Acer's aspirational laptops have a new Ethos to them now, and it clearly has something to do with entertainment. The newly revealed 18.4-inch 8943G sports a 1920 x 1080 resolution and a
true 5.1 surround sound setup, meaning that somewhere within its shell reside five miniature speakers and a sub. Processor options range all the way up to the quad-core
Core i7-820QM, which offers 8MB of built-in cache and a 1.73GHz clock speed that cranks all the way to 3.06GHz when required. ATI Mobility Radeon
HD 5850 graphics and up to 1.28TB of storage (2x 640GB) complete the overkill recipe. The 5943G is basically a scaled down version, offering as it does 1366 x 768 resolution across a 15.6-inch display, a 2.1 internal speaker arrangement, and a merely adequate 640GB storage maximum. The rest of the specs are shared, including a 4,800mAh battery, which should perish quicker than you can say "desktop replacement." Pricing and availability have not yet been announced.
posted March 25th 2010 5:51AM
Wow, it seems that Acer finally hired a design team. Their latest laptops, starting with Timeline are looking good. Let's see how reliable are...
@Bolo
Acer has always made great products, but they have always been the ugly step child that not a lot of people wanted to be seen with. I think this design might change that.
The design team did a great job here.
@Bolo
Acer used to be so fugly. Now other big companies better watch out.
@Bolo
But why is the trackpad so far to the left? I've never understood why some laptops have that. I'm right handed, and for me, it would suck to be using a trackpad on the opposite corner of my laptop.
Can someone explain?
@Bolo
you took the words right out of my mouth. I feel like there should be a good slow clap build up from everyone who has doubted them for so long with their just . . . outlandish designs.
this ACTUALLY looks like something I would spend money on and enjoy owning. I really am kind of shocked.
@Bolo Uhu, yeah... compare some design elements you like with Sony Vaios (newer models and 2,3,4,5 year old models) . Some design team there... If it would have been Mac they're ripping off everybody would go crazy about this
@AnalogRebellion
If you have a laptop with an 18" screen chances are it won't be sitting in your lap but on a desk. 9 out 10 times you will be using a USB or BT mouse instead of the track pad.
@VampireHunterZ
FUGLY?
The pad on the slightest left make sense since when typing you dont move to your right just to use your mouse pad.
like someone already mention you minus the number pad on your right so it's centre.
Why do they put that mouse pad to the left?! Feels wrong.
@barac The pad is actually in the middle of the keyboard...if you disregard the number key pad....makes sense to me...
@dalet Yeah.. but your body/head is screen centered... having the pad in other position than center is harder to detect where is his center... Or something like that :D
@barac
My dell studio is centred to the keyboard too and its fine. Saying that with the number keypad on this it makes it look a bit odd
@barac
Just use a mouse
@Atkins It is completely relative to the keyboard....
your hands are centered close to the spacebar....
If the mouse pad was centered to the screen, your palm would be continually moving the mouse and pressing the buttons..... the middle of the keyboard doesnt include the numeric pad.....
@barac
In the begining when i saw other laptops do the same i thought so too, but i have the Acer Aspire 8920G, same design it is proper for when you type because with the HP where the pad is centered i kept touching he pad when i was typing, so it is better to have the pad center of the keyboard not screen
@Atkins
"If my hands are centered on the spacebar in the case of this Acer it means that:
1/my head would be to the left of the screen (bad idea)
or
2/my hands must be to the side (bad idea)"
It's not at all a bad idea if your head is a little to the left. You do not need to be exactly in front of a screen for comfortable viewing. Think of how many (thousands of) times you've watched TV and how many of those times you were not exactly 100% centered in front of the TV. Did you feel uncomfortable or weird at all? Besides which, your body and head placement is dictated by the position of the keyboard (minus the num pad), so changing the position of the trackpad wouldn't have any difference.
@barac Hmm... I've always used my left hand for touchpads despite being right handed. I thought it was normal.
@barac
Off-centered keyboards on a laptop are a no-go for me. Can't type with my hands off to the left.
@BLEH is my middle name
I use my right hand for touchpads and i'm left handed.
@BLEH is my middle name @peytral
you are both freaks of nature.
@barac IIRC the trackpads are always supposed to be centered between the G and H keys on your keyboard.
@Peytral
i use my right hand for touchpads and i'm right handed
Looks nice..step up the reliability score and they can get customers
HOT
@wussup
why you think its going to over heat? :P
but true HOT and Sexy..........Nerdgasm
@dalet How's the pas related to the keyboard? It must be centered on the screen.
@dekkar "your hands are centered close to the spacebar...." If my hands are centered on the spacebar in the case of this Acer it means that:
1/my head would be to the left of the screen (bad idea)
or
2/my hands must be to the side (bad idea)
"If the mouse pad was centered to the screen, your palm would be continually moving the mouse and pressing the buttons"
That happens extremely rarely.
damn..its either too early or you guys need to quit watching so much porn on a such a small screen...did no one fail to notice that the processor sticker said i3 not i7 or i5?
@loopster82
Uh, the specs at the bottom of the page says i3, i5, i7 etc. Is it too early for you too?
@tonicboy "Besides which, your body and head placement is dictated by the position of the keyboard (minus the num pad), so changing the position of the trackpad wouldn't have any difference."
So the we get rid of the numpad and we center the pad :)
But I get your point.
They should just put two trackpads, one in the centre of the alphabetic (minus keypad) keyboard and one in the centre of the width of the whole laptop, I'm sure they have enough space for both. They should also include the options to disable either one or both. Talk about satisfying everyone.
@Hydraulics
there was a crazy asus laptop at CES this year that had two touchpads on it. one on each side of the keyboard.
Am I the only one who doesn't dig the design? It looks like the palmrest/touchpad area is separate from -- or about to break off of -- the rest of the laptop.
OOO !!!
MUST SAY HERE -- BIG WOOW
THIS IS MOST BEAUTIFUL DESIGN I EVER SEEN ON LPTOP !!!
ITS BEATING SONY DESIGN ..
I REALLY REALY HOPE THIS MACHINE WILL SUPPORT RAID !!
Really? 5 tiny speakers within a laptop body and a tiny sub? It's a nice design, but the sound system is gimmicky.
Yet another laptop with 15.6" screen at 1366 x 768 resolution.
What a waste of good components on a weak screen.