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Acer Plans A 16 lb. Notebook
jagger writes "Well not exactly gigantic but at 16 pounds and sporting a 17-inch screen this thing is stretching the term portable. It also features a 3EGHz Pentium 4, 1GB of RAM, a 7200rpm 160gb hard disk, DVD-burner and the kitchen sink. ZDNet has a rundown of all of this beast's features." This sounds like a joke (or a typo), but the story says otherwise.
The company is marketing the Aspire 1710 as a replacement for desktops or PC workstations primarily in the workplace.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
A laptop with docking station does the same thing with far less luggable weight, albeit at a higher price.
3 GHz P4. OK, that's pretty nice.
1 GB RAM. Nothing special about that.
160 GB disk. So what? How many offices don't have a server to store everything on?
DVD burner. Optional on some laptops and you can always use an external to a docking station.
Kitchen Sink. So what? Carry a small bottle of Purell in your pocket.
This has got to be a "Hail Mary" to keep brand recognition in the portable market or one of the worst marketting decisions this year.
Trolling is a art,
See this story for more information...
16 pounds? Man I would much rather tote around a 6.9 pound Apple 17in Powerbook. Yeah the Acer starts around $1500, but if you configure it with WinXP, a DVD burner and wireless networking, we are pretty close in price to Apple's solution. Besides I am more than willing to spend a bit of a premium or so for something that I don't throw my back out hauling across the country on a long flight.
It's like the laptop version of my sister!
"Come on, let's go drink till we can't feel feelings anymore."
Does this come with a few vouchers for chiropractor appointments?
This is very much not a joke. The world needs more large portables. A laptop has its place, but there are times when I need a desktop PC that is just portable. I am working on putting a modern PC into an old IBM luggable right now for this very reason. Check out the Max Pac for some more insight into this, they put a desktop PC into a briefcase with a 21" LCD on the side.
This would be great for some college students. A large part of the appeal of a laptop is that you can put it away and reclaim your desk space easily. Also, occassionally moving it to a friend's apartment or a research lab wouldn't be nearly as big a deal as a normal desktop system.
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Anyway, I think my physics book weighed about that much
When I bought my first computer, a heavy metal Kaypro (those of you who had an Osbourne might remember), it was referred to as a "luggable".
I think this falls into that category.
And it appears to be powerfull enough that even if I did play games I could bring the 'laptop' to a friends house for a gaming night and not have to worry about lugging around a desktop system.
"Thanks to the remote control I have the attention span of a gerbil."
The term "outside the box" is squarely within the box at this point.
Sorry, the specs aren't that outstanding.
And at 16 pounds, and with that 3Ghz processor in there, it will burn your legs AND cut off circulation to them at the same time!
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Even business stalwarts Toshiba launched bulky widescreen notebooks into the market last year. Barely portable, these devices are designed as crosses between desktop replacements and media PCs. Sony even have a compact PC system which comes at it from the other angle.
Why is all this happening? It's because notebook prices are now at around the price which consumers are willing to pay for new computer systems. So if you walk into a shop and you can afford a notebook, it's an attractive proposition in the home. You don't need to build a huge permanent home for it, you can move it from room to room and people like the idea they can take it with them if they need to.
But really they're after compact luggable home computer systems, the real desktop replacement if you like.
The real news wont be 'is this is a joke' (which indicates to me that the poster doesn't understand the current market very well but this is Slashdot after all...) but when a vendor makes a notebook without a battery.
The day is coming.
I don't believe it's positioned as anything "special" (cue 'short school bus' comments). It would indeed be a handy desktop replacement, requiring less real estate than a desktop CPU + monitor (even an LCD, unless you mount it on the wall). I suspect it would also require less overall power, leading to lower heat output than that of a similarly configured desktop.
No, you probably wouldn't want to try to use it very long on battery power - or on your lap - but it would be nice to be able to fold up such a capable machine and transport it from point A to point B with minimal fuss. For the record, external devices often == "fuss".
Not to flame, but a product is not a dumb idea (or a "poor move") just because you personally don't want one. To each his own, right?
