Acer Aspire 5920 review

Hi, I have been lurking for a few months now, the great user reviews and friendly forum have always drawn me back.

Anyway, I am currently planning on getting a laptop within the next month or so and have been waiting for more Santa Rosa notebooks to appear on the market.

Not sure why there isn't a thread in here allready about it but the new Acer Aspire 5920 is (to me) one of the more interesting models coming out soon.

There is a review here at Trusted Reviews (a UK site) which paints it in a fairly positive light.

Now, personally I am torn between the Asus G1S, this notebook, and possibly a HP or Samsung.

The Asus is fairly expensive and is right on the end of my budget at £1300 (Typical UK prices where we get shafted for everything...), but I can see that Asus have better build quality than Acer and it would last a while.

So is anyone planning on getting the Aspire 5920? For me if they release a higher resolution choice (preferably WSXGA+ 1680x1050) for a bit more on the price then I will most likely get it, but at present that is the deal breaker for me.

I like playing games from time to time so a fairly decent gfx card is useful, but more important to me is the screen res. Other than that the 5920 is pretty good in my eyes.

Review states July release, just wondering what else will be around by then....

 

Thanks for posting the link. I too like the way the acer gemstone looks. I ended up getting the G1s. But the acer 5920 is not coming out till July. I did not want to wait. Plus Asus is a better brand than Acer.

Good review given to the acer though

 

Do you think the G1S is really worth the money though? As I said I can afford it, but from the specs it doesn't appear much different, OK, you get 2 years warranty with Asus and the better screen, but the near £500 price difference is a bit much, especially as it doesn't even have Robson onboard.

I can see from reading on here that Asus is a better brand, I am still wary of Acer and their support if I should need it.

I hope that HP bring out something similar with a high res screen.

 

The G1s has sorry speakers also. The acer gemstone has great speakers....it seems.

I have never owned an acer though. I am like you, by reading this board, I see acer has its share of problems. lol

 

Asus is better than Acer? thats a topic many would argue. Acer is currently the number 3 in the world.. may not say much but it still does

 

Your right, I am just going by the complaints I see on the different message boards here. Acer seems to have more complaints.

I personally have no problem with Acer

 

Number 3 in what though? Most likely in volumes of laptops, but you can see by these forums (as an example) that in the Acer forum there are loads of threads on issues with the laptops, yet in the Asus one there are hardly any.

Now I know the old internet adage that people who dont have problems wont usually post on forums saying everything is OK etc etc, but I cant help but feel that Acer have more problems.

These problems may have been addressed with the new gemstone line, but I would doubt it has, obviously people will have problems from time to time but personally I see Asus being the better brand.

 

I'm considering the 5920 too. I'm also looking at the G1S, but since both laptops aren't available here (Netherlands) the Acer is looking pretty good at 1300 euro against 1800 for the G1S. I will be using the laptop on an external 22" most of the time, so the bigger res isn't my main criterium for the Asus, I just hear of alot of problems with Acer notebooks and don't want to have to send my laptop in every couple of months.

 

In Russia acer 5920 will be aviable starting 11th of June - will buy!! =)

Another review http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39030092,49290611,00.htm

 

The Acer Aspire 5920 seems a well balenced laptop with good PC performance and decent graphics for the casual gamer.

Hopefully there are no catches in the deal but for £799, seems an absolute bargain. But probably by July many laptops with an 8600GT fitted, will be priced about that much since the 8700m is due to be released very very soon.

 

The problems with Acer reviews.
Not a single review did 3dmark test so far.
Not a single review so far which tell whether its GDDR3 OR GDDR2 memory for the card.

The biggest problem with this model is the resolution. Manufacturer of LCD really need to stop making 15.4inch LCD with WXGA resolution and only make WXGA+ or higher for such a big screen.

 

The resolution is a real deal-breaker. The Cnet review points out some mistakes as well, like a usb-port right next to the dvd-rom drivz. So when you use that usb-port, the dvd-rom drive can't open anymore.

