Notebook with Huge 20 Inch Screen Reviewed

An anonymous reader writes "Trusted reviews has a look at the Acer Aspire 9800. This massive machine has a 20.1" screen, two 120GB hard drives in a RAID 0 array, super-multi DVD burner, analogue and digital TV tuners and an Intel Core Duo dual core CPU. And at over 17lb you can even use it for weight training!"

Comments

Not only that,

[fredistheking]

It almost gets to the windows loading screen before the battery dies.

Only 1680 x 1050 resolution

[peterdaly]

It may have a 20.1" screen, but it's a little light on the pixel density side of things.

"So let's start with that huge screen. With a widescreen aspect ratio, you're getting a native resolution of 1,680 x 1,050, which to be honest is pretty low considering the physical size. Considering that many 17in notebook screens have a resolution of 1,920 x 1,200, I can't help but find the resolution on this 20.1in display somewhat disappointing. Closer inspection gives some clue as to why the resolution is limited - quite simply, Acer has bolted one of its desktop monitors onto a notebook. Whereas most notebook screens and consequently lids are getting slimmer and slimmer, the lid on the Aspire 9800 is 30mm thick - it's therefore a safe bet that it's exactly the same panel that Acer sells in it's 20.1in desktop monitors."

Personally I have an older Dell C800 (I or something like that) with a 15" 1600x1200 screen. I value pixels more than size, so for me it's great.

1680x1050 is horrible resolution for 20" of screen space, but I guess if you value size more than pixels, then this is the laptop for you. I would guess that for some users, particularly gamers, raw pixel resolution may not be your highest priority. There's also the "mine's bigger than yours" aspect.

Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long for a company to bolt a 20" desktop screen onto a laptop base.

Oh yeah...don't forget the Holy 17 Pounds Batman! I'd be willing to bet that doesn't count the power brick. Does it come with wheels and a pull handle?

Anyway, if I had the cash burning a hole in my pocket, I'd pass this one by.

Re:Only 1680 x 1050 resolution

[Anonymous Coward]

> Anyway, if I had the cash burning a hole in my pocket, I'd pass this one by.

And soon after the cash did, the laptop would as well.

Re:Only 1680 x 1050 resolution

[VorpalRodent]

Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long for a company to bolt a 20" desktop screen onto a laptop base.

I did that long ago. The problem was that the CRT made the laptop a bit top heavy.

lb?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

And at over 17lb you can even use it for weight training

Thats 7.7kgs for those of us not still using British imperial measurements ;-)

Re:lb?

[nizo]

I just wondered, why are pounds written as "lbs"? I found the answer here

[Q] From Andrea: "Why are pounds, when used as a weight, abbreviated lbs?"

[A] The origin is in the Latin word libra, which could mean both balance scales (hence the symbol for the astrological sign Libra, which was named after a constellation that was thought to resemble scales) and also a pound weight, for which the full expression was libra pondo, the second word being the origin of our pound.

Who says Slashdot isn't educational???

Re:lb?

[Coryoth]

Given that, as pointed out, the units used in the US are not actually Imperial units, the question must be asked as to what exactly to call that particular unit system. Some suggestions: "Archaic", "Irregular" "Primitive", "Obsolete", or "Wrong".

Jedidiah.

Re:lb?

[BrianTung]

I'm sure you're not entirely serious, but "archaic" and "obsolete" are obviously incorrect, since they are in current usage in the U.S. The U.S. system cannot be wrong (except from a technical elegance point of view), and it's not primitive in any meaningful sense. That leaves "irregular," which it certainly is.

Sorry. If it were up to me, we'd have standardized on metric a long time ago, but we're too busy legislating morality. So we'll have to get back to you on that.

Re:lb?

[protohiro1]

I have a great idea. American's love feet and inches. But they are a pain to work with. So my proposal: the decimal foot.

That's right, ten inches in a foot. 100 inches in a yard and 1000 yards in a mile. What could possibly go wrong?

Re:lb?

[Kenshin]

What could possibly go wrong?

The next Mars Rover exploring your backyard?

Re:lb?

[zenhkim]

True -- unless you're measuring weight for certain kinds of materials. This can be illustrated by a riddle that sounds an awful lot like a trick question:

"Which weighs more -- a pound of feathers or a pound of gold?"

The obvious answer would be "Neither!" since logically a pound of x should be exactly as heavy as a pound of y. Unfortunately, there are two different (and maddeningly incompatible) standards for measuring a pound: troy and avoirdupois.

A troy pound is defined as weighing twelve ounces and (historically) is used almost exclusively for precious metals, whereas an avoirdupois pound has sixteen ounces and is used for nearly everything else. Based on this, the pound of feathers weighs *more* than the pound of gold!

As if that weren't bad enough, the troy ounce is *slightly heavier* than the avoirdupois ounce -- therefore an ounce of feathers weighs less than an ounce of gold! Are we sufficiently confused yet??

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/custom.html

No wonder people dumped that Old English system for metric....

For a limited time with our 17lb units

[nizo]

Included with the purchase of a new unit: one year of free adustments by the chiropractor of your choice.

Amazing

[Nutmegan]

...but can I use it as cell phone?

Battery capac...

