Acer Inc. http://www.acer.com
The Acer Aspire 9300-5005 is an ideal desktop-replacement laptop if all you care about is a bright 17-inch screen. It provides a low-cost alternative for those who salivate over an Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch but can't bring themselves to spend that kind of money. At $1,000 (street), the Acer 's price is barely one-third of the MacBook Pro's, which is a boon especially for media beginners who don't demand a whole lot. If you're at all picky, however, the low-powered AMD processor, measly graphics, and Windows Vista Home Premium's hefty requirements might steer you in another direction.
At this price, you're going to have to compromise on a lot of features, and one of them is looks. It is one thing for the machine to weigh 7.7 pounds—that's what you'd expect from a laptop with a 17-inch screen—but quite another when it looks as if it weighs even more. I can't quite describe the color of the 9300-5005's chassis—silvery with a hint of green? Clearly, both its weight and looks are reasons to keep the laptop tethered to your desk. The 17-inch screen, however, is bright and spacious enough for working with several photos, video screens, and office applications, side by side. The 1,440-by-900 resolution is the same as that of the Dell Inspiron E1705 (Vista), very good for watching DVD-quality movies as well as downloaded high-definition clips. The transflective coating is common in media laptops—even cheap ones—and displays better color saturation than matte-finished screens.
The keyboard doesn't feel mushy, but I prefer the E1705's keyboard because it's more responsive. Unlike the E1705, however, the Aspire 9300 squeezes in a number pad, which I applaud. I found the mouse buttons a little noisy, but the touchpad is responsive. The speakers are weak for a desktop replacement. I had to crank the volume all the way up when playing a DVD movie. In contrast, the HP Pavilion dv9000t (Vista) uses name-brand speakers (Altec Lansing), and the improvement in audio quality is obvious.
Given that the 17-inch screen accounts for most of the cost, the components aren't the best available. The Aspire 9300 uses a Turion X2 TL-50 (1.6 GHz) AMD processor. It's a dual-core processor much like the E1705's Intel Core 2 Duo processor, but way slower. The 1GB of RAM meets Windows Vista's recommended requirements, but I would double that to get the most out of this system. You'd see a big improvement in performance for a nominal fee. CineBench 9.5 scores are about 11 percent below those of the Toshiba A135-S4467, which has a 1.6-GHz Intel processor. The Aspire 9300 didn't do as badly on the video-encoding tests, equaling the Toshiba in performance. Battery life, as you might imagine, is horrible. The 1 hour 28 minutes it took to run down a DVD is expected for such a large system. The Aspire 9300 does have discrete graphics, but the nVidia GeForce 7300's performance numbers are equivalent to an integrated graphics chipset. Basically, you won't be able to run 3D games effectively.
The Acer Aspire 9300-5005 is a bargain for those who are looking for a desktop-like experience on a laptop. The gorgeous 17-inch screen will play a large role in your buying decision, but it also sucks up a large percentage of the $1,000 price, leaving you with below-average (thus, cheaper) components. It's ideal for those who have basic computing and media needs, such as watching an occasional DVD movie or editing family photos. Otherwise, you might want to spend more to get the Dell Inspiron E1705 (Vista) or the luxurious Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch.
Acer Aspire 9300-5005
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