Acer Ferrari 3400 Review

Hi all, I'm new to the forum as I just got my laptop a little while ago but since i saw few posts about the Ferrari, I thought I'd let people know a little about it that were interested. So let's get started.

Specs

Dimensions and Weight
The Ferrari sits at 13.0' W x 10.7' D x 1.2' H giving it a weight of 6.6LBS. I would say that's not bad for a gaming laptop considering the newer Alienware or Dell XPS are around 12-13 pounds and look like a hummer took a dump. It fits nicely on my desk beside my desktop, or my lap when I'm in a cramped area, but is also big enough to play games and be able to actually see people, and ultimately it's light enough that it doesn't become annoying carrying it over the course of a day.

CPU: Low power mobile AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1MB L2 1600mhz fsb
I was conflicted with this processor. On the one hand, it's futureproofed as it's 64 bit, and a 2ghz processor, but on the other, I have not really been that impressed with the battery life. With a low power mobile processor I would think that I'd get more than 3 hours of battery life just sitting idle, but hey, this is my first laptop and I don't really have much to compare it to, so you can make your own conclusions.

Memory: 512MB DDR333 (2x256)
This is one of the areas I think Acer skimped out on. I mean, they COULD have made it PC3200, or even just added 1 dimm so there was room for expansion.

GPU: Mobile ATI Radeon 9700Pro 128MB
The 9700 pro 128MB is a great card, there is no disputing that. It runs the latest games with a good framerate which makes the laptop a fine gaming machine. Running aquamark 3 i scored 26,221 and scored 3105 in 3Dmark03. For playing newer games (e.g. Half life 2), the game is very playable on middle to higher resolution. Unfortunately though, there are few drivers out there adaptable to mobile processors, so I ended up having to install an older set of catalyst drivers and using a mod tool to install them. The newer Catalyst drivers wouldn't install.

HDD: 80GB HDD @ 4200rpm
This is where I think Acer skimped out the most. A 4200rpm HDD is hardly what I would call "Top Speed", not worthy of the Ferrari name. When I received my laptop, I found that Acer already partitioned the harddrive for me into 40 gig sections. I've recently been looking into upgrading it to at least a 5400rpm one as it's noticeably slower loading games and the likes.

CD: 4xDVD+-RW and x16 CD-RW
What can I say other than absolutely fabulous. Being able to Burn DVD's and CD's on my laptop has been great as I've already burned probably 20 DVDs. Given that the Ferrari is an already expensive notebook, it's nice to see where some of that money went.


OS: WIndows XP Professional
I made the mistake of playing around on my computer at 5 in the morning and accidentally clicking ok to the Update section and then going to make myself a sandwich. I came back and found that I had accidentally installed Service Pack 2 much to my dismay. If I can give you one word of advice if you buy this laptop, stick with SP1, as SP2 is just a pain in the arse.

Network: WIreless 802.11b/g, bluetooth
Umm... I haven't really had a chance to use the bluetooth yet but reading other reviews, I've heard that it's really handy. Perhaps I might get a bluetooth keyboard or the likes so I can play first person shooter games more effectively, but as the time being it's going un-used. Interestingly though, there is a button at the front of the laptop (accessible when even closed) that will enable or disable bluetooth. A neat function.

Display: 15.0' SXGA+ (1400x1050)
I have found the display to be fabulous. Obviously not as bright as my desktop LCD, the Ferrari's display is sharp, quick, and has a native resolution of 1400x1050 which makes playing those games with your 3000+ and 9700pro that much better..

Sound
Onboard Realtek sound is what comes stock. I won't lie, it's not that impressive, and I find that watching DVDs or downloaded movies or television shows is tough if I'm not sitting relatively close to the laptop. The speakers aren't that loud, and the game sound isn't great either unless you've got decent headphones. So if you're going to spend the 3K (CDN) on this laptop as I did, get yourself a nice pair of Sennheiser 500+ like I'm planning on doing.

Heat
Running programs like Speedfan, the laptop's system doesn't really get that hot. Sitting idle it heats up to around 40-45 degrees celcius and perhaps 50 while playing games for an extended period of time. But what is annoying is the side of the laptop where you'd rest your palm does get a little warm. Not unbearable by any means, but if you're already feeling the heat outside, the heat on your palm won't be really pleasant. However, as it's winter right now, I don't mind a bit.

Touchpad
The touchpad is great. It's quick, responsive, has a four way scroll button, and is just aesthetically pleasing. What I did have to do though is go on the Acer site and download the Touchpad drivers so I could disable it while playing games or typing an essay. It's pretty annoying when you're typing and suddenly your cursor shows up somewhere else, or you're playing a game and your gun starts firing everytime you accidentally press on the touchpad.

Battery
Like I said before, given the mobile 3000+ I thought I would get a longer battery life. But 3 hours seems to be enough for whatever I want to do. The longest lecture I have is 3 hours so it works out perfectly. If you want more battery life though, you'll have to go the centrino route.

Looks
To me, this laptop has it above the rest. The Alienware's do look nice yeah, but on the inside they look just like every other laptop. Acer this time definately went all around in designing the Ferrari. Besides the nice red coat finish on the outside, the inside's made of fibreglass, supposedly giving you that "Ferrari Feel". The Keyboard is slightly curved making it a little easier to type and also looking nicer. It does get annoying though and a little embarassing when people come up to me and tell me that it's cool looking. Occasionally it'll be girls.... but let's not kid ourselves, maybe 1 in 4.. heh. But if you want a laptop that stands out above the typical silver/grey/black look, then the Ferrari is definately the way to go.

Overall
Overall I'd have to give the laptop a 7 out of 10. The aesthetics of the laptop are obviously a reason that the price is slightly inflated, but also it's a fast action paced yet smaller sized laptop. Being able to play games well, burn dvd's, connect decently to wireless networks, and just have a nice overall looking laptop made it worth it for me. Plus it comes with a little Acer Ferrari mouse with the ferrari emblam. Neat huh.

 

tim-x, great review! You're right, there's a lot of interest in the Acer Ferrari and this is much appreciated. Great humor too. Making sandwiches at 5 in the morning is just bound to cause trouble, never thought that it would indirectly lead to installing SP2.

Do you have a digital camera by chance that you could use to take pics of this laptop with? If you want a Bluetooth device, well we pay a $50 bounty for reviews that include pics and you've already done the hard part of writing it! So email me at [email protected] if you want to have this review published on the front of the site with pics and get something good with the money you'll make [ ]

 

Congrats mate on purchase of Acer Ferrari 3400 and u'r the first to review 3400 here . Please add some pictures.