[network23]

This massive machine has a 20.1" screen, two 120GB hard drives in a RA...

And a battery capacity to power the unit for 4.5 seco...

- - -

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Color MacBook?

Battery power

[dotpavan]

FTA:

"but still has enough battery life to give you a full days work on the move."

What does it come with? a power plant attached?

Half-assed effort

[word munger]

This is such a slapdash attempt at a laptop it's pointless. There's a one-inch margin around the edge of the keyboard, yet the keyboard itself doesn't even have full-sized cursor keys. You've got a full-sized monitor, why not a full-sized keyboard? Obviously it's meant to be lugged around as a gaming machine for LAN parties and the like, but if you're going all-out, why not actually make the thing useable?

slugs

[everphilski]

0.53 slugs for the engineers in the house

Re:slugs

[tehshen]

4.64371564×10^27 atomic mass units, for the physicists

Similar in weight to my x286 laptop

[gasmonso]

I got a beautiful x286 laptop with a couple megs ram and a 10MB drive that weighs that much :) Anyone interested?

http://psychicfreaks.com/

noteBOOK?

[heson]

more like an encyclopedia to me.

Re:The SUV of notebooks...

[heson]

Acer Canyonero!

Just because...

[Shadow Wrought]

The average American lap is increasing is no reason for laptops to follow suit.

Quality

[phorm]

What I've found with Acer in general is that they throw a lot of quantity (in terms fancy features) with not a lot of quality. Fragile frames, dying screens, and various other problems have been a plague to Acer machines for years. Moreover, I've seen the same type of power issues occur in their notebooks from my old 233MMX (T310 I think) notebook all the way to the last Acer machines we bought (about a year ago).

Having a notebook with features is great, but not when you can't use the thing or have to keep sending it in for repair due to poor design. I'm not sure that this laptop would be any more or less reliable than previous models, but I'd be careful that all those great "features" don't cause one to overlook the issues of reliability.

Yes, but.....

[HillBilly]

... can it run windows vista?

Big Muscles!

[parasonic]

And at over 17lb you can even use it for weight training!**

** Applies only to those reading this Slashdot article

Add one more type of user to your list...

[raygundan]

3. Those who work at a desk at client sites, but are required by company policy to take their machines home at night.

I'd LOVE a monitor that size-- but I'm stuck with a puny laptop screen as long as I'm working outside our main office.

stop dissing it.

[nblender]

You're all dissing this thing because it won't fit in your front pocket or run for a week without going to a power outlet. It is what it is. It's a desktop computer that can easily be pitched in your vehicle, driven to a destination, unpacked and used within seconds. Sometimes when you're working, and need to concentrate on a particularly nasty problem or are architecting a really nasty piece of code, you just want to take your computer and go _somewhere_else_. I don't want to pack up all my monitors, keyboard, mouse, cpu, cables, etc. I want to flip the lid down and go to the library or the cabin or wherever.

My employer bought a Dell D810 for me to use. This thing is so far from being portable it's not even funny. It's huge, heavy, a little flimsy, etc. But it's fast, has a big screen, lots of pixels, and does everything I need (except run OS X). However, when I travel, I still bring my 12" PBG4.

Mobility

[Umbral Blot]

Most people own laptops because they can go places with them, which for the most part means fitting them in a backpack or other bag. (weight is less of an issue, students carry loads of textbooks arround all the time on their backs, so what is a few more pounds?) However with a 20 inch screen I have problems imagining the kind of bag it would fit.

Re:The SUV of notebooks...

[ettlz]

Can you name the 'top with two hard-drives
A built in webcam and a screen that's wide?
Ninety-eight double-zero-oooooh,
9800.

Well it goes real fast with dual-core brain,
It's the super-size 'book too big for a plane,
Ninety-eight double-zero-oooooh,
9800.

380 mills deep, 490 mills wide,
7.8 kilos of Taiwanese pride,
Ninety-eight double-zero-oooooh,
9800.

Top of the line in weightlifting sports,
Knackered elbows are a matter for the courts,
Ninety-eight double-zero-oooooh,
9800.

She stuns everybody with a CrystalBrite screen,
She's a 20-inch dual-core computing machine,
Ninety-eight double-zero-oooooh,
9800.

Re:For Extreme Power Users Only??

[ettlz]

"The Nadburner(TM): 'Ave You Got The Balls?"

Re:Excellent Large-Screen Portable Television

[G-funk]

Look, when will you pansies learn? Just admit to the damned porn! If you like it, you won't be able to live a porn-free life for very long, nor should you. And if you're watching it on the down-low, she will find it. I assure you, she will find it eventually. And then not only are you a porn-guy(tm), but you're a lying bastard as well. Just man up and tell her "I like porn. I don't care if you agree with it." if she's a normal (anti porn) woman, she'll say, "Aren't I enough for you?", to which you respond "Yes you are, which is why I'm not sleeping with anybody else. But I like to watch people fuck". If she's a manipulative bitch she'll say, "If you loved me you'd quit". The answer to that is of course, "If you loved me you're accept my porn habits".

The short of it is this: you can't hide the porn, and you can't give it up for long. Seriously. She will find it. Be honest. Perhaps your girl needs to look within herself to see why she's threatened by a Jenna Jameson DVD.