An eye-catching laptop in a lightweight package
By Paul Marc Rañon
What does Michael Schumacher and Formula One have in common? Well, they're both related to the name that gives meaning to the word "car", the Ferrari. We all know that F1 racing, also called Grand Prix Racing, is recognized as the highest class of auto racing in the world.
That's why Acer, one of the leading computer manufacturers in the world, has teamed up with Scuderia Ferrari and AMD to create a new class of laptop notebooks that gives a new meaning to the word "legend". This is their newest baby, the Ferrari 4000.
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| Acer Ferrari 4000 | |
The peeps of the Technews Lab were quite dumbfounded when we first got our hands on the Ferrari 4000. Our first impression was that it was a decent, well-featured notebook. Well, almost, because most of us weren't too sure if we wanted to buy one. Frankly speaking, the consensus among us is that, we find the Ferrari 4000 totally rocks, damn cool, and drives like Schumacher.
The Acer Ferrari 4000 measures 363 (W) x 265.7 (D) x 30.5/34.3 (H) millimeters, and sports a somewhat conservative black checkered design. It has cool-looking red streaks along the side and front edge of the notebook, and the yellow prancing horse emblem graces the center of the notebook. This notebook cover is made from carbon fiber, which is stronger and lighter than aluminum.
When we were ready to "pop the hood" and get down to business, we were greeted by Acer's high-contrast 15.4" WSXGA+ CrystalBrite LCD display with a resolution of 1680 x 1050. The Ferrari 4000 has an 89-key ergonomic FineTouch keyboard, a touch pad framed in aluminum-colored plastic with matching mouse buttons, and a neat scroll pad button in the center. The shortcoming we found on this one is that the mouse buttons are a bit noisy when pressed. It also has four easy launch buttons for shortcut menu keys.
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| "Popping up the hood" | | On the lower right corner is the Ferrari's Prancing Horse crest, and on the left are OEM logos displayed like sponsor decals, that comprises of the AMD Turion64 Mobile Technology Processor, and ATI's X700 Mobility Radeon PCI Express graphics controller with 128MB high performance GDDR3 VRAM. Included also is the familiar Microsoft "Designed for Windows XP" label, with a surprising twist. The Windows XP x64 Edition is also listed on the "Designed for" label as well.
The laptop has a rubberized coating, wherein we get the impression, that the Ferrari 4000 is emulating the look of F1 tires. The keyboard has an ergonomic smile contour to it, which is good for long hours of typing and encoding, but takes a few minutes to get used to.
The Ferrari 4000's boot screen consists of a full-color photo of a Ferrari Formula One car and a simple "Press <F2> to Enter Setup" message at the bottom for entering the notebook's BIOS. When Windows XP Professional SP2 starts, a WAV file of the F1 racer shown on the boot-up splash screen roars through the dual 16-bit stereo speakers, while Ferrari World provides some cool desktop background imagery that changes monthly and displays the latest calendar on your desktop. A Ferrari World Flash-animated screensaver protects the LCD display while impressing on-lookers.
As far as image quality goes, the screen is as good as any 15.4-inch widescreen panel we've seen running at this resolution. The lighting is even across the entire surface of the screen and although the colors aren't as punchy as they would be on a screen with a high-contrast gloss coating, a user could be a bit disappointed, even when watching a DVD movie.
The 2.86 kilogram Ferrari 4000 comes with a good set of features, including four USB ports, an IEEE 1394 port, an Ethernet port, a Modem port, an S-video/TV out port, PC Card Type II slot, a FireWire port, and a 5-in-1 card reader (MMC, MS, MS Pro, SD, XD). Video connections include both VGA and DVI-D ports. Built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11g are included, as is a slot-load dual-layer DVD±RW drive. The Ferrari 4000 also comes with a large and fast 100GB hard drive.
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| The Ferrari emblem | |
We tested the Ferrari 4000's Wi-Fi capabilities in the field, and we chose Robinson's Galleria free Wi-Fi service as the testing ground. On two separate occasions, the Ferrari 4000 was at its best. Surfing the Internet, chatting on YM, watching creative AMVs and banned commercials on YouTube, and checking emails were like a walk in the park.
Thanks to Acer's SignalUp Technology and its two PIFAs (Planar Inverted F-Antennas) inside the top of the Ferrari 4000's LCD display, it creates an omni-directional signal sphere for enhanced wireless network reception even in low-reception areas, as indicated by the SignalUp logo on the red styling strip running along the upper edge of the LCD display.
Included with the Ferrari 4000 is a Bluetooth rechargeable wireless mouse. Powered by two rechargeable AA batteries, the full-sized scroll wheel mouse is color-coordinated to match the notebook with the Ferrari's glossy Rosso Corsa finish, black rubberized "Soft-Touch" side grips, and an ambidextrous design. With the included USB charger cord, it takes approximately 6 hours to fully charge the mouse, and the charge lasts about 4 to 5 days under normal use. The shortcoming of the mouse is that it has average response time, a bit on the heavy side, doesn't work as regular USB mouse without batteries, and has no system tray battery life indicators.
The Ferrari 4000 has bundled software applications and pre-installed on this baby are Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0; an Acer-branded version of CyberLink's PowerDVD 5.0, and an Acer-branded version of NTI CD & DVD Maker Version 7 which also includes NTI Backup NOW! Version 4. Other Acer pre-installed utility suites include eManager, ePresentation, eRecovery, eSettings, GridVista, and Launch Manager.
This baby is powered by a Lithium-Ion battery that has a charging time of 2 hours, 2.5 hours charge-in-use, and can last of up to 3 hours, depending on the usage.
Eventhough it had several shortcomings, the Acer Ferrari 4000 takes both Windows XP and AMD's latest 64-bit mobile processor, and other best-of-breed components, in a lightweight, powerful, stunningly beautiful and surprisingly flexible package. The notebook is every bit a winner as the exotic sports cars and F1 champions of the same name.
We at the Technews Lab only wished we had both the Ferrari and the Lamborghini to boot.
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