(Source: Fujitsu)

Trolling through Acer’s recent laptop offerings, I was particularly fixated by those with massive storage space. In particular, the Acer Aspire 7720 and 9920 got my attention, each with two 160GB hard disk drives.

But with 320GB HDDs already set to ship in the 4th quarter of this year (Toshiba’s MK52GSX) or at latest Q1 2008 (Fujitsu’s MHZ2 BH), one wonders how far (or rather how big) we’re going to get in 6 months time. Is a 2x 320GB = 640GB configuration realistic heat-wise (since other technical issues seem entirely solvable)? Anyone with enough tech-smarts to give us any input on this?

Here’s another budget AMD Turion64-powered Acer notebook, this time a 1.7GHz model (compared to the 1.8GHz sported by the Aspire 7520 reviewed earlier). Everything else looks to be somewhat similar, i.e. 1GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB HDD (vs. 80GB on the 7520), except for the 5050’s smaller 14.1″ screen.

TigerDirect video reviews this laptop and well… waxes lyrical about it - even though the reviewer clearly knows nuts about giving useful comments. The entire review is pretty much a specs listing than anything else, but hey, it’s good enough for a laugh if you have nothing else to do I guess.

In any case, you’d be better served checking out the Aspire 7520 review, which conclusions should pretty much hold for the 5050-5430. What I can say is that the 5050 is a budget notebook good for everyday use, but it’s certainly not something for design or speed-lovers.

This 1.8GHz AMD Turion64-powered notebook certainly isn’t big on specs, but hey, for those in the UK, you’ll find it cheap at Tesco (sub-400 pounds). With a 17″ LCD screen, 1GB of DDR2 RAM and an 80GB hard drive, it’ll cover everyday use, but don’t expect too much.

At least, that’s Computeract!ve’s conclusion on this Gemstone: “While it’s certainly cheap and it will do the job reasonably well if you’re only interested in word processing, email and a little light web browsing, there are better deals available. Then again, if you factor in an extra £50 or so for a memory upgrade, the Acer Aspire 7520 starts to look like a much better deal. It is on sale now, in Tesco stores and online at tesco.com. ”

(Source: Wired Blogs)

Some people equate size with power. If you’re one of them, then the 17″ Acer Aspie 9300 is certainly your thing. The 1440 x 900 resolution screen coupled with a numeric keypad are certainly luxuries of size.

The Centrino-powered mammoth notebook comes with all the standard stuff you’d expect from smaller laptops too: 120GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, swiveling 1.3MP webcam, 4 USB ports and a 5-in-1 media card reader. Pity it lacks dedicated media controls and Firewire ports - which is pretty weird considering its “ginormous-ness”.

Wired Blogs looks at this whole package and churns out its positives: “Seventeen-inch, 1440 x 900 resolution screen is a joy to watch. 120GB hard drive. Touchpad has horizontal and vertical scrolling zones. 1.3-megapixel webcam actually makes you look good in video conference calls. Four USB ports and 5-in-1 media reader make nice with almost all accessories. Ludicrously low price. ” and of course, its negatives too: “Big mofo won�t fit in most carry-on bags. Ginormous keyboard still feels cramped. Designed as a media desktop but conspicuously lacking any dedicated media controls. No Firewire port.”

(Source: NotebookReview.com)

As the smaller 14.1″ brother of the 15.4″ Aspire 5102WLMi, the Acer Aspire 5050 certainly does what it is supposed to to well. The 1.6GHz AMD Turion64 x2 (or TL-50)-powered notebook is value for money, and like many other Acer notebooks, it fits the role of a student workhorse - at least, according to a review at NotebookReview.com.

The reviewer positively concludes that, “In the end the Aspire 5050 gets the job done for my purposes without draining my wallet. I did choose a few specific upgrades which increased the price, but I fully intend on having this unit for more than 3 years (remember my ancient desktop?). It is smaller and lighter than the conventional 15.4” budget model and I can carry it and a few accessories around in a slim bag or while on the couch. Once it completely boots up, it is responsive and has more than enough processing power to perform the tasks I normally execute. It has video outputs and doubles as my TV’s DVD player. Purchase timing was also a bonus as I now have a choice between XP or Vista. I am generally satisfied with the results of my purchase.”

(Source: Digit-Life.com)

Quite a bit dated specs-wise, but price-wise, there’s really not much to complain about. Nevertheless, Digit-Life.com takes a look, and reviews whether the 1.7GHz Intel® Pentium® M-powered notebook is actually good enough for “comfortable operation”.

Not surprisingly, the 14.1″ Acer (with 60GB HDD and 256MB RAM) managed to scrape good feedback (hey, we are talking about Acer and a low price point, right?). They conclude that: “The notebook pleased me. It is no genius, but it has a good keyboard layout, a convenient wide panel, and most importantly it’s indecently cheap. It’s a very good solution for the money in abstract terms. But for the situation with technical support. It turns a purchase of this notebook into a big lottery. But the money…”

(Source: NotebookReview.com)

On NotebookReview.com’s list last month, the Acer Aspire 5672 was the 10th most popular notebook. This month, it’s climbed to 6th place, with the newly inducted Aspire 5102 at No. 8.

This makes it two for Acer, the highest number from a single manufacturer (along with Dell and Toshiba).

Oh yes, the Top 3 on the list are still the Toshiba Satellite A105, the Dell Inspiron e1505, and the Sony VAIO SZ - though the VAIO SZ has lost its 2nd placing to the Inspiron e1505.

Read more news and reviews on the Acer Aspire 5102WLMi notebook.

20% off at Tesco, and a whole bucket load of complaints pour in. Well, that’s what happened recently when Tesco advertised that it would be selling “all camcorders, laptops, digital cameras and sat navs” - including an Acer Aspire laptop - at 20% off at selected stores nationwide. It seems that Tesco ran out of stock of a certain JVC camcorder and Aspire notebook, and was reported to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Not surprisingly, the complaints were not upheld as Tesco managed to demonstrate that it made sufficient effort to “…anticipate demand… and maintain stocking levels.”

But this does show how popular Acer Aspires are, eh?

P.S.: Anyone knows the exact model of the notebook involved?

[News via IT Week]