Laptops Arena

In the last article I presented a full model line of laptops power exclusively by AMD. Even so, the Acer Aspire 6530 is a solid investment for any of the eight cell battery configurations. Acer is not yet turning a new chapter in laptop history, letting go of Intel technology. By far, Acer's intentions are to lose its Intel customers.

Therefore, the Aspire 6xxx line includes beside the AMD line Aspire 6530, another line powered entirely by Intel Centrino processor technology, Aspire 6930. The Acer Aspire 6xxx also includes another two models, the Aspire 6935 and the Aspire 6920, both lines with only one available configuration. About the Aspire 6935 and Aspire 6920 I am going to write in another article before concluding about the Acer's 6xxx laptop range. For now let's focus our attention over the Aspire 6930.


This model line includes 12 available configurations. Acer is trying to make sure it can be considered a strong competitor of Toshiba. However, the Acer's products have a long way to go until they can reach Toshiba level. The Aspire 6930 is the Intel version of the Aspire 6530. This line is created for home users who expect the best audio and video performances from an average line laptop (also known as, under $1000 price tag). Since 6930 is part of the rather new (even if its 1 year old) Aspire line, it sports a nice Gemstone blue to black design, with the LCD cover made out of glossy plastic, with the a full back keyboard, and a patterned touch pad and touch pad surroundings.


The rest of the 6930 is made out of a black matte plastic which feels nice at touch. Overall, if you don't really mind the fingerprint magnet and scratches magnet lid, the 6930 sports a stylish design (thanks to the metallic silver "Acer" logo and the stainless steels finishes - in the hinges), and a pretty good build quality (even rated at solid build quality). In time I am not exactly sure how this design will sustain its looks mostly because of the plastic glossy lid. Because the LCD cover works like a hinge, Acer didn't include any slots and ports on the back side of the Aspire 6930. However, on the left side you can find the RJ 45 LAN, Express card 54 mm slot, the VGA port, the HDMI port, one eSATA / USB combo with sleep and charge mode, microphone input, headphone output, Line-in,  DC in, and the cooling vent.


On the right side of the 6930 you can find two 2.0 USB, RJ 11 modem, Kensington lock, and the Super Multi DVD drive (compatible with several formats such as DVD - RAM, CD - R, DVD + RW, CD - RW, DVD - RW, DVD - R single layer, DVD + R double layer, DVD + R, and DVD - R double layer - for the write mode, with a few more accepted formats in the read mode). On the front side you can find the 5 in 1 memory card reader compatible with Secure Digital memory card, Memory Stick memory card, xD Picture Card, Memory Stick Pro memory card, and the Multimedia memory card.


Overall, Acer successfully delivers the necessary ports and slots into an impressive design, with a varying height from front to rear 1.6 inches to 1.7 inches (or 41 mm to 43.9 mm), deep of 10.9 inches (or 277.5 mm), wide of 15.2 inches (or 385 mm), the Aspire 6930 wrights with the six cell battery included about 3.4 Kg (or 7.5 lbs) depending on the configuration chosen. In terms of battery, all the 12 configurations available for 6930 either sport a six cell battery or an eight cell battery. Both battery models are made from Lithium Ion. The six cell battery can provide only two and a half hours of autonomy depending on the usage, while the eight cell battery provides depending on the usage up to three and a half hours of autonomy.


Both models need about three hours to complete charge is the laptop is turned on, and about two hours for a complete charge if the laptop is turned off. A great feature of the 6930 is the complete keyboard layout, with excellent sized keys which offer sufficient feedback when pressed. The keyboard is well build and you will not have any problems with it. You also get the empowering keys (such as the Bluetooth key, Acer Instant On arcade key, WLAN enable key, and the web browser) but also the Multimedia pad with the necessary controls such as play and pause, fast forward, fast rewind, previous, stop, and next media control.


Under the keyboard you can find the nice patterned touch screen which includes several nice features from the multi touch technology such as the four way integrated scroll features. Just like the keys from the keyboard, the touch pad offers good feedback completing the user experience. To integrate the best multimedia experience, Acer added in the 6930 models a 16 inches widescreen diagonal TFT LCD with a WXGA resolution (also known as 1366 x 768 pixels), capable of rendering up to 16.7 million colors. This display is identical with the one found on the 6530. Therefore, you should aspect at relatively bad brightness under direct sunlight. However, this laptop is made foe indoor use, so you don't really get to criticize Acer for adding such a display into its products. Even so, the viewing angles are quite good.

