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Acer's "Blue" Ace: Aspire Gemstone Blue Notebook
Posted by Wilson Rothman at 7:07 AM on March 13, 2008
Today in New York, Acer's big surprise is the Aspire "Gemstone Blue" notebook, equipped with a Blu-ray drive, true high-def screen, and CineReal sound, a second generation of Dolby Surround. Sexy, and yes, blue, and it doesn't appear to suffer from port envy like some other notebooks, though it is slender. In size it's somewhere between HP's dv series and Dell's XPS M series. That's not just a size comparison, but a qualitative judgment call: this thing looks unambitiously nestled between the two other PC giants' designs. With such mystery and fanfare, we were hoping for a tad more of an exciting, iconoclastic design. It is, however, a decent product, so have a look:
It's got a cool touchdial on the left for some nice multimedia controls; it's called CineDash, and it's got volume, mute, hold, media transport and menu navi.
The largest of the two models has a 1920x1080 18.4" screen, and a 90% (ATSC?) color gamut. The smaller is 16" with same resolution and 60% of the color gamut. As you can guess from those screen resolutions, both can support full Blu-ray playback. (Another blue reference.) They're saying 3 hours playback on the 18.4", and 2.5 hours of movie playback on the 16" one. There will be an "SD" version with 720p playback of either DVD or Blu-ray.
They're shipping in a month. The starting price point is US$1,700, with a typical config around US$1,900.
Check out some additional specs:
[Acer]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Kaiser-Machead
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
@Redwraithvienna: Like the Dell and HP desktop replacements. Huge ass monsters.
Kaiser-Machead
Blah8
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
@aec007:
I'd guess that's probably right. Don't forget the 1920x1080 resolution - that's pretty large for a laptop, let alone a 16" one. It's not the greatest deal ever, but it's certainly a step in the right direction with the screen resolution, aspect ratio, and multimedia/graphics features.
Blah8
Redwraithvienna
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
i dont know about this thing ... it seem to be another laptop which tries to be a desktop, so yeah ... yawn.
i mean come on 18.4 inch screen ? whats next "The new laptop with 20" screen" ...
Redwraithvienna
Kaiser-Machead
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
I think this laptop is uglier than the bottom of my balls, but spec-wise, it's looking pretty good so far. I have to check out the BTO options on the site before I can make any sort of judgment.
Kaiser-Machead
Nathan Drake
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
I kinda hate Acer laptops but this thing actually looks great. And the price ain't that bad either.
Nathan Drake
altus
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
Clone-Bore...... More Clone-Bore.......
altus
altus
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
Clone-Bore.......
altus
KoRnholio8
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
all the answers people:
[www.acer.com]
KoRnholio8
aussie
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
It's got to be the most ugly craptop I've ever seen.
aussie
ProSeven
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
Before the gemstone Acer notebooks, Acer was a notebook with the biggest defect rate on the market. After the gemstone notebooks it was replaced by fancy manufcaturers like DELL and Sony Vaio. The gemstone was designed by BMW and it is a high quality notebook today.
I can only hope that acer will continue with the quality as I might buy it. I had an acer, but it was not a gemstone, and I had to send it to acer twice cause of repairs. And btw, are there any pics where they show the new notebooks when they're clodes?
ProSeven
Rabbi Dave
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
So you better not watch any long movies on your next flight to go with any actual work. 2.5 hours playback?
I do dig the widescreen though. I think business travelers will eat this up. Every time I fly we're all watching movies on our laptops. However we all are usually too cramped to do anything else. Will this fit on the tray?
Rabbi Dave
Part-Time-Viking
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
I like what I see, however, it being an Acer is kinda discouraging. I wonder if they have stepped up their game a bit.
Part-Time-Viking
Sheemo44
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
HAH! look below on the previous acer article and you'll see that i indeed called that
Sheemo44
ps61318
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
Rats, nope, my bad, that's a good kilo more.
ps61318
That Dude
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
cool, it has a 9650M GPU.
That Dude
ps61318
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
Whoops, shoulda refreshed first...
4.1KG I don't think fits as 2-3 pounds lighter, or does it?
ps61318
ps61318
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
@aec007: Fair questions. don't know all of the specs yet. I will comment that the DV9000 is a bit on the, shall we say, robusto side of the spectrum. I wonder about your contention that it's 99% the same specs, again without seeing the specs for the Acer. (Suppose I could look them up...) Anyway, I agree it would take quite a bit to make up that extra grand.
Wouldn't dismiss it out of hand either, though. If it were 2-3 pounds lighter than the HP that would be worth a bunch....
ps61318
KoRnholio8
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
just read on their site that it's 4.1kg... not bad
KoRnholio8
aec007
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
But $1700 ?????????????
