Overview
If youve ever wondered where sponsoring a racing team will get you, heres your answer. The Acer Ferrari 1000 is a Ferrari-themed laptop designed from Acers sponsorship of the Scuderia Ferrari racing team. This laptop features a Carbon Fiber lid, fierce candy red trim, and the speed-invoking Ferrari logo. The similarities dont stop at the exterior, as this laptop is filled with the latest processing power, thanks to its AMD Turion Dual Core chip and 768 MB RAM. Acers 12.1 Crystalbrite monitor looks amazing and provides a sharp picture.
The laptop is made to keep you connected as well as possible no matter the situation, and to look good at the same time. Its weight less than four pounds (3.85 lb.) and with a thickness of only 1.36 inches means it packs away comfortably on long trips. Well take a look at the Ferrari 1000 from every angle, dive inside of it, and help you decide whether this laptop has what you need.
DesignPortability
The Acer Ferrari is a fairly compact and light-weight laptop, classified as an ultra-portable. Taking this laptop out and about is a pleasure, but having the external optical drive may be cumbersome for some people. Its best suited for a laptop bag thats made for accessories, like the Folee XS by Booq. With an extra battery, external optical drive, VoIP phone, and Bluetooth mouse, youll need those auxiliary pockets.
| Dimensions | |
| W x D x H (mm) | 302.3 W x 221.28 D x 20.8/34.5 |
| W x D x H (in) | 11.90x8.72x0.82/1.36 |
| Weight (6-cell) | 1.75kg 3.85 lbs |
| Weight (3-cell) | 1.60kg 3.52 lbs |
The Ferrari compared to the 13-inch Sony VAIO SZ.
The VAIO SZ with 13" display is slightly larger than the Ferrari 12"
Acer included carrying cases for the entire package: the laptop, VoIP phone, Bluetooth mouse, and external optical drive.
The external optical drive presents a unique quandary for portable usage. To reduce size and weight on the notebook, an integrated optical was excluded. The external optical drive takes up extra space in your bag and is another thing you have to manage when on the go. 12 ultraportables with external optical drives are nothing new; Lenovos ThinkPad X-series all have external optical drives. However with the ThinkPad X-series, you see an optional mobile docking solution providing optical support versus Acers included external optical. In the end, it all comes down to the users preference.
Case and Design
Opening the laptop was designed to make you feel as if youve entered the cockpit of a supercar. While the resemblance isnt immediately apparent, the theme unfolds the more you experiment. Starting at the Carbon Fiber lid, you know this laptop is serious. The lid is flanked by red trim and has a distinct logo adorning the center.
If you first open the laptop in relative darkness, youre struck by the Easy Launch buttons that surround the top corners of the 85 Key Acer Finetouch keyboard. Theyre red backlit in true Ferrari dashboard fashion.
Left - power
Right launch keys
Next is the Ferrari Emblem which is placed to the right of the touchpad and palm rests.
This is crowned by a 12.1 Acer Crystalbrite glossy screen, which looks amazing. The gloss helps to sharpen up images in the evenings, and softens glare during the daytime. The laptop does not include any sort of latch to keep the lid closed, and some users may be worried about something falling in between the screen and the keyboard; a potentially regrettable situation. If you keep your storage space clean it shouldnt be an issue. Resting above the monitor is an Acer Orbicam, which rotates 225 degrees. This allows you to face the camera away from the laptop, which could be useful. Personally, it reminded me of Spytech, the 1980s toy line which allowed kids to grow up pretending they were spies. I couldnt stop thinking about flipping the Orbicam around, closing the laptop, and walking around with it jutting out of my bag, catching enemy spies in the act. Located at the inside hinge is a built-in Microphone for conferencing or making those hi-tech calls home.
