Acer Aspire 1642ZWLMi - Pentium M 735A 1.7 GHz - 15.4" TFT

Author's product rating:   

Speed	Very fast
Look & Feel	Excellent
Comfort & Portability	Excellent
Robustness & Durability	Excellent
Value For Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Sleek, Stylish and Affordable
Disadvantages:	Battery Life

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The Acer Aspire 1642ZWLMi is a credit to its makers. On first look, its sleek and stylish exterior will please any eye and on opening the great impression just keeps on growing.

The interior is stylish in a combination of black and silver with a very comfortable space surrounding the keyboard and mouse, allowing the wrists to remain easily supported. The mouse touch pad is large with two buttons and a scrolling device. Attracting the most attention is the excellent display. A 15.4" widescreen incorporating Acer 'CrystalBrite' technology. The resolution is fantastic and just radiates a feeling of quality.

The laptop is equipped with a 1.7GHz Intel Pentuium M Processor (735A) with a 2MB L2 cache. This is accompanied by 1024MB of DDR2 RAM that supports dual channel, and an 80GB Hard Disk Drive. Built in wireless networking is standard with 802.11b/g but as always, the machine can also be attached to a wired network. It is also interesting to note the laptop comes with dial-up modem capacities for those not transferred to Broadband.

In addition, there is a DVD Re-writer/Player and associated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900. A good tip for anyone purchasing this laptop is to make sure that you have a blank DVD available when you set up your new laptop. The laptop does not have a recovery disk and asks to burn your own onto a DVD once you have chosen your setup options. The system operates on Windows XP Home Edition and is very easy to set up and quick to get started.

When you are all set up ready to go, there are plenty of features for you to explore that come integrated with the system. First there is Norton Antivirus, essential for any computer likely to be surfing the internet. Second is Microsoft Works incorporating all the tools you will nedd in creating, editing and viewing documents. I have to admit, however, that I prefer to work with Microsoft Office but this standard with very few laptops now and is at an additional cost. Acrobat reader comes preinstalled to allow the viewing of PDF files as does the InterActua Player for playing DVDs and Windows Media player for all types of media files. The integrated speakers allow you to listen to anything at a relatively high quality. I would, however, as with all laptops, recommend the purchase of some high-quality speakers.

There are some very useful programs exclusive to Acer including Acer GridVista. This allows the easy organisation of a number of files on your computer desktop at once without the need for constant moving and resizing. Acer also has its own program for changin all the settings of the computer from the deasktop. This feature is very visual with lots of graphics, making understanding your system easy for any user. Acer arcade is the software that allow you to make DVDs, CDs and cinema reels to your heart's (and to copyright's!) consent.

The battery life of this laptop is perhaps the only downside running for only two hours when brand new. Despite this, with previous laptops I have found the depreciation of the battery life to be rapid and many today are coming with shorter timespans. Another good tip for first time users: the laptop comes with quick start instructions which tell you to plug the laptop in and switch it on. Don't! there is aroung 1hr and 20mins of battery life already in it, wait till it runs down before you charge it. This said, the charger is relatively compact and light and very easy to use.

The laptop itself is very light, weighing in at only 2.9kg for its widescreen size. Excellent! An additional benefit is the presence of 3 USB ports. o, overall I can safely say I have been extremely happy with my purchase. The laptop is of very high quality, works at an exceptionally fast speed and is very easy to use. It comes with a 1yr manufacturers warrenty and a very easy to follow instruction booklet (however the computer guides you through the set up process itself in an exceptionally straightforward way!) If you are looking for a high quality laptop for an excellent price go for this model.

N.B. This model number has two types. They are identical apart from the RAM at 1024 and 512 and the HDD at 60GB and 80GB. There is a difference in the price and it is up to you which is best for your needs.