Acer Aspire 8930G laptop

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Acer Aspire 8930G: Design and finishing

Later design, the Acer Aspire 8930G looks like a drop of water to its predecessors. Especially under the hood that is new as we see later. The finish is very neat and no detail has been left to chance. We also painted the hood and the rounded edges and all is finally relatively late for a screen this size. The Acer logo on the hood is illuminated when the computer is turned on history to score a bit more upscale side of the Aspire 8930G which stands proudly on your desktop. But congestion does not surely inspire you to prevail in a bag even if you can move it at home and even take him for the weekend.

Ergonomics

The keyboard of the Acer Aspire 8930G is no problem with keys that are well sized. All dug very slightly if you press it but quite frankly it is usually the case on all laptops. However, after several weeks with its predecessor, we noticed that the seizure might be missed with a few letters that are often at the door if you do not strong enough on the keys. Logically, given the size of the 8930G, it has a numeric keypad on the right. On the left console touch surely recall some things for fans of Star Trek Deep Space 9. Dubbed Cinedash it can easily control the media player and volume of the computer while giving it a look out.

The touchpad of the Acer Aspire 8930G responds very well to the slightest of finger pressure and a zone of fast is also available. Finally, a fingerprint reader is integrated between the two buttons on the touchpad.

Connectors

It's in the front of the Acer Aspire 8930G has the memory card reader but not less than three speakers that are part of the system 5.1 as discussed below.

The left portion of the Acer Aspire 8930G is loaded with microphone and headphone taken, a digital optical output, two USB ports with a combination USB / eSATA, catches VGA, HDMI and Display Port (for larger monitors ) and RJ11 ports for the PSTN modem and RJ45 for Ethernet. In the hinge of the display is integrated subwoofer. Finally, we finished the tour by the owner's right edge with two additional USB ports, the DVD burner that can read Blu-ray and the Express Card

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Screen

The Acer Aspire 8930G embeds a large screen of 18 inches. It has the distinction of being the 16 / 9, which is especially adapted to the video since all DVD and Blu-ray have adopted this format. This avoids the black bars top and bottom of the image. Do not spoil the Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels is again in line with the Blu-ray. However, the colors are dull and brightness is very high. In this case we can always decrease it using the keyboard shortcuts.

His side, the Acer Aspire 8930G puts the bar very high with no fewer than six speakers, a detail uncommon for a laptop. Moreover, it is certified Dolby Home Theater as the name suggests is meant to replicate an experience close to home theater with audio signal processing. Among the proposed technologies, we can see the Sound Space Expander, which expands the soundstage and Natural Bass, which extends the response of most speakers up to an octave lower. In practice, the pre-settings are quite effective and enjoys a fairly balanced sound. However, spatialization is more or less successful depending on the source which is not surprising given the distance between the loudspeakers.

Features

For this experiment, Acer has provided us with the Aspire Gemstone Blue 8930G-904G50Bn. The complete reference is important because the manufacturer is a follower of the various versions of the same computer.

• Screen: 18.4 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixels WUXGA
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Core Q9000 (2.0 GHz)
• Chipset: Intel PM45 Express, 6 MB L2 Cache, FSB 1066Mhz
• Memory: 4GB DDR-2 667 MHz
• Bullet Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT GeForce 1024 MB, 2815 MB shared
• Storage: 500GB ATA
• Graveur: drive Blu-ray/graveur DVD ± R / RW
• Sound: NC, Dolby Home Theater certification
• Wireless: 802.11 a / b / g / n
• Reader memory cards: SD / MMC / MS / MS Pro, xD
• Webcam 0.3 Mpixels
• Dimensions: 441.4 x 300 x 40.2 / 44.2 mm
• Weight: 4.1 Kg (with battery)
• Autonomy announced: 150 minutes
• OS: Vista Home Premium

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Acer Aspire 8930G Measures

Test procedure

All laptops are subject to a battery of tests using proven tools such as PCMark 2005 and 3DMark 2006. The first provides an overall performance while the second evaluates the performance of the graphics chip. Note that the PCMark test, we evaluate the content of processor, memory and hard drive. A test module graphics capabilities is included in PCMark but we preferred to perform a dedicated test with 3DMark 2006. The latter two measures were made. As a first step, we chose a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels which is smaller than the slab of current notebooks, but which allows us to make comparisons between different computers. We then repeated the same test to the native resolution of the screen.

We also measure the average self-charging the battery up before starting to loop a movie in DivX format. Previously, we have disabled the wireless connection and activated the power saving mode of the operating system.

We first performed a test using PCMark 2005. The Aspire 8930G addition, the computers in the tables below will be tested in the coming weeks.

PCMark 2005

Despite the attractive features on paper, the Acer Aspire 8930G finished last in this ranking. However, the gap with the Medion Akoya X8610 is very low and it's the price difference which may tip the balance. Nevertheless, the Aspire 8930G is no shortage of power nearby. Whatever the applications, it will be there as we shall see later.

CPU

The Quad Core processor is clocked at 2 GHz which is sufficient for most applications even the most demanding HD games and 3D. As such, know that the quad-core processor will do the best they can with optimized software that are still too rare. Thus, in games such as the frequency is queen and the number of secondary cores. For comparison, the Sony AW21 is clocked at 2.93 GHz.

Memory

With 4 GB of memory, the Acer Aspire 8930G is well equipped and you can open many applications simultaneously. Caution, however, the 32-bit version of Windows Vista recognizes only slightly more than 3 GB

Hard Drive

If the hard drive of the Acer Aspire 8930G provides a comfortable space for storage, it nevertheless shows its limits with performances really behind. Note that the Sony AW21 is a special case with its ultra-fast SSD drive.

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Graphics Performance

We conducted two sets of measures, one at a resolution of 1024x768 pixels, and one at the native resolution of the screen.

Given the size of the screen 8930G, it had to offer a graphics card that is sufficient to read Blu-ray without saccade to the native resolution of the screen, and more to play with the latest 3D titles. Good news, Acer has equipped the Aspire 8930G with a successful model. There is little in the games to be very demanding lower the level of detail or resolution in order not to lose too much fluid. Blu-ray side, we have seen no slowdown during playback of a movie.

Autonomy, weights and dimensions

Requires 18 inches, do not you walk with the 8930G on the back. However, you can move it at home and even take the weekend provided the store in a suitcase on wheels or leaving by car.

Given its performance and the size of its screen, we had not expected much from the battery of the 8930G. However, you can watch a movie in its entirety and even work for nearly three hours.

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Acer Aspire 8930G: Conclusion

With its 18 inch screen, the Acer Aspire Gemstone Blue 8930G-904G50Bn could easily replace a desktop model. The 16 / 9 allows you to display two documents side by side and Full HD resolution fits perfectly with Blu-ray films. Only the color is a little risky and we can not recommend it for photo enthusiasts. The performances are also present yourself if the drive is not up to the other components. The Blu-ray will benefit fully from the processor and graphics card but for the most demanding games, it will be necessary to lower the level of detail to play at the native resolution of the screen.

Price: Rs. 1 Lakh