Keyboard
The Acer 85 key Finetouch keyboard has adequate key travel and a comfortable feel, although I was hampered somewhat by its size. It comes with a full twelve function keys, four cursor keys, two windows keys, and four Easy Launch Buttons at the top corners. The Easy launch buttons are excellent additions to an already packed laptop, controlling an Internet browser (Internet Explorer is default) which looks like a ringed planet, an Email Application (Microsoft Outlook) in the shape of a letter, Acers optimization software as the letter E, and one blank button thats user programmable. Also, all four buttons are user programmable. The keyboard has an embedded numerical keypad as well, although I found myself using the numbers across the top until I became acquainted with it.
| Acer Ferrari 1000 Keyboard | |
| Number of keys | 85 keys |
| Number of rows | 6 rows |
| Special/Function Keys | Fn+F1: Windows Help |
Touchpad
The touchpad is located beneath the keyboard and is covered in the same soft-touch finish that you feel on the majority of the Acers surfaces. Its on the small side, although given the space that Acer had to work with, that is to be expected. In the picture below you can see that it takes up as much space as possible. The aluminum buttons are overly large given the touchpad size, and theyre adorned with the Ferrari logo. The logo is not in official Ferrari font, an oversight given Acers attention to authenticity. Luckily, youll never forget who collaborated to design this laptop.
Closed Front - The closed front of the laptop, starting on the left, has a 5-in-1 Card reader which accepts Memory Stick (MS), MS PRO, MultimediaCard (MMC), Secure Digital (SD) and xD-Picture Card (xD). Continuing to the right is the first of two speakers, a line-in jack for audio devices (read: CD player/Walkman), a Microphone-in jack, a Speaker/Headphone/line-out jack with S/PDIF support, the Bluetooth communication switch, Wireless communication switch, and an Infrared port. This port interfaces with devices such as an Infrared printer or an IR-aware computer.
Rear - The rear of the laptop is pretty sparse, as its dominated by the battery. Facing the rear on the left side of the batter is a 124-pin Acer ezDock connector, and on the right is the power adapter plug.
Left Side - The left side of the laptop, back to front, houses a Kensington Lock Slot, Ferrari-inspired vents, 6-pin IEEE 1394 port for the external optical drive, USB 2.0 port, and a PC Card slot (Type II).
Right Side - The right side of the laptop, front to back, has two USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet (RJ-45) port, a modem port, and a VGA port that connects to a display device (i.e. external monitor, LCD Projector).
Heat and Noise
I saved this section for the end because I was hoping I would be able to find more to write on it. This laptop was nearly silent, even under a heavy workload. Part of this is due to the extra space reserved for cooling the processor, given the lack of an embedded optical drive. The drive itself exhibited some light noise, although it ran so infrequently that it wasnt much of an issue. The laptop did retain some heat, although the rubber footings created enough lift to allow the heat to disperse efficiently. Its possible that under heavy overclocking this would change, although since this machines strength was its processor, there was no need.
Upgrading and Expansion
The standard 768 MB of RAM running at 667 MHz is sufficient for the majority of applications this laptop would be used for. Its upgradeable to 2GB of DDR2 667 MHz, or even 4GB total using the newer 2GB modules. As you can see from the picture, the hard drive and wireless card are relatively easy to access. Unfortunately there is no ExpressCard slot for adding future peripherals, but for the time being users should be able to find the latest peripherals in the PC Card format as well.
Technical Specifications
The Acer Ferrari 1000 uses AMDs Turion 64 X2 TL-56 dual core processor. This CPU sports a 2x512KB L2 cache, runs on an 1800 MHz HyperTransport Bus, and is built on a 90nm manufacturing process. Maximum power dissipation (Thermal Design Power, TDP) of the TL models is at 35W, identical to Intels latest Core 2 Duo processor for notebooks. ATIs Radeon Xpress 1150 chipset featuring integrated graphics is used here, providing at-best mediocre 3D performance with up to 512MB of Hypermemory.
On the memory front, the Ferrari 1000 comes with 768MB DDR2 667MHz RAM and supports up to 4GB RAM. Our unit came with Seagate Momentus 5400.3 (ST9160821AS) 160GB 5400RPM 8MB cache SATA drive and operated near silent while offering great performance.
