So I was able to pick up an Aspire 5672 from CompUSA the other day and I decided to snap some pictures:
Here is the machine running on my coffee table:
The box:
Unpacking started:
Pretty basic packaging - but it does the trick:
What's in the box:
Instruction manuals and assorted paperwork, battery, A/C Adapter, Modem cord, and Norton AntiVirus 2006:
Close-Up of the front of the machine with the camera and audio jacks:
Left to Right: InfraRed, Power LED, Battery Charging LED, Line In, Microphone, Headphones/SPDIF, Card Reader, Bluetooth switch, WLAN Switch.
Front Right Corner:
FireWire Port, Express Card, PCMCIA, 2 USB ports, S-Video Out (Not Pictures is the VGA Out)
Right Rear Corner:
VGA Out, DVI Out, Ethernet
Left Rear Corner:
Power, Modem, Slot Loading DVDRW, 2 USB Ports:
Manufacturer's Label with Specs:
Touchpad with Scroll buttons:
Brand labelling:
3/4 Shot of the keyboard:
Extreme CloseUp of the camera and front of the machine:
"Artsy" Keyboard Shot:
Hard Drive:
RAM, CPU, GPU, and WiFi Access:
Complete Underside Shot:
RAM CloseUp:
CloseUp of CPU and CPU cooling/heat pipe:
CloseUp of GPU and heat pipe:
CloseUp of WiFi module:
I also decided to rebuild the machine with Windows XP Pro as opposed to the XP Home that it shipped with. I had experienced several application errors with some of the Acer apps that came installed and I didn't want to deal with a flaky setup so I flattened it. Here is a quick step-by-step guide that I put together for XP Professional:
1) I only had access to a Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP1 Disc, so I had to start with that (obviously, mind your licensing, etc.).
2) Applied XP SP2 (Reboot)
3) Intel Chipset Driver (Reboot)
4) ATI Driver (Reboot)
5) Touchpad Driver (Reboot)
6) Broadcom Ethernet (LAN) Driver
7) Card Reader Driver
8) Bluetooth Driver
9) CCD (OrbiCam Driver & Software) (Reboot)
10) Audio Driver (Reboot)
10a) Note: I got an error looking for the Modem Driver - Apparently the Audio and Modem are some how linked or integrated.
11) Conexant Modem
12) FIR Infrared Driver
13) Intel Wireless Driver (Reboot)
At this point, I updated the system with Microsoft Update and downloaded the 100MB or so of security patches and updates...
I realized that I was missing the on-screen display for the audio controls so I installed:
14) Acer Launch Manager (Reboot)
I then installed the...
15) Acer ePower Management (Reboot)
...because I wanted a little more robustness in the power management from what XP provides out of the box.
So far the system has been amazingly stable and quite a bit snappier.
I downloaded most of the drivers from the European Acer website except for the Synaptics driver. I got the generic driver off of their website because the scroll functions weren't working.
Quick Review:
I love this machine! What can I say? It is fast, it has a great, bright screen (although I wish it had a higher resolution), and it's reasonably light for a 15" unit.
I'm not a big gamer, but I bought Far Cry (I know, it's old, but I had never played it before) when I bought the laptop. It looks amazing on here. I also installed Battlefield 2 and have not had any trouble with that either. I know the x1400 isn't the best card for gaming, but for my light gaming habits, it's great and worlds better than the integrated crap that I was using before.
The Acer-installed software looks neat, but it seems to be flaky and I am honestly not missing it at all.
As far as build quality goes, the machine is really very sturdy. Holding the machine in one hand by the corner shows no flex what-so-ever. I have to push REALLY hard on the back of the LCD in order to get any ripples. The keyboard takes some getting used to - it's bigger than the 12" and 14" laptop keyboards that I am used to, and it is kind of flexible, but not terrible. The layout of the page functions (End, Home, PG Up, PG Down) takes some getting used to, but I've got the hang of it now.
