Acer Ferrari One 200 user review

Acer Ferrari One 200 Review


Intro: Looking for something portable
I’ll start this review with a story that led to the purchase of the Acer Ferrari one-200.
The 15,4" Compaq V6000 I bought 3 years ago was my first notebook and replaced the dated desktop PC I used for the 6 years before that. It was nicely built, the 1.6ghz AMD processor was fast enough for some casual gaming and it had a dedicated Nvidia 6150GO graphics card, which was something I desperately wanted back then. After a couple of years passed away, my levels of satisfaction with this laptop started to drop below freezing. The battery was dead, the fan was constantly on, and I started to realize that the screen had a yellow-ish cast to it. It was time to start saving up and buy something new, and preferably with a larger, higher-res screen attached to it as well. The size of the notebook was no real limitation because I rarely took it with me anyway. When I bought my 18.4” Acer Aspire 8930G half a year ago, I thought it was the best buy to be found in notebookland. The specifications were very good for the price, the screen resolution was awesome, and it was just 1kg heavier then my previous notebook. It didn´t take me too long to realize (and experience) that this was one big heavy beast, that wasn’t quite as transportable as I had hoped for. In the six months after the Acer was purchased, I started to travel way more frequently than I did before. The heavy weight of that notebook and it’s peripherals once caused me a week of severe upper back pain, and that’s from someone who regularly does weight training.
Long story short: It was time for a netbook or CULV mini notebook.
After a bit of soul-searching and testing, a 11-12” screen looked like the way to go for me. The keyboards that go with these models tend to be large enough to adapt to without trying to re-learn how to type. When the time came to look at other specifications, the processors were top of my list. The Intel Atom features in almost all the netbooks out there, but there are Intel CULV’s available as well.

Here is the full list of features my netbook had to include:

- 160gb minimum hard drive space
- Relatively good build quality
- A (near) full-size keyboard
- Ability to multitask without hiccups
- The ability to decode streaming youtube and vimeo HD video’s
- A 11-12 inch screen diagonal
- 1366x768 resolution
- Preferably windows 7 home premium
- A design that makes it stand out from the rest

The options were limited, and the Acer Ferrari one seemed like the one to go for. I’ve had it for about one week of regular use at the time of writing.





Size
The first thing that surprised me was the fact that it really doesn’t look THAT small. The form factor is that of an ultraportable, but don’t expect a real miniature notebook like a dinky-toy relates to a real car. When working or gaming (yes, gaming) on this machine, I feel that the screen size borders on the edge of usability. As a 22 year old with -1,5 and -1,0 eyesight, anything smaller or higher res would really start straining my eyes after a while. As it is, I can work on it for 8 hours straight without getting headaches. The big difference from my desktop replacement is the fact that this one is real easily transportable. It fits into a regular backpack with room to spare for a couple of books and a bottle of water. At 1,5kg weight the Ferrari One doesn’t feel too light, nor too heavy. In a Dedicated bag with the power adapter and a (non-notebook) mouse the combined weight is between 2,5-3.2kg.








Display quality
Not much to say here, the quality of the screen was a pleasant surprise! It is nearly as good as the Acer 8930G, which I thought was very good. The difference between these displays and the one on the Compaq V6000 (and most other notebooks from around 2006) is like night and day. Brightness of this screen is also good, and matches the Aspire 8930G.





Keyboard
The keyboard on this thing is a bit of a mixed affair. The keys are nicely sized, but too flat and close together to actually feel as comfortable as a “real” keyboard. A chiclet style keyboard like the one on the Asus Eee 12011 for example, feels a lot better. You get used to it though. I wrote a couple of essays on it one evening and the keyboard seems to be usable enough for up to 7 hours of constant typing. The touchpad is better than average and supports multitouch gestures.





