Fast and Beautiful just like the Car
Written: Sep 07 '05 (Updated Sep 09 '05)
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Pros: The COOLEST looking notebook on the market. Hard disk can be replaced easily.
Cons: IGO Juice has not made a tip that fits this model yet.
The Bottom Line: Acer notebooks are designed very well. Hard disk can be replaced easily. It functions well and looks great.
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| eddiey18's Full Review: Acer Ferrari 4005WLMi (LX.FR406.035) PC Notebook |
This is my second ACER. I was actually quite happy using my Acer 800 TravelMate CSi http://www.epinions.com/content_111972093572 until I damaged the hard drive by dropping it off my panic table. It landed on my foot. The hard drive started making noise and eventually died. After more than 2 years of daily use, the ACER 800 TravelMate never disappoints. It was on all day when I took it with me in the office. It was turned off only when I am not at home or when I am asleep. The hard drive on the 800 TravelMate was replaced in a few minutes. It involved removing 2 screws, lift off a side cover and pull out the hard disk caddy. The drive was held in the caddy with 4 screws. I gave my Acer 800 TravelMate to my son. When I looked at the specs on the Acer Ferrari 4005 WLMi, I was sold. This Acer Ferrari 4005 WLMi uses state of the art components. Most of the components are the best available. This notebook is a beauty. There is no other notebook that looks as nice.
A quick run down on its features/components tells the story.
Processor
This Acer Ferrari 4005 WLMi uses the latest AMD 64 bits processor running at 2GHz. This is one of the best performing processor for notebook available at the time of writing.
WiFi
It uses a Broadcom based 802.11G wireless network card which can connect to 802.11b or 802.11g wireless networks. There is a feature called “Afterburner” which claims to increase 802.11g speeds by up to 35%. This can be enabled from the device manager. No complaints on the range. This Acer Ferrari 4005 WLMi betters my Acer 800 TravelMate right out of the box without any tweaking.
Bluetooth
Nothing special but it is included which was lacking on my Acer 800 TravelMate. I can now do wireless sync and Bluetooth DUN with my Treo 650 without a Bluetooth Dongle. The cost of a Bluetooth USB Dongle is not much but carrying extra stuff for traveling is no fun. Not only the extra items might get misplaced but they are usually lost when they are needed the most.
Acer includes a matching Ferrari logo Bluetooth optical mouse. This mouse is powered by a pair of rechargeable AA batteries. It is recharged using the USB port. The Bluetooth mouse looks very nice but is not as responsive as a normal mouse. Although it is just a basic mouse with a scroll wheel, it is red in color. It does look good.
Hard Drive
The Acer Ferrari has a huge 100GB Seagate hard disk drive with 8MB data buffer, quietly spinning at 5,400 RPM. While this is not the faster one with 7,200 RPM, it is fast enough for me. The hard drive is formatted in NTFS with two partitions out of the box with a hidden partition containing System files just like the Sony Desktop that I have. The design of this ACER notebook is very well done The Ferrari 4005 WLMi has a cover over the hard disk accessible from the bottom. I think the hard drive might be even easier to replace than the 800 TravelMate.
Unlike the Acer 800 TravelMate, the hard drive is not shock mounted but hard drive on my Acer 800 TravelMate failed anyway. What I really like is that the hard drive can replaced easily from the bottom without taking apart the computer. I had 2 note books with hard drive failures. All I need to do is back up the hard drive on an external USB Drive. If my hard drive fails all I need to do is to restore my back up to a new drive.
Ram
1GB of ram is installed in two 512 MB modules. Increase to 2 GB of ram requires replacing both ram modules with 1GB modules. This is a common practice for most notebook manufactures. I only wish those bean counters would let the manufacturers install 1 GB modules and leave the other slot free. This would make upgrading cheaper and easy. My old Acer has 512 MB installed and that was adequate for my usage, so I don’t think I need to upgrade. However, I might as this Acer Ferrari uses the same type of Ram as my old one, I can upgrade and use the old ram in my son’s Acer. Increasing the ram not only speed up the computer but probably reduce the hard disk usage which in turn give it longer time on battery power.
Video Memory
This Acer uses a 128MB Mb ATI Mobility Radeon X700 video card. This is probably the best available now for use on a notebook. Gamers should be happy with this board.
Display
I do not like glossy displays. While some of these glossy displays look great, they are reflective. I put screen protectors on most of my notebook computers that I owned to reduce glare. This 15.4-inch widescreen is as good as it gets as far as matted screen is concerned. It has a native 1680x1050 resolution and it is large with a wide viewing area great for spread sheets. The problem is that at the default resolution the fonts are too small for me, so I reset it to 1280x768. Most web sites are not set up for widescreen display so some websites might look narrow on this wide screen. The widescreen also allows two documents to be opened side by side. It is great for comparing between documents.
DVD/CD Drive
This slot-load optical drive is removable and it does not have a tray that comes out. Most disk trays on notebook are flimsy and this Acer solves this problem by not using a tray. Loading an optical disk is like loading a CD on the CD player on your car. This DVD is a double layer so it can write twice as much on a DVD as a normal one.
Key Board/Mouse Pad
Since I am already an Acer user, I have no problem with this curve key board. In fact I like it, as this configuration spreads my elbow apart and makes me feel more comfortable while I am typing. I like the big mouse pad with a 4 way directional button on the bottom. I usually have limited desk space when I am traveling, I don’t miss the mouse at all.
Nice Touches
A 5-in-1 memory card reader reads SD and XD cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro and MMC formats. It is located at the front edge of the notebook.
There are 4 USB ports, 3 on the right and 1 on the left. The wrist rest is covered with a rubbery texture which not only feels nice but also isolates heat from the hard drive on the right.
Style
If notebook were purchased on looks alone, this Acer would out sell all the other notebooks combined. The lid is made from Carbon Fiber with a Ferrari logo in the middle instead of the usual Acer logo. The edges are trimmed in red. It simply looks gorgeous. The previous Acer Ferrari was all red and shout for attention but this one is more pleasing to the eyes. This Carbon Fiber lid not only looks good, it is both light weight and strong. This lid is thinner than my old Acer 800 TravelMate which was already very thin compare to other notebooks.
Software
Not much to rave about. I un-installed most of the pre installed software and installed my own. This notebook is preloaded with Windows XP Professional and since it has a 64 bit processor it could be upgraded to Windows 64. The Recovery Disks are included in the package, even though the computer would tell you to make a backup recovery disk. I did make one using a DVD, just in case.
Speakers
It has two. I never understand why people complain about speakers on a notebook. Some people would complain that the speakers on a notebook sounds tinny or whatever. I guess given a choice of lugging a heavy and big notebook with big speakers or a light weight notebook with small speakers producing marginal sound. I’ll take the later.
My Brenthaven Oversize Computer Case is a tight fit for this Acer.
http://www.epinions.com/content_115128831620
This Acer Ferrari 4005 WLMi is probably one of the best looking notebooks in the market and it also performs very well against any notebook on the market. It is not too heavy and can replace a desk top computer. I am very happy with mine.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2048.40
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: Greater than 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
eddiey18
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Member: Edward Yee
Location: Southern California
Reviews written: 20
Trusted by: 1 member
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