Product Review: Acer Aspire 6920G
Laptops have dramatically evolved from mere personal computing devices to compact versatile home-entertainment systems. Obviously this follows the ever-changing needs of users who, more often than not, find themselves jumping from one task to another – word processing this minute, video gaming the next.
Acer's bid to get the attention of this tech-savvy species came in the form of its latest Aspire Gemstone blue series or what it claims to be a more sophisticated version of its 2007 gaming notebook models. I got my hands on the Aspire 6920G and it was clear from the moment I took it out of its box that Acer wanted to make a "va-va-voom" first impression with the sleek glossy dark lid with a holographic 3D starlit blue backlight (hence, the name) shining below the Acer logo.
If you think that's fancy, wait until you open the cover and get your fingers dancing on the touch-sensitive CineDash media console.
The interface actually acts like a control panel for all entertainment-related features such as volume adjustment and menu navigation.
The Gemstone series is targeted at multimedia enthusiasts and gamers, which explains the heavy specs – 2.1Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 320GB hard drive, 4Gb of RAM, a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce 9500M 512mb graphics card, a Dolby 5.1 virtual surround sound system with two speakers and subwoofer, and a Blu-Ray disc player, a rare find in today's line-up of gaming notebooks. The 6920G is easy on the eye with its 16-inch full high-definition screen, but at 4.1kg it is not so easy on the arms. This back-breaking concrete slab is not your ideal portable friend.
While I do admire the vivid transmission of images on the screen as well as the crisp quality of sound, performance-wise it had lapses.
It froze for a good 70 seconds as I was playing Diner Dash so I dread to think how it would handle the Doom 3 cadre of high-octane thrillers.
Also, the battery only lasted for about an hour at a balanced power setting.
Its current retail price of Dh7,499 may also be a little heavy on the pocket for some, especially when there are harder hitters on the market for a whole lot less.
For now the Blu-Ray player will set it apart from its league, but if that is the only reason you are gravitating towards this piece of machinery then give yourself a shake and go and buy a PS3 for less than a third of the price.