Display
The Ferrari is equipped with a 12.1 WXGA (1280 x 800 native resolution) widescreen display with Acer CrystalBrite high-brightness LCD, with LED backlight. The glossy CrystalBrite screen certainly enhances the viewing experience, as color and contrast are much more rich and vibrant. Viewing angles were respectable and color inversing was minimal, as you can see in the picture below.
Viewing angle is great!
VoIP Phone
The Acer Ferrari has an excellent selection of extras that set this laptop apart from others. The slim VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) was the first gadget that caught my attention. At the dimensions of a PC Card, it allows you to video conference or hold conversations without a cell phone. This phone supports echo cancellation and noise suppression to manage a clear broadcast.
It charges by sliding into the PC Card slot, and its so small that you can leave it in there for storage purposes. The phone is adorned with the Ferrari logo which isnt visible here. The phone felt fragile to the touch, probably because of its extreme portability and ability to slide into a PC Card Slot. It was relatively easy to use and the sound quality was decent given the source.
Speakers
Speaking of sound, Acer provided two sharp speakers located below the palmrests. The first experience I had with these was at the startup screen, where the Acer roars to life with the Doppler-warped whine of a Scuderia Ferrari V12 engine. It made me jump out of my seat, and the first thing I did was drop the volume a bit before continuing. These speakers do generate a moderate amount of sound although they suffer from the problems that all small speakers do. Namely the audio is very two-dimensional, theres almost no bottom range, and the sound is tinny. If audio quality is important to you, I suggest purchasing a comfortable set of headphones.
Optical Drive
The package also comes with an external optical drive, a hefty 8x Slot-load DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer (CD/DVD-RW). It connects via a 6-pin IEEE 1394 port located on the left side of the laptop. While this is a decent drive that I had no problems with whatsoever, the fact that its not in the actual laptop seems like a poor design choice. Sure, it saves laptop weight, space, and battery power this way, although optical drives are such an industry standard that its disappointing to see it located externally.
To save power with an internal drive, you can simply dive into the system settings and turn it off. The drive was beautifully crafted, comfortable to the touch as well as pleasant to look at. The drive is a pure black with red trim to match the rest of the Acer Ferrari package. Of course, the Ferrari logo is situated on the top of the drive. In this picture you can see the eject button located on the front of the drive in the left corner.
Mouse
The Ferrari Bluetooth mouse is a welcome addition to a touchpad. Ive always been an advocate of actual mice, and not a touchpad. I find most touchpads to be the first step toward Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, given their cramped size and frantic execution. It doesnt help that I have big hands, either. Suffice to say that when I unwrapped Acers black Bluetooth mouse with red lights, trim, and a Ferrari Emblem, I was excited for my fingers. Although setting up My Bluetooth Places to include the mouse was simple enough, the mouse was stuttering constantly, even located inches from the laptop. The mouse was jerking so consistently over the screen that it was nearly impossible to use with any precision.
I tried the mouse on several surfaces around the home, including a laser friendly mousepad, in the hopes that I could calm this mouse down, although with little success. Acer included a friendly Bluetooth switch on the front of the laptop close to the touchpad, which keeps the laptop from actively searching (read: consuming power) when its not needed. Coupled with a pleasant blue light indicator when its on, I was pleased with how they implemented Bluetooth connectivity. The mouse has a red indicator of its own that flashes when it hasnt been connected, and remains solid when its in use.
Acer Orbicam
Acer included their LCD panel-mounted 1.3 megapixel camera located above the display. It has a rotation of 225 degrees, which means you can flip it facing away from you and toward your target. They included Acer VisageON, which tracks 22 points of the users face so it to remains centered in the frame. Ive reviewed several webcams in the past, and Acers addition is an excellent candidate given its small size. The picture was clear under normal light conditions, and would be very useful in video conferencing.
Wi-Fi
To ensure that you remain connected no matter the area, Acer included draft 802.11n from Broadcom, which debuts on the Ferrari 1000 series. Its a wireless technology that utilizes MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output), using multi-stream input and output, which Acer states is up to six times faster than conventional 802.11 a/b/g protocols. This technology has a theoretical maximum data rate of 300 Mbps, and is compatible with 802.11 a/b/g standards.
