Laptops Arena

Have you ever wondered which Acer laptop was the first one to introduce the new Gemstone device? Probably the answer would be no, you haven't. No problem, neither did I, it's not like you have to know everything by heart. However, Acer's first laptop with the Gemstone design didn't just brought a new design line for Acer but also some interesting features. Therefore, the Aspire 5930 can easily be considered the 5920 successor, with the latest technology available (in the middle laptop range), including ATI graphic chipsets (up to 512 MB with DDR3 video memory).

Also, because this is an Aspire laptop, meaning it must include multimedia features; Acer included Dolby sound system, with several other features such as the 15.4 inches Crystal Brite TFT display, and the full port package you might need in a multimedia laptop. In terms of design, the Aspire 5930 sports the excellent Gemstone blue fading into black design, with a glossy plastic cover LCD (as you may expect this means the lid is a fingerprint magnet, and really easy to get scratches on). Even so the silver "Acer" logo really looks nice on the glossy lid; making the design more stylish then conservative (this being a good feature since 5930 is by far business range). The build construction is as solid as you can get, no weird noises (even if the 5930's body is made entirely out of plastic), and no flex whatsoever.

Acer successfully delivers a great Gemstone design with a solid build quality. Inside, the 5930 sports a black keyboard which looks really nice, glossy frame around the LCD display embedding the webcam, and a nice patterned cover (which is kind of slippery). The rest of the body is made out of black matte plastic. Even so, the build quality is remarkable; Acer is really trying to compete with Toshiba in terms of build quality (since in the design department Toshiba is by far better than Acer). On the left side Acer included the Acer Easy Port IV connector, the Express Card slot (54 mm Express Card), the 5 in 1 memory card reader (compatible with xD picture card, Memory Stick PRO memory card, Multimedia memory card, Memory Stick memory card, and SD memory card), the RJ 45 LAN, one eSATA / USB combo port with the sleep and charge function, the HDMI port with HDCP support, and the VGA port.

While on the right side you get two USB 2.0 ports, the headphone out, microphone in, line in jack, the RJ 11 modem, the DC in jack, and the depending on your choice (Acer only offer one configuration available, but allows its customers to customize their own 5930) either the Super Multi DVD drive or the Blu-ray Disc / Super Multi DVD drive. With a varying height from front to rear 30 mm to 43 mm (or 1.2 inches to 1.7 inches), wide of 366 mm (or 14.3 inches), deep of 274 mm (or 10.6 inches), the Aspire 5930 weights about 6.6 lbs (or 3 Kg), including the battery. Speaking of the battery, Acer included in this model a six cell Lithium Ion battery with 48.8 Watts. However, you are able to choose for the eight cell battery with 71 Watts, which should be enough for 3 hours battery life when using the graphics.

Thanks to the included Standby technology and Hibernation technology, the battery life will last longer. Even so, the eight cell Lithium Ion battery is able to charge itself at maximum in 3 hours if you chose to use the laptop or in two hours if you let it in the system off mode. Once you open the 5930 the first thing you are going to notice is the lack of a full keyboard. Even so, the included keyboard sports a nice black look, with good seized keys, which provide excellent feedback for even the most exigent user. Even better, Acer successfully build a keyboard which lacks any flex within the usage process. You also get easy launch buttons such as Acer Arcade, email, Bluetooth, and the WLAN profile.

Also included are the Acer Media Touch keys (such as fast forward, fast rewind, next, previous, play, stop, or pause). Under the keyboard you get the touch pad (which is not exactly the best included touch pad). Unfortunately it's placed at a lower level of the case, making the whole usage process at best strange. It provides sufficient feedback and works nice; thanks to the non slippery material used, but the lower level location is definitely a minus. If you chose so you can include in your customized 5930 the Acer Bio protection fingerprint reader (located between the two touchpad buttons).

This feature will ensure the Windows log on, your computer protection, and several other functions like Music launch and Profile launch. Acer included into the 5930 a 15.4 inches diagonal widescreen TFT LCD display (featuring the Crystal Brite technology), with the WXGA resolution (also known as 1280 x 800 pixels resolution). This TFT LCD is capable of rendering about 16.7 million colors with a 16 to 9 aspect ratio. In terms of brightness this display is in the average zone. Other laptops with 15.4 inches diagonal screen provides 300 nit level brightness in the center of the screen, while the Acer Aspire 5930 sports only 220 nit level brightness in the center of the screen.

Even so, since the Aspire 5930 is not a ultraportable solution, the brightness under direct sunlight should not be a disadvantage since it is advertised as an indoor use multimedia solution. The connectivity is ensured depending on the configuration you might decide to create, by either Intel Wi-Fi Link (5100 / 5300) with the 802.11 a/b/g/n profile or the Intel Wi-Fi (5150 / 5350) WiMAX dual mode module (single band 802.16e/2.5G), the modem with a maximum speed of 56 Kb per second, 10 / 100 / 1000 Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.0 with the enhanced data rate, Express Card slot, HDMI port, VGA port, two USB 2.0 ports, and one eSATA / USB port.

Acer provides only one pre determined configuration, the Aspire 5930G 733G25Mn which includes the Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 with 2.0 GHz, 667 MHZ FSB with the L2 cache 2MB, 250 GB ATA hard drive with 5400 rotations per minute, 3 GB RAM memory unit, the Super Multi DVD drive, the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT with 512 MB VRAM, and the connectivity package. However, you are allowed to build your fully customized Aspire 5930. You can chose between either Mobile Intel PM 45 Express Chipset or the Mobile Intel GM 45 Express Chipset. Also you can chose a better processor (still Intel Core 2 Duo) but with 6 MB L2 cache. Also the maximum supported memory is 4 GB. However you only get one hard disk drive option, the 250 GB one. The NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT offers the best graphic solution with the 2303 MB Turbo Cache with 512 MB GDDR3 VRAM dedicated, while the rest of 1791 MB is shared.

However if you are planning to reduce your costs then chose from the NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS with 2047 MB Turbo Cache memory (256 MB DDR2 VDRAM dedicated, and the rest of 1791 MB shared), or the Mobile Intel GM 45 Express Chipset with the 3D graphics integrated (including the X4500 HD also known as Intel GMS X4500 HD with 512 MB with only 8 MB dedicated memory). If you are actually going to use this laptop then you have to chose between the NVIDIA 9600M GT or the NVIDIA 9300M GS, since the 8 MB dedicated memory from the Intel GMA X4500 HD is like going back to 1999 at best.

Acer includes in every Aspire 5930 the following mandatory software, Acer Empowering technology, Acer Instant On Arcade, Acer Crystal Eye, Acer Grid Vista, Acer Launch Manager, McAfee Internet Security Suite (only 60 day trial version), Adobe Reader and the Microsoft Works 8.5 and the Office Home with the Student 2007 trial version (for 30 days). Even more you can chose from Windows Vista Home Premium, Home Basic, and Ultimate. However, if you are going to customize your Aspire 5930 just chose the Windows 7 since it is the only stable Microsoft operating system since XP.

Overall the Aspire 5930 is a great laptop. The majority of users who need a good featured indoor multimedia solution with a stunning design are probably going to give a chance to the Aspire 5930. However, for the same price you can buy a Toshiba Satellite U500. Therefore, the buy decision rest in the hands and brains of the potential customer because a purchase is always a subjective action.