X-bit labs

14" Widescreen: Most Optimal Solution? 10 Contemporary Notebooks Roundup (page 3)

Category: Mobile

by Vasily Melnik

[ 06/07/2006 | 10:56 PM ]

The rear panel is typical of Acer’s notebooks of this class:

Besides the battery which dominates the notebook’s back, there is a power connector, one USB port and a port for an external port-replicator here.

The latter connector is uniform on all Acer notebooks, so you shouldn’t have any incompatibility problems.

On the right side there is an optical drive, some vent openings, and a Kensington lock.

The left panel is a more populated place:

A D-Sub connector for an external monitor, video output, LAN and modem ports, two USB and one FireWire port, PCMCIA slot, card-reader and IrDA port – this is more than enough for a business notebook. The only thing I can complain about is the USB ports. There are three of them here, which is a normal number (you seldom get more than three with notebooks of this class), but they are not very conveniently placed. The two USB ports on the side panel are so close to one another that you can’t plug two large devices into them simultaneously. The back-panel connector is just not very easy to access.

You can recognize Acer by the typical curve of the keyboard:

The manufacturer claims this solution minimizes your hand strain. I won’t agree or disagree because you can only make sure of that after having worked for some time with the notebook, yet I didn’t feel any discomfort due to the peculiar shape of the keyboard. Acer’s keyboards are also distinguishable for their two currency keys:

These keys are located near the arrow keys, thus provoking erroneous presses. The fact that the same arrow keys do double duty by allowing to adjust the display brightness and sound volume settings is good since they are easy to find, but on the other side bad as you cannot adjust the brightness or sound with one hand.