Bigger, better: Acer Aspire 9800 - Review

Shuttle alternative?

Once you've regained your composure from that first encounter and start thinking about the design then the concept begins to show definite advantages. If you were to compare the Acer to a Shuttle XPC for instance, then the design starts to make sense and would possibly make an elegant alternative to the latter. As the monitor is integrated in the notebook design it would mean fewer cables and in contrast to a shuttle XPC a notebook can be easily stored away from sight thus making it an ideal computer for in a living room or study. The overall design does have its flaws: at 7,75 kilograms the Acer is no lightweight and some serious muscle is required to carry it around for long periods of time, on top of this the possibilities for upgrading a notebook are severely limited when compared to a Shuttle XPC.

When considering the weight and dimensions of the Acer and that this machine will hardly be used in a location without a power socket close by, Acer have still seen fit to add a battery to the design. Though we were slightly apprehensive when we were testing the battery life, we were pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Running the light reader test, which simulates the same power drain as a user browsing the internet on their notebook, the Acer just about managed a 100 minutes of battery life. Regrettably we weren't able to get the somewhat more demanding productivity test running on the system and thus we were not able to see what the battery life would be under more demanding circumstances. Nonetheless the score acquired with the reader test is impressive when taking into account that the Acer has a power hungry 20 inch (1680x1050) screen. Even when using the notebook at home the battery has added functionality as it can double up as a UPS in case of a power shortage allowing the user to continue working with the notebook.