Acer Ferrai series Vs Dell notebooks

regedit

I am getting a laptop soon and was wondering if it would be a better ide to get an Acer Ferrari series or something from Dell.
The prices are almost the same as far as I am concerned. The only difference is the processor. The AMD Turioon seems to be better than the Centrino but consumes somewhat more power (shorter battery life).
Can anyone point to a retailer that sells the above mentioned Acer. I have come accross laptopsdirect.ie and was wondering if there is a cheaper retailer.

Endurance Man

microaid.ie

Highly recommend this site, pleasure to do buisness with . Dont be put off my the crappy website, these guys are all about buisness . Any emails to them will be answered within minutes and i think the prices are good .

What will you be using the laptopt for? The amd is better as a workstation latop ie: plugged into the mains most of the time. The centrino is going to work out better if your going to be using the laptop off the battery a lot.

regedit

Endurance Man wrote:

microaid.ie

Highly recommend this site, pleasure to do buisness with . Dont be put off my the crappy website, these guys are all about buisness . Any emails to them will be answered within minutes and i think the prices are good .

What will you be using the laptopt for? The amd is better as a workstation latop ie: plugged into the mains most of the time. The centrino is going to work out better if your going to be using the laptop off the battery a lot.

I checked microaid.ie. Their prices are the same if not dlightly dearer than Elara. Both are more expensive than laptospdirect.ie (albeit slightly).

At present, the laptop will be used for basic tasks + photoshop, watching (and riping-that is backing up) DVD and very little multitasking.
I need wireless connectivity (which most laptops have), bluetooth and a good screen.
However, this might change in the next few months.
The laptop will be used mostly at home (desktop replacement). Occasionaly, I like playing a game or two.
This might give you a rough ide and recommend something else

Creamy Goodness

with the dells (i'm presuming it's the XPS generation of laptop you're looking at).

they aren't really portable, with their 17inch screen their 4kilos in weight.

if you're going for portability i'd go for the ferrari - in fact i did last november - and it's a great laptop, it's lighter than the dell 1.1kg lighter to be exact and when you are carrying it on your back/shoulder that kilo less in weight makes a serious difference.

the power comsumption on the ferrari's are reasonable, i get about 2hr 30 mins on a full charged battery with wireless lan off and bluetooth enabled.

one the games side, i ran HL2 in 64bit mode (i got xp pro x64 on mine) and by christ is it insane, my eyes started to water at the sheer clarity and smoothness brought on by the x700.

regedit

Cremo wrote:

with the dells (i'm presuming it's the XPS generation of laptop you're looking at).

they aren't really portable, with their 17inch screen their 4kilos in weight.

if you're going for portability i'd go for the ferrari - in fact i did last november - and it's a great laptop, it's lighter than the dell 1.1kg lighter to be exact and when you are carrying it on your back/shoulder that kilo less in weight makes a serious difference.

the power comsumption on the ferrari's are reasonable, i get about 2hr 30 mins on a full charged battery with wireless lan off and bluetooth enabled.

one the games side, i ran HL2 in 64bit mode (i got xp pro x64 on mine) and by christ is it insane, my eyes started to water at the sheer clarity and smoothness brought on by the x700.

Thanks for the input Cremo.
Portability woill not be a huge issue as I will be taking it outside occasionaly.
It just looks to me that Acer's Ferrari is a betetr built system (+ laptopsdirect are giving a free vodafone card). Centrino is not a "real" processor for me so I would prefer to go with AMD. On the other side XPS from Dell starts at 2500 Eu. It is the best Dell have at the moment but way beyond my budget.
Did you have any problem obtaining a x64 from the retailer for your system?

chalky

Does that vodaphone card work in Ireland? I kinda thought it was just for UK vodaphone network.


EDIT: Just checked it, its for here as well.

Creamy Goodness

regedit wrote:

Did you have any problem obtaining a x64 from the retailer for your system?

nope none at all, i bought from www.shopacer.co.uk but i wouldn't reccommend them, somehow - according to them - when i was fillling out my address (a thing i do a lot on the internet) i somehow entered "Mizen Head" now i've heard of mizen head on the radio forecasts but sure as hell don't live there.

they were also impossible to get on the phone and never replied to my emails.

there's one thing i'd watch while buying x64 though, you'll need to find some 64-bit anti virus (i use avast, and it's great.) but at the moment i'm still searching for a decent firewall for x64. i have my router blocking everything to the laptop bar the net until i find something.

Shiny

I got my ferrari (4005wmli) about a week before
Cremo.

I have to say it was an excellent buy.
I get about 3.5 hours watching a film but with
the screen dimmed fully, wireless off.

I have XP32bit on mine but I intend to upgrade
to vista sometime.
Also at CES this year microsoft recommended 3
laptops that would give the best "vista experience".

