Acer Ferrari 4005 WLMi: In My Hands and It's Staying That Way

[BannedNinja]

Acer Ferrari 4005WLMi

Specs
2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64 Processor ML-37 35watt w/ 1MB L2 Cache
1GB DDR333 (PC2700) RAM
15.4" WSXGA+ TFT LCD, 1680x1050 resolution (16:10 widescreen)
PCI-Express ATi Mobility Radeon X700 with 128MB of DDR VRAM
100GB 5,400RPM Hard Drive
Slot Load DVD-Super Multi double layer drive (Dual Layer DVD+/-RW/RAM CD-RW)
3 Year Warranty

Paid: $2299.00 (warranty included)(no shipping cost)

Ordered: 6/27/05
Received: 7/1/05

First Impression: Very Pretty

As soon as I tore through the box with my teeth and nails (locating cutting devices would take a rather long time), I plugged in the AC and turned it on. I didn't bother with the battery, as I wanted to get her running before I did anything as experimental as that. After a moment of doing input for the sake of my computer being able to recognize and call its master by name, it immediately recognized my wireless connection and loaded the internet. With a full screen, I can't see a single dead pixel or stuck pixel. Smash your 'naners! It works!

Knowing how much crap is loaded on the computer, I switched "Show Desktop Icons" to off, downloaded Object Dock, turned it to classic view and moved taskbar to top. Now it is pretty inside and out. With how much stuff loads up on start-up, I went to msconfig and deselected everything but rundll32.exe and random other processes that I know I need for operation.

Now with a clean machine, I decided to keep it in FAT32. Well not so much decide as forgot before I loaded games on it. Whoops. I immediately loaded CS:Source and ran stress test on 1680x1050 with full settings (minus anti-aliasing and antrioscopic filtering. As long as I can kill on a smooth machine, I care not about edges) and got 62.xx FPS average but had some weird magenta colors appear. So I went down to 1280x768 and they disappeared.... curious I thought but I don't care much. It went up to 85+ FPS average, something I am very happy about. As soon as I get new drivers, I'll load up Aquamark and 3DMark0x and give results. All you kiddies who had it before me gave stock results (i.e. Rustican).

Most people (everyone) who got this machine is giving lots of guff about the mouse. So, I threw it behind my couch. I'll be damned if I go back for it. I have a Razer Diamondback Plasma LE and an X-RAY Thunder9 mousepad, I care not for that wireless thing. Of course I'll dig it out and perhaps try to use it, but for the time being (and for the rest of time) the Razer/Xray combo will do me more than perfectly.

Other people are guffing about the keyboard... I love this thing. It moves my hands away from the mousepad just slightly enough so I don't have to worry about accidentally hitting it with my giant hands (6'6" tall... weather is fine up here...). The mousepad is great and never skips a beat.

Some people are talking about heat issues... but a 19.99 dollar investment got me the Vantec LapCool3, which runs off of USB power, and keeps it really cool. Everyone talks about hotspots (I'm sure I'll feel them when I take it on long trips in my lap without this cooler) but for now, the air that comes out the left rear grill is temperate and not any hotter than the air around me. I'm in a decently air conditioned room, so don't give me retort about that.

Although this may seem to be the dream machine (well, it is) it does have its problems (for me, anyhow). The DVD drive works awesomely, but the noise is a bit much. I'm sure all drives sound like this, but it is slightly overtaking at times (mainly load times, where it makes a very audible whuzzing noise). When I loaded up Visions of the Beast by Iron Maiden, it was loud, but when the videos played it went to what I consider normal level and gave me no guff whatsoever.

That leads to sound quality. I hear talk of people detracting the sound quality, but I have absolutely no problem. The speakers spit out Dragonforce at a ear-piercingly pwnage level, and when I loaded up Seinfeld's I'm Telling You for the Last Time I had people laughing in the kitchen while sitting in the living room, which is a long room away. If you want the floorplan of my house, I guess you can ask. Just trust me it is far away. Along the same lines, I plugged in my Bose headphones and they sound awesome, no complaints. I guess the real test is EAX in CS:Source/BF2. We'll see on that.

The wireless is far better than PC card wireless that my brother had in his Sony. His got redlined at about 180 feet from the router, while mine is downloading at 250KBPS at nearly 210 feet away, through a house. Perfection. The "Signal-Up" housing is kind of ugly, however. The Ferrari red paint saves it.

Completely subjective and illegitimate scores out of 10:

Build Quality: 10/10

Everyone is jealous of my carbon fiber... except my brother who has carbon fiber everything on his Jetta. The feel of it is very solid, no plastic-y feeling anywhere besides the paint on the 'hood' where the "Signal-Up" antennae go.