Performance
It might not be a real Ferrari, but the Ferrari One certainly feels up to the job. The difference between this and the 8930G is almost unnoticeable in anything but graphics work and gaming. The 1.2ghz AMD dual core processor certainly feels a lot faster than the 1.6 Athlon that powered my V6000. Multitasking (MSN+Music playing+System maps open+10Chrome tabs+Utorrent) poses no problems for this small processor. Slowdowns are minimal and Youtube HD plays smoothly. Thanks to the integrated ATI 3200 HD gaming is also a possibility. I’m not talking Far Cry 2 and Crysis here, but I have verified that these games work flawlessly (no noticeable lagging) on my system:

Far Cry (1366x768, everything on LOW)
Max Payne 2 (1366x768, everything on HIGHEST)
Deus Ex (1366x768, everything on HIGHEST)
Empire Earth (1366x768, everything on HIGHEST) Update: You might want to play this with the settings a little lower, because things get less supple when you have 20+ civilians.
GTA Vice City (1366x768, everything on HIGHEST, Draw distance halfway (haven’t tested it at full yet))
Unreal Tournament (1366x768, everything on HIGHEST)
Unreal Tournament 2004 (1366x768, everything at (or close to, for a little bit higher framerate) HIGHEST)

These games aren’t the latest, but still some of the greatest. One thing that you must be aware of: Gaming on a 11.6” screen is a lot harder than it is on a larger screen with the same resolution. I just seems to require a little more “brainpower” to be able to play like a real gamer.
Keep in mind that I actually have the cheaper version of the Ferrari one-200: With 2gb ram instead of 3gb, 160gb HDD instead of 250GB and without Bluetooth.
In conclusion: the performance of this machine is everything I had hoped for, and even a little more in some cases. The Ferrari One CAN be used as a primary laptop, should you choose to do so.
A little side note: The Atom processors get a lot of bad press, but aren’t all that bad either. The PC that I have to use at work is a lot SLOWER than the Asus 1201HA (1.3hz Z520 Atom) that my mother uses to her full satisfaction. If you just browse the web and work in Office, these things are all you’ll ever need.





Battery life
I tested the battery life running in Idle and achieved 5hr + before there was 5% life left.
The battery life in active (Google Chrome + music playing through the internal speakers) use came out at 3hrs.
Seems pretty reasonable for such power-hungry hardware.


Build Quality
Build quality is about comparable to my bigger Acer, and is quite good overall. There is a little squeaking in the cover when you open or close it sometimes (this depends on how you place your fingers when opening/closing). The palm rest feels nice and solid, with little to no flex. The keyboard flexes a little bit when you press it at one or two places, but you won’t notice this when you are actually typing. Heat buildup can get a little high when gaming, and I haven’t yet played a game or more than 45 minutes. It won’t fry your hands, but some people may dislike the warmth enough to refrain from buying this.
One thing that does bother me a bit is the Fan. The fan on this machine is constantly running which reminds me of the other AMD powered notebook I had. AMD apparently doesn’t know how to incorporate power management into their products. The fan isn’t really louder than the one in my Aspire 8930G, but I just don’t think it’s necessary to have it running all the time.





Price
The Acer Ferrari One 200 cost me €500,00. There are some better deals out there, but I was prepared to pay more to get a different design and processor from most netbooks. You should know that money was no priority as long as the cost remained under €600. If you are more budget/value conscious the Acer Timeline 1810TZ might be a better deal.


Conclusion (for now)
At the end of the road I’m actually really happy with my new purchase as it turns out to perform better than expected. In fact, I rarely use my desktop replacement anymore (apart from typing this review) because the netbook is just more comfortable to have sitting on your lap and the screen resolution and quality leave nothing to be desired for their size.

I realize that the actual review is rather short at this point in time, but there wasn’t much more I could think of in the 6 days that I’ve had it.
This review will be updated when the Ferrari One has been with me for a little longer. Let me know if you want to see a review of the Aspire 8930G as well, and I might do it.
Excuse me for the grammatical errors found here, it’s been a while since I’ve written something in English.




11-02-2010 UPDATE

2 weeks later and I'm still pleased with my purchase. I brought this thing to a LAN party, and beat my friend (24" screen, desktop) at Unreal Tournament. I am slightly worried about the durability of the keyboard though, the keys feel a little fragile and cheap.

