February 14th, 2008Review Of Acer Aspire 4520
In April, I’d reviewed a Value for Money (VfM) laptop — the Compaq Presario V3228au. It had all the perks and got the vote for most excellent VFM laptop. This time, we ve a new competitor — the Aspire 4520. Let’s see if it can clutch the VFM circlet.
Specifications
AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile Technology TK-53 1.70 GHz 256 KB L2 cache
1GB DDR2 667 MHz RAM
Nvidia GeForce 7000M (256 MB of system memory)
Nvidia nForce 610M (MCP67-MV)
160GB SATA HDD (5,400 rpm)
8x Super Multi Dual Layer DVD Writer
14.1″ WXGA Acer CrystalBrite TFT LCD (1280×800-pixel resolution)
Standard keyboard with 88 keys
Touchpad pointing device with 4-way scroll button and 2 buttons
Modem: 56K Internal Modem
10/100 Gigabyte Ethernet LAN
802.11 b/g WLAN
Integrated Bluetooth 2.0+EDR Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN)
4 x USB 2.0 Ports
IEEE 1394 Port mini
Realtek High Definition Audio
Built-in speaker and microphone
Headphone-out jack (S/PDIF)
Battery: 44.4W 4,000 mAh 6-cell Li-ion battery pack
Backup Time: 2.5-hour battery life
Dimensions: Size: 342 (W) x 247 (D) x 35/38 (H) mm, Weight: 2.48 kg (5.48 lbs.)
Design
The layout of the Acer Aspire 4520 is quite contemporary. It’s not all flashy and keeps a decent profile among other laptops in its price range. Most part of the laptop has a matt-finish plastic with a touch of gloss here and there. The laptop is fully black in color on the exterior, while the keypad has a cream color finish. I somehow felt that all black would have been ideal. Without much ado, I’ll speak about the layout of the laptop. The lid of the laptop has a full matt finish with a strip of gloss on the side toward the user. There’s also an Acer logo in the center. There’s no clip to push to open the flap. It just has a neat magnet mechanism, which can hold the lid in various positions.
The right side of the laptop has a DVD-RW drive, 2 USB ports, and the AC power input. The Kensington lock is also placed on this side just beside the power in. Above the keypad is the power button, which is surrounded by a LED ring. Below it is the speakers of the laptop, which are quite good. Next, you’ll find the hotkeys for WiFi, Mail-App, Internet Browser, and Bluetooth.
There are also 3 LEDs on the left of the buttons. These LEDs denote CAP Lock ON/OFF, Num Lock ON/OFF, and HDD activity. On the right of the hotkeys is a large Acer empowering technologies button, which starts all the empowering utilities provided with the laptop. As for the battery and standby LEDs, they’re placed on the left, below the touchpad on the edge. This way you can note the status of the laptop even with the lid closed.
Performance
The Acer Aspire is a fine performer. The Dual-Core AMD Turion running at 1.7 GHz may not be the fastest, but in the cost bracket that the Aspire stands, stands firm to its rivalry. It has 1GB of RAM, from which you can allot 64 MB, 128 MB, and 256 MB for the graphics. I attuned it to 128 MB. This choice seems the ideal configuration, as it won’t cooperation on the smooth running of applications or games. More on the betting performance of the laptop I’ll speak later in the 3D Mark Section. The laptop is even with the daily multitasking of surfing, some office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) work, and music or a movie as well, with no hassles.
Connectivity
The Aspire 4250 has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so the connectivity section is taken care of. The previous Acer missed a Bluetooth module. For kicks, this Acer has a Bluetooth 2.0 module with Enhanced Data Rate (EDR), which translates to better data transfer speeds across Bluetooth devices. The WiFi module is 802.11 b/g. The laptop also has an infrared (IR) port. If you wish to install the Media Center edition of Windows XP, you can buy the optional Media Center remote, sit back, and cozily operate your Media Center.
Battery
The laptop has a 6-cell battery, and the specs state 2.5 hours of backup time. When I ran Battery Eater Pro, the laptop lasted for over 1.5 hours, which amounts to almost 3 hours of battery backup time. Decent enough.
Lastly, The Acer Aspire 4250 sells for Rs.31, 000 (excluding taxes). It comes with a take bag and a 1-year international warranty. Scheming even the taxes, one would pay nothing more than Rs.33, 000 — which makes it a huge deal. The laptop is a good pattern, and surprised me even in the having a bet department, even though I didn’t wait for it to.
