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Acer America Altos Servers: Acer FERRARI 4005WLMI AMD Turion 64 Mobile Technology ML-30 1GB
Submitted by Reviewer (not verified) on 15 December, 2005 - 18:00.
| Acer Ferrari 4005WLMI 15.4-inch Laptop |
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| Model | LX.FR406.035 | | Producer | Acer | | Media | Personal Computers | | Catalog | Personal Computer | | Rank | 4989 |
Goto Amazon.com
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Reviews:| Rating 4.0/5 from 11 reviews | | This computer is pretty good | | Rating: 3/5 2008-08-05 | I have had this Acer for four years now. The first six months I had to replace the DVD/CD because the internal mechanism inside broke. The customer service was excellent in fast replacement. The computer is similar to a desk-top in the fast ability and storage of information.
Draw-back: The computer overheats very easily; I wish they would have included a stand for the computer because the bottom gets hot!!! The CD/DVD drive - most computers have a drive that comes out and you place the disc in; this computer sucks in like a vacuum. There have been times were it would not reject my disc. The screen, you cannot wash the screen; every time you do (whether it is with a lap-top cleaning kit or alcohol pads) the screen leaves marks. The speakers; this computer is not made for music, I did not buy the computer for this purpose, but I do enjoy listen to music; this computer is not made to do so.
This lap-top is a wonderful computer; however, the price is not worth the buy. I have had an HP in the past and this computer was just as good for the purposes used. The memory and storage is great but an external Hard drive can provide the same. There are many brands that are just like this computer and they are considerable in price.
I'm a college student and when I invest in a computer I would rather it be top of the line because it can be used for four to six years before requiring replacement. This computer was the top of the line four years ago and is still one of the top today. For college purpose of writing papers, wireless internet, blue-tooth capacity, and great memory; it suits well. However, for music and DVD watching this computer does not rate; the speakers and screen on this laptop were not made for video games, music, or DVD.
Look around before you invest your money!!!
| | Overall a bad choice | | Rating: 2/5 (3 out of 8 think this is helpful) 2006-08-14 | | The only good thing i can say about this laptop is that it looks good.They call it a amd turion 64 but it comes loaded with only 32 and you have to download the other 32 if you can find out where.The hard drive is configured for split fat 32 instead of ntfs.The resolution is 1680 x 1050 and that makes every thing super small and hard to read.I didnt think about resolution when i bought mine.I still cant figure out what this resolution is good for.Its not good for gaming or surfing the internet.The display screen is very dim set on the brightest setting.The bluetooth mouse seems to work only when it feels like it.The sound is terrible and has static.I bought mine sight unseen and am very disapointed with it.It has a very high price for such a low performing machine. | | Most things great, speakers and screen suck | | Rating: 3/5 (4 out of 5 think this is helpful) 2006-04-14 | I can't really fault the laptop for anything other than sight and sound. Unfortunately these are really annoying to me.
Sound
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Realtek AC97 sound card, bound to be ordinary. The sound was way too quiet and even crackled when first used. Upgrading the realtek sound drivers took away most of the crackling and increased the volume, but still below par compared to colleagues laptops.
Screen
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Sure the screen area is huge, but do you really need it? With default font sizes you end up squinting to see anything, and sitting closer to the screen. Which brings up one the most annoying feature of the screen bar none. It has an absolutely attrocious viewing angle. No matter how you orient your head to the screen, the lower areas will be brighter and upper ones darker. Areas outside directly in front of are washed out. The effect is most pronounced with dark areas (eg. games). Nobody can watch you from the side, it's all colour inverted. Also, fonts on the other side of the huge screen appear fuzzy (as others have said, using enlarged fonts is the default, so they are anti-aliased rather than crisp). Now add to this that the screen has no glossy anti-glare, high-contrast filter. The display contrast is also appalling. Again, this is mostly an issue with dark imagery eg. games.
Do not buy this laptop for gaming. For desktop stuff it should suffice. At worst, try before you buy. Don't buy sight-unseen or you'll be disappointed. | | 2 months in action | | Rating: 3/5 (6 out of 7 think this is helpful) 2006-04-07 | Cons:
1. Screen.
1680x1050 pixels on a 15.4" screen makes everything look extremely small. It's the most major thing that I overlooked during research. I can't use large fonts because as a web designer, I need to see the average pretty much constantly. I can't use lower resolution because I ablsolutely hate the blur that LCDs produce under non-native resolutions. Acer used a "creative" approach to compensate for this problem by enforcing large fonts.
