Media notebook getting more affordable

There was time not long ago when notebooks with large screens cost US$2,000 and upward. Of course, such hefty prices was peanuts for those officers with bulging bank accounts.

But, fortunately, as always happens to technology, notebooks of this genre have become more and more available, even for people without power like us.

Last week, one of the latest large screened Aspires landed on my desk for review. It was one of Acer’s Ethos series that has a 15.6-inch LED screen. Notably, its bigger brother, the 18-inch Ethos A8943G, won a 2010 Best Choice Award during the recent Computex Taipei. The 15.6-inch version does not carry all the features of the A8943G.

Now, let us see what this Ethos A5943G demo unit offers inside and outside. The wide screen has a 1366 x 768 resolution with HD cinematic view, a DVD multi Double Layer (DL) drive, a 640 gigabyte hard disk drive and 4 gigabyte of DDR3 memory.

To qualify as a desktop replacement (DTR) notebook, Acer has put in an Intel Core i7 740QM that runs at 1.73 gigahertz and has 6 megabytes of internal cache. The graphics is handled by an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850.

This powerful processor and all the other high performance components are combined to give us a Windows Experience Index of 5.9, the highest I have come across.

Certainly there are more powerful workstation systems out there. However, this notebook is not really targeted as a DTR notebook for engineers. Like the bigger Ethos, it is designed to be a portable entertainment center.

Well, perhaps the attribute “portable” has to be used with a grain of salt here. Although, at 2.8 kilograms, it may not feel as heavy as Toshiba’s Satellite 500M, which we looked at a couple of weeks ago, it is still quite hefty. We need to be careful with our handgrip when taking it out of the computer bag.

Now, here is an exciting new feature that I think other note-book makers should look at. The glossy touch panel can serve as a regular touch pad or a media playback control.

Between the left and the right touch pad buttons there is a round button. Press this button, and several icons on the touch panel will light up. First, we can choose whether we want to play back a movie or play music. And then there are the Play, Rewind, Fast Forward and Mute icons in a row.

When we have Acer Arcade Deluxe running, these icons are quite responsive to our touch. Of course, when the media control panel is active, we cannot use the touch pad to navigate like using a mouse. So, it also works to deactivate the touch pad and prevent the mouse pointer from jumping around as our palm touches the panel.

Connectivity is supported by Wi-Fi with b/g/n standards, Bluetooth, FireWire to connect the notebook to a camcorder and eSATA for external eSATA hard disks.

If you have a Gigabyte Ethernet network at home, you can wire-connect the notebook for even faster access to the Internet. Four USB 2.0 ports are available, although there is no USB 3.0 to speak of.

Now, let us talk about the external design. The overall design of both Ethoses is not much different from my favorite Acer Aspire Timeline. Gone are the ugly rounded corners and thick bezels typical of the previous Acer Aspire series.

The top cover is shining silver. Unfortunately, my experience with the Timeline shows that this kind of finish gets scratched quite quickly.

The keyboard of the new notebooks is also like the Timeline, only the color is silver instead of black. It is also quite comfortable to use — although I still, and will always, love the click-clacking sound of the traditional, not the current versions — of the ThinkPad keyboard.

The screen is not disappointing. Colors are vibrant, as we would expect from an HD LCD. As it is meant to be an entertainment notebook, HDMI is also provided along with the regular VGA out port. Windows 7 Home Premium comes with this notebook.

On the front side there is a fair-sized thumbwheel for volume adjustment. Turn the thumbwheel to the right, and the volume is increased. A percentage indicator will appear on the screen.

Now, what is on my wish list? Unlike the 5:1 configuration of its bigger brother A8943G, my demo unit only has a pair of stereo speakers and a subwoofer.

The sound is not as strong as we would like, and it means that we need to hook it up to a home amplifier if we really want to enjoy a full-featured movie. Yet, when I used the notebook to replay my interviews, sound was clearly reproduced though the two speakers.

We need to make sure the notebook is properly placed relative to our hands, because the front edge of the palmrest is a bit sharp. When I used it on a dining table, there was no problem, though.

What about battery life? Forget it. You are not going to carry this notebook around the whole day and expect to stay away from the wall outlet for as long as you sip your coffee latte at Starbucks.

With such a high-end processor — the grill on the left side emanates hot air to keep it cool — a big screen and plenty of memory, even a fully charged battery will expire in just two hours or so, and that is perfectly acceptable.

The biggest attraction of this notebook is its price. I was told it would cost around US$1,500. Not too bad for a media-centric notebook. If you are looking for a notebook that will help you edit your videos with ease, take a look at the Ethos A5943G.