Battery
The Ferrari 1000 came with two batteries: one 6-cell rated at 4800 mAh and one 3-cell rated at 2000 mAh. The larger 6-cell capacity battery protrudes from the rear of the machine but the 3-cell does not. Overall battery life with the 6-cell isn't that great, as you'll see in our performance section of the review.
AC Adapter
The Ferrari'sAC adapter is a smaller sized power brick, not unlike most youd see from any computer peripheral. The cords are long enough, with both exceeding a combined twelve feet. It also has a Velcro strap for better manage the cable. As you can see, the size compares nicely to the Nokia 8801 mobile phone.
The Ferrari's AC adapter compared to a Nokia 8801.
Software
Acer included an array of software applications to streamline your computing experience, even more so than before. The Acer eManager or also known as Empowering Technology is comprised of eight sophisticated & useful software utilities to manage the system:
- Acer eSetting to control and modify your device settings, passwords (SmartCard) and boot sequence.
- Acer ePresentation software helps make connecting the notebook to a projector quicker and simpler.
- Acer ePower Management allows for you to select and control a range of power schemes as mentioned earlier in the battery section of the review.
- Acer eRecovery can backup and restore your file system.
- Acer eData Security Management helps encrypt & protect data files from unauthorized access.
- Acer ePerformance Management increases system performance by optimizing disk space, memory, and registry settings.
- Acer GridVista Acers organization software allows you to partition desktop windows to suit your needs, and prevent them from overlapping. It splits the screen into two, three, or four virtual windows that are independent of each other. I used it constantly while writing this review. With window resizing, I could have my music player open in one window, a browser open in the second window, and the word processing program in the third.
Setup Method
The Acer Ferrari 1000 was set to run at full performance by setting the power scheme set to Home/Office Desk with the AC plugged in, meaning that the CPU will not underclock while running the tests. For the battery performance test, the power scheme was set to Portable/Laptop. Screen brightness and audio were both set to 50%, Bluetooth was disabled and Wi-Fi was turned on. Acer ePower management was also removed before testing to prevent power scheme conflicts. Each test was repeated 3 times to ensure accuracy. Before each test was run, the laptop was rebooted and its hard drive defragmented.
Bapco SYSmark2004SE is popular benchmark suite consists of two different performance scenarios and generates an overall score by taking the geometric mean of the individual scores.
- Internet Content Creation: In this scenario, the content creator creates a product related website targeting a broadband and narrowband audience. The user first renders a 3D model to a bitmap, while preparing web pages using a web site publishing tool. The user opens a video editing package, creates a movie from several raw input movie cuts and sound cuts and starts exporting it. While waiting on this operation, the user imports the rendered image into an image-processing package; modifies it and saves the results. Back in the 3D modeling software, the user modifies a 3D model and exports it to a vector-graphics format. Once the movie is assembled, the user edits it and creates special effects using one of the modified images as input. The user extracts content from an archive. Meanwhile, he uses an animation creation tool to open the exported 3D vector graphics file. He modifies it by including other pictures and optimizes it for faster animation. The final movie with the special effects is then compressed in a format that can be broadcast over broadband Internet. The web site is given the final touches and the system is scanned for viruses.
- Office Productivity: In this scenario, the office productivity user creates a marketing presentation and supporting documents for a new product. The user receives email containing a collection of documents in a compressed file. The user reviews his email and updates his calendar while a virus checking software scans the system. The corporate web site is viewed and the user begins creating the collateral documents. The user also accesses a database and runs some queries. A collection of documents are compressed. The queries' results are imported into a spreadsheet and used to generate graphical charts. The user then transcribes a document.. The user edits and adds elements to a slide show template. Finally, the user looks at the results of his work (both the slide show and the portable document) in an Internet browser.
Bapco MobileMark 2005 is the latest version of the premier notebook battery life and performance under battery life metric based on real world applications.
- Office Productivity: The workloads in this category model a mobile professional at a fictitious automobile company. The worker creates documents using Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, accesses email, and creates graphics and animation with Photoshop and Flash to include in a multimedia presentation. An Internet browser is used to view presentations. The user also invokes file compression and virus detection in the background.
