Ferrari 4000 Pics

I must say, it is a really drab looking machine on the inside compared to a 3200/3400. There is no point claiming that you want an understated Ferrari, either it is bought for the architecture (amd cpu, gpu etc) or if you are a sad poser with money to burn you buy it purely for the badge and bright red colour.

But this new one, apart from the lower power cpu (acer doesn't mention battery life...) and a slightly newer gpu, I see little difference, on top of that, it is a drab looking machine, so the posers won't buy it either.

Has anyone else noticed that this series of laptops, have minimal differences (excepting maybe the 3000) so Acer haven't really had to shell out any money on them. We seem to all be convincing each other of how much better they mustbe....

I think, if you have a 3200/3400 that will last until a 128mb gpu won't cut the mustard, I think the 4000 has minimal improvements, all that carbon fibre has cut the weight by a massive...what?160 grams or something? Like you're gonna feel that when you haul around 3 kilos.

the video card is almost if not already is twice as good, but you are right if you already have the 3200/3400 keep it, but I personally like the new look; it doesn't scream steal me now

the gpu is 8 pipeline versus the previous 4 pieline units.

wiz333 also posted pictures of the preproduction model, and launch reporters have reported that the red side trim remains. I think red trim and carbon fiber makes it every bit as special as the previous generations. not only is there the bits of red to attract, but not many notebooks have a carbon fiber lid. i also like the front view of this one compared to the previous ferraris'


internally, it has a brand new chipset to the ferrari line. it's now a widescreen 15.4 instead of std ratio. the fact that it's bigger and lighter than the previous ferraris has my attention. and the dvi-d can be quite useful. the case is better designed with usb ports for rightie's if they want to use a corded mouse. it has a dual layer rewriteable drive.

while on a pure external level, changes may look minor, the internal changes are drastic; i'd wonder if they even use any common parts besides from the wifi, bluetooth, and ram. the case, chipset, optical drive, processor, and gpu are all brand new to the ferrari line and almost brand new to acer.

it prob isn't worth it to upgrade from a 3400; but it certainly is a large refresh for the consideration of new buyers.

I have a bad headcold so my analytical abilities are not at their best, so yes i agree on some of the things you mentioned, because I simply forgot about them. Dual writer, great if you need it (bet it is slow though and can other players read them?)

As to looks, well that is a personal thing, my 3200 is the first lappy i have had, it looks great and is commented on by almost everyone I meet in a positive way (annoyingly class mates keep making excuses why they have to use it, even if just for a minute or two....) I think the new one looks dull on the inside, matt black, on the older versions, the buttons are rounded, the touch screen is rounded, the direction button is rounded. On the 4000, these things look more conventional. Whilst on a real car i prefer straight lines to curves (eg Lotus vs Porsche) with a laptop, it is inherently square/rectangular, so anything that softens that look is good, but as I said, that is purely a non technical prefferance.

The pipeline may be 8 rather than 4, but look how many gpu's come out in a year. it will be 16 rather than 8 soon enough and unless you are an intense gamer who has to have the very best (fair enough) it will make little difference to most of us, until we start to have compatibility issues (waiting for an avalanche of replies on that one... )

I would have liked a wide screen, I certainly wouldn't want 17 inch, they look ridiculous on a laptop (nearly bought an Amilo...A or D... can't remember with amd 64 inside, it was just too big.) Don't suppose anyone can actually work out what those measurements are for me for the 15.4? For me widescreen is for two things, watching movies and photo editing, because you can side by side pictures more effectively, but for everything else, i like standard format.

I don't know or can't remember what dvi-d is, so you will have to enlighten me. This is all good, because anyone reading is hopefully getting a clearer picture of what the differences are.

The right side usb's are definately a plus, I didn't notice that, I am a rightie and the mouse (especially since they provide an optical, cabled mouse,) is a pain in the ass.

As to common parts, well yes they do use other common parts, they give you even more, not very good ram (in both slots again...) and unless someone tells me otherwise an even bigger really poor hard drive. Yes you can upgrade them, but it is expensive enough and it is being marketed as a top end/exclusive product. I bet the 4000 in the George Lucas picture has had the '100 gig granny hard drive' ripped out and replaced.
They are still sticking with the same ram and same maximum ram speed, so something important internally hasn't changed.

If the processor makes a substantial difference to battery life, that would be a big plus, because it is very limiting for my business, but Acer doesn't make any reference to battery life, so even though we all know the previous ferrari estimates were wildly optimistic, at least they were still comparative. If they had said '4.5 hours', we could say "OK, we might get between 3 and 4."

I still insist that 160 grams (or there abouts)less in weight is not worth a mention. Weight loss doesn't have the same cumulative positive effects as say, a faster hard drive (eg faster start-up, opening of programmes, faster copying of files etc) unless lighter also means smaller and slimmer, which in this case it doesn't. If that is 5%, unless you come from planet Zog with very low gravity, 5% is not going to be noticeable, it certainly isn't a selling point. the selling points are some of the ones you mentioned above.