Screen: 10/10

No "sparkles", incredible DVD picture quality)

Input Devices: 5/10

I guess that mouse accounts for half of the input devices.. the keyboard is perfect but you have to get used it over a few hours.

Heat: 9/10

It hasn't gotten hot at all, but I'm sure it will once I take it off of the cooler. I can't give it a perfect score because I don't know how cool/warm other laptops run.

Wireless: 10/10

Not much to say, it works and works from far distances.

Graphics: 9/10

Very incredible, rich details I couldn't see in my PC. Again, not perfect, because of the existence of the XPS2 and Sager 9880 (and incidentally the AW 7700).

Overall: 9/10

Although she is a perfect, all-around machine with a decent price-tag, it has its flaws. They aren't as gaping as everyone else makes them seem. If you are contemplating this machine because you want to balance graphics and raw power with mobility, buy it. You will not be unimpressed.

[Ferrari Dark]

Sweet review, thanks for taking the time to write it

Is the volume loud enough when using headphones?

Also is the hidden eRecovery partition seperate from C: & D: ? Or is it a branch off of one of the two? Which means only one or the partitions could be converted to NTFS?

[BannedNinja]

It is on the C: drive. D: drive comes absolutely blank.

[Ferrari Dark]

Originally Posted by BannedNinja

It is on the C: drive. D: drive comes absolutely blank.

So does this mean the C: drive cannot be converted to NTFS without destroying eRecovery function? Only D: can be converted to NTFS correct?

[BannedNinja]

They both can be converted, methinks. All you need is the program mentioned in the "Ferrari Partitions" thread that can convert without destroying data.

[BannedNinja]

**Update: Mouse works perfect. Why? How? I don't know. It does now. **

[duckwing89]

great review BannedNinja! Hopefully I'll have the same to say tomorrow when I pick my Ferrari up.

[nis]

Does the 4005 feel like a cheap plastic piece of crap like the Ferrari 3200 does? I bought the 3200 and had never been so dissapointed. The entire thing makes funny plastic noises and flexes when you pick it up, the screen and keyboard flex, the ram cover seems to be, swelling(?) from the heat. I'm selling it now thinking of possibly getting the 4005 if the chassis is actually deserving of the internals or the Ferrari badge. Otherwise I'm looking elsewhere. I know it's carbon fiber, but is it all carbon fiber? What about the bottom of the case? Acer doesn't show you on their website but I'm wondering if the bottom of the case is still a piece of plastic garbage. RAM speed looks to be on the slow side, they're still formatting their drives FAT32? WTF? It appears Windows x64 is packaged with the 4005 in other markets but not in the states yet. Price is down to the $1900 range now which is why I'm actually considering it. Somebody fill me in on whether or not I'll be as dissapointed as I was with the 3200. Thanks

[BannedNinja]

*Looks and feels all around*

This is an extremely solid machine. No flex or creaking plastic noises anywhere. The rubber on the inside around the keyboard feels awesome and smooth, and the carbon fiber weave is great to look at. They say it is constructed of carbon fiber composite, and I believe them. It feels extremely solid.

[XIII]

The hidden partition is on D drive and is used for disk to disk
recovery, which means restoring C drive without a recovery
CD, thats why its on D drive so you can format C drive.

You cant convert D drive to ntfs because the software used
for disk to disk is on win98 partition and win98 cant access
ntfs, check your hard drive and you will see PQservice
which is used for dual OP.


XIII

[Muddy Mudskpr]

Yes this notebook is made of REAL carbon fiber. Just the lid though, nothing else.
It has a very well constructed feeling to me except for the clicking cracking key feel.

[nis]

What does the bottom of the case look like and how solid does it feel?

[BannedNinja]

Looks like any other bottom of a notebook, I guess. A few grills and a RAM slot. It feels very solid. No flimsiness at all.

[nis]

I was just worried because my 3200 started forming stress cracks around the screws on the back I think from all the intense heat, going from hot to cold, etc.. The ram cover seemed to be swollen or something, it started warping anyway. The battery seemed to be inefficiently held to. I was constantly worried I would drop it and it would fall to pieces.

[Ferrari Dark]

Ferrari 3200 & 3400 have very poor thermal cooling.

I used to own a Ferrari 3400 and it was HOT! It would burn my hands on the palm rest and the fan was LOUD! I'm not surprised you see cracks at the back your 3200. I pretty sure the swollen look of your RAM cover is because of the Intense HEAT starting the melt the casing.

The bottom of my Ferrari 3400 was useful for frying eggs on the go. Acer Ferrari 4000 thankfully doesn't suffer from these issues.