- DVD Playback: The DVD playback 2005 workload is based on a 1 hours 55 minute movie that BAPCo has created from content provided by BMW. The DVD playback test starts the movie playerapplication, sets up a full screen playback, and the loops over the content on the disk in the DVDplayer. This playback will continue until system shutdown at battery depletion.
3DMark 2001 SE PRO build 3.3.0 measures graphics performance by benchmarking the CPU, memory, and graphics through a series of 21 tests, including simulated games, theoretical tests, DX8 feature tests, and image quality tests. Resolution was set to 1024x768 with all default settings.
3DMark 2003 build 3.6.0 measures DX9 performance through a series of 3D game based sound, graphics, and CPU tests. Resolution was set to 1024x768 with all default settings.
3DMark2005 build 1.2.0 is a graphics intensive benchmark best suited for the latest generation of DirectX 9.0 graphics cards. It combines high quality 3D tests, CPU tests, and is the first benchmark to require Pixel Shader 2.0 support, making this a highly stressful 3D benchmark.
PCMark 2005 Advanced build 1.1.0 is the latest update to Futuremark's popular overall system benchmarking program. The 2005 version adds multithreading, DirectX 9, Windows Media Player 10, virus scanning, High Defintion video playback (WMVHD), and a vast number of other tests to its suite. Testing your computer's CPU, RAM, hard drive and graphics card, PCMark05 drives your computer to the max to determine its strengths and weaknesses.
Configurations
| Processor | Acer Ferrari 1004WLMi | Sony VAIO SZ270P | ASUS W7J |
| Front Side Bus | AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-56 1.8 GHz 2x 512 KB L2 Cache | Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz | Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz |
| Chipset | ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 | 945GM | 945PM |
| LCD | 12.1" WXGA 200-nit Acer CrystalBrite high-brightness TFT LCD | 13.3-inch Widescreen XBRITE (1280x800) | 13.3-inch Widescreen Glossy |
| Hard Drive | 160GB SATA Seagate Momentus 5400.3 ST9160821AS | 120GB Toshiba 5400RPM 8MB Cache SATA | 100GB Hitachi 5400RPM 8MB Cache SATA |
| Memory | 768 MB DDR2 667 MHz RAM | 1GB DDR2 PC2-4200 533MH (2x512MB) Dual Channel | 1GB DDR2 PC2-4200 533MH (2x512MB) Dual Channel |
| Graphics | ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 | Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 128MB | Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 128MB |
| Graphics Interface | VGA-out | VGA-out | VGA-Out |
| Optical Drive | Initio DVD-RAM UJ-85JS (External) | Dual Layer DVD burner | Dual Layer DVD burner |
| Weight | 3.52 pounds with 3-cell/ 3.85 pounds with 6-cell | 3.7 lbs. with 8-cell battery | 4.3 lbs. with 6-cell battery |
| Operating System | Windows XP Pro w/SP2 | Windows XP Pro w/SP2 | Windows XP Pro w/SP2 |
| Battery | 4800 mAh (6-cell) and 2000 mAh (3-cell) | 5,200 mAh | 4,800 mAh |
Bapco SYSmark2004SE
Internet Content Creation
Office Productivity
Total Score
PCMark05 Advanced
The VAIO SZ dominates in the CPU department with its Core Duo CPU.
Here are the associated scores:
| PCMark05 | Ferrari 1004 | Sony VAIO SZ | ASUS W7J |
| CPU | 3987 | 4264 | 4239 |
| Memory | 2688 | 2898 | 2888 |
| Graphics | 833 | 2218 | 2157 |
| HDD | 3595 | 3352 | 3616 |
and the PCMark05 Advanced Overall Score:
The Ferrari falls behind both the SZ and W7J
We added these tests for a better way to compare dual core systems. Looking at numerous testing methods and results, we found the existing SYSmark2004SE benchmarks to be an excellent choice. The tests are easily performed and repeatable, providing a consistent and simple way to test dual core systems. The three sub-tests below show a noticeable correlation in CPU and memory performance, the two most important aspects of a multi-CPU system.
