Acer Gemstone concept

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At the risk of it being a total anti-climax and me looking like an idiot... but we will find out soon... :laugh:

 

Read more news here
http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/02/acer-aspire-gemstone-laptop-concept-to-be-unveiled-friday/
Apparently they think it is a new aspire notebook line

 

For all of you acer users in here who want to see what the new Aspire gemstone looks like and want to also see the design of acer's new Travelmate series as well go on over to http://global.acer.com There is a flash animation on the main page, click on it and there you go...
Or you could also see them here http://www.acer-euro.com/gemstoneconcept/index.htm

I personally like the new Travelmates (alot slimmer than the current ones ).The new ProFile TravelMate laptops come in gray magnesium-alloy casings, far strong and lighter than plastic, Acer says .

I don't particularly like the gemstone aspire designs which IMHO the current generation aspire looks better. My next acer will definitely be a Travelmate again...

 

So, are they actually going to make this "Gemstone''?

 

notebookreview's front page says these ship mid may though i don't know where they got that info, it's not mentioned on the Acer website. but sounds about right, same time as all the other santa rosa computers.

i would wait with judgement calls until you see the machines with your own eyes, it's really impossible to judge a design by looking at some pictures.

i always thought Acers look pretty dull and the design hadn't changed in years so this is good news. at least they are trying to keep up with the likes of HP - which really has put a lot of effort into design recently - and Sony. Asus used to look pretty slick but somehow now they look like any other laptop...

 

I definitely see this as an effort by Acer to compete with HP, which really, in my opinion is making some of the nicest looking notebooks around. HP's focus design has really paid off, and Acer has recognized. I admit, the Gemstone laptop looks really good. Although, I still like the look of my DV6000 better.

 

Does it mention anywhere where the fan is located on the new laptops? I really dislike having the fan located at the bottom... make it a bit hard to place the laptop on an surface without blocking the air vents... especially a lap. Do the Travelmate's also have he fan at the bottom?

 

I really like the TravelMate's new looks, simplistic yet not too ancient looking for a business laptop (cough Thinkpad)

 

Acer's new gemstone line has already been released in Taiwan for a while now, so I can fill you guys on more information. There are currently three models: Acer Aspire 5920, 4920, and 4710.
The 5920 specs are: 15.4 WXGA Acer GridVista, 1280*800, Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 4M L2，2.0GHz 800MHz , Mobile Intel® PM965 Express Chipset, 2GB(2x1G DDRII) 667MHz, 160GB Serial ATA(5400 rpm), NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT 256MB, Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965ABN(802.11a/b/g/Draft-N), DVD-Super Multi DL, 8Cell Battery, Dolby Digital Speakers powered by Realtek sound card with a weight of 3kg.
As for the design, the 5920 has a clipping on the webcam that feels like your opening a car door when you open the laptop. (pretty satisfying ) On the left, there are lightup indicators that look like buttons which tell you if certain functions are on, such as wifi, bluetooth,etc. But there is also a blank button that doesnt do anything at all. On the right, you have a line of touchsensitive buttons to control your media. In the front you have a nice bar of dolby digital speakers with an "S" pattern on it.

The 4920 is basically a smaller, more improved version of the 5920. By improved, i mean that they solved some small issues such as the USB slot on the right obstructing the DVD-RW. The specs are almost all the same with the 5920, except it packs a ATI Mobility Radeon X2500 256mb, instead of a Geforce 8600M GT; a 14'1 inch screen; a 8-cell battery which lasts roughly around 3 h, and it weighs 2.4kg.
The design of the 4920 is a little different from the 5920 as well. For example, now there are 2 USB slots of each side, instead of 1 on the right and 3 on the left. As mentioned earlier, the USB slot is moved farther away from the DVD drive, so it doesnt affect it. Also, the touch-sensitive keys are moved to the upper right hand corner above the keyboard, and the "dummy key" has been eliminated. The line of lightflow(don't know what else to call this) is also a little different, and, sadly, the car door clip has been removed.
There was also another thing I noticed when i compared the two models. The 5920 mouse buttons had this horrible cheap, plastic, hollow, feel to them. It felt like those ancient logitech mouses. However, the 4920's mouse buttons feel a lot more comfortable. Like i said, there are a few subtle improvements they made to the smaller models.

The 4710's specs are Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 1.66GHz，667MHz FSB ，2MB L2Cache, 1GB DDR2 667 RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon X2300 128mb, Dolby Digital High Definition Audio, Intel PRO/Wireless 4965ABG, 160GB Serial ATA (5400), DVD-Super Multi double layer, 14.1" WXGA 1280*800, 6-cell which lasts about 2.5h.
The design is very similar to the 4920, except it has a black frame around the screen, instead of a white one; It does not have any touch-sensitive keys, and the buttons and model number, which appear blue on the other two models, are green. There are a lot of things the 4710 is missing, but it is a lot cheaper.
Here are rough prices converted from NT:
5920 - $1437.5
4920 - $1312.5
4710 - $1031.25

If you are considering buying these gemstones, i suggest getting the 4920. If you're on a tight budget, then the 4710. But if you're looking for something with higher specs than the 4920, i suggest you get the G1S or wait until Acer comes out with new gemstone models, because the mouse buttons will really disappoint you. But other than that, these are the best laptops you can find considering it's price, design, and specs.

 

Is the Dummy key reprogrammable in any way? Otherwise it seems a waste of materials.

Apparentely the x2500 according to other sites is a DX9 card, an x1700 which has just been given a new name. No way as good as a 8600GT. Plus the official Acer site states that the 4920G weighs closer to 2.6kg.

So unless a 14.1 inch screen is a requirement, the 5920 has much more going for it.

That light flow is called media flow. THere is a great video here.
http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/2007newid/as_video.html

 

no, the dummy key is not programmable, it's not even pressable. Okay so x2500 doesnt support DX10. I'm actually buying the gemstone 4920, and then im going to wait for the Asus XG Station to come out so i can play DX10 games.