For the $1500 that I paid for this machine, I am VERY PLEASED. It is an excellent value if you ask me:
Intel CoreDuo 1.66GHz (T2300)
2GB 533MHz DDR2 RAM
120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon x1400 with 512MB HyperMemory (256/256)
15.4" 1280x800 TFT Glossy LCD
DVD Super Multi Slot-Loading
Card Reader, BlueTooth, WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet
Here is the machine running on my coffee table:
The box:
Unpacking started:
Pretty basic packaging - but it does the trick:
What's in the box:
Instruction manuals and assorted paperwork, battery, A/C Adapter, Modem cord, and Norton AntiVirus 2006:
Close-Up of the front of the machine with the camera and audio jacks:
Left to Right: InfraRed, Power LED, Battery Charging LED, Line In, Microphone, Headphones/SPDIF, Card Reader, Bluetooth switch, WLAN Switch.
Front Right Corner:
FireWire Port, Express Card, PCMCIA, 2 USB ports, S-Video Out (Not Pictures is the VGA Out)
Right Rear Corner:
VGA Out, DVI Out, Ethernet
Left Rear Corner:
Power, Modem, Slot Loading DVDRW, 2 USB Ports:
Manufacturer's Label with Specs:
Touchpad with Scroll buttons:
Brand labelling:
3/4 Shot of the keyboard:
Extreme CloseUp of the camera and front of the machine:
"Artsy" Keyboard Shot:
Hard Drive:
RAM, CPU, GPU, and WiFi Access:
Complete Underside Shot:
RAM CloseUp:
CloseUp of CPU and CPU cooling/heat pipe:
CloseUp of GPU and heat pipe:
CloseUp of WiFi module:
I also decided to rebuild the machine with Windows XP Pro as opposed to the XP Home that it shipped with. I had experienced several application errors with some of the Acer apps that came installed and I didn't want to deal with a flaky setup so I flattened it. Here is a quick step-by-step guide that I put together for XP Professional:
1) I only had access to a Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP1 Disc, so I had to start with that (obviously, mind your licensing, etc.).
2) Applied XP SP2 (Reboot)
3) Intel Chipset Driver (Reboot)
4) ATI Driver (Reboot)
5) Touchpad Driver (Reboot)
6) Broadcom Ethernet (LAN) Driver
7) Card Reader Driver
8) Bluetooth Driver
9) CCD (OrbiCam Driver & Software) (Reboot)
10) Audio Driver (Reboot)
10a) Note: I got an error looking for the Modem Driver - Apparently the Audio and Modem are some how linked or integrated.
11) Conexant Modem
12) FIR Infrared Driver
13) Intel Wireless Driver (Reboot)
At this point, I updated the system with Microsoft Update and downloaded the 100MB or so of security patches and updates...
I realized that I was missing the on-screen display for the audio controls so I installed:
14) Acer Launch Manager (Reboot)
I then installed the...
15) Acer ePower Management (Reboot)
...because I wanted a little more robustness in the power management from what XP provides out of the box.
So far the system has been amazingly stable and quite a bit snappier.
I downloaded most of the drivers from the European Acer website except for the Synaptics driver. I got the generic driver off of their website because the scroll functions weren't working.
Quick Review:
I love this machine! What can I say? It is fast, it has a great, bright screen (although I wish it had a higher resolution), and it's reasonably light for a 15" unit.
I'm not a big gamer, but I bought Far Cry (I know, it's old, but I had never played it before) when I bought the laptop. It looks amazing on here. I also installed Battlefield 2 and have not had any trouble with that either. I know the x1400 isn't the best card for gaming, but for my light gaming habits, it's great and worlds better than the integrated crap that I was using before.
The Acer-installed software looks neat, but it seems to be flaky and I am honestly not missing it at all.
As far as build quality goes, the machine is really very sturdy. Holding the machine in one hand by the corner shows no flex what-so-ever. I have to push REALLY hard on the back of the LCD in order to get any ripples. The keyboard takes some getting used to - it's bigger than the 12" and 14" laptop keyboards that I am used to, and it is kind of flexible, but not terrible. The layout of the page functions (End, Home, PG Up, PG Down) takes some getting used to, but I've got the hang of it now.
For the $1500 that I paid for this machine, I am VERY PLEASED. It is an excellent value if you ask me:
Intel CoreDuo 1.66GHz (T2300)
2GB 533MHz DDR2 RAM
120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon x1400 with 512MB HyperMemory (256/256)
15.4" 1280x800 TFT Glossy LCD
DVD Super Multi Slot-Loading
Card Reader, BlueTooth, WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet
man!