It's a TN LCD with a below-average picture quality and low contrast ratio.
2. Support.
Took them 3 business days to reply to an email, a result of which was a suggestion to call a phone number: "To better assist you with this matter, please contact our telephone technical support line at 1-800-816-2237. Hours of operation are 7am-9pm CST Monday-Friday and 8am-5pm CST Saturday and Sunday, excluding holidays."
The guy on the phone was completely unhelpful and tried to claim that their version of Windows XP Pro SP2 that they provide on recovery CDs can not be considered the same operating system as generic Windows XP Pro SP2 that I had to install on a new hard drive, therefore they will not support it.
You can install your own copy of XP Pro and download the drivers from the website, but you will have trouble with Bluetooth. Despite the driver installation, windows will continue recognizhing Bluetooth as a "New hardware" "Acer Module" and this is one of the rare cases where "Searching for update on the Internet" solves the problem.
3. Windows XP CDs
Recovery CDs are a bootable and a dumb Ghost image split into 2 CDs. 3 in total (so much for the DVD drive?). You can't go through XP installation options - everything is preconfigured for you. According to phone support, the only way the recovery CDs will work on a new hard drive is if it is pre-formatted as FAT32.
4. Mouse.
Rough, unpredictable, low resolution junk.
5. Hard drive setup.
Default is FAT32 on the hard drive split 50/50 onto two partitions. You can convert it to NTFS manually.
6. Feed-through-a-crack Apple-style CD-ROM drive.
Never tested with mini-sized CDs. Afraid to.
7. External displays
Can't connect third display. Only one external device can run at the same time with the laptop screen, either DVI or D-SUB.
Pros:
1. Somewhat unique looks.
2. Overall physical design quality.
3. Loaded with hardware features.
4. AMD 64-bit CPU with a potential to provide 64-bit drivers for Windows XP 64-bit (currently available on 4006 model).
Counclusion:
All the effort they put into styling, they should've put elsewhere. Seems like the laptop was built for a rich underage kid. You should buy this laptop only if two conditions are met:
1. You happen to be young or have perfect vision to deal with the native resolution or don't care about large/blurry fonts.
2. You are a computer dummy and don't mind sticking to the default configuration or a laptop guru who never needs support.
This laptop is not for designers becasue of the low-quality display. | | Very Nice - a few drawbacks | | Rating: 4/5 (6 out of 6 think this is helpful) 2006-01-24 | Overall, I am pleased with the laptop after several months of usage, it replaced a Dell 8200, it sure looks a lot nicer than the Dell but I wouldnt say it is radically faster, except maybe for the hard disk, but it is just incrementally better re g-wireless, widescreen etc. I paid a premium for this laptop, over 2200, and would not say that it is really worth a premium price, though it is a solid value at <2k. One item that many reviewers fail to note is the DVI digital video output of this laptop, this is a fairly unique feature for a laptop, and is a considerable factor in the price. In short, you can use it as an HDTV DVD player driving a large screen HDTV monitor, which is pretty cool, especially with some of the WMVHD HDTV DVDs out there.
two cons worth noting - the screen brightness is not up to par with some of the other laptops out there, it is acceptable at max brightness setting, but just marginally. It is also lacking a true line-in audio input, there is only mic-in and headphone-out, this is a consideration if you want to record stereo line-level audio.
Also, the hi-def screen will necessitate using the XP extra-large font setting with a 120+DPI screen res setting to prevent squinting.
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Editorials:Product DescriptionAcer America Corp. (LX.FR406.035) AMD Turion 64 1GB 100GB
Amazon.com Product Description Get ready to feel the high-speed computing power of the Acer Ferrari 4000 (model LX.FR406.035), a continuation of the speedy, mobile-centric laptops the two companies have previously collaborated on. Sleekly styled, the the Ferrari 4000's carbon-fiber casing--which is stronger and lighter than aluminum--comes in a more conservative black and is accented with exclusive Ferrari red edges and the classic yellow prancing horse Ferrari logo, and the interior has a rubberized coating. Made for today's demanding applications and ready to continue working into tomorrow, the Ferrari 4000 is powered by an AMD Turion 64 Mobile processor. Other hardware features include a bright 15.4-inch LCD, 100 GB hard drive, 1 GB of installed RAM (with a 2 GB maximum), integrated 54g wireless LAN and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, gigabit LAN, multiformat memory card reader, dual-layer DVD/CD burner, and Windows XP Professional. The Basics
- Hard Drive: The 100 GB hard drive (5400 RPM) is above average in size for notebook PCs, and its capacity is a welcome size for road warriors.
