Acer may have announced its new
Aspire Ethos line a few months back, but this is the first time we have had the chance to catch a glimpse of the multimedia monsters in person, albeit these were lacking that special Ethos branding on the exterior. We've really got to hand it to Acer on the new aesthetic of the 18.4-inch 8943G and 15.6-inch 5943G -- the systems have a nice brushed metal coating and glorious-looking chiclet keyboards. Though obviously, the first thing that caught our eye was that black dual-mode touchpad which is pictured above -- it's a standard touchpad until you press the circular button between the buttons, after which it turns into the system's multimedia controls. When we tapped that movie button, it briskly launched Windows Media player, but we
do fear that the glossy plastic coating on the pad will hamper everyday navigation. Both models on display were powered by 1.6GHz Core i7-720QM CPUs, but the 5943G had 4GB of DDR3 RAM and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 graphics while the 8943G boasted 8GB of RAM and a Radeon HD 5850. In addition, they've got 8-cell batteries and Blu-ray drives, so three cheers for that. We'll be keeping an ear out for the arrival of these bad boys stateside, but until then feast your eyes on the beauty shots below.
posted June 4th 2010 11:52AM
oh wow, that looks niiice. maybe not the best tracking on the touchpad, but cool nonetheless
@artstate
There was a Toshiba laptop a few years ago that had a LED trackpad that could display a calander, sketch pad and even had a calculator mode.
@fais
Actually I meant LCD (like a digital watch).
@artstate
Isn't that exactly what Apple tried to patent a few weeks ago?
@artstate
If you see a number pad, they blew it...
@artstate I wanna have sex with it!!!!! :P
@fais
Toshiba Satellite S12 wasn't it?
@thaprinze No. Toshiba did it on a Pentium III notebook many years ago. Darn close to 10 years ago, IIRC.
Looks like it would get annoying...
Chiclet keyboards FTW.
@Drago
What do people like about them? I don't get it.
@chispito
Well, In my particular case I like them because:
Your fingers slide easier because it's all flat
They don't get as dirty as regular keys, check a 1 year old regular keybaord vs Apple's chiclet aluminum keyboard and you'll see what I mean
One day these manufacturers will learn, that there are features that people want, and there are features that are just plain annoying. I hope it's not going to be too late. You hear me ACER?
Wow, just when I was liking the 8940G. =]
Is the 5850 more powerful than the GTS 250M?
@N900
Yes, ridiculously so.
@N900
The HD5850 that Acer have chosen to use is the GDDR3 version, as opposed to the 'proper' GDDR5 version that is used by Alienware, Clevo, etc.
Coupled with a 128-bit interface, that means it is very bandwidth starved.
It still performs better than the GTS250M, but not 'ridiculously so' as stated above.
@voodoo
Really? That seems like a waste, is GDDR5 that much more expensive?
@DougieBear
Like going from Stock wheels to Sport Class Rims + Tyres
Can the trackpad run Flash?
@Runkle As long as Steve Jobs doesn't get a hold of there's potential for flash
why does it say 5.1 surround? Do little speakers float behind you when you use this? I hate when companies toss that word around with the number of speakers.
@Xaphan
Maybe its in reference to 5.1 audio out over HDMI or SPDIF or optical out...
Damn. How gimmickey can they get?
I hope there's a model that comes with extra stickers.
@epwnym Hehe. I always was amused by the amount of stickers these manufacturers put on their product. It makes it look cheap.
Wow.... thats ugly. Looks like a Zebra.
I kinda like it tough will take a pass on this one
WOW, just wow.
The last time that i saw a notebook with a keypad was a decade ago.
That touchpad is freaking atrocious. There's one thing I've learned from using HP notebooks, and that is completely smooth/glossy touchpads SUCK.
The 8943G was announced before ENVY 17. But HP was able to ship before ACER was able to show even one prototype and HP got the bucks. :(
Damn Acer is making some good looking laptops these days. I don't know about that trackpad though, I think it's novelty would wear off quickly and then that circular button would become quite loathed over time.
Biggest problem I see though is that acer logo on it. I don't really care how nice looking they make their machines. In the immortal words of James Tiberius Kirk, 'I've never trusted acer; and I never will! I can't forgive them for the death of my boy!'
It is nice to see the introduction of new machines but it would be even nicer to know when they will be on the market for purchase.
Reading this, for some reason the lyrics to the song 'In The Ghetto' keeps running through my head...
That looks like a butt ugly mish mash of other machines
@MVMNT Agreed. Especially the black at the bottom.
I wonder if there's HDMI?
Had they released it a few weeks ago I'd have bought one. Been looking forever for a decent gfx card with Core i7 at a reasonable price. Now cmon Acer don't push this over 2k
Why must all Windows laptops have that awfully small touchpad?
Probably because of this:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/apples-multi-touch-trackpad-patent/774
Looks like they stuck an apple keyboard on a black laptop... Not that I have a problem with it having an apple style keyboard... But it just looks wrong :S Also hate the way the side isn't smooth, it seems to get thicker near the front.. Bad design, but good idea Acer.
@retrorevival
FFS, when will you people learn? Island-style keyboards were done first by Sony, not Apple. Apple may have popularised them, but they _didn't_ create them.
@archkron They may have been done by Sony first, but it still looks like they have stuck an apple keyboard on it LOL
Gorgeous laptops! Too bad they've got all those stickers mucking up the aesthetics. Anyone know a great way to remove sticker residue?
I don't the media function on the trackpad will be use that often. It will be use once when you first got the laptop, and forgotten for the rest of the duration of the laptop's working life.
Its actually already available. A friend of mine has the 8943G, its really huge, but solid and nice to look at. As far as I know he ordered it from Germany.
And its pretty thin, despite all the stuff inside (eg 1280 GB HDD total, 8GB RAM Blu ray BURNER)
It has 5.1 "Surround sound"... that means 4 speakers and a mini SUBWOOFER (yes, quite funny..) at the bottom.
Touchpad is okay, but its actually not a pixel matrix display, just the symbols you see above, nevertheless nive to use.
Gaming works fine (eg CoD MW2) with high details, but it gets really hot, theres just one fan inside.
Yes... and the screen is impressive... huuuuuge.
Cause of the weak Euro he didn´t pay as much as he expected, as far as I know about 1900 or 2000 $
Is it for lefties? I mean, the touchpad is so on the left...
@MarkTwain3 I Agree, I hate it when they do that
$%^!#, If only Acer release this a month ago. This bad boy look sick. [sigh]
Engineer A: Hey, we moved the trackpad a bit to the left here.
Engineer B: Woot? Empty space? Hey Joe, make that sticker bigger.
Really, why do they need to put such hideously large sticker there? I mean, come on, it's enough that you have all those hard to remove badges.
Best looking laptop ever best design even better than sony