 

I actually like the resolution on the Acer better then the one on the G1s or the Zepto. I use a 22" desktop LCD with the same res as the Asus and Zepto have on their 15,4" screen, which makes everything way too tiny on those notebooks. Of course, I have pretty bad eyesight....

 

Only if you plug in a bulky USB drive - it works fine if you plug in a USB wire.

 

I think there will be mouse, so it's OK for most people, and note has 3 usbs at the left side, so this problem is nothing

 

The aforementioned USB port positioning is an example of a bad bit of design, but compared to the Asus G1S that this laptop is so often compared, at least in my opinion, it is beautifully designed and elegant. The performance may not be on the same level, but the built in TV-Tuner (European models), Virtual Surround Sound and comparitively low overall price sway it for me; I will be buying one of these when they become available. I would prefer a higher resolution in some respects, but another way of looking at it is that if you have a 1280x800 screen you will be able to play more games at native resolution than if you have a 1680x1050 screen!

 

Why won't it be? I was under the impression that except for the slower CPU (T7300 vs T7500) the components are pretty much the same?

 

If you have bad eyesight then a higher resolution would be better option as Aero in vista providers more clarity and sharpness decreasing readability issue when using a higher resolution.
WXGA+ isn't really too high either. its only 1.3MP vs 1MP for WXGA.
WUXGA can be a problem for people on 15.4inch but I have tried vista on that it never had readability issues even though I have somewhat poor vision myself.

 

You make a good point, I originally thought that the G1S was going to have 512mb of dedicated RAM for the graphics, which would surely improve things, but it turns out that they just said "512mb 8600MGT" which means 256 dedicated, 256 TurboCache. I wish companies wouldn't mislead people like that. Never mind.

 

Ive compared and read somewhere where the benchmarks for the 5920 were quite a bit lower than the G1S. http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3728&review=Asus+G1S. Cant remember where i saw it...AAArrrggh...(I know that the processor speed in the G1S is faster but still didnt explain the higher scores that i saw)I was also surveying a santa rosa based laptop at the time. The G1S is closer to the go 7900GS and in most cases, actually better. Thats enough reason to buy it! amongst other added features like better quality and better screen....etc. If u can afford it...u get a better peace of mind,it definitely wins over the Acer 5920G.

 

In my country, its true that acer is common among notebook users. But the reason is because its cheap price despite having a better graphics card than other manufacturers. I remember it having the cheapest laptop with a respectable X1600 mobility. Asus was ridiculously expensive at one point and that left an impression among laptop buyers. Like they say, beggars cant be choosers...But the price gap is closing in between the manufacturers and people are buying more and more asus laptops. Btw, most acers here are made in china while asus makes most of their models in taiwan.

 

If you remember, I'd be very interested in the link. I've only found 2 reviews (Trustedreviews, which doesnt bench 3Dmark) and Cnet, which can hardly be called a review, since the only thing they say is how bad the design is (with which I don't agree).

I'm still liking the G1S over the 5920, but there's a big chance it will not be available here at all, or very late. Since I NEED a laptop for my trip to california half july, the Acer is looking tempting. The other option is I pick up a G1S in LA, but the risk is always that I can't be sure to find it there. From what I found Gentech is pretty close to LA, but they don't reply to my email....

 

Although the Cnet review is awful, they did give it a 3DMark 2006 test, to which it scored 3,288.

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39030092,49290611-3,00.htm


The Asus G1S scored 3,816 under the test done here :

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3728&review=Asus+G1S

 

3,288 is bad for a 8600M GT. I think that's the reason:

from ACER US site but the same in Germany, Poland and Spain.

It's not even GDDR3 It reminds me of ASPIRE 5110 series with X1600... and 64bit memory.

 

3288 bad? not according to this site http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

The g1 and the acer are on my list of potential laptops and for the same price, the acer is currently winning with it's hd-dvd drive, atleast it has one in the US edition

 

The game performance can't be that good can it?
The 8600GT for this notebook is rated above the Geforce go 7700, yet it gets 25 FPS in games like FEAR and Band of Brothers:
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/index.cfm?reviewid=859&pn=2
(reference first two paragraphs)

as opposed to a Zoostorm notebook, with a x1600! The ATI card got 33fps.