Ferrari 3200

I just recently received my Acer Ferrari 3200 from newegg and decided to write a review on it. I am using StormX02's format minus the pics. I will post pics sometime later when I have some free time.

Specs
AMD Athlon 64 2800+
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB 4200rpm Hard drive.
DVD+-RW
128MB ATI Radeon 9700
15" SXGA+ TFT Display
802.11b/g Wireless
Bluetooth
10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
V.92 modem

Review
I didn't know what typing on a slightly curved keyboard to be like, but so far I have not found it to be a problem. I am a touchtypist averaging 90wpm with type bursts of 130wpm. I am happy to say I have not experienced the keyboard bug that plagued many Acers based on this platform. The keys are pretty quiet to type on and feels pretty springy, which is exactly the way I like it because my old laptop (Sony FX-120) had an excellent keyboard like this as well.

The mouse that comes with the notebook has the same paintjob as the notebook itself. The paint is very smooth and definitely worth of deemed a Ferrari quality paintjob.

I love the DVD-Burner. I have two desktops at home which one only burns + DVD media and one only burns - DVD media. I definitely like the fact this notebook can burn both formats of DVD.

One thing I thought would bother me, but didn't is that all four of the USB ports are on the left side. This hasn't bothered me as much because my external HD sits on the left side of my laptop on my desk and the speaker plugs for my speakers are from the left side also, so in fact, for me anyway, the USB ports and the speaker jack being on the left side is a plus for me.

The screen...I've read some people not liking the viewing angles on this machine. But I personally think the screen is totally and absolutely acceptable. In fact, I think the screen is better than the one on my old Sony notebook. I don't find it hard at all to find the sweet spot. Some people may dislike the native resolution of the screen, but the native resolution does not bother me at all.

One of the main reasons I got this is because of the Gigabit ethernet. My college is implementing a campus wide gigabit network next school year, so I was in the market for one that can utilize the enhanced speed of a gigabit network. I also really like the wireless 802.11b/g.

As with the heat. I've been running benchmarks nonstop for the past hour and the left palm rest gets a little bit warm, but definitely not HOT. I don't mind the slight heat because it can act as a hand warmer when it's cold in the house.

Another thing that attracted me to this notebook is its size. This thing is slim and light. it is 1.2" slim in fact. I wanted something I can lug around campus without breaking a sweat and this notebook was perfect. I originally looked at the Voodoo M:860, but then I decided 8.5 lbs was way too heavy for me. In fact, I was interested in the original Ferrari 3000, until I heard about the Ferrari 3200. It was then I decided I would purchase a Ferrari 3200.

This thing is fast. It boots up fast. It shuts down fast. It loads applications fairly decent. Also, I love the price. It was priced at $1999 at newegg whereas the M:860 was well above three grand. I was allowed to get the Hitachi 7k60 with the left over money (which should arrive tomorrow). In the mean time, I ran some benchmarks.

These are all at stock speeds (I will run some overclocked results when I get my 7k60).
3DMark2001: 10,706
3DMark2003: 3,033
Aquamark 3: 26,149 (GFX: 3,177 CPU: 7,370)

I would rate the Acer Ferrari 3200
Looks: 10/10
Layout/Design: 10/10
Performance: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Mobility: 9.5/10
Support: ?/10 (Haven't had to deal with support yet)
Coolness Factor: 10/10

I got around 2 hrs 50 mins while surfing the internet, running aim, running some .avi files, and hooked up to a wired network (not wireless). I believe I may get more life from the battery as I still need to condition it. I got close to 2 hrs running a DVD. But like I said, I think after conditioning the battery, I will get more life. When on battery, the screen automatically dims, the processor downclocks to 800mhz, and the video card down clocks to 105/105.

Almost the entire notebook is plastic as far as I could tell except for the touchpad area, that is brush aluminum. The strip where the launch buttons are located has the carbon fiber looks, but I can't really tell if it is actually carbon fiber. The paint is just awesome, I cannot stress enough how well sweet the paintjob is. It comes with a dust cloth too, and now i'm finding myself dusting my notebook all the time just because I wanna keep it shiny.

Just some pics I took, sorry for the crappy camera.

The left palm rest begins to get warm after about half an hour of benchmarking, but it never gets really hot. I have not installed any games yet.

The default clocks when powerplay is not in effect, as told by atitool is 450 core and 209.25 memory.

Sorry, I can't comment about gaming yet. I will start installing some games as soon as I get my 7k60 tomorrow, I don't wannt waste any time dealing with games on this 4200rpm hard drive.

The fan comes on once every 10-15 mins or so, but the fan is pretty quiet in my opinion. Maybe I'm just so used to the super loud fan on my old FX-120.

The pic I took of the screen is when it is on battery, therefore it is slightly dimmed. When on ac, the screen gets 2x brighter.

Well I don't know about the cpu score, but in regards to the gfx score, although we do have the same mobility 9700, mine came clocked higher as a default. For some reason, I don't know why my cpu score is lower than a comparable pentium m. Oh well, when they come out with future mobile socket 754s with 35w (3000+ or 3200+ soon i hope?) , i'll upgrade for sure.

It does indeed come with recovery disks and i'm sure you could install it ntfs. I am planning on doing ntfs when i switch hds.

Ha, I honestly don't know if the Athlon 64 2800+ should be better than a Pentium M 1.7. But judging by your CPU score, I would say maybe the Pentium M is used more efficiently by Aquamark, because the default CPU clock is 1.8ghz according to CPU-Z and your Banias 1.7 is 1.7ghz (duh). And I'm guessing that GFX score is not from your default clocks.

You know, I think you may be right about the screen thing. I honestly do not think there is anything that bad about the screen worth complaining about. The angles are not that bad at all, which leads me to conclude it's not the same screen they're putting in the TM8000 series, even though the base platform is the same.