Notebook Critic

Hardware Highlights:

• Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 1.83 GHz CPU
• NVIDIA GeForce 9500m GS with 512 MB of RAM
• 16″ WXGA High-Definition Display With 1366 x 768 Resolution with 16:9 aspect ratio
• 320 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
• 3 GB DDR2 System Memory
• Super Multi 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support

Turn off the lights and this is what you see... it isn't as cool though

Based on specifications, this looks like a bargain but sometimes looks can be deceiving.

The 6920 is a member of Acer’s revised Gemstone series. The original Gem Stones were thick, heavy clam shell notebooks with a robust look. That chassis is alive and well today in a number of screen sizes. I thought it was a lot uglier than Acer’s old TravelMate chassis with the ergonomically curved keyboard, but consumers loved it. A benefit of its clunky size was durability and cool operation. Acer has kept those benefits and streamlined the design for the new Gem Stones. At first glance the Blue and silver design looks handsome if a little bit clumsy.

Metallic blue 'Gem Stone'

At 7.7 lb. (3.5kg) with discrete graphics and almost two inches thick the 6920G is in desktop replacement territory. Width is 15.2″ (385.0mm)  by 10.8″ (275.0mm) deep so you might need a new notebook case with this notebook. The dimensions could be forgiven if its other ergonomic aspects were top notch, but instead you have a heavy notebook that is a pain to use as well as carry.

Its 16″ display features what Acer claims to be a wider color gamut and faster response time than most notebooks at 8ms. I don’t know about that, but I can say that the screen is very bright and playing games there was no ghosting – and I could also say that of the last 20 notebooks I’ve reviewed. The 16:9 aspect ratio results in an unorhodox pixel resolution of 1366×768. The diffrence between this and a typical 16:10 screen is pretty minor.

This is partly to blame for the poor keyboard

When you crack open the lid you will notice Acer’s self gratifying design – particularly a giant stupid volume knob. Apple gives us multi-touch, IBM gives us spill proof keyboards and Acer gives us giant stupid volume knobs that exist at the expense of a proper keyboard. They have even given it a name as though it were something to be proud of – among other things, call it CineDash. If you are smart, you won’t read any further and just cross this idiotic design from your shopping list unless you can get one at the price I paid or less.

The design highlights include a myriad of over-bright and/or blinking lights including an Apple-esque lit logo on the lid. If you do your computing in a dark environment this notebook will have you suffering migraines in no time. It has all the subtlety of a Las Vegas casino and the same amount of class.

Note the off-center keyboard placement, there is lots of room above the keyboard for media controls

That brings us to the keyboard which is terrible. Really, really, positively awful. I would go as far as to call it a disgrace. What is bad about it?

1. It is off center by about an inch to accommodate the ridiculous media controls on the left hand side. Since when is controlling volume more inportant than typing on a computer?
2. The left shift key is tiny and the right one is oversized.
3. The ’space’ is split off on the right side for an ‘alt car’ key.
4. Keys often need to be crushed in order to register presses.
5. The base of the keyboard is soft as a sponge
6. Items 4 and 4 insure that typing is an exercise in sado-masicism.
7. Shiny slippery finish for fingers to slide off of and to remind me what a grease ball I am.
8. CineDash gets activated when I type – even when the hold toggle is on.
9. Apostrophe pause as the OS decides whether yo are adding an accent to a vowel.

Tie your hands behind your back and strap a stick to your nose to hunt and peck with because you won’t be touch typing on this keyboard. Typing passwords is a particular joy on the 6920 as you can’t see what you typed and the keyboard doesn’t always register presses. On the right side of the hateful multi-lingual keyboard you find dedicated Home, PgDn, PgUp, and End buttons.

With such a poor keyboard its a relief that the touch pad is OK. Settings were fine right out of the box. Buttons are firm and rattle free and the vertical scrolling zone is spot-on. Centered between the buttons is a finger print reader so that whatever you are afraid of people finding on your computer is just a bit safer.

Materials and construction are good. The 6920 feels sturdy with little torsional flexing of the chassis or LCD bezel. The lid is firm enough that pressing it does not ripple the screen.

First Boot

Start the 6920 and a setup routine delivers you a relatively clean Vista Home Premium install. The exceptions are Acer’s own ePowering solutions and some trial ware. All of this stuff can be removed with no loss in functionality.

You also get to make a recovery disks as none are packed in. Despite having a DL DVD recorder, the restore software is unable to burn recovery disks on this type of media. Acer will happily sell you the disks if you forge to do this and later need to restore.