- Processor: Combining strong performance with efficient usage of power, the 2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64 ML-37 is uniquely optimized to power today's thinnest notebooks. It's also built for tomorrow's 64-bit applications, which will require a processor with significant power. It includes such AMD technology features as HyperTransport (which increases the communication between integrated circuits), PowerNow! (which enables longer battery life and reduced heat generation), and Enhanced Virus Protection (which works with Windows XP Service Pack 2 to better withstand attacks from certain classes of viruses). It also features a 1 MB L2 cache. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system's performance.)
- Memory: The 1 GB of installed RAM (512 MB DDR333 SDRAM, installed in each of two memory slots) is an excellent start at the races, and the Ferrari 4000 has room for extra pimping with a 2 GB maximum RAM size (1 GB x 2).
- CD/DVD Drive: Offering the latest in DVD writing technology, the Ferrari 4000 multiformat DVD/CD drive is compatible with both DVD+ and DVD- disc formats as well as dual-layer DVD+R discs, which can store up to 8.5 GB of data. You can also burn your favorite music mixes to CD. It offers the following write speeds: 24x for CD-Rs, 8x for single-layer DVD+R and DVD-R, 2.4x for dual-layer DVD+R, and 2x for DVD-RAM.
- Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook features an 88-key Acer FineTouch keyboard with five-degree curve, inverted T cursor layout, 2.5mm minimum key travel, and international language support. It also offers a touchpad with four-way integrated scroll button and an external gloss-black optical mouse.
Screen, Graphics and Sound The 15.4-inch TFT LCD screen has a 1680 x 1050-pixel resolution and can display up to 16.7 million colors. It's powered by the ATI Mobility Radeon X700 video/graphics card with 128 MB of DDR RAM memory on PCI Express architecture. With 8 parallel pixel pipelines and breakthrough image enhancement technology, it provides extremely smooth, responsive high-definition video that's great for fully immersive 3D gaming as well as DVD movies and graphics-intensive presentations. It offers VGA and S-Video outputs as well as a DVI-D connection for high-def output. This notebook has an integrated audio card that's AC97 compliant and it features a line-in/microphone, line-out/headphone, and two stereo speakers. Connectivity and Expansion Slots
This notebook features an integrated 54g wireless LAN for connecting to 802.11b and 802.11g wi-fi routers as well as integrated Bluetooth wireless connectivity (for synchronizing and transferring data between your PC and your PDA or cell phone, connecting to Bluetooth-enabled printers, and more). It features the following connectivity options: - 4 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
- 1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) port for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
- Type II PC Card slot, 32-bit PC CardBus architecture
- 5-in-1 memory card reader (compatible with MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, and xD-Picture Card)
- Connector for optional ezDock docking station
It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems). Preloaded System and Software
This system comes with the Windows XP Professional Edition (which adds Microsoft's IIS Web server, back-up and recovery utilities, Remote Desktop, and other enhanced business features) with Service Pack 2 featuring Advanced Security Technologies, which helps to reduce unwanted downloads and pop-ups while surfing the Web. Other preloaded software includes Cyberlink PowerDVD, Norton AntiVirus, and NTI CD Maker. Dimensions and Weight
This notebook measures 14.3 by 10.5 by 1.4 inches and weighs 6.3 pounds. Power
It comes with an 8-cell lithium ion battery, which provides up to 3.0 hours life depending on configuration and usage. It has a 2.5-hour recharge time with system off, 3.5 hours with system in use. What's in the Box
Ferrari 4000 laptop, rechargable battery, optical mouse, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a one-year limiited hardware warranty.
Features:- Notebook with 15.4-inch screen and 2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64-bit ML-37 with 1 MB L2 cache
- 100 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM (2 GB max), dual layer DVD+/-RW drive
- Three USB 2.0, one Firewire, one VGA, one S-Video, one DVI, one PCMCIA
- Integrated 54g and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, gigabit Ethernet, 56K V.92 modem
- Windows XP Professional edition
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