Acer Aspire 1691 Review (pics, specs)

by Dexter Pearson, England

I'm a lucky lad. Not only am I sat in front of a portable superb-looking laptop, but I'm also looking at a desktop replacement. Because of my new Acer Aspire 1691, I can finally throw awaymy desktop computer,spacewasting pile of junk. The sleek Acer 1691 tops my old desktop in every single respect. It's amazing how laptops have come down in price, back in the day laptops were a luxury, but now laptops are a necessity for anybody looking for a new computer. Not to mention that a laptop is worth something when you come to sell it in a couple of years time, so for me, buying a laptop as opposed to a desktop was a no-brainer. It's not like I sacrificed a lot of power for portability either, take a look at this beast, and keep in mind that I can take this notebook anywhere, anytime! Here is a small list of what the Acer 1691 has in strore:

• 1.6GHz, 533 FSB, 2MB L2 cache -- Pentium M 730
• 15.4 Inch WXGA Crystalbrite TFT LCD
• ATI X700 Mobility Radeon with 64MB VRAM
• 80GB HDD 4200RPM
• CD Car-Stereo type loader that writes DVDs and CDs
• 512MB DD2 -- Dual-channel supported
• 802.11b/g wireless Lan
• XP Home Edition
• Various USB 2.0 and other ports that will be covered later on in the review!

Specs sticker

Acer Aspire 1691 (view larger image)

And that's just for starters too! I must admit, I almost went for the Turion version of this Laptop, the Aspire 5021. On first glace, the 5021 looked a lot better -- it had a 100GB HDD and 128MB of VRAM for the X700. Were it not for the complaining I've heard concerning the crackling speakers and the RAM running at slow speeds on the 5021 I might have gone for that instead. However, after doing my homework it appears that the Pentium M is better for long wireless surf-sessions, and who can refuse DD2 RAM? It's future proofed, and it's not out of date as soon as you've bought it! Considering the price of just under 700-British pounds from Comet.co.uk (approximately $1240 or 1000 Euros) I'm a happy bunny with this laptop which I'll be using for surfing here, there or on top of that hill, playing games on when I'm bored of surfing on top of that hill, and typing out long pieces of writing for other peoples entertainment using this beautiful keyboard. I'd say it fits my needs like a glove. So let's get cracking with the 1691 review!

Build & Design

Front side of Acer Aspire 1691 (view larger image)

Oh, you're just going to love the design of this thing. It's exceptionally visually pleasing, and when the laptop is closed up it will look more like a work of art than a laptop. Inside we have a perfect layout of buttons. The keyboard is perfectly placed in the centre; we have a nice-feeling touchpad centred below the keyboard along with three mouse buttons, two of them to click and one of them to scroll with. Then there's four buttons at the top just under the monitor for various shortcuts that you can customise. Oh, and who can forget the power button which is placed at the top right next to the shortcut buttons. It lights up green too, which can only be a good thing! The monitor is sturdy in place, and does not wobble with pressure.

Carrying the Laptop shouldn't be too hard really. Ok, it's a little heavier than your average super-portable laptop, but you'll get used to carrying it around after a while. The weight makes if sit well in your lap too. When the laptop is closed, you can push the screen down a little bit (if you're that way minded), but this is nothing to worry about as long as you're going to treat your laptop with the care it deserves! The rubber feet are also worth a mention -- when you put the laptop on a desk, it will sit perfectly still, and won't move without a fight. Perfect for those long typing sessions.

The Screen

Oh, such a beautiful screen. If your other half catches you looking at this lustfully, which, no doubt you will be, then she might kick you out. Then again, that's another advantage with a laptop -- just take it with you, and leave your other half without a computer! 15.4 inches, widescreen makes this one a perfect choice for all your word processing tasks as well as all the entertainment you can throw at it. DVDs and Games in widescreen is a wonder to behold. The 1691 came with the 1280 x 800 resolution, and looks fantastic. Don't forget about Acers CrystalBrite technology though, which can easily be compared to the famous Sony Vaio screens everybody raves about. A black gloss which makes everything that little bit more pleasing to look at. I haven't noticed any dead pixels, but at the same time I'm not going to go out of my way downloading tools that searches for them. If my eyes cannot see them, then I don't want to be introduced to one because then I'll be able to see it forever more!

