Gonzo Gadgets » Geek Culture

Acer Aspire AS1551-5448 Review

BrettC — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 16:06:32 +0000

Acer Aspire AS-1551

The Acer Aspire 1551 is a thin-and-light notebook, or a revved-up netbook and hits a sweet spot that many are looking for. With discrete ATI Radeon graphics and plenty of processor muscle, the AS1551 promises a valuable compromise between netbook portability (weighing only 3 lbs) and notebook performance (AMD Turion II Neo Dual-Core processor). Acer offers the Aspire 1551 in in two models – the AS1551-5448 and AS1551-4755. Here are the key differences:

	AS1551-5448	AS1551-4755
Processor	AMD K625 (1.5 GHz)	AMD K325 (1.3 GHz)
Memory	4GB RAM	3GB RAM
Storage	320 GB HDD	250 GB HDD
Retail	$549.99	$479.99

For a modest price bump, the AS1551-5448 offers a number of important benefits over the AS1551-4755, and we recommend customers strongly consider the AS1551-5448 to enjoy the best balance of the netbook & notebook worlds.

Gonzo Gadgets Take

There is nothing else in the market quite like the Aspire AS1551 and we believe Acer has a winner on its hands, at least until competitors catch up. The price matches the specifications – it’s not bargain basement but by no means top of market. For a truly thin-and-light notebook computer that can do real work, the price seems fair.

Pro’s:

Generous screen resolution (1366×768 on an 11″ screen)
Plenty of video muscle for full-screen HD movies & some gaming
Great processor capability for serious application use, given the incredibly light weight
Chiclet keyboard with good feel
Truly thin & light – a great traveller
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Con’s:

Too much bloatware installed by Acer (either reinstall Windows or simply uninstall 1-by-1)
Limited vertical viewing angle
Glossy screen may be difficult in sunlight conditions
Screen can present a washed-out appearance at default setting
Build quality not the highest – some flex in the keyboard, speakers are weak
Battery won’t last the listed 5 hours (3 more likely) with full video- and processor- usage.

Again Acer has taken a risk and developed the Acer Aspire AS1551 for a gap in the market. Are there enough people excited by a portable that delivers near-laptop performance at netbook size & weight? We think so. We believe Acer has found an untapped market and the AS1551 (especially the AS1551-5448) really delivers the goods. You’ll find an excellent traveler here that can do real work on a desk or lap, provided you don’t need CAD and extreme gamer performance. The Aspire AS1551 offers an enticing blend of ultra-portability with good-enough punch that most will not be frustrated by its limitations. This is a great choice for students, business travelers, and those on the go but frustrated with the poor performance of netbooks and the huge price tags of the MacBook Air and its PC equivalents.

What Customers Are Saying

User reviews were limited at the time of this writing (July 11, 2010).

NewEgg – 5/5 Stars
Acer Aspire AS1551-5448 11.6″ Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit NoteBook

Amazon – 3/5 Stars

April Fools 2009 – The Index

BrettC — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:36:08 +0000

Every year the April 1st jokes, pranks and hoaxes get bigger and better. This is simply our effort to catalog some of the better humor for your enjoyment and for posterity. Please share others you find and I’ll list them here.

(Last entry added 2:30 PM ET April 1st)

Technology & Geek Culture

AutoPilot takes the work – all work – out of reading/responding to emails – Google

Slashdot launches User Achievements – Slashdot

Google Brain Search – Google

Warner Bros. Acquires Pirate Bay – TorrentFreak

Lynx browser sees huge surge in popularity due to rival’s security woes – Netcraft

$99 Flights to Mars (save 3 trillion!) – Expedia

Quake Live launches as MMORPG – Quake Live

Razorfish TweetDoubler – Amazing Twitter tool that allows twice the character count – Razorfish

Face the Future: Face Gestures for Opera Browser – Opera

Is Conficker REALLY a virus? – Techware Labs

Breaking: Internet Explorer 8.1 Eagle Eyes Released – Smashing Magazine

Internet Reboot at 11:59 UTC Today – Site Point

After 188 Years of Ink, The Guardian will publish only on Twitter – The Guardian

Windows 7 will launch in only one version – The Raw Feed

Cloud Computing via Airship – Amazon

Carl Icahn is gunning for management shakeup at Apple – InfoWorld

Wolfpigeon Wireless Convergence – Quacomm

Apple Files Patent for methods to Automatically Enforce Secrecy – The Register

US Military uses Left 4 Dead as training simulator – ModShop

Domain Squatter wakes from 5 year coma, wants his money back – Domain Name News

Flying Dog to brew “low alcohol” craft brews to capture Utah market – Flying Dog Blog

