.
1 metric tonne
They aren't telling you because they are under the impression that you have some kind of logic to know that you aren't going to be able to carry around a 18.4" notebook.
I wonder why they aren't telling you the battery life. 3 hours on a fresh battery, perhaps?
LOL, the newegg specs say "Battery life: up to 3 hours."
Maybe a portable generator is included with the price?
$1,500 seems a bit much to spend for extended battery life. :P
All this has to offer....... and I still choose Apple. I just now realized that I've replaced all complete sense of monetary value with an Apple logo. Ouch.
sucks to be you :)
It very much depends on what is important to you on whether the MacBook Pro is right for you or if something else would serve you better. If you did just by the Pro because it looked nice and it had the Apple logo then, yes, I think you may have lost the plot. If you don't need your computer to be portable, if gaming is very important to you, or if you have a substantial investment into Windows software and/or workflow, then a MBP wouldn't be a good solution.
Well, if you're happy.
yeah!!!!!! but 18.4 is too big for laptop.........
-huan
yeah!!! down ranked for a generic comment and advertising your shitty website!
It's already out........
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115679
yea and according to new egg it weighs in at 10lbs!!!!!!!! It will pay for it self as you will save $30 a month on a gym member ship-lol
Well, if you have problems carrying ten pounds, then you should be at the gym on a regular basis anyway. ;)
I hope this series still continues a few years from now. I'm using the 8930 for school and although its a beast worthy of a fairytale, it is a pretty epic system.
When mine goes kaput (I don't really trust laptops over 3 years, though mine is still new) I would definitely get another one from this series.
I used to think Acer was crap till I got my 8930 and it has completely changed my view of them.
Fits my story also, I have a 8930g and Im pretty happy with it as a desktop replacement, 2x500Gb FTW
My current home PC is a 17" Compaq laptop. I don't move it away from the table too often and I can imagine doing the same with this Acer or whatever transportable PC will be available in a couple of years when it's time to retire the Compaq. If I do this every year spending £400 for the hardware I get more performance per £ than I would by buying a £800 or £1200 laptop every 2 or 3 years.
Or you could just get a cheaper laptop and an external monitor like any other normal person, have a better experience at your desk (larger screen) and while mobile (much lighter weight), AND still pay less!
When is the "Draft N" going to be removed from descriptions. The N standard was approved in September, its no longer "Draft"
Indeed - I was wondering about that myself. Is the Draft version different to the one that was approved?
I would definitely get this, as soon as Intel and apple work out that whole P55 chipset debacle
An Apple fanboy showing self-awareness? I'll be damned =-)
Ok so that was supposed to be a reply to bill g. Oops.
I really got to say just so you all know, this computer really is incredible. I have had my acer 8730g (older model of this) for about 6-7 months now and I will never again find a computer that beats this in terms of value and features. Don't believe me, listen to a song or movie on this thing...I have never in my LIFE witnessed sound quality like that coming from a laptop....astonishing. The 5.1 surround sound TRULY is surround. You can hear it 3 rooms down. The screen is nice and vivid Mine is sunning on cr*ppy Vista so it's not super fast, but it's still amazing. I was a non-believer since I never had an Acer before, but man did they change my mind. Btw... I bought one for my mother, and she had a hard drive failure in 4 months....so things like that can happen because I have had tons of hard drive problems with tons of different manufacturers, and you have to pay for the shipping, but they serviced it very fast. Trust me...you'll love this computer!
Yeah, Acer's speaker systems got a huge boost in quality with the xx20 and xx30 series notebooks. I used to use a set of external speakers with my older TravelMate...not anymore with the 6920G.
Oh, and why are you still on Vista? Go get 7 already, hombre!
One more webcam and it would be a Tri-fecta.