A huge high-def display, awesome sound, and loads of multimedia extras make the Aspire 8920G a compelling desktop replacement notebook.
Price as Reviewed: $2,599.00
by Jamie Bsales on May 12, 2008
Acer’s new Gemstone Blue line—more specifically, the Aspire 8920G—breaks the mold in more ways than one. Its 16:9, 18.4-inch screen offers true 1080p widescreen resolution; it’s the first notebook to break the True 5.1 Dolby sound barrier; and Acer puts a whole new spin on multimedia controls, with its dedicated futuristic control panel. We tested the top-of-the-line configuration (AS8920-6671) and came away impressed. It delivers a sleek look, loads of multimedia features, and outstanding performance. This 9-pounder is hardly portable, but as a desktop replacement it shines.
A huge high-def display, awesome sound, and loads of multimedia extras make the Aspire 8920G a compelling desktop replacement notebook.
Price as Reviewed: $2,599.00
by Jamie Bsales on May 12, 2008
Acer’s new Gemstone Blue line—more specifically, the Aspire 8920G—breaks the mold in more ways than one. Its 16:9, 18.4-inch screen offers true 1080p widescreen resolution; it’s the first notebook to break the True 5.1 Dolby sound barrier; and Acer puts a whole new spin on multimedia controls, with its dedicated futuristic control panel. We tested the top-of-the-line configuration (AS8920-6671) and came away impressed. It delivers a sleek look, loads of multimedia features, and outstanding performance. This 9-pounder is hardly portable, but as a desktop replacement it shines.
Acer’s Breakthrough Design
Acer continues its steady march up-market with its increasingly stylish designs, and the Aspire 8920G delivers a mix of textures and finishes to keep your senses stimulated. The glossy lid of our 17.4 x 11.8 x 1.6-inch review unit featuring Acer’s Gemstone Blue holographic-like paint looks sharp, and we like the silver Acer logo and its white backlighting. The bluish-black lid attracts smudges, though that’s less of an issue since users likely won’t carry the Aspire 8920G that often.
Open the lid and you’ll find a glossy black keyboard above a silver, textured palm rest. The full-size keyboard has a good feel and plenty of travel, and there’s room for a separate number pad to the right. The recessed touchpad, with its separate scroll area discernible by feel, is comfortable to use but far too small (not to mention too square) given the screen’s dimensions: Getting the cursor from one side of the screen to the other takes an awful lot of swipes.
Acer has included a fingerprint reader that not only logs you onto Windows but can be set to launch a spate of apps automatically with just a swipe of your finger. A 6-in-1 card reader is nestled on the Aspire 8920G’s front edge, and on the sides you’ll find four USB ports plus ports for VGA, HDMI, Ethernet, and modem, and a 54mm ExpressCard slot. We’re surprised not to see a FireWire port, however.
A New Breed of Control Panel
To the left of the keyboard is the Aspire 8920G’s singular multimedia control panel, called the CineDash. Resembling extraterrestrial markings from a prop off the set of The X-Files the LED-backlit, touch-sensitive console looks intimidating at first. But a closer look reveals a pretty intuitive layout. Media control buttons (Stop, Play/Pause, Skip forward, Skip back, Fast-Forward, and Rewind) are arrayed below a circular control with a centered Enter button and mimic the navigation functions of a Media Center remote control. A semi-circular volume control lets you adjust volume with a quick swipe of the finger, and a prominent Mute button kills the sound altogether. We found working with the panel easy, though doing so with your left hand will take some practice for righties (we found it easier to reach across and use our right hand).
Bring on the 18.4-inch Screen
The Aspire 8920G is a multimedia paradise, meant to replace or replicate all manners of A/V equipment for use in cramped spaces (a den, bedroom, small apartment, weekend place, and so on) or to shuttle—occasionally, given the 9-pound system weight—from place to place. The screen delivers a particularly sharp image ideal for text-based applications. Acer claims the panel’s Wide Color Gamut (WCG) technology delivers 100 percent more color range than a standard LCD; we can’t confirm that definitively, but we can say that colors were noticeably vivid. The panel’s nearly 180-degree viewing angle let us share the screen among a small group.
Our configuration included a DVD burner/Blu-ray player combo drive, all the better to put the 1080p high-def screen to use. A Blu-ray edition of Live Free or Die Hard looked stunning, with deep colors and excellent motion reproduction. For standard-def DVDs, the screen looked good, though a tad dark; scenes in Pirates of the Carribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl showed natural color reproduction but loss of detail in shadow areas.
Dolby True 5.1 Sound Tested
Then there’s the sound system. Acer claims that the Aspire 8920G is the first notebook to feature integrated True 5.1 surround: It includes six speakers—three in the keyboard deck above the Function keys, two in the palm rest, and a tube-shaped 10-watt Acer Tuba CineBass subwoofer running along the length of the machine. The design is clever and effective: Combined with Dolby Home Theater Audio Enhancement technologies, including Dolby Pro Logic II and Dolby Sound Space Expander, movies sounded rich and clear. There was noticeably more sound separation than we’ve experienced from other multimedia notebooks (though the Toshiba Qosmio AV680 and AV690
still take the prize for bass presence among multimedia laptops). When watching movies or listening to music from Miles Davis and Kate Bush, the volume was more than adequate to fill a small room, and no clipping or distortion occurred even at full volume. F.E.A.R. also sounded impressive on this system.
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October 19th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Interesting post, i bookmarked your blog, greetings