Bapco SYSmark2004SE
3D Content Creation
"The user renders a 3D model to a bitmap using 3ds max 5.1, while preparing web pages in Dreamweaver MX. Then the user renders a 3D animation in a vector graphics format."
Once more, as with the previous SYSmark benchmarks, theCore 2 Duo betters the Ferrari's AMD Turion X2 dual core; but not by much.
2D Content Creation
"The user uses Premiere 6.5 to create a movie from several raw input movie cuts and sound cuts and starts exporting it. While waiting on this operation, the user imports the rendered image into Photoshop 7.01, modifies it and saves the results. Once the movie is assembled, the user edits it and creates special effects using After Effects 5.5."
The Core 2 Duo widens the performance gap a little more here, and defeats the Turion X2 by far.
Web Publication
"The user extracts content from an archive using WinZip 8.1. Meanwhile, he uses Flash MX to open the exported 3D vector graphics file. He modifies it by including other pictures and optimizes it for faster animation. The final movie with the special effects is then compressed using Windows Media Encoder 9 series in a format that can be broadcast over broadband Internet. The web site is given the final touches in Dreamweaver MX and the system is scanned by VirusScan 7.0."
There is no doubt here that the Ferrari's integrated graphics can't compete against the discrete offerings found in the SZ and W7J.
3DMark 2003
3DMark 05
3DMark06
FEAR
Nothing shocking here. Ferrari's integrated graphics just can't play!
Battery Performance
The Ferrari's 6-cell battery lasted a decent 3 hours and 34 minutes in the idle test, beating the W7J but falling behind the VAIO SZ.
In the productivity, the Ferrari nearly matches the VAIO SZ's with 3 hours and 20 minutes. Not bad.
Falling behing in the DVD playback test with 2 hours and 38 minutes, the external USB 2.0 DVD drive just sucks up juice but at least it can finish a 2 hour DVD movie.
Pros:
- Fast
- Small and portable
- Sleek design
- Many connectivity options, loaded with accessories.
- Loads of features
Cons:
- Poor graphics performance
- External optical drive
- Heavy for 12 ultraportable
Recommendation:
The Acer Ferrari 1000 is stylish, loaded with features and accessories, and is plenty fast thanks to the AMD dual core processor. Outside of these three accolades, how does one recommend the Ferrari 1000? It is heavy for the 12 ultraportable category, battery life is unimpressive, and the optical drive is external (which could be a pro or con). Gamers need not look this way, due to the meager integrated graphics that you come to expect with a 12 form factor. With an MSRP of $1999 and a one year warranty, the Ferrari 1000 is rather pricey for student and home users, while lacking in other areas for more pricey business users.
Business users may appreciate the feisty styling of the Acer, but their warranty options are generally lacking compared to business-class warranties from companies like HP, Dell, and Lenovo. The relatively hefty 3.5+ lb weight puts it at the top of the heap of 12 notebooks in terms of weight and thickness, something most people shopping for ultraportables wont appreciate. For that weight, one would expect to find an integrated optical as in the Lenovo 3000 V100 or Dell XPS M1210.
Students looking for a stylish machine to take around will appreciate the slick Ferrari styling and great performance from the AMD dual core processor, but a $1999 laptop may be out of the budget of your average student. While the previous Acer Ferrari 4005 (http://www.laptoplogic.com/reviews/detail.php?id=75) 15.4 notebook offered unique features and top of the line performance (2D and 3D), as does the current Ferrari 5000, the Ferrari 1000 is an odd duck. It isnt quite ultraportable compared to other 12 notebooks and doesnt offer as much for its $1999 price tag. If you must have the Ferrari styling and can appreciate the premium package Acer offers here, then the Ferrari 1000 could be a good choice for you. For users who either want the lighter-weight of most 12 notebooks or the added performance and value of larger notebooks, you will want to look elsewhere.
Availability/Warranty:
This laptop is currently available from Acer distributors, and comes with a 1 year warranty. Its priced at $1999.00 in North American markets.
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