I bought my father in law a AMD-TL56 HP DV9000 with 17" screen, built in media remote, MS Vista Premium (so it is 99% the same spec...) for $599 at Tiger Direct last Christmas!
Where's the other $1100 coming from? Nvidia Graphics and BD player?
Screw that!.
aec007
KoRnholio8
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
say what you will but i like these and i'm hoping the 18.4" isn't over 4kg...
there needs to be a decent laptop for editing HD you know...
KoRnholio8
ps61318
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
Jeez, you people are jaded.
I've owned an Acer Tablet for quite some time. Very pleased both with the product and the support.
I'm sorry, but the specs on this are impressive, the screen size is too, for a laptop.
Oh, wait, forgot, it's not a Mac. Hey, I like Apple as much as anyone (okay, as much as anyone normal), but this looks cool.
And @desostros: WTF? It clearly says BluRay. If you're gonna snipe, don't be an ignoramus.
Now, put a BluRay player and similar video specs inside a MBP, and we shall all sing Hosannas together.
har-filkin-rumph
ps61318
Monty
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
@jtan:
No, but apparently the 'blue' is.
Monty
desostros
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
Acer BLUE ace
Now with HD-DVD technology.
desostros
Earthslide
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
Wow, Acer keep secrets better than Apple ... No one saw this coming! Wait, no one really cares :)
Earthslide
flyboy
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
these things with Linux - like the eee might oust MS.
people want laptops and they want them cheap.
Do what everyone else has been trying
[www.electronista.com]
flyboy
dysthymia
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
looks nice. but after soo many bad acer computers had landed on my hands, im decided to stay away from that brand. But i think if I ever use a laptop to replace a desktop, (or having a large screen laptop) at this point would be at least 24"
from 17" the jump should be directly to 20" forget all that middle sizes.
dysthymia
jtan
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
weight? depth? graphics card? battery life?
don't tell us that 16 and 18.5" screens plus crappy mulitmedia enhancements are revolutionary
jtan
Geisrud
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
I kinda like it - 'cept it's an Acer. But who am I kidding, they all have the same bulk components purchased from *Pick you offshore manufacturer*
Geisrud
olternaut
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
Meh. Its not bad. The screen size is interesting. What is its weight again?
olternaut
av8thor
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
Yay. Another. Laptop.
av8thor
Camperton
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
So does it have Blu-ray?
Camperton
shorty63136
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
Schweet - now I can light up my house the same color as my car.
shorty63136
awesomerobot
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
YAWN
awesomerobot
SumGuy
Posted 9:21 AM 13/3/08
This....thing...is....HOT!!!! When will it be available?
SumGuy
Nathan Drake
Posted 11:40 AM 13/3/08
@worsethannormal:
Oh, college boy...
.
.
.
No offense ;)
Nathan Drake
worsethannormal
Posted 11:40 AM 13/3/08
Um...so...what you're telling me is that Acer released a couple of laptops today?
worsethannormal
Joseph
Posted 11:40 AM 13/3/08
@MrBlahBlah: I gotta get back in the gym before I get one of these.
Joseph
MrBlahBlah
Posted 11:40 AM 13/3/08
8 lbs! DAYMN!
MrBlahBlah
Redwraithvienna
Posted 11:40 AM 13/3/08
@Kaiser-Machead:
Havent been looking at the laptop market for a while ... but it seems that the idea of buying a home computer and a laptop and using them to the best of their absilities gets lost more and more ... No idea why anyone would buy a monster laptop and then use it as a home comuter ... without moving it once ...
Redwraithvienna
aec007
Posted 11:40 AM 13/3/08
@Blah8:
True, true... but the HP DV9700 I bought had 1660 x 1050 ,very close to this one at 1/3 the price...
Like you said it's not the greatest deal....
I guess it would depend of the end user and purpose. Gaming... maybe... for WEB/mail/DVD, the HP is a much better deal.
aec007
stenspect
Posted 1:40 PM 13/3/08
I wrote about this and the specs are listed in a PDF. Included are 4 USB 2.0 ports, biometric fingerprint security and some touch sensitive proprietary media controller. Definitely beastly in size and not forward thinking enough, but do you have to be when you're the #2 seller of laptops in the world?
stenspect
TonyTriple
Posted 1:40 PM 13/3/08
so is this on top or in front of the gaddamn flying car we were promised in the future?
TonyTriple
ProSeven
Posted 2:08 AM 14/3/08
The only bad about it is the glare display...
ProSeven
elburrito
Posted 7:48 AM 14/3/08
Port envy? What's that?
elburrito