I personaly like the 400 series look and I think I will be buying it.

why?
better GPU
better CPU
faster DVD writer

All this I liked about tje 3200 and 3400 but the red paint was a cold shower for me because I am a Mclaren fan I can not be seen with a red notebook + a Ferrari logo

Now the looks are better, I like black...

well, you will still have to tear off the ferrari badge, that was rumoured to have cost $400 on the older models,so we can assume on the 4000 it will cost $500...you can sell it on ebay...

U.S. Bashing

I remember you now Uriel, on another thread we were discussing american policy or something, rkingston (of course) accused you of being a yankee basher and me a whiner, no?

he does that in every thread when something against US is said

the badge would not be a problem

If you get the 4000, you should spray paint the red with silver and post some pictures. =) maybe even spray an oval on the lid with your name on it.

not a bad idea... insted of the name put a Mclaren badge

How brilliant, I'm down with a cold also. Hope ya get well soon.

Yeah, the weight loss isn't going to make a large difference; I wish it did though. Imagine that, a Ferrari notebook with everything at 5lb or less in a thin and light.

It's true that the difference between 8 and 4 pipeline cards now is neglible for normal users. But Windows just keeps getting more demanding on the GPU with every release. And while using consumer gpu's is not recommended, people using these notebooks for programs like SolidWorks should see a tangible improvement. It's always nice to have a gpu that can run the odd future games or future modeling programs a bit faster. Beyond that, again it's future proofing. heh.... my thoughts on this notebook are basically revolving around futureproofing. I plan to keep whichever laptop I purchase for at least 5 years (if it lasts that long), so futureproofing is a big part of the equation for me.

DVI-D is a digital interface to things like monitors and projectors and the what not; it's "the replacement" for vga. Some people say that dvi-d makes a noticable difference from vga; I don't see the difference, but I just like having the option. More futureproof in case they do phase out vga as they've been talking about. But that point depends on one's beliefs of when things will switch off vga and also how long one plans to keep their notebook.

There was a review done on the Aspire 5002 and i believe it got a battery life test of about three and a half hrs. The chipset used was the SiS chipset with integrated. I think, pure conjecture, that the ATI chipset will save a little bit on power usage and maybe bump up the Ferrari a bit. But then it has a PCI-E gpu.... so that might deduct a few minutes depending on powersaving implementation. Guess we'll just have to see. I'd be disappointed if the 4000's battery life didn't surpass the 3400 though.

oh my........ that matte black inside finish looks very smooth and gorgeous...
http://taiwan.cnet.com/sharedmedia/C...ari4000-07.jpg

You won't get 5 years out of any notebook, for more than typing word docs. I am hoping to stretch my notebook to 3 years, but realistically, I will get 2 years.

Really I wouldn't spend a shed load of money, based on the idea that you won't buy again for 5 years, because you will be kicking yourself in 2-3 years time, when you really have to buy another lappy.

Thanks for the info on dvi

I eat my words 'crunch, crunch' about the hard drive...

I am happy to eat my words about the hard drive, elsewhere in the forum, someone in Taiwan appears to have bought the 4000 with a 100gb 5400rpm hard drive, which for anybody buying this unit, i am very happy about, that is one cost you won't have to pay for.
He is being very cagey and some things don't quite add up, so until satisfied, i will continue to be a little sceptical.

I know I won't be doing anymore more than office stuff after 3 years, but that's all I plan to do down the road anyways. I don't worry so much about the performance of the notebook in 5 as in the build quality holding for 5. I've been using my desktop for 3 years (no upgrades) already with an MX420 and it doesn't bother me. I'm not an intensive gamer, so I don't care if I'm playing on ultralow detail settings. If I can merely run the same software as future computers (no matter how long it takes... hahaha) I'll be ok with it.
Further down the road I plan to build another desktop anyways so the "high end" performance will be covered. The notebook is for the here-and-now today, however long it holds out on games and other programs, and later on for portable work, like a powerpoint presentation or staying connected while travelling. And the Ferrari specifically because it has the A64, bluetooth, dvd burner, wifi, wide screen, and the gpu that will hold out the longest in the constant onslaught of technology.
Just my thoughts on it.

I actually still use a Patriot with a 433mhz celeron, it is the first and only PC I bought, my ferrari 3200 is the second. The Patriot was bought in 1999, so it has seen some use, only once has it crashed, still runs essential things like Skype internet telophony, Limewire download software, mozilla, msn. Now i use it just to download movies and software, to check them for bugs.

I think i am gonna try sell it for peanuts, but for someone just learning to use a computer, or who want a second one for the kids to mess around on, it is reliable and simple, has a dvd player that must have played 1000's of movies by now.

So yeah, they can last, but I think most of the big jumps in technology have really been in the last year or two, so things now, will get obsolete more quiclky. Unfortunately, i need to run Photoshop and loaded digital pictures (7mp camera) so I need something with a bit of power. When I get another camera for the business, I will likely need a faster lappy to run it....

I'm on my 6th (and final) year of using my Thinkpad T20
Just ordered my Ferrari 4005, and I predict that I will be using it for 4-5 years before I get the itch to replace it

I just got my Ferrari 4005 a week ago and I can already tell that I will be using this laptop for at least 4 years. The speed of this laptop is amazing and the feel of the keyboard is great. Also, the screen is beautiful (it has the same if not better quality than my old IBM A31P flexview screen). Plus it is just an all around well built and thought out lappy. Way to go Acer!!!!