I recommend this netbook when you:
- Like to do some (old school) gaming, video in a package that you can take to your friends with ease. (and are satisfied with an 11,6" screen diagonal)
- Can spend more than €450,- and want something that looks different then most for that price
- Find that a graphics card is more valuable than an upgraded CPU
- Are a Ferrari fan
- Want your netbook to last 3 hours


OR

- This is your first and only notebook and you prefer it to be small.


I don't recommend this netbook when you:
- Want to primarily use this in class (the fan running might be audible in a quiet environment).
- You can't stand the heat (it gets a little warm when you are performing cpu/gpu intensive tasks).
- Want the best keyboard out there (try a Toshiba or Asus)
- Want longer battery life (try a 1810/T/TZ instead)
- Have the money to spend, but want the best value for money (try a 1410/1810)
- Just want to use internet/office/msn (decide if you want 1024x600 or 1366x768, then buy the cheapest thing with a decent keyboard out there)
- You are a photographer and want to use this for Photoshop. The program will run fine on this, but netbook screens don't have the dynamic range to be suitable for critical photo editing. If you are less critical, then don't let me stop you from Photoshopping your way to stardom.
- You want better then slightly above average build quality. Your best bets are Toshiba, Sony and Apple.

One minus that is Acer specific: Your system comes loaded with crap software that you want to get rid off as soon as possible. All Acer PC's have a lot of trial/utility software pre-intalled that you don't really need. These programs run background processes that can slow your system down.

 

good review. I missed my Ferrari 4000...

do you mind reading the mah out from the battery? The housing looks almost identical to my AS1410. I wonder what's the battery size on it....

Does it come with mouse with Ferrari logo?

 

The battery has a 4400mah capacity. There is no mouse included with the netbook, but it would heave been nice indeed to have one with a Ferrari logo in the package.

 

Thanks for the great review

 

What do you think about capability of playing HD content, huh?

720p?
1080p?

 

I"ve been looking at this to replace my Asus N10J, just wondering if you've been able to find the video dock that is supposed to hook up to the XGP port on this notebook.

 

I found DynaVivid Graphics Dock.. on some kind of Finland web site but as I am in UK... I Don't think that I will be able to get it..

 

btw the AMILO Graphicbooster is also working with the Ferrari One...

I bought it here in Germany for 240€...

More here: http://mini-gaming.co.cc/?p=199

 

Rendering on the cpu:
720p playback is smooth with 90% of bitrates and formats.
1080p playback isn't always a succes.

When you use a GPU enabled mediaplayer like Windows media player 12, things get better:
720p is no problem whatsoever.
1080p will playback smoothly in most cases. The Simpsons movie (2.2gb .mkv) played without any noticable framerate drop.

Youtube HD:
720p works flawlessly, even full-screen.
1080p stutters. The CPU has reached it's limit here.

Gaming: I can add Unreal Tournament 2004 to the list. 1366x768 with every setting at MAX is definately playable.


p.s. I wouldn't shell out €240,- for an external graphics card. For gaming and video the Ferrari One is more limited by its CPU. You never realy feel like the ATI 3200 HD is holding you back when using this netbook.

 

Don't worry. Replacement keyboards are cheap and you can replace the laptop's keyboard (it snaps out, see instructions in this forum) without opening up.

The keyboards for all Acer/Gateway-manufactured 11.6" laptops are 100% identical. So very very very common keyboard. They've become very cheaply available as replacement parts for only $10 or $20 each off eBay.

Aspire Timeline 1810T, Aspire Timeline 1410, Aspire One 11.6" netbook, Ferrari One, Gateway 11.6" netbook. These use interchangeable keyboards and LCD screens (you can even easily switch keyboard language too if you get a foreign Acer laptop!)

Although it is Ferrari branding, expense-wise we got the Ford of laptops: It's easy to fix Acer's cheaply if you don't mind getting your hands a little dirty -- replacement parts such as replacement LCD's, replacement keyboard, etc, are all very inexpensive. Crack an LCD, break a keycap. Just make sure you baby your HDD and do data backups.

