My thoughts on Acer AS1410 (Comparison with Asus N10J)

I don't want to cross post, and wasn't sure where to post this preview/review of the Acer AS1410, so just put it here instead of Asus forum.

I owned an Asus N10J-A1 for about a year and ended up selling it. It was a great little machine, but I didn't really think I needed a netbook any more. Plus I grew tired of issues with the stupid 1024x600 resolution and anemic Atom N270. It was a fun toy to tweak, but in reality, it wasn't practical. Nice to have a strong GPU like the 9300m GS but the other components really didn't push it to its full potential. Plus watching flash based video like Hulu and YouTube was less than ideal, manageable, but not ideal.

My biggest issues with netbooks have been the keyboard size, screen resolution, and enough CPU power for flash video (i.e. Hulu, YouTube, etc). This notebook seems to correct that. The keyboard looks close to having regular size keys, and the screen resolution is at least somewhat normal (16:9 and with compatability with 1024x768). The CPU is much more powerful than the Atom can ever want to be, and battery life isn't compromised really. I think it's better on this Acer than the N10J anyhow.

I was waiting for the ION platform, but it seems that will be a while and still contains the Atom CPU. It will have its caveats as well to work out. Since I realize it would be nice to have a smaller, lighter notebook with a longer lasting battery, I decided on the Acer AS1410. I have ordered it but haven't received it yet. The specs to me are perfect, and dimension-wise it's not much bigger than the N10J (only 0.4" longer and wider).

Here's the specs:

Acer AS1410
CPU: Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 @ 1.4GHz
Chipset: Intel GS45
Screen: 11.6" 1366x768
Memory: 2GB expandable to 4GB (comes with 2 slots, and only one populated with a 2GB module - nice!)
Hard Drive: 250GB 5400RPM
GPU: Intel GMA 4500MHD
Network: Gigabit LAN, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n
Ports: 3xUSB, 1xVGA, 1xHDMI, 1xMic, 1xheadphone, 1xwebcam, 1xcard reader
Battery: 6-cell
No Optical Drive
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium

Dimensions Comparison:
AS1410: 11.2" x 8.0" x ~1.0"
N10J: 10.8" x 7.6" x 1.4"

Weight:
AS1410: 3.1lbs
N10J: 3.5lbs

Price:
AS1410: $449 (free shipping from Newegg)
N10J: $599 or A1 (or $700 for A2)

I think the screen size and resolution, Core 2 Solo, and 4500MHD are a perfect match up as well as more usable IMHO. The GPU isn't quite as powerful as the 9300m GS, but I'll do a few benches to compare.

Overall, I think this Acer is a good alternative to the N10J. Having two RAM slots (at least the specs say so, I'll confirm) and only one slot populated, will also make it cheaper to add more memory (only a single 1GB or 2GB module required instead of a pair). Plus the CPU is 64-bit capable allowing you to use a 64-bit OS and CPU and utilize the full 4GB of RAM. It also has larger keyboard keys, and a right Shift key that's full width.

It has a couple of disadvantages, although minor IMHO. As stated earlier, the GPU is less powerful, but is still capable. There is no fingerprint reader and no express card slot. But I don't know that those will be missed really. I think Asus build quality is typically better, but Acer isn't half bad.

The Acer AS1410 comes in three colors, Sapphire Blue (AS1410-8414), Ruby Red (AS1410-8913), and Diamond Black (AS1410-8804). Details can be found at Acer's Site.

Any thoughts?

I'll post back with additional information when I get it and do a few benches.

 

Hehe
What benchmark results do you need?
There are loads of info already, for further tips check Timeline Tweaks(see sig)

 

Thanks! LOL, seems I came to the same conclusions as most other people. Good. I plan on putting Windows 7 on this too, so sounds like Flash should run well.

I was looking for gaming benchmarks, mainly. I am more of a tweaker and tuner than a gamer much any more. I guess I find it more fun to make things work than to actually play the games for the most part.

 

I've overclocked my 1810t and posted some results here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5329913&postcount=2442
The 1410/1810t is ideal for Source games

If you are skilled in hardware hacking you can overclock your 1410 too.

 

Thanks. Can you point me in the right direction (i.e. thread or threads) regarding overclocking your AS1410?

 

It's in Timeline Tweaks(see sig) under Hardware

 

Thanks. Don't think I'll be doing that mod. So you're saying that you can't adjust FSB speed with SetFSB without doing this mod?

I bought two 2GB DDR2 800MHz modules. Will this help much with stock clocks? Thanks.

 

Unfortunately the PLL is locked so no overclocking without that MOD.
Skyhawk21 did some benchmarking(see benchmark link I posted) with his dual channel 800MHz 5-5-5-15 RAM and got a surprisingly high 3D Mark result. So fast dual channel RAM definitely seems to help 4500MHD's performance even at stock speeds. I'll buy some fast RAM modules in the next days and report back if it improves performance in real games too.

 

Any news on the performance of high-speed ram in real-world games?

 

The 5-5-5-18 modules I bought were crappy at overclocking so I put them in my 15.4". I bought another Samsung CL6 and did some tests, not much real world stuff though, I don't play much at the moment and most games don't have built-in benchmarks. Here is what I tested: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5378316&postcount=152