Acer Ferrari 4000

Creamy Goodness

hey,

in the very near future (probably this side of christmas) i'll be needing a laptop for college but i'm a keen gamer so i want to be able to play games to some degree like my desktop (HL2, doom3 engine games).

i was looking at this laptop as a good contender.

i just have a few questions about this laptop.

the one i'm thinking of going for inparticular is the Ferrari 4005WLMi which has the following specifications.

Ferrari 4005WLMi AMD Turion ML37 (2.0GHz, 1MB cache),
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition,
1024Mb (2*512MB) DDR333 RAM,
100GB 5,400rpm HDD,
Slot load DVD-Super Multi double layer drive,
15.4"WSXGA+ TFT Display,
ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X700 with 128Mb,
Bluetooth,
8Cell Li-Ion Battery,
5 in 1 Card Reader.

this page here gives a more detail overview of the spec's.

now to the questions?

1. does this laptop suit my needs?

2. the guys in college said to me that i need a PRO wireless card to access the wi-fi in college, does the in-built wi-fi have this PRO feature? (i'm useless at networking jargon).

3. as you've probably guessed this laptop won't come cheap ( around €1800 from www.shopacer.co.uk )but i'd rather splash the cash now and get a good laptop that can be upgraded as far as hard drive, ram can go.
I know it's a longshot but can the graphics card be upgraded in this?

4. as it's for college i'll need a good bag. I was thinking of getting a back-pack bag so i can fit my books (only 3-4 books) inside aswell. is there a back-pack bag big enough for this task? and which would you reccommend?


finally, any suggestions as to this purchase whether it be a similar spec'ed laptop at the same (or even better lower) price would be greatly appreciated.

greglo23

have a look at this one !!http://tinyurl.com/7wuva

Creamy Goodness

as much as that is a better laptop there's a few factors i don't like about it.

1. it's a kilo heavier than the Acer.

2. the Acer is £1278.40 whereas the evesham is £1449.99 that's £171.59 over and i was kind of stretching my budget to begin with.

it is nice though

jesus_thats_gre

Do you actually realise how much difference there is between an X700 and a 7800Go GTX? 171 quid is a tiny amount considering how much more we are talking about.

Creamy Goodness

i understand the performance difference but at an extra 250 euros on to a 1800euro laptop pushes it way over my budget.

don't get me wrong if i was that dolores that won the euromillions i'd go for the evesham but i just wouldn't be able to afford it considering i have other things to pay for (car insurance being one).

jesus_thats_gre

ah fair enough... i hear ya

Skitbra

Cremo wrote:

hey,

in the very near future (probably this side of christmas) i'll be needing a laptop for college but i'm a keen gamer so i want to be able to play games to some degree like my desktop (HL2, doom3 engine games).

i was looking at this laptop as a good contender.

i just have a few questions about this laptop.

the one i'm thinking of going for inparticular is the Ferrari 4005WLMi which has the following specifications.

Ferrari 4005WLMi AMD Turion ML37 (2.0GHz, 1MB cache),
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition,
1024Mb (2*512MB) DDR333 RAM,
100GB 5,400rpm HDD,
Slot load DVD-Super Multi double layer drive,
15.4"WSXGA+ TFT Display,
ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X700 with 128Mb,
Bluetooth,
8Cell Li-Ion Battery,
5 in 1 Card Reader.

this page here gives a more detail overview of the spec's.

now to the questions?

1. does this laptop suit my needs?

2. the guys in college said to me that i need a PRO wireless card to access the wi-fi in college, does the in-built wi-fi have this PRO feature? (i'm useless at networking jargon).

I'm in Trinity and have one of these laptops. No problems connecting to college wi-fi.

Cremo wrote:

3. as you've probably guessed this laptop won't come cheap ( around €1800 from www.shopacer.co.uk )but i'd rather splash the cash now and get a good laptop that can be upgraded as far as hard drive, ram can go.
I know it's a longshot but can the graphics card be upgraded in this?

I don't know. I doubt it though.

Cremo wrote:

4. as it's for college i'll need a good bag. I was thinking of getting a back-pack bag so i can fit my books (only 3-4 books) inside aswell. is there a back-pack bag big enough for this task? and which would you reccommend?


finally, any suggestions as to this purchase whether it be a similar spec'ed laptop at the same (or even better lower) price would be greatly appreciated.

