ACER ASPIRE 1802WSMI

IN BRIEF: A powerhouse of a desktop replacement that failed to live up to the promise of its spec list

The desktop replacement sector continues to be the most popular segment of the laptop market, making up over 80 percent sales. In recent times, we have seen a move by manufacturers to produce machines that offer even more comparison with desktop PCs by incorporating larger displays and desktop components.

NEW LOOK
The Acer Aspire 1802WSMi (£1220 inc. VAT) isn't so much a replacement for the Aspire 170 Series, rather a complete rethink in terms of design and execution. Gone is the hulking 7kg chassis, replaced by a more modest 4.1kg unit that follows Acer's new 'folio' look that it has introduced across the range. At the heart of the Aspire 1802WSMi is a bright 17-inch panel that is set to impress. We found it an extremely clear screen, ideal for business and pleasure. However, it is the graphics sub-system that will be the main selling point of this unit, as it is the first laptop we have seen capable of running the ATi Mobility Radeon X600 PCI Express adapter.

The Mobility Radeon X600 has 64MB of memory built into the card and supports x16 lanes PCI Express design specifications - the new standard for laptops, allowing for data to be sent at twice the current speed of AGP 8X solutions. We were hoping for great results from this adapter. However, with a 3DMark 2001 score of 10395, it trails some way behind ATi's leading card, the Mobility Radeon 9800. As you would expect from a laptop with such a large display, there is a great deal of space to fit a full-sized keyboard as well as a numeric numberpad onto the main board, which is ideal for those who need to do a great deal of number crunching. The main problem we found with the keyboard was the lack of responsiveness from the keys, with them requiring to be struck firmly in order to register. This may be down to the unit being a pre-production sample but we would urge potential buyers to check the keyboard out for themselves before buying.

The main specification of the Aspire 1802WSMi is built around the Intel Pentium 4 530 processor, which is a desktop chip with a speed of 3GHz. This is supported by 512MB of system memory and a 80GB hard drive shipped as standard. A sub-woofer is built into the base of the unit, offering improved sound over that found on normal systems. In use, we found that sound playback was adequate and certainly more capable of handling sound for a DVD movie, but audio CDs remain less than satisfactory through such a system. With options available that even include a TV tuner, the Aspire 1802WSMi could easily be used as part of a home entertainment centre, making for an impressive machine. While its specification and feature list are more than usable, our test unit was hampered by a below par keyboard that marked down an otherwise affordable and usable laptop.

PRICE £1039/£1220 (EX/INC. VAT)
PROCESSOR Intel 3GHz Pentium 4 530
MEMORY 512MB DDR RAM
HARD DRIVE Toshiba 80GB
SCREEN SIZE AND TYPE 17-inch TFT
DISPLAY RESOLUTION 1440 x 900pixels
GRAPHICS CARD ATI Mobility Radeon X600
DIMENSIONS 400 x 275 x 45mm
WEIGHT 4.1kg
PC CARDS (TYPE II/III) 1/0
WIRELESS LAN 802.11g
ETHERNET Yes
USB PORTS 4 x USB 2.0
FIREWIRE 1
STANDARD WARRANTY 1 yr C&R
WARRANTY UPGRADE 3 yr C&R £116
CONTACT 0870 900 2237 www.acer.co.uk

VALUE FOR MONEY 8
PERFORMANCE 7
FEATURES 7
MOBILITY 4
BUILD QUALITY 7
OVERALL 7

BATTERY LIFE 97 MINUTES
MOBILEMARK 2002 174
3DMARK 2001 10395