The video experience is completed thanks to the HDMI port and VGA port. Even more, Acer also added nice features in the audio department including two stereo speakers, which not only sport the second version of Dolby Home Theater audio but also the a great bass supporting even the lowest frequency sound effects. In terms of multimedia the Aspire 6930 is well featured and it should be taken into consideration as a competitor to the Satellite A500. The connectivity is ensured by the Intel Wi-Fi Link with the 802.11 a/b/g/n profile, Bluetooth 2.0 with enhanced data rate, Gigabit LAN, modem with a maximum speed of 56 Kb per second, two 2.0 USB, one eSATA / USB combo port with sleep and charge function, and the VGA and HDMI ports.


The connectivity features, along with the 16 inches display, Super Multi DVD drive, Mobile Intel GM 45 Express Chipset, and the pre-installed software (Acer eAudio, Acer eRecovery, Acer Game Zone, Acer Launch Manager, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and a trial version for McAfee Internet Security Suite) are included in all the 12 configurations of the 6930 Aspire model, AS6930 6067, AS6930 6073, AS6930 6941, AS6930 6942, AS6930 6082, AS6930 6154, AS6930 6771, AS6930 6809, AS6930 6235, AS6930 6455, AS6930 6262, and AS6930 6560. The Aspire 6930 6809 includes an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5800 with 2 MB L2 cache 2.0 GHz 800 MHz FSB, one 320 GB hard drive, the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 MHD, and 3 GB DDR2 667 SDRAM, running the Windows Vista Home Premium.


The second configuration 6455 runs the same operating system (the 64 bit version), and the same processor like 6809, 4 GB DDR2 667 SDRAM, Intel Media Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 MHD, and the 250 GB Hard drive. The Aspire AS6930 6154 includes some common features with the 6455 (operating system, processor, RAM memory, and graphic chipset), but offers a better hard drive, 320 GB hard drive. The 6082 includes the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5800, with 4 GB DDr2 667 SDRAM, Intel Media Graphic Accelerator 4500 MHD, and the 250 GB hard drive. A slightly better configuration is the 6262 which provides the same T5800 processor and RAM memory, and the 320 GB hard drive, and the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS graphics. The 6723 is basically the same with 6262 but offers instead of the Super Multi DVD drive, the Blu-ray Disc drive.


The Aspire 6930 6560 is a combination between the above configurations, 6723, 6262, and 6082. The first configuration with the eight cell battery is the 6073 which also includes the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8600 with 2.40 GHz 3MB L2 cache and 1066 MHz. Also included is the 4 GB DDR2 667 SDRAM (in 2048 MB x 2 configuration), NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS graphic chipset, and the 320 GB hard drive.


The 6771 is a rather different configuration than the rest of the 6930 presented, with the P7350 processor with 2.0 GHz 3 MB L2 cache at 1066 MHz FSB, 3 GB DDR2 667 SDRAM, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 MHD, and the 320 GB hard drive. The second configuration available with the Blu-ray Disc drive and eight cell battery is the 6941 with the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T6400 included, 4 GB DDR2 667 SDRAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS graphic chipset, and 320 GB hard drive. The last three configurations, 6942, 6067, and 6235, sport the same six cell Lithium Ion battery.


The Aspire 6930 6942 includes the T6400 processor, with 250 GB hard drive, 4 GB DDR2 667 SDRAM, and the NVIDIA chipset. The 6067 replaces the 6942's hard drive and graphic chipset with 320 GB hard drive and the Intel Graphic Media Accelerator 4500 MHD, while the last available configuration, 6235, includes 6942 and 6067 processor, RAM memory, 6067's graphic chipset, and 6942's hard drive.


Overall, all these configurations need a certain element upgraded, the operating system form Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home premium. As you could probably see all these 12 configurations are more than enough from people to choose from. However, if you don't like them you should rather go for the fully customizable configuration of the Toshiba Satellite A500. Overall, the Aspire 6930 can be a safe competitor to the A500, thanks to its nice design, excellent base features, and complete range of model configurations.