Vroom!
Acer has been churning out Ferrari machines for a while now, and you'll note that it's mostly always a similar pattern and design. From the bright red exterior to the prominent Ferrari badge, to the AMD based interior, these notebooks have always been about the spirit and excitement of the Formula One races. This time around however, Acer has opted not to go for the standard notebook build and has instead picked a netbook-like machine while utilizing for the machine.
This translates to an interesting design choice, as you'll note that AMD's Congo platform is designed for ultrathin and light machines and features much better performance compared to the usual Intel Atom netbook. With Congo, AMD brings true dual-core processing to the game in the form of the Athlon Neo X2 processor. This should raise the performance levels of this class of machines a fair bit. It will also be interesting to see how the performance numbers add during the benchmarking phase, and we'll find out more soon enough.
Now, to be fair, the Acer Ferrari One isn't your typical netbook either with its 11.6-inch screen and it does pack a much heftier punch in terms of graphics compared to a normal Intel Atom netbook, so expect this unit to be able to do some light gaming, similar to netbooks equipped with NVIDIA's Ion platform. But as usual, before we dive deeper into the technical stuff, let's take a closer look at the gorgeous exterior of this high-performance netbook.
Red, shiny and raring to go Vroom! is the Acer Ferrari One.
The front of the netbook keeps thing clean but for the two switches - the wireless and bluetooth switch. We've only one complain though, the switches are toggle based so you may have problems trying to figure whether they are turned on/off.
The left side has a more conventional design with the card reader, audio jacks, dual USB 2.0 ports, and the LAN port.
The right side however, sticks to a different approach with the VGA out and ATI's eXternal Graphics Port (XGP). There's also another USB port here too.
Vroom Vroom!
The bright red exterior gives way to a black color scheme, with just a checkered pattern located on the palm rest area for highlights and resembles the carbon fiber material found on racing cars (though it's just normal plastic on the Acer machine). The bright glossy screen does render colors bright and vibrant, though as glossy surfaces go, we're none too happy on seeing our own reflection. The keyboard area remains clutter free, with wireless and Bluetooth switches hidden on the front as shown on the previous page. The multi-touch trackpad, while weirdly shaped, was responsive enough and had accurate tracking.
Inside, the netbook does away with the glossy red in favor of a sleek black interior with plenty of space for your fingers.
The chiclet style keyboard wins kudos from us for its generous space and gorgeous look and feel. There however exists a very noticeable flex when typing that you might want to watch out for.
The touchpad features multi-touch capabilities and was quite responsive despite its odd isosceles trapezoid shape.
Lastly, the palm rest features a carbon-fiber like design and the Ferrari logo again for a reminder that it's a Ferrari inspired machine.
Lastly, we take a look at the back of the unit, which does allow you access to the innards, though with the knowledge that you will break your warranty.
Audio was great when we did some video playback testing, and thanks to the integrated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 graphics, there was no problem watching high definition 1080p resolution clips on this machine (though the screen itself isn't big enough for Full HD resolution viewing). You'll also either love or hate the default start up engine whine, though we do have to point out you can change the themes in Windows 7 at your will. Lastly, we must point out that there's a heat issue we noted when we were using the unit, as the side vents did expel quite a bit of heat. If you don't like hot machines on your lap, you might want to avoid this notebook as it did get quite warm at the sides and bottom.
Vroom Vroom Vroom!
As far as looks go, the Acer Ferrari One has that department down pat. However, it's in the internals of the machine where we determine whether or not this netbook has what it takes to meet the grade. So let's start with the simplest of all tests - battery life. There's really no point to getting a pretty netbook if all you end up with less than satisfactory battery performance, so let's find out, shall we?
The 6-cell battery that powers the Acer Ferrari One.
To see how the Ferrari One holds up, we've thrown in the HP Pavilion dv2 which uses the first version of AMD's ultrathin mobile platform - the Yukon. And to spice things up a bit, we included a similarly priced Intel CULV processor based machine, the Acer Aspire 4810T for comparison. Lastly, we needed an Intel Atom machine for comparison so we've tossed in the Acer Aspire One.
