Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re in the market for a new laptop / netbook, you might want to add Acer’s just-released Aspire 3935-6504 to the list of potentials. The early reviews are in, and it looks like Acer’s got an aggressively-priced winner on its hands. Laptop Magazine calls it “one heck of a bargain,” noting particularly its sleek and sturdy design, backup and power saver buttons, full-sized keyboard, and the appealing $900 price tag. PC Magazine went so far as to give it the Editor’s Choice award for budget laptops, lauding also its eco-friendly credentials and impressive battery life (4 hours and 50 minutes, by its metric). Both sites bemoaned, however, the lack of HDMI and eSATA ports and its inability to run games as well as competitors like the Dell Studio XPS 13 or HP Pavilion dv3z. Providing a less enthusiastic tone is Computer Shopper, who seems to take more of an issue with its gaming deficiencies than the other two reviewers. Still, the site recommends it for those consider style, portability, and price tag the main selling points. Check out the read links below for more thorough dissection.

Read – Laptop Magazine
Read – PC Magazine
Read – Computer Shopper

Filed under: Laptops

Acer Aspire 3935 review roundup: sleek and affordable, but lacking gaming cred originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just tore the packaging off of Acer’s new AspireRevo nettop and dove into its Ion-powered goodness. The computer is in many ways a product of NVIDIA’s designs, since the Ion-powered nettop reference platform has been a part of the Ion ecosystem for a while, and this Revo apple doesn’t fall from the NVIDIA tree. Still, Acer had to go ahead and build the thing, and it’s a pretty great package all-in-all. We’re still in the preliminaries — the HDMI didn’t work out of the gate, but after swapping back and forth a few times with the VGA plug we were in business — and we’re playing with a potentially buggy “engineering sample,” but hopefully we’ll be able to pull together some cohesive impressions on the thing, and play a bit of Spore while we’re at it. It’s already obviously the fastest Atom-powered device we’ve played with, and while it still pretty much chokes on Hulu and that whole “multitasking” concept, we’re pretty pleased so far.

Filed under: Desktops

Acer AspireRevo: the Ion-infused unboxing originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Still can’t decide which of Acer’s ample number of shiny new netbooks / laptops has caught your eye specifically? Here’s some more details on two of those models, including availability, to help you out. First up, the 13.3-inch Aspire 3935 is available as now for just a smidgen under nine Benjamins. With that you’ll get a golden brown metal chassis, one inch thick and and weighing in at 4.18 pounds with a frameless, 16:9 CineCrystal LED backlit display showing a 1366 x 768 resolution. Other amenities include a full-size keyboard with touch-sensitive hotkeys, multi-gesture touchpad, webcam, three USB 2.0 ports, a bio-protection fingerprint reader, 802.11 a / g / draft-N, and a 4-cell Li-ion battery. Spec-wise, we’ve got a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7350 with 4500MHD graphics, 8x DVD writer, 3GB RAM, 250GB HDD, and Vista Home Premium SP1. If you’re looking for something with a little more horsepower, the 18.4-inch Aspire 8935G Gemstone PC’s rocking an Intel Core 2 Duo, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670, 1080p resolution, 4x Blu-ray writer, a 500GB HDD upgradeable to 1TB, and most of the niceties from 3935’s spec sheet. Mum’s the word on price, but it’s due out in June. Full press release after the break.

Continue reading Acer’s 13.3-inch Aspire 3935 now available for $899, 18.4-inch 8935G coming in June

Filed under: Laptops

Acer’s 13.3-inch Aspire 3935 now available for $899, 18.4-inch 8935G coming in June originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that the Ion-based cat is out of the bag, Acer’s Aspire Revo has reared its pretty head on UK retailer Play.com’s website. While all four packages sport the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N230, from what we can tell there’s two distinct hardware configurations here. The base price is £180 (US $267), and with that you’ll get 1GB RAM, 8GB SSD, and Linux. The £300 model boasts 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, and Windows Vista Home Premium. Tack on £50 more for a 3D controller and ten games, and for £330 ($440) you can have the full package along with a wireless keyboard / mouse. The listed release date is May 18th for all of them, and with any luck Acer’ll go with that date and bring the nettop stateside sometime around then.

Filed under: Desktops

Acer Aspire Revo listed for pre-order in UK with May 18th release date originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That’s right everyone — it’s the Engadget Podcast. If you’re down with gadgets, chatting, and just kicking it ill, you’re in the right place. Hear your friends Josh, Paul, and Nilay discuss the week in technology, and expound on their belief that the P.U.M.A. is a dangerous rickshaw, Acer has stepped up to the netbook plate in a big way, and Microsoft might not be totally on the level with its new ads. Ready to get the blood boiling? Dip your toes into the jacuzzi of chat that is the podcast, and enjoy!

Note: There appears to be some very weird timing issues going on with our audio in this installment. If it seems like we’re talking over each other more than normal, don’t be too alarmed. We’re looking into it now.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Song: Back In Black

01:40 – Engadget’s wild ride in the P.U.M.A.
15:35 – Peapod the friendly Neighborhood Electric Vehicle in the flesh
24:40 – Acer launches first NVIDIA Ion-based nettop: AspireRevo
35:15 – Acer announces Aspire Timeline thin’n’lights — $699 to $899
46:15 – Microsoft’s second Laptop Hunters commercial: Giampaulo buys an HP HDX

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Filed under: Podcasts

Engadget Podcast 141 – 04.10.2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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