Speakers

That's right, that sound did just come from my laptop! Something I find myself telling friends and family a lot, because they don't believe that such sound can leave such speakers. Pump up the volume with the keyboard, and hear music in its finest form. I know for a fact that speakers or big headphones will make music sound better, but you tell me when it's practical to lug around a pair of speakers with you. It's not. So these speakers will do nicely for everything I want them to do. I must say that the speakers sound perfect when playing games such as GTA San Andreas on it, the radio stations, the beeping horns and the angry pedestrians come across well through the speakers. Bass-rich music isn't something you want to be listening without a pair of headphones though, but I'm pleased on the whole.

Performance and Graphics

You can throw anything at the Acer Aspire 1691, and it will be only too happy to oblige. I have Guild Wars running on the maximum settings, GTA San Andreas running at the thick end of the graphical settings, and I got Battlefield 2 running on it with medium settings despite the 128mb requirement. Just remember that the X700 is one of the best cards out there at the moment, and with the help of the DDR2 ram most things should run, even if the box says it won't! Booting up Windows isn't a painful process even with my HDD packed with games, music files, and the dreaded Norton Anti-Virus installed that came free for three months with the laptop. Unfortunately the packed HDD only runs at 4200RPM, and while it would have been nice to have a higher running HDD in there, for the price, we have to sacrifice at least something!

To say I only have 512mb of RAM, it's a fast little beast. However, you can upgrade it to a maximum of 2GB. Just imagine that -- 2GB in Dual Channel. With it being a Pentium chip, you can also expect things like Microsoft Word (or Microsoft Works which is another freebie from Acer) to open fast, and the internet to run flawlessly. I've never seen Outlook Express open so quickly either! For what I want it to do (which is just about everything apart from polishing my shoes) the 1691 executes perfectly without moaning. No hangs, no jamming up, just pure quality.

Benchmarks

I knew benchmarking my Acer 1691 would depress me somewhat. When tested on 3DMark05 I got a not-so stunning score of 1486, a score close to the model number! However, you have to bear in mind that these tests are testing things at all of the best graphics, with all the best resolutions. It might not be able to handle future games with super-high settings (which is what 3DMark05 tests) but it can handle most of today's games on high settings, and I'd imagine the future ones will run flawlessly providing you turn those settings down.

I then decided to run Super PI on it, which is a nifty little program that times the calculation of Pi to various digits of accuracy. With most processes in the background turned off I managed to get to 2 million PI in 1 minute and 51 seconds.

Notebook	Time to Calculate Pi to 2 Million Digits
Acer Aspire 1691(1.6GHz Alviso Pentium M)	1m 51s
Gateway 7422GX(AMD 2.4GHz)	2m 12s
Dell Latitude D410 (2.00 GHzAlviso Pentium M)	1m 36s
IBM ThinkPad T43(1.86 GHzAlviso Pentium M)	1m 45s
Fujitsu LifeBook N3510 (1.73 GHz Alviso Pentium M)	1m 48s
IBM ThinkPad T41 (1.6GHz Banias Pentium M)	2m 23s
Compaq R3000T (Celeron 2.8GHz)	3m 3s
Dell Inspiron 600m(1.6 GHz Dothan Pentium M)	2m 10s
Dell Inspiron 8600 (1.7GHz Banias Pentium M)	2m 28s

Keyboard and Touchpad

Acer Aspire 1691 keyboard (view larger image)

People that are taking this laptop to university, or anywhere that's required for long typing sessions will not be disappointed. For three years I've been using a desktop keyboard, and, because my life sees me writing extremely long documents on a day to day basis I was worried that any laptop keyboard might not suit my needs. Fortunately, with the Acer 1691's keyboard, I was pleasantly surprised. Three years of desktop typing took a mere three days to forget and learn how to use this keyboard with ease. I type fast, I don't even bother looking at the keyboard -- and I very rarely miss a letter out. Your fingers will just glide over the keys, and pressing the keys quickly and not being able to hear the keys is something of a luxury for me. I have noticed a little bit of keyboard flex on the left hand side, but as long as you type with care (which is something laptop owners should learn) then I don't see this posing a problem. Take it from somebody who types a lot -- you WILL NOT be disappointed.