PS -- I got the Ferrari One's brother: Aspire Timeline 1810T. Very happy with it too as a primary laptop that includes Visual Studio and Expression Web. Its 3D graphics isn't quite as good, while the CPU is slightly faster. 720p and 1080p experiences are identical to yours. 1080p via GPU accelerated players works great most of the time -- but 1080p via software stutters a little. 720p YouTube great, 1080p YouTube stutters (have not tried Flash Player 10.1 Beta yet, waiting for Beta 3 first because I heard it will fix Intel GPU acceleration on YouTube. Flash 10.1 Beta 2 has some bugs, but Flash 10.1 Beta 1 actually may play 1080p YouTube smoothly on Ferrari One. It was the only way I was able to get Youtube to play smooth on my old Acer Aspire One 751h)

 

Crysis is running smoothly at max resolution and high setting with 2x AA, so does Mass Effect... The OC of the CPU gives only a little extra boost...

I would say the CPU is enough for the native resolution without any physx-things...

I will post some videos the next days...

 

Thanks for the info! Quite cheap as well. All the better, because I don´t see the keyboard staying alive for 3 years straight

On the other hand, chances are very high that I've bought a replacement netbook/mini laptop allready in that time.

Congratulations on the 1810T. It was a coin flip between that one and the Ferrari for me.
HTML5 better become a standard in web design soon, then youtube video's will also offer GPU acceleration.

 

Hi guys
Here are my experiences with my F1.

I got it in the beginning of December 2009 from Newegg. $600 US version so it had 4GB of RAM, 250GB HDD.

First thing I did was to put in 8GB PC2-6400 RAM and Kingston SSDNow V 128GB and installed Gentoo Linux.
Then internal Bluetooth I got from eBay (the ones designed for 1810/1410 work). It was detected by Linux kernel, Fn-F3 toggles Bluetooth and rfkill enables or disables it properly. Wifi works as well and Wifi switch button works too.

Since F1 has a normal socket S1 I will also try CPU upgrade (I just won an auction for Turion TL-60). One guy in "the other" forum had installed TL-66 in his F1.
I will probably have to downclock it a bit, but I hope it will be working better because L310 doesn't have PowerNow and TL-60 does so it should be able to clock down to 800MHz while L310 is stuck at 1200MHz.

Overall with 8GB of RAM and SSD my F1 is flying. I put temp directories in RAM so Gentoo compiles are crazy fast. Programs start instantaneously.

The only annoying thing is that the fan is always on. It newer seems to stop.

I get about 3hr on battery with normal light use (web browsing).

Cosmetically, there is one bad thing about mine. It looks like the wristpads have fake carbon fiber chessboard pattern. Somehow this pattern rubbed onto parths of the top of screen bezel. The bezel is shiny, and there is now faint matte checkerboard pattern in some places. ARGH!

 

Here is the video:
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Omfg... That looks awesome.. Have you upgraded your ram 7words?

I am actually looking forward,buying this little baby, but we'll see what happens till 26 of feb. (think)
@7words:Could you try some more games? Like Oblivion, Bioshock 2, WoW!?It's interesting would WoW work with everything maxed.

 

And that's not even the upcoming ATI Mobility Radeon 5870 that works on Ferrari One. I can see Crysis at top detail is running maybe 10fps in that video, but that's still pretty neat to see on a netbook. I bet it'll run at least 30+fps if not too CPU limited, with the Mobility 5870 external GPU box when it comes out... Or if somehow you could have an external PCI-X slot connected to XGP, then you'd be able to use a 5970. I bet the external GPU probably uses 10x the power of the netbook's own total power consumption...

 

I just checked it with r_displayinfo 1

without OC (GPU+CPU): 11-17FPS

with OC: 12-18FPS

without 2xAA: about +0,5 FPS

the game (old demo) is running from an external HDD.

@maksimus32: I have 4GB of RAM installed...

