The good: Good quality screen; 16:9 ratio; "Cinetouch" media navigation; new design; Acer Empowerment software

The bad: Cheap plastic wrist rest; Cinetouch panel too high friction; entire mouse pad isn't active; integration between media controls, Acer Arcade Deluxe and Windows Media Center is lacking; single TV tuner only; sound management is not made easy, with different options in three different places; yahoo toolbar

The bottom line: Acer's interesting take on the entertainment desktop replacement makes a few good steps, a few bad, but ultimately is a viable option.

Read full review of the Acer Aspire 8920G »

By Craig Simms, CNET.com.au
Apr 28, 2008

Acer has definitely come a long way in the Gemstone series with the Gemstone Blue. While the company certainly hasn't hit HP's level of design, it's a step in the right direction. While the plastic faux-metal kickplate wrist rest feels and looks cheap, the full-sized keyboard is great to use, the trackpad is accurate and the styling is leaps ahead of the previous bland greyness inflicted by the last in the series. Somewhat vexingly, the trackpad isn't active all the way to the edge. So when using the virtual scroll button you have to make sure you swipe in further from the right-hand side than you'd usually expect.

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com.au. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

The 8920G is an 18.4-inch, LED-backlit 1,920 x 1,080-screened laptop--both firsts as far as we're aware. You'll certainly notice the 16:9 aspect ratio, which gives you a letterbox-like aspect and can make you feel you're stuck in a movie while typing. The screen also claims to have "100 percent more color range"--more colors than what it fails to tell, although another sticker claims 90 percent color gamut--presumably NTSC. Regardless of these discrepancies, the display's color representation is very nice, indeed.

The most attention-demanding feature is most certainly the capacitive-touch media control interface on the left of the keyboard which Acer has dubbed "Cinetouch". We say interface, but frankly it's more like an abstract art piece that takes a while to figure out exactly what everything is meant to be. After a little self-introduction we were able to navigate, set volume, and control our media playback with ease through Acer's included Media Center software, Acer Arcade Deluxe, but is made near useless in Windows Media Center by the fact that the back button doesn't work in it. We also feel the friction of the control interface needs to be reduced for it to be used effectively--as it stands, we'd prefer to use the included, dead ugly Windows Media Center compatible remote--at least the back button works there.

Windows Media Center is also rigged to run Acer Arcade Deluxe if you choose the Play Movie function--and there's no way to close the application down from the remote when finished, leaving you with the fallback option of hitting the green Media Center button in the middle of the remote to call back the original program, while leaving Arcade Deluxe running in the background. Sloppy.

The power button at the top left glows blue, as does the control interface (unless you press the Hold button, in which case only that is lit). But you can't turn these off at any point, even when watching a movie--which is high-level distraction. In the same vein, Acer has taken a cue from Apple and lit the company logo up on the back of the monitor.

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