Specifications/Notebook | Acer Ferrari One | HP Pavilion dv2 | Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T | Acer Aspire One AOD250 |
Processor | AMD Athlon X2 L310 (1.2GHz) with 1MB L2 cache | AMD Athlon Neo-MV40 (1.6GHz) with 512KB L2 cache | Intel Core 2 Duo processor ULV SU 9400 (1.40GHz) with 3MB L2 cache | Intel Atom N280 (1.66GHz) with 512KB L2 cache |
Chipset | AMD 780G | AMD M690G | Intel GS45 | Intel 945GSE |
Memory | 4GB DDR2 | 1 x 2GB DDR2 | 4GB DDR3 | 1GB DDR2 |
HDD | 1 x 500GB SATA - 5400RPM | 1 x 320GB SATA - 5400RPM | 1 x 500GB SATA - 5400RPM | 1 x 160GB SATA - 5400RPM |
Video | ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 | ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 | Intel GMA 4500HD | Intel GMA 950 |
Based on the running time of 2 hours 55 minutes from our continuous video looping test, we found that despite the 6-cell 5600mAH battery, it just wasn't enough to beat Intel's platform on battery life. That's not to say it's not a decent run time, but rather it's not impressive enough.
Delving deeper, we found that the crux lies in its power consumption. With the Acer Ferrari One having a very high draw of 21.28 watts, this doesn't bode well for the AMD platform even though it's slightly better than the previous AMD Yukon.
Lastly, the Portability Index confirmed that while the unit is portable, it just wasn't as portable compared to the other netbooks and Intel CULV processors based thin and light notebooks at just a very low score of 1.240 (for a netbook/ultraportable). If only its battery life was better, the portability score would have been much more favorable. Alas, it seems that AMD based notebooks still have some way to go in terms of fine-tuning power consumption. Either AMD hasn't offered enough assistance to its platform vendors, or it's still a short-coming of its own design. Perhaps when more Congo platform notebooks are out, we can better determine this aspect.
Vroom Vroom Vroom Vroom!
Performance has always been an issue with netbooks, but AMD's Congo should have no problems scoring much better than the usual Intel Atom machines despite the lower clock speed. With a dual-core AMD Athlon X2 L310 (1.2GHz) processor, 4GB DDR2 RAM, a 500GB HDD and better graphics in the form of the integrated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 meant that this was a netbook to be reckoned with. Furthermore, thanks to netbooks finally moving on to Windows 7, we were also able to run PCMark Vantage in addition to our usual PCMark05 and 3DMark06 benchmarks.
The results show that, while it's not as powerful as Intel's CULV processor platform, it still has a leg up over Intel's Atom processors. It also does better than its older Yukon platform, but of course, that's a given. The decent 3D performance also means that despite is modest form factor, you will be able indulge in light gaming (heck, we tested Torchlight and found that it ran pretty decent on this netbook). And if you're wondering about the higher scoring HP Pavilion dv2, note that the dv2 uses a much more powerful discrete graphics while the Acer Ferrari One relies on its integrated graphics, hence the difference in scores.
Vroom Vroom Vroom Vroom Vroom!
Acer's Ferrari range of notebooks have always been hot sellers for the Ferrari Formula One aficionados, and it's a given fact that they have always been priced slightly higher than what you'd expect for an Acer machine. That's fine by us to be honest. After all, it's a premium laptop that sports the Ferrari brand so expect to pay a higher price. After all, you don't pay peanuts for a Ferrari car, do you?
In terms of performance, we could find no fault with the system. AMD's newer Congo platform does deliver much better performance compared to the older Yukon platform, while handily beating the Intel Atom yet again. While it still loses out to Intel's CULV processor based platform, it's still a pretty decent effort on AMD's part. Battery life wise, the Acer Ferrari One managed to secure a respectable uptime of 175 minutes, though power consumption at (much higher than either of Intel's solutions) remained somewhat of a weakness of the platform.
Platform performance aside, the Acer Ferrari One is a solid netbook that lives up to the Ferrari ideal. In fact, the machine's specs and capabilities are far better than a netbook that it's difficult to classify it as such. Rather, it is closer to the ultraportable range of notebooks. From its exterior red design to the roar of the Ferrari engine when you enter Windows, this machine has what it takes to satisfy both the casual consumer and the hardcore Ferrari fan. Then again though, there's the problem of a hefty price tag of S$1598 which may deter your average casual consumer, but we're sure the Ferrari fans will have no qualms on popping by a store to grab one. Vroom!
Ferrari fans will probably love the portability and looks of this machine, though your casual consumer will probably balk at the S$1598 price tag.
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.