 

Hey guys.
My TL-60 arrived today

I have installed it successfully.
In Linux PowerNow is detected correctly and it shows 4 P-states (800, 1600,1800,2000MHz)

I hacked powernow-k8 module so now it has 800,1000,1200 and 1600
So all is good now.
With L310 PowerTop was showing 19.5W
With TL-60 at 800MHz PowerTop shows 17W and quite bit longer projected battery time.

Achievment unlocked ;-)

so here is some pr0n of insides of Ferrari One:

 

Any issues with 1600Mhz? Heat problems?

@all: What LCD-Panels do you have inside your AFOs? Mine is AUO205C...It has not the best quality...some light bleeding at the bottom and some dithering issues...

 

o far I havent had any heat issues. With TL60 doing nothing at 1600MHz KillAWatt shows 27W.
The fan is quite small so it may be a challenge when I would peg CPUs at 100%
I just ran two instances of burnK7 and it caused thermal shutdown ;-)

 

Do you use the newest BIOS?I think it has problems with fan control.I had also 3 thermal shutdowns with stock clockspeed. The fan is not always switched on...Now I use the older BIOS again...

 

Yes, latest BIOS (3110)
At 1200MHz it stabilizes around 82C in ACPI thermal zone and works just fine.
The thermal shutdown is at 100C.

 

This is great stuff.

Bronsky

Edit: Is Fujitsu Amilo adaptable to other laptops like the Asus UL30VT? How about computers like the new 10" panisonic with integrated graphics and an I7 or does the host computer have to have a dedicated GPU alread in it? With an I7 and an HD5870 you could play anything.

Very interesting stuff you're doing here.

 

Unless the laptop has an XGP port the fujistu add on will not work.

 

I know from perusing the internet that the 13" Fijistu laptop is wired with such a port and the Ferrarri one. Any other small ultralights or netbooks have this port? What is the most powerful CPU that you can put in the Ferrarri One? Can the internal GPU be upgraded? How much is the Fijitsu box? How about the Fijistu laptop? I am very interested in this technology.

Bronsky

Edit: Where is this technology and why is AMD taking so long getting it to market? The Fijitsu box is a convenient size that it could travel in a suitcase or briefcase along with an ultralight like the Ferrarri one. I would want more power from a dual processor and better integrated graphics to start with and the 5870 card in my little box. But, when you get to where you are going, you have a monster machine. I need a laptop solution for seamless HD presentation and intensive graphics applications. These functions are not needed however the majority of the time I use the notebook, things like word processing the internet research occupy most of my time. I would like something that I could keep in a briefcase when traveling and not need a seperate case to transport. The accessories could travel in a small travel bag or suitcase. When on a plane, the small factor makes general work easy and when I get to my destination it would be easy to set up and operate. This seems a perfect solution. What's up with AMD?

 

I too would like to know when "normal" availability on the XGP box will happen. I"m looking to replace my N10 with this, lack of native hdmi isn't the best, but I like that this has alot of potential. The asus 1201n is also on my list too, i'm still on the fence.

 

Does anyone know, will ferrari play Red Alert 3 and if will in what resolution?

Thx

 

My system CPU is at 47º and HDD 34º and the internal cooling fan keeps running all the time. I find this strange... Is there any way to change this? I don´t see anything usable in BIOS.

Thanks

 

Ion 2 is out. Acer has anounced a 10" netbook with it. I would wait on the 1201n until it gets an upgrade to the Ion 2 which is the equilivant of a 512MB 310M.

Bronsky

 

Fallout 3:

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Is it a bit struggling or it's just me? xD

 

Hey Oxdeadbeef, how is your TL60 running? Any problems yet?

Bronsky

 

It is pretty good. I hacked the kernel powernow-k8 driver so it doesn't run faster than 1.2GHz. The battery life is slightly improved because the CPU can clock down to 800MHz now.

There is not enough cooling to run it for extended periods of time at 1.6GHz or higher. So after a while of running two instances of k7burn the laptop shut down itself. This not may be true for less demanding apps (k7burn is a stress test).

For Windows users I would recommend RMClock. With registered version you can use your own events on temperature thresholds to implement your own thermal throttling in RMClock so it should be possible to use higher frequencies - I have used RMClock this way on another laptop.