The touchpad is equally as lovely. I've used laptop touchpad's before, and many of them have being a little slippery which posed a problem after prolonged use. With this laptop the touchpad has a matt-type effect which stops your finger from slipping about. There is not much more to say about the touch pad except that it does its job perfectly.

Acer Aspire 1691 shortcut keys

Input and Output ports

Acer Aspire 1691 Front Side (view larger image)

Behind (view larger image)

Acer Aspire 1691 Right side (view larger image)

Acer Aspire 1691 Left side (view larger image)

Acer Aspire 1691 under side (view larger image)

I'm impressed at what ports the Acer 1691 comes with. At the front there's an infrared port, an audio-in plug, a plug for a microphone, and one for headphones or speakers. To be honest, the speaker/headphone plug isn't placed in the right spot for me. When I have this laptop in a desktop environment, and I plug my speakers into it, the jack sticks out about an inch and then the wire drapes off somewhere, and looks untidy. For headphones it's in the perfect place though -- but I would have rather had these plugs elsewhere. In addition to those, we also have one USB 2.0 on the front.

On the right hand side I can see a multi-card reader which works flawlessly -- just push your card in and browse those files! There's a slot for laptop cards in case you want to upgrade it with something later on, but considering the laptop has almost every port imaginable, this probably won't come in handy. Further down we have a firewire port, two more USB 2.0 ports, a high-speed Ethernet port and a 56k modem right next to it. Who uses 56k these days though? Don't forget about the yellow s-video out port either, which allows you to plug your laptop into the TV and watch a DVD or play a game on the big screen!

On the reverse there's a place for the power, and a blue monitor socket which is handy if you need access to another screen. The left hand side sees a CD-Car Stereo type loading bay, where you just stick the CD in half way, and the laptop will suck it in. I love this feature -- less to go wrong with the laptop because there's no flimsy pop out drawer to break.

Wireless

The laptop came with 802.11b/g wireless Lan, which works flawlessly with my D-Link wireless broadband router. It allows me to surf anywhere within a generous range, and share files with other laptops and linked up computers in the vicinity. Also, being able to print pictures wirelessly is a luxury I can get used to! On the label it states that the laptop has some kind of Signal Boosting technology, and while I cannot see any software on the computer allowing me to boost at will, I'm always in range even through thick walls -- so it must be working constantly.

In addition the laptop comes with infrared which I have used to transfer files to my mobile phone. It was painless connecting up with the phone, but infrared is one of the slowest methods of transfer known to man -- it took me around twenty minutes to get an MP3 on! The laptop comes with a bluetooth light, but in this model there is no bluetooth built in. You'll have to pay a larger sum of money and buy the 1692 in order to bag yourself bluetooth.

Battery

I'm over the moon with happiness about the battery life. This Acer comes with a neat little ePowerManagement program which allows me to adjust things like the CPU speed, screen brightness, standby and hibernation times, and allows me to turn off various ports and features like firewire and the wireless card. You can make your own profiles, but the ones built in will fit my needs perfectly. When I'm on word processing mode which sets the CPU to medium, I can get about 3-5 hours out of it, depending on what I do. I can play less demanding games with this setting for a long period of time too. When on entertainment mode, which sets the CPU to high, I can get 2-3 hours life, again, depending on what I do. Playing high demanding games will give me less time than watching a DVD for example. Plug the laptop into a power outlet, and the power manager automatically flicks all settings to the maximum. I'm really happy at the battery life.

Operating System and Software

This laptop comes with XP home installed, along with Acer-exclusive features like the power manager, and a nifty little thing called GridVista which allows you to split your screen into sections which is great for watching various charts and feeds for share dealing. Unfortunately I can't think of many uses for GridVista other than that, but for the right man, GridVista will be a godsend.

In the pack I got quite a few discs bundled -- a three mouth version of Norton Antivirus, Microsoft Works, NTI CD and DVD maker 7, and various recover CDs. Not much in the way of useful software here, but I'm sure people buying a laptop will have their own CDs just itching to be installed!

Customer Support

I'm touching wood as I type here, but I haven't had to bother with the customer support at all. Judging by the sounds of people complaining about Acers support, I don't want to be speaking to them anytime soon either! The warranty covers you for one year parts and labor, which you can use around the globe thanks to the travelers warranty passport. I never took any extra coverage out, but you're allowed to buy extra coverage if you want it later on. If I'm careful though, I should be able to avoid the customer services at all costs. Yeah, I'm still touching wood too..!

