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Mr. H.

Mr. H.

Joined on 07/06/04

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 2
Most Favorable Review

Awesome Machine

Acer Laptop Ferrari 3000+ 512MB Memory 80GB HDD ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 15.0" Windows XP Professional 3400LMI
Acer Laptop Ferrari 3000+ 512MB Memory 80GB HDD ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 15.0" Windows XP Professional 3400LMI

Comments: I've had my Ferrari 3400 for about six months now. I can honestly say I'm just as impressed with it as I was the day I got it. The bright Ferrari red cover inspires me every time. However, as everyone who owns one knows, it's very easy to scratch but a little care will keep it in pristine condition. I don't ever let anything harder than my finger touch it and always lay the silk bag that came with in on top of the cover when I put it in my computer bag. The screen is excellent, sharp and with a high resolution. The ATi graphics can handle just about any thing you can throw at it, though the games I play on it aren't the most extreme. There's very little, if any, ghosting or artifacts on this screen. The keyboard is mostly without problems except for that some of the functions you may use frequently, such as home and end, you need to hit the function key first. Volume control doubles up on the up and down arrow keys and it took me a few days to notice that. Most laptops I've seen have some sort of trade-off when it comes to keyboard layout, though. Heat is a big issue. The area under your left wrist gets really hot due to the hard drive, so it's most hot when there's a lot of drive activity. I've got myself a cooling pad, which puts a couple of fans under the laptop, and that does a good job of keeping the heat under control and doesn't add too much weight to the setup. The WiFi antenna is very sensitive. I was picking up signals that people sitting next to me, esp when using a PCMCIA card, couldn't pick up. I haven't had the opportunity to use the Bluetooth yet. The card reader is very handy too and makes things convenient. I've fallen in love with the slot loading DVD drive. No more need to make sure there's enough room to eject that ugly DVD tray from the side of the laptop. The battery lasts a decent amount of time considering what type of hardware you're running, about 3-3.5 hours without WiFi and 2.5 hours with it. About as good if not slightly better than similar laptops. Plugging in a mic sucks almost as much as using the built in one but there are options available from Creative Labs if that's important to you. Other than those minor points this is a very well rounded machine and performs as advertised and in style. It can be used as a desktop replacement or a gamer's laptop. Just be prepared when people start asking you about it and want to look at it.

AeroCool AEROENGINE-C SS Silver SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
AeroCool AEROENGINE-C SS Silver SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Comments: I love this case. I was looking for a new case because my hardware wasn't being kept cool enough in my old Antec case. Being a flight sim enthusiast, I couldn't resist the front jet engine-like case fan. The fans weren't as loud as I was led to believe by the other reviews, and well within my personal acceptable limits for noise. My temps are a good 10 degrees cooler than with my previous case. The "tooless" system, however, was another matter. The little plastic clips used to hold PCI cards works well as long as the card isn't big like my Radeon or Audigy 2 cards. However, I managed to wedge the clips against the brackets of the cards, making it mostly secure. This is only a concern if the card is wider than the metal mounting bracket. I suppose I could use screws in place of the clips but so far that doesn't seem to be necessary. Overall, I'm very satisfied with this case. The design is awesome, it keeps my components cool and construction quality is very good. As usual, Newegg sent it right away and I recieved it a day ahead of schedule. I'm beginning to think that they give a conservative delivery estimate on purpose.