 

hello everyone

i have a qustion for acer ferrari one 200 i have byed a tl-68 that arive couple of days can somone help me with pics or somting for disambling the cpu and for tips and triks with the settings i gone use win 7 ultim. 64 bit on de laptop

i have read that 0xdaedbeef instalet a tl-60 in his ferrari but can not sending a mail to him hopely read he this also

for contact: [email protected]

with frendly greets
ps sorry everyone for my verry bad english i hope that you can understand

 

Compaired to many I know that live IN America, your english isnt to bad.

 

Don't forget In England, Canada and Austrailia too.

 

Has anyone played Warcraft, or CS:S on their 200?

 

anyone tried those games??

 

WoW should run anywhere from 30-38 fps @10x8 with that cpu/gpu combo. Just for the sake of comparison, the msi u230 with a 1.6 dual core atom will hit 38-40 fps, while the 1201n will get 40-48, all @10x8.

 

Thank you.

 

Just be aware that F1 is designed for 13W TDP L310 and the TL-68 has TDP of 35W. Unless you throttle it somehow you will just have thermal shutdowns. Also probably starting it on battery may be problem.

 

Hi mates,

Yesterday i bought a Ferrani One. It will arrive for me in 2 days. Hope to be so happy as you.

I have a doubt. Does it handle 4gb or 8gb ram at max?

Thanks for your atention.

regards,

Buiux

 

I have a fitted a TK-42 cpu 20W 1.6Ghz and I just cannot get it to run in windows @ 1.6ghz detected in bios correctly but windows loads and runs it at 1.2ghz. Deadbeef did you have to do anything specific to make it run @ stock speeds? only works on mine with rmclock and then it shuts down after I stress it after 10secs. Pretty sure voltage issue since max I am allowed to give it is 1v yet it requires 1.2V apparently?

Also managed to buy the graphicsbooster for £30 on ebay.de - result!
Anyone who says you cant game on a netbook has never used one, will be perfect if can get cou working

 

quick one guys and be interested to know if anyone has ever tried this......I am going to assume that my problem with the TK-42 cpu is bios related despite the bios detecting the cpu correctly; has anyone ever tried flashing a machine with the wrong bios? looking at a Acer Aspire 5532 which appears to have a very similar spec but comes configured with a tk-42 - any thoughts? Am desperate to get this thing working correctly as dont really wanna have to strip the machine down again to replace the cpu

 

Even though everyone seems to be dead I thought I would try for help one last time. I have found the problem and it is the graphicbooster. If the box is unplugged the CPU works an absolute charm and 3dmark 01 scores have increased by best part of 2000 with the increase from 1.2 to 1.6ghz - and best of all no thermal throttling! However, if i plug in the graphicbooser the machine crashes almost instantly @1.6ghz - is there a setting in rmclock I need to set to stablise the pcie bus? Interestingly increasing cpu multiplier actually increases memory clock - up from 270 to 320mhz.

 

Hi mayorwedgy. I have an acer ferrari one 200 too.... Woth l310... I'm going to buy tk-42... I haven't the dynavivid dock... Are you sure is working? Should I only put tk-42 in and it works?

 

The TK-42 works when not connected to the graphics dock @1.6ghz using RMClock no heat issues at all and cpu scores goes up in Windows experience from 3.6 to 4.2 additionally RAM clock speed increases and 3d performance as a result jumps quite a bit using onboard - gained 2000 points in 3dmark 01

 

I have this thing and its great, but I would be very interested in finding the XGP add on card to go with it. Acer don't seem to reply to sales inquiry's regarding it.

 

i just bought one acer fo200. one thing is bothering me: i find that the fun keeps running and it's quite noisy (certainly noticable). i am wondering whether you guys have the same issue. thanks.

 

AA1fan will allow you to reduce the fan speed, it does run constantly but using that application you can turn it off for 90% of usage.

The graphics dock was never actually produced, cant remember where I read t hat. Your only option is to hunt out a graphicbooster which is made by fujitsu siemens for the Amilo sa3650