Complaints and Praises

There are not many complaints to be said with this new model of the Acer 1691. The audio plug is in the wrong place for speakers, but for headphones it's perfect. There's a little flex on the keyboard which isn't as bad as I'm making it sound anyway! The only real complaint is the 4200RPM drive, but the DDR2 more than makes up for it! Apart from that, this Laptop is perfect for somebody like me. I love the feel of the keyboard, I love to looks of the laptop, and I like having the ability to open up and play games anywhere. Oh, and its future proof with the better ram too!

So in conclusion...

I would recommend this laptop to everybody and anybody looking for a laptop which will carry them though a couple of years of surfing the internet, playing games, and typing like there's no tomorrow. Basically a laptop that will be a desktop when you want it to be, and a portable typing machine when you click your fingers. There are a lot of people just like me who want a laptop to suit many needs. For the price, you cannot go wrong with this! The old model has an X600 64MB and doesn't have DDR2. If your local supplier is stocking the old model, give them an earful and demand the new model -- you're not going to be disappointed with this flying machine!

 

Awesome review Dex!!!!! Well written, looks like an excellent laptop for the money!!!

 

Thanks ChazMan! I couldn't be happier with it! :acer:

 

Yup, nice review Dex. I fell in love with my first laptop too, I wonder if half of the reason you like it so much is because (as you say) you can junk the old desktop. Having that X700 card really helps with graphics...I'd recommend upgrading the amount of RAM to get even better performance and if you're really inclined you could always get a faster hard drive. That all costs money though and as you're pretty happy anyway it might not be worth it.

 

I didn't like the review. I realize you liked the laptop a great deal, but this was far too gushing of a review full of exclamation points. Plus with quotes like, "To be honest, the speaker/headphone plug isn't placed in the right spot for me." To be honest makes it sound like you feel bad to say anything negative about the laptop. Might want to take more time using the laptop before writing a review, this sounds like you had it for a few weeks only before doing the review.

My $.02

 

Taking you $.02 on board, it seems like you've either had a bad Acer, or you just can't stand to see anybody happy. I never really knew it was a crime to like a laptop that you've just bought, and i agree, some of the complaints maybe sugar coated. But lets just look at the price for a minute. It was cheap. Real cheap. So if there's a small complaint, and believe me, there's not many, i can take that in my stride and say "oh well, it was cheap enough".

No exclamation points were used in the composing of this reply.

 

I agree. If you've had a bad acer in the past...well, that's on you. I too bought an Acer laptop - an Acer TravelMate 4402WLMi. And I paid what Dex paid - about 1250 USD. I was also very happy when I wrote my review - no reason not to be.

At 1250, I dont think I would be too quick to criticise a notebook with a Radeon X700, large HD, and a Pentium M(or Turion in my case). I have my gripes with my notebook as well, but I really cant complain.

 

I have never owned an Acer guys, so that's the wrong tree to climb.

It was a good price and everything and I'm sure its a fine laptop capable of swooning even the mightiest of laptop gurus with its charm, but you agreed you sugarcoated some of your complaints. That's all I was saying.

 

Lets say, hypothetically speaking, that you didn't have a girlfriend. For good measure, we'll say that you have trouble getting a girlfriend too. One day, a beautiful super-model looking woman comes upto you. She has the a fantastic personality, she has the prettiest eyes, and her accent is to die for. One thing leads to another, and you start going out. You didn't even have to chat her up!

But then you learn that this super-model has one defect. The good news is, you can live with it. Everything else cancels out the problem, the looks, the personality (or in my case, the price and the performance) - and you would be a fool in everybody's jealous eyes to start complaining over a trivial defect. Not everybody shows envy of your beautiful trophy girl though, and this person starts telling you that you've sugar coated the defect - and that you should tell the world that two of her toes are joined. You're not allowed to say that she has a defect, but quickly talk about the way she laughs, or the twinkle in her eye. Plain and simple, its a massive negative.

And while this example is a little far fetched, I'm sure you can grasp what I'm trying to say. The fact that she walked into your life when you have trouble dating anyway (comparable to the price i paid for my laptop) and everything about her is too good to be true (X700, DDR2 Ram) you're not going to go out of your way to tell people in a bar, club or supermarket that she has two joint toes (4200 RPM, Headphone in the wrong place). Hey, even if it slips out, or somebody finds out, I'm sure in her defence you'll speak again of silky smooth skin or her luscious lips. Wouldn't you?