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
I've always wanted a portable desktop computer. Desktops costs less, but they're a pain to take too/from work. I don't think 16lb is any more than the books a high school student has in their bags (well mine weighed that much). Sure there's lots of people out there who want a laptop that's the size of a PDA, but there _is_ a middle ground =)
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
according to Acer's website, this monstop is powered by a 12-cell lithium ion battery: up to 1.0 hour life depending on configuration and usage. Battery recharge times: 2.0 hours with system off, 4.0 hours with system in use.
Yet further down it says:
Average Dimensions and Weights
14.9" (378.0mm) W x 12.6" (320.0mm) D x 1.9" front - 2.2" rear (47.0mm - 55.0mm) H / 14.1 lb. (6.4kg) with combo drive, 15.7 lb. (7.1kg) with combo drive and battery
16pounds, desktop processor. Sounds like an Alienware Laptop. Those puppies have 3 fans (!!!) to cool it down. In fact, I don't think it can technically be a laptop. If you put it in your lap, the high temps would boil your sperm...
"There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham
Notebook/laptop is really a bit of a misnomer, this machine sits squarely in the "desktop replacement" segment of the market. HP ZD7000 is another example. If you think of this thing as a notebook, sure it sounds like a joke, but you're failing to recognize that the old laptop-desktop dichotomy isn't valid anymore. These machines are actually quite useful. Lots of people don't ever actually take their laptop on the road, but they also don't want the big footprint of a desktop. Or they're like me, a student, and so the only time they transport their laptop is in a suitcase, to and from home. They need a smidge of portability, nothing more. (Some of these machines don't even have onboard batteries.) Desktop replacements make perfect sense. They're cheaper--you don't have to pay for the space-efficiency premium of a good notebook--and you're not stuck typing on a cramped keyboard, squinting at a miniscule screen and listening to tinny music from miniscule onboard speakers.
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
These are just the PC markets' answer to the iMac type customers.
It's not supposed to be portable. It's to serve the people out there who don't want to deal wire wires or don't have the space in/on their desk for a full tower etc. But they want desktop performance.
They don't need it to travel with, but being able to move it around the house might be nice. Or they move frequently and don't want to deal with taking the thing apart and putting it back together each time (My desktop sure is a bitch to move.)
So close and yet so far from the world's perfect ID number
Hey!, by the time you add the extra battery, external HDs, keychain USB drives, digital camera, iPod, bose headphones, bag, DC/AC power supplies, voltage converters. I've got mine to 23.4lbs in the bag! Beat That!
-CowboyNick
3) Short battery life
The acer site says the battery lasts only 1 hour.
you call that an advantage? I've never owned an Apple product since the AppleII, and even I think this is ludicrous.
Not exactly their best selling points.
I have a Shuttle SB61G2 with a 2.4 GHz HT P4, a gig of ram, a 120 gig hard drive, and a Radeon 9600. It probably weighs about 7 or 8 pounds.
It's readily upgradable, has a small desktop footprint, and is easy to transport. As long as I have a monitor or TV I can use at my destination it's perfect for work or gaming.
Without the video card it cost me 1000 CDN. I could have shaved off another hundred or more by going with an Athlon, but I was taking heat into consideration with the tight airflow restrictions.
You get a laptop for the convenience of portability at the cost of being able to upgrade. And generally a desktop is a statically placed computer that can be upgraded, but isn't all that portable. They just hybridized the negative aspects of both, slapped on a nice big screen and put it to market.
What type of user is going to derive the most benefit from this?
the Netork card is set to Promiscuous Mode
Since the Ferrari laptop has a logo and red paint job, does this one have an ugly Hummer-style case? Does it make machine gun sounds when you fire it up?
Will Rob Enderle buy one?
Reading Slashdot is ruining my spelling and grammar.
Seems to me this would be nice at lan parties where you would have all the performance and speed and a good size monitor without having to lug your desktop system around.
This product fills the gap for those who don't really want the portability of a laptop or the low price and ergonomics of a desktop.