Creamy Goodness

Skitbra,

how long have you had the laptop? Does it suits your needs? do you play any games on it and do they run well?

what bag do you use to carry it around?

apologises for all the questions.

Kur4mA

sorry to spam here guys... but I've had my Ferrari 4005(that exact one running XP Home, still have packaging/warranty etc) for about the last 3 months and it's hardly been used at all. I'm selling mine for €1400 if you're at all interested? Gimme a pm if you are. Here's the link to the post I put on Hardware Sales forum....

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=312399

Creamy Goodness

coming close to buying this, my dad is paying for half and he'd prefer me to buy new. (i'd rather save a few bucks but what the hey.)

is there any issues i need to know with windows xp pro 64, i'll be using the laptop for C (not just C though) and just wondering should i have any problems with it

Doodee

I also have the 4005lmi.

Upgraded from the F3400, was hesitant at first, didn't think there was too much difference between the two (apart from the x700 and Turion CPU) but i must say I'm more than impressed with it.

Handles everything wonderfully. Casing hasn't scratched yet even after it being thrown about in a regular backpack and the rubber on the inside is very nice (needs cleaning when someone with greesy hands uses it).
Wifi is great, lots of coverage and good signal.
Its nice an light too, compared to other lappies.
Its also stylish, which is handy if your into that kinda thing

Bought it from the same company afaik (They offering the free GSM card?)

Only problem with it is the 3 USB ports located to the right. F3400 had all 4 ports on one side which was much better.

Creamy Goodness

doodee did you get xp pro x64? do you have any problems with it?

the company won't except my credit card :rolleyes: so they want a bank transfer

Shiny

I wouldn't imagine you would have many problems other than a
few old programs here and there not working correctly/at all.

I was nearly going to buy that laptop off Rid only he was
slightly above my budget.

Creamy Goodness

ahh right cheers,

just one other question and it's kind of off topic, but here goes?

do AIB allow you to do bank transfers the reason i ask was my dad said that his bank (BOI) don't allow him to do that, it seems strange but i know feck all about banks.

Shiny

Cremo wrote:

ahh right cheers,

just one other question and it's kind of off topic, but here goes?

do AIB allow you to do bank transfers the reason i ask was my dad said that his bank (BOI) don't allow him to do that, it seems strange but i know feck all about banks.

well your dad must know feck all about banks because BOI absolutly
DO allow you to do bank transfers.
And AIB do too.

Unless they limit their transfers to Irish banks only because that is only
where i have transfered my money.

PonderStibbons

How about this laptop? http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=52496

It's only £999 and it is fairly close to your original spec (you can upgrade to 100GB HD for £50)

As for the bag, I have a sporthouse laptop rucksack which I bought in some random outdoor clothing shop. It's huge and would easily carry a few books as well as the lappy. Prepare for your back to break, however!

As for the graphics card, you won't be able to upgrade it, unless you buy an Alienware - they have some special build process that allows you to. AFAIK there are no other companies that do this.

jk2001

I just received my new Acer Ferrari 4005WLMi from dabs today - I'll let you know in a day or two what I make of it. Can't wait to get home and tear to box open

jayo

cjaydee

I'm in the same boat !

I 'm looking at getting an Acer 4005 mainly to avail of 64 bit processing as the music software I'm upgrading to ( Sonar) can avail of 64 bit. ( this, they say, has to do with the number of plug-in effects that can be loaded in to the extended virtual memory)

Has anyone out there bought a Laptop from dealers in the U.S. and if so what have been your experiences. I've seem 1 for about 1200 bucks which seems good value.

Chris

jk2001

Never bought a laptop in the US but I would probably recommend that you look for it here in Ireland or UK - just in case you need to do an RMA back to the US it will cost you a lot of money to send it.

I got started with my 4005 last night and was a bit disappointed with the "out-of-the-box" experience. There is Acer Launch Tool that attempts to load and installed certain applications the first time you start it up. Three times in a row the system froze on me while installing the included Firewall (from CA, Computer Associates). Each time I had to switch the system off manually and reboot, wait till Windows checked the HDD and booted up again. It worked the 4th time but not a good start...

I also had trouble loading other software and it got me thinking that perhaps this is because the OS is Win XP 64 bit - could it be that most software is not designed for the 64 bit version?

jayo