 

Dex!

Thanks for taking the time to write your review on your ACER 1691.

I am interested in purchasing the same laptop as it seems to have all the right stuff and its an ideal desktop replacement.

As you have made the leep in buying an ACER 1691, I have a few questions for you:

I was wondering how are you are getting on with it now? Are you still on your honey moon period or have you got down to the nitty gritty daily usage?

I read someone elses review and they said they were having trouble with over heating issues with the wifi and CPU? Have you had any eaxperiences of this kind? Any niggly bits you are seeing now that you didnt see b4?

Is Comet the best place to get this?

Which other laptop came close to the ACER 1691?
Are TavelMates better in build?

Appreciate any comments on this...

Thanks again for your time

Godz

 

Hi Godz,

I'm still getting on with my laptop fantastically well. It pretty much stays on more than 12 hours a day now - mostly plugged in, and when I'm not using it, the screen is closed and it stays on standby. I've put it through desktop usage, and it loves me in return. No problems, nada. When its not acting as a desktop, its on my Lap downstairs, and the Wi-Fi is fantastic even from a long range.

The overheating issues are none existent. The only time it gets hot is when you're playing games on your lap, possibly blocking up the fans underneath with your pants. Otherwise, the laptop stays cool and functions properly. If you want to game for long periods, use it on a hard surface! Obviously, games which don't demand power are fine on your lap!

As i said in my review, the 5021 came close - but in the end, the soundcard issues with the 5020 series and the fact that Centrino would match my needs perfectly swayed me over. I never considered a Travel Mate - my Dad has an old Travel Mate, and the keyboard is almost impossible to type on because the laptop is small. Get this model from Comet, and you won't be disappointed! :centrino: :acer:

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT QUESTIONS

I love answering your questions! If you have a question, please would you post it in this thread instead of PMing me. I don't get chance to check my PMs much, but i do check this thread as soon as i get a reply, because i get notified. Also, by posting your questions here, we can avoid repeat questions!

Enjoy the review, and feel free to ask me anything here!

 

Thanks for the info Dex... I just rang comet and they say they have it in stock and can match the web price of £691.

Before i make the plunge...can u do me one more favour and tell me what is the manufacturer code of your ACER 1691 WLMI?

Reason i am asking is that i want to get a right model with the x700 graphics card DDR2 and not an earlier one...

cheers

 

I wouldn't know where to find that number - I've thrown my boxes away too! Comet stock the new model, I'm sure of that. My friend bought one from store not long after i bought mine from the internet, and he got the same model. Of course, if you are worried, tell them to open it before you buy it.

Enjoy!

 

Excellent review.

How easy is the laptop to upgrade, RAM, optical drive, memory, graphics card and to implement the bluetooth module on this laptop if you know and also have you tried running Half-Life 2 or Halo on the laptop, do you know if it will handle these games?

Cheers Dave

 

Funny you should mention Half-Life 2, as i just bought it yesterday. It runs perfectly on medium to high settings - clear, crisp, and no slowdown. Halo - i haven't tried that because i play Halo 2 on Xbox LIVE so i see no point. However, if it runs GTA San Andreas and Half Life 2, Halo should be no problems!

Ram is easy to upgrade, just pop off a cover on the bottom, and remove ram, and put in some new stuff. I think to replace other things you might have to dive deeper into the Laptop, but if you look on the Acer boards, you'll see that many people have done what you have said.

 

Nice one cheers for the reply.

Your reviews has pretty much convinced me to go out and buy this laptop as i need a mid-level laptop at a decent price with decent performance so thanks again

Dave

P.S Halo 2 on live is quality

 

Did you buy it in the end then? If so, do you like it as much as I do?

 

Nice review Dex - I have been looking for one for sometime and only happened to see this while searching for 1691 under google!

I have a couple of questions:

The Comet website say X600 and Centrino 725 (!) and wideview (not crystalbrite)
http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/572_263974.html

The website datasheet says it has X600 but DOES have the M730 and Crystalbrite?!
http://www.acer.com.sg/products/aspire1690/pb_aspire1690.asp

Comet also sell the more expensive 1692 which has the X700
http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/572_263931.html

I want to buy the laptop but want to make sure that the Comet one does have the X700, M730 and crystalbrite, but they told me over the phone that it didn't (but the sales assistant probably read it from their website).