Monitor return rates soar amidst dead pixel pandemic – HEXUS

Twitter added to Federal emergency response network – Infoworld

General / Related

Microsoft asks feds for bailout – InfoWorld

Automobile Canine Repellenant Alloy Protection – BMW

Mountain Cleaners Wanted in Switzerland – MySwitzerland.com

$3 Random Crap (plus $1,000,000 Shipping) – Woot

Alan Greenspan: “I screwed up!” – Models & Agents

Colorado Avalanche turn over draft pick to fans – NHL Rumor Mill

Miller, Pacino casted to play in new Bioshock movie – Dark Horizons

Man foils bank robbery after assuming it was an April Fool – Telegraph.co.uk

Bailout Special! 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Short Term Room Rental – istopover

Nine Inch Nails release Justin Timberlake-produced full length “Strobelight” – NiN

French Museum Concorde plane resurrection story hoax – BBC News

Computer Gaming

Get your yodel on with Microsoft’s Alpine Legend for Xbox 360 – VG247

Diablo III New Class: The Archivist – Blizzard

Fallout 3 and Animal Crossing for Classic Nintendo – Minus World

World of Warcraft Dance Off (So you think you can /dance) – Blizzard

Battlefield: Bad Company “2″ new features list – Gamers Digest

2,000+ Japanese customers line up for (phantom) Dragon Quest IX release – Kotaku

World of Warcraft P1mp My Mount – Blizzard

Microsoft to release Windows Vista on Steam in May – Multiplay UK

Products

PetBook, the worlds first laptop for dogs – Toshiba

Webcam software to really watch what your web visitors are doing – Woopra

Squeez Bacon, the world’s most perfect food – ThinkGeek

Tauntaun Sleeping Bag for kids (comes with lightsaber) – ThinkGeek

USB Pet Rock – ThinkGeek

Kodak eyeCamera 4.1, clips right onto your glasses – Kodak

Whole Foods 365 Organic Air – Whole Foods

Google gBall with w/ GPS, wireless & vibration alert BETA – Google AU

Software detects when Callers Lie to Call Center Agents – PSS Help

Linked Portal T-Shirts “The Cake is a Lie” – ThinkGeek

Unicorn Chaser Drink to restore calm after viewing disturbing internet content – Think Geek

Buzzword – the shocking speech-recognition wristband – ThinkGeek

Ultimate Assasin’s Weapon Ice Mold “Never get caught” – ThinkGeek

Give the Gift of F*CK (flying F*CK toy helicopter) – ThinkGeek

Sixth Sense Invention Sees Dead Surface, Represents Huge Leap for Wearable Tech

BrettC — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:37:36 +0000

A group from MIT has developed a surprisingly practical inexpensive and compelling take on what the Personal Area Network (PAN) may someday offer us. A “PAN” is several portable devices working in concert to do more than they could do alone. Could MIT’s vision be only a few years away from reality?

Imagine a portable, cheap ($350 today), context aware version of Microsoft Surface and you may be close to what MIT presented at TED2009. Sixth Sense at it’s core is a camera and projector you carry around with you – not too amazing right? What if they worked together to project information about products, places and even people right on whatever surface happens to be in your vicinity – maybe even your hands?

Sixth Sense combines an ordinary SmartPhone, camera and mini-projector. The camera tracks your gestures and environment. The projector displays information and an interface relevant to the situation. The phone runs the necessary apps, connects to the internet and provides the horsepower.

The best way to appreciate what Sixth Sense can do is to see it in action. The video is long but full of clever nuggets and “ah-ha” moments. But if you don’t have the time, skip to about 3:10 and you’ll instantly get the plot with some insanely cool demos.

Steve Wozniak Dances With, Appalls, the Stars

BrettC — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:01:23 +0000

We respect and admire Steve “Woz” Wozniak, whose computer engineering feats helped propel the venerable Apple II line into every school in the 1980’s. He also seems like a fellow with a great sense of humor a real enjoyment of life and likely a thick skin (hey he had to work with Steve Jobs for many many years!). These attributes served him well after his intro in Dancing With the Stars:

To Woz’s credit he’s not all bad and he’s clearly been working hard at it. We’re guessing he’s not going to make it too far but we’re keeping the flame alive anyway – Woz is really dancing on behalf of all geeks everywhere. So good luck Steve!

(No word on whether Steve Jobs will throw his own turtleneck in the ring next season.)