Performance

Despite being an entry level part, the Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 1.83 GHz CPU is actually quite capable. It has a 2 Megabyte level two cache and uses the now dated 667 MHz FSB. Other features include support for EMT64, Enhanced Intel Speed Step (to reduce energy consumption and heat) and Execute Disable Bit (to prevent some forms of malicious code from running). With the dual core CPU and 3 GB of 667 MHz RAM processor performance is OK scoring a respectable 1 minute 11 seconds in SuperPi and in 54.968 seconds in wPrime. It also scored 4207 in PCMark05 – a low result even for for a sub $1,000.00 notebook. Acer has wisely elected to offer the 6920 with a socketed CPU (Socket P) so that users can upgrade in the future.

Western Digital’s WD3200BEVT 320 GB HDD has a spindle speed of 5400 rpm, 8 MB buffer and SATA 3.0Gb/s interface. Despite a slower spindle speed, tis drive perfroms very close to the 7200rpm Seagate Momentus 7200.2 manageing 47.8 MB/second versus 51.3 MB/second.

Optical recording is robust, the 6920’s 8x dual layer multi-DVD burner is exactly what you would expect at this price point although Blu-Ray is starting to pop-up. In fact, it is available as an option in the 6920 line for only a bit more money.

NVIDIA’s troubled GeForce 9500m GS video system is equivalent to last year’s 8600m GT – positioned squarely in the mid-range performance segment. I say it is troubled because it uses a variation of the G84 chip that along with the G86 has been revealed to be a defective design that is prone to failure. The chip’s substrate is susceptible to heat and can fail if it isn’t kept cool. With an MXM-II video card slot variant it is possible that the video could be swapped in event of failure or upgraded in the future.

lower left is 2x miniPCI, center is HDD, mid-right is socketed CPU, far right is MXM

Even with its problems, the 9500m GS is a great GPU that delivers excellent gaming performance. Games like Mass Effect run at 1366 x 768 with almost every setting dialed to maximum. Its 3DMark06 score was 3758 at the LCD panel’s native resolution. This product is also enabled for CUDA applications and is NVIDIA PhysX-ready. I don’t know how much general purpose computing the 9500m GS can handle with its limited number of shaders, but the T5550 needs all the help it can get.

PureVideo® HD support means that you can really take advantage of the 6920’s HDMI port as the GPU takes some of the load off the CPU. Viewing movies and watching games over HDMI worked great although you will need to spend some time setting up the video enhancement settings in the video driver control panel. In particular let NVIDIA handle noise reduction.

power, modem, VGA, Ethrnet, USB 2.0, HDMI, audio jacks, Expresscard

DVD-R, 3x USB 2.0, Kensington Lock

Ports on the 6920 are as follows; four USB 2.0, HDMI, VGA, SP/DIF, microphone, headphone, Ethernet, modem handle the basics. An Expresscard type 54 slot is available too. A front facing memory card slot accepts SD/MMC/MS and xD flash formats.

With a bigger size and lots of material to dissipate heat into, the 6920g runs very cool. Two hours of playing Mass Effect, a demanding game, resulted in a peak temperature of 45°C. During normal use surface temps ranged from 27°C to 35°C (under the CineDash). That is excellent thermal management. On the base, 47°C was the peak temp under normal use. Despite the cool temps noise is low. These results are great, but there are several users on the www.notebookreview.com forums who are having heat issues.

Battery life was average for an Intel notebook. The included 6-cell power unit is rated for 4400 mAh and 11.1 Volts. In normal use you can expect to achieve 2.5 hours using the default low power setting. A longer-life 8-cell battery ships in some models of the 6920 so keep this in mind when doing comparisons.

Wireless performance of the Intel 4965 A/G/N card is poor. The 6920G struggles to hold a full signal on my 5 GHz N network where other notebooks get full strength. Performance of the 2.4 GHz antenna was much better.

The big tuba

Audio performance is an area that should be a standout, the Dolby logo sets high expectations. Stereo speakers are loud enough for playing games and the Acer Tuba CineBass promises deep bass but comes up short. This setup is better than most notebooks but falls well short of a $40 ghetto blaster. Outputting via mini jack to a stereo system yields good results. Likewise HDMI output of audio sounds as good as your Hi-Fi allows.

Conclusion

People take the human/computer interface for granted in 2008. The assumption is that this late in the game, every computer maker would get this fundamental aspect of computing right. But not so fast! Acer has managed to really botch this basic requirement.

There is some value here; nice parts and solid construction in a good thermal evelope but before you make any decisions pop open the text editor on a 6920 floor model at your local shop and type a paragraph or two. If you can’t at least try it first, don’t buy it.

Pros:

• Cool temperatures and low noise
• Good video performance
• Ample storage
• Solid construction

Con:

• Maddeningly bad keyboard
• Stupidly over-sized media controls
• Light polution
• Poor 5 GHz antenna performance
• Questions regarding NVIDIA 9500m GS reliability
• Weight is about one pound heavier than average for this class

Verdict: Avoid

[update]: Try the keyboard and see if you can get used to it. Other than the funky lights and the keyboard/CineDash this might be a very nice notebook.