??

 

There are various versions of the 1691, 1692, 1693 and 1694. They are differentiated by their Stock Code, a number shown after their model number (for example at: http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_16801690_Laptop/prod.asp).
Comet is not the ideal place to purchase a laptop, and they probably don't know the stock code of the Acer's they have in stock. But they are probably selling an older version of the 1691 which does not have a M730 processor and X700.

 

My one has a clicking noise coming from the bottom left corner - its the hard drive. Getting a replacement on monday [but thats for a dead pixel]

 

Dex does your one have a toshiba hard drive? you can check in device manager...

and is it pretty noisy from the bottom left? my hard drive is quite loud when being accessed.....

 

I was updating and sorting a friends new lovley ACER laptop ( same laptop as the one in the review) and I enabled the password on his account (XP Home ed). I entered it twice for confirmation in control panel and all was fine.

I told my friend the password and sisnce he got it back he hasent been able to log in to XP. We have tried every combination possible (with caps and num lock on/off) with no luck.

One thing we noticed when typing in username/password on the XP logon screen is that when Num Lock (Fn + F11) is turned on (green led), instead of numbers appearing when U, I, O keys are press, letters come up.

When Num Lock is off (green led off) and the same keys are pressed nothing comes up


Can any one of you with the same laptop try this? Does your num lock do the same thing at the XP logon screen?

Does U, I, O work ok when num lock is off? or do you have to have num lock ON for the above letter to appear?

Would really appreciate your findings as its now a question of either wiping the laptop clean and starting again or checking with ACER to see if this is a bug of some sort.

Thanks in advance!

 

I just got ACER 1692 today and my first impression of the laptop is not the greatest. I had Gateway 8510GZ for 2 weeks before I got ACER. The first thing I noticed about ACER was that it is much louder than Gateway. Gateway's fans whispered compared to ACER. I am very dissapointed with that as the loudness of the laptop was the major which caused me to choose Centrion ove Turion based laptop.

 

dex many props for the great review

 

Does anyone else have any problems with the fan noise?
The reason I gave up my last notebook is that it couldn't use Win XP and it was VERY noisy ! (Rock Sigma)
This laptop (Acer 1691) is the top of my list so need to know - unless it is only on MASSIVE gaming use that the laptop fan sounds noisy?

 

Hello dex
I read your excellent review. I was not sure about this model and a Toshiba (m70 which is very similar to this one). But now I will go for acer definitely.
I have a question dex, the model I am going to buy is an acer aspire 1694 WLMi .you can check its spec here:

http://www.irhardware.com/As1694.htm

Do you have any idea about it? And do you suggest this model as you own an acer 1690 series. I found this model in a reseller site in Iran.

Regards,
Touradg

 

Hiya! The model you're looking at is very similar to mine, except the 1694 has a slightly bigger HDD, more VRAM, and bluetooth support which is always handy for the latest Mobile Phone. I stand by my review, this laptop, which I still use for at least 8 hours a day, has done me proud so far. Just be careful about the reseller, make sure you can trust him before you spend your hard earned cash. Enjoy!

 

Hello again dex
Thank you for reply. So I will go and buy it. The reseller is a company in Iran which imports acer and Sony notebooks only. They say the acer itself has 1 year international warranty and if I want to use it in Iran I should pay another 90 us dollar. Although it is optional but I think it worth it.
i have 2 other question dex.i am not a pro in notebook world and so please excuse me if my questions are fuuny!!!

Do all notebooks (specially 1694) have PCMCIA and so is it that card reader they say in their specs?

Does 1694 have FDD? or should i buy an external one?

Thank you
touradg

 

One thing, the Acer 1641 and 1691 are extremely similar. What's the difference?

 

and if I purchase a 1691 with integrated graphics, can I buy a video card and install it myself? much cheaper that way but I'm afraid there will be a compatability issue or no space.

 

The review was fantastic and i want one sooo much now **drool**

jus wondered though Dex, where did you buy your one from? Because i seen the same one in comets but im not sure wether its the new version which you have or the older version?

thanks again