2 of the 3 were acer ferrari (3000 and 4000 series)!

Looks are another thing. Every person that has seen
my laptop for the first time is like "Wow Cool !!!".
That would definately not happen with a dell of
similar spec. it would be more along the lines of
wow!...thats big.

Conclusion.
Buy the Ferrari.:)

Creamy Goodness

on the looks department they look nothing short of stunning but i'd prefer not to have the ferrari logos there. there's only two and i suppose they are not as obtrusive as previous ferrari laptops.

Creamy Goodness

here's a few photos i took for you, and yes that is dust on the ferrari mouse, as it's a gaming laptop i do not use a bluetooth mouse on it, it would be like a ferarri on lawn mower wheels

anyways enjoy the eyecandy. (even though my desk is really messy).

http://netsoc.dit.ie/~ncremins/laptopphotos/

regedit

Cremo wrote:

here's a few photos i took for you, and yes that is dust on the ferrari mouse, as it's a gaming laptop i do not use a bluetooth mouse on it, it would be like a ferarri on lawn mower wheels

anyways enjoy the eyecandy. (even though my desk is really messy).

http://netsoc.dit.ie/~ncremins/laptopphotos/

Looks nice. Rather prefer these pic's than the ones from the official web-sites. I am one stepcloser to making the order.

Creamy Goodness

the ones on the offical sites, use professional lighting and such so you don't really see the product in natural everyday light

you shant be disappointed with your choice if you go for the acer.

wingnut

Centrinos are faster at the same clock speed, especially for encoding (like DVD ripping). Also better battery life. Turions are faster at office applications and the like. Centrinos don't have 64bit support but I reckon by the time popular apps go 64 bit it will be time for a new laptop anyway.

I was thinking of getting a ferrari initally but the Turion but me off a bit. The Aspire 1694 is cheaper and you can get it with twice the graphics memory (256MB x700), and a 2 Ghz Centrino.

Now, I will be waiting for the new travelmate to hit our shores. Its got a dual core centrino up to 2.2GHz!!!! Other nifty features include built in camera, bluetooth VOIP phone, integrated 3G/GPRS, 2 GB Ram, 120GB HDD Radeon X1600 256MB, 1680 x 1050 resolution screen = what a gaming rig!!!

Shiny

Even though I love my ferrari I have to admit wingnut,

that laptop sounds cool.

awhir

this it http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2697

Creamy Goodness

Approx. 6 hours battery :eek:

i seriously doubt that's true but if it's even 4 hours that's impressive

regedit

Can someone shed some light on the following:
I saw an AcerAspire 5022 WLMI which is much cheaper than the Ferrari. The technical specsa seem more-less the same. What is the "deal"

Endurance Man

regedit wrote:

Can someone shed some light on the following:
I saw an AcerAspire 5022 WLMI which is much cheaper than the Ferrari. The technical specsa seem more-less the same. What is the "deal"

I think with the ferrari your paying a little extra for the badge and all the shiny red paint .

regedit

Endurance Man wrote:

I think with the ferrari your paying a little extra for the badge and all the shiny red paint .

I hope it's not just for that cause I'm more a Williams supporter.

regedit

Endurance Man wrote:

I think with the ferrari your paying a little extra for the badge and all the shiny red paint .

The display on the Ferrari seems to be superior (at least judging by the specs on laptopsdirect.co.uk

Creamy Goodness

depends what ferrari you're basing it on, there are 2 types of the ferrari 4000 each which a different spec.

jesus_thats_gre

Post up the specs of the two respective systems you are looking at and a pretty definitive answer will be fortcoming soon after... How much you spending?

wet-paint

I'm ordering my 4005 WLMi again tonight. Was a glitch in the first order. Can't farking wait.

regedit

Placed an oprder last night for: http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Ferrari_4005WLMi_Laptop_-_XP_Pro_LX.FR406.034/version-3.asp and was told it would take 4-5 working days to get here. I am hoping I will get it by Monday. They managed to sell me a bag and a 3 year (extended) warranty for 69£ which I think is not to expensive. Mind you, the postage to Dublin is some 34 GBP incl. VAT. Asked by the lady where do I live. I said, Dublin, Ireland. She replied: "Is that Noth or South"!

wet-paint

chalky wrote:

Does that vodaphone card work in Ireland? I kinda thought it was just for UK vodaphone network.


EDIT: Just checked it, its for here as well.

I'm looking at that offer now. at the top of the page it tells me the deal is for any intel centrino lappie. Then further down it says it's for any laptop. Anyone know which is true?

chalky

I'm pretty sure its for any laptop.
Just got my laptop delivered this morning from them. YAY!

Creamy Goodness

it just slots into a PCIMIA (i think that's the slot name) and every laptop should have at least one if not two.

wet-paint

Oh, I know it works with them, I wanted to know if the deal was for only centrinoes, or al lappies.