ACER 4530 Review

[shantanu]

Basic info:


Screen: 14.1 inches

Weight: 5.3lbs

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 QL-60 @1.90 Ghz

RAM: 1GB DDR2 SD RAM @ 667 MHz ( Upgradable upto 4GB )*

HDD: 160GB SATA Harddisk Drive

Communication: 802.11b/g Wifi Signal UP, Inbuilt EDR2.0 Bluetooth.

Graphics/Chipset: Offer Nvidia 9100M G with 256mb Dedicated memory.

Slots: 3USB 2.0, 1 LAN, 1 Modem, one Express/54 slot, 1 VGA out, 1 SD/MMC reader Slot at front

Extra: Volume Whell free and the ACER Empower Button The Laptop also offers 5 Multimedia Buttons very nicely configured at left hand side for, Wifi(signalUP), bluetooth, IE, EMAIL, Messenger.

The pointing device is also very nicely responsive and gives a significant touch level satisfaction.
This notebook comes with two offers for free 60 days trial for McAfee and Microsoft Office 2007.**

Battery/Charging: As for the battery part i would say it dissapoints we with only approx 1.5hrs on High Performance, 2.2 - 2.5 hrs on balanced and about 4 hrs approx. on power saver modes.
charging takes about 1-1.25 hrs to charge to 100% from 10%, so i would think it of a
PRO.

OS: comes with Free LInux

Pricing: I got it for 30K ( 30000INR*** ) with Rs.800/- Extra for another GB of Kingston RAM.

Windows Vista/7 Experience Index scoring
It gave me :
4.7 - processor
5.6 - RAM
4.0/4.4 - Desktop/Gaming GFx
5.3 - HDD transfer rates.
so Overall of 4.0 as for the Graphics..
Would like to add a point with windows 7 that it gives better gaming performance on this laptop than windows vista.

FINAL WORD: With comparision to the same type configration in DELL, TOSHIBA, i would give this one a extra mark on pricing. This one comes for 31000INR. only whereas others in the same category touches 40000INR. mark.i would give this one a GO 9/10 for pricing, quality and Build.. Vista takes about 10 seconds to load so its good. I even played Call of duty WAW and it gave me good performance on medium high graphics.. so it might as well suit you for some gaming needs.

A Perfect buy for casual Gamerz, home users and i bit of power user as well.. not for long battery lovers…

PROS/CONS

PROS: Nice Configuration, Easy to access, Cool looks, Very cheap

CONS: Battery life.

* Some Models come with 2GB
** Offer at acer Website
*** Pricing may vary from place to Place

[shri]

Thanks shantanu. Great review, helped me a lot. I bought this last week. Will recommend this to all budget users.

[ashu888ashu888]

^^

yup nicely said... even (ankit_niitian) is looking for teh same kinda budget lappy, it will be a really helpful review for him..

THanx to Shantanu too..

[IronManForever]

Nice but the review could have been a bit longer along with some game benchmarks and pictures.

Did you buy this for yourself? If yes, I'd strongly advice getting extended warranty on the model.

*** And it would have been better if the laptop was bundled with option for Windows Vista as the OS as well as 2GB of RAM as de-facto. Would save the hassle of upgrading yourself.

[azaad_shri75]

nice man, I unnecessarily shelled 40k on vostro, not worth the cost.

[gopz]

One minus point is for camcorder users, because this laptop does not come with a firewire port, wheras the Acer 4520 had one.

[IronManForever]

^ Firewire is passé (or going to be). USB is here to stay.

[ankit_niitian]

Thanks shantanu for a nice review. Can you please tell a little bit more about your experience with the lappy. Did you try any games on it?? Does it gets hot very fast?? Did you try to do some intense stuff on it like running big applications simultaneously. I would be really thankful if you could tell a little bit about your experience with the lappy.

Thanks

[shantanu]

sure man.. i am running GTAIV on it.. its okay on medium high settings.. giving almost 22 fps.. COD waw ran amazing on it.. so gaming is good.. from good i mean upto mark for lappy.. i run VS 2008 with SQL 2008 and windows 7 on it.. its really great.. the only con is the battery power that runs out in 2hrs approx in balanced.. the appy is not hot.. the fan goes on after 1/2 hr.. and the its really cool.. being a AMD X2 it handles the multitasking amazingly.. really.. and at 31k its a great deal..

[IronManForever]

sure man.. i am running GTAIV on it.. its okay on medium high settings.. giving almost 22 fps..

Thats not bad at all. Infact its great. If thats for yourself; congrats!
Being 9 series, I guess it supports CUDA and Physx. Did you try the latest Drivers?

Man, I'd definitely recommend this to anyone.

[ashu888ashu888]

Originally Posted by ankit_niitian

Thanks shantanu for a nice review. Can you please tell a little bit more about your experience with the lappy. Did you try any games on it?? Does it gets hot very fast?? Did you try to do some intense stuff on it like running big applications simultaneously. I would be really thankful if you could tell a little bit about your experience with the lappy.

Thanks

Originally Posted by shantanu

sure man.. i am running GTAIV on it.. its okay on medium high settings.. giving almost 22 fps.. COD waw ran amazing on it.. so gaming is good.. from good i mean upto mark for lappy.. i run VS 2008 with SQL 2008 and windows 7 on it.. its really great.. the only con is the battery power that runs out in 2hrs approx in balanced.. the appy is not hot.. the fan goes on after 1/2 hr.. and the its really cool.. being a AMD X2 it handles the multitasking amazingly.. really.. and at 31k its a great deal..

Well, ankit, looks like u are sure to gonna buy this lappy now.. it looks promising to me too...

btw, wait for teh CQ50 review (in ur thread)..

[shri]

Well, ankit, looks like u are sure to gonna buy this lappy now.. it looks promising to me too...

Hehe

[shantanu]

yeah ! i am on latest drivers.. with physx i guess

[ankit_niitian]

Thanks Shantanu for sharing the information . Is the 9100M better than 8200M on the CQ50??

[shantanu]

off course man.. 9 series always better than 8 lol

[MetalheadGautham]

Near my house this is for 32K with 2GB RAM and carry case inclusive of taxes.

Definitely seems VFM, but I still want benchmarks of 4530 vs 4520 GPU performance with same 2GB RAM and 1.9GHz CPU. Because 4520 looked better at 25K.

[IronManForever]

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

4520 looked better at 25K.

Are you serious? Acer 4520 with 2GB RAM and carry case for JUST 25k? I heard its not avialable anymore.

I heard that 4530 has some issues with Linux?

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by IronManForever

Are you serious? Acer 4520 with 2GB RAM and carry case for JUST 25k? I heard its not avialable anymore.

I heard that 4530 has some issues with Linux?

lol, I said 4530 not 4520.
the 4520 for 25k is 1gb ram, 1.8ghz cpu, no carry case.

issues w/linux ? no idea.

[IronManForever]

^ I mean, you were trying to weigh the Graphics solutions of both laptops, 4530 and 4520. So, I thought you wouldnt actually pitt 1GB RAM laptop with a 2GB RAM laptop. Hence, I though the 4520you were talking about; had 2GB RAM. ..

[shantanu]

4520 has geforce 7050.. its nothing comapred to 9100M .. trust me.. my friend has DEll with 7050 and Centrino 2 and 2 GB .. COD waw runs like a Slide show on his lappy.. whereas mine runs at decent Frame rates.. its very much playable at high settings.. so its good.. and i too got it with 2 Gb ram in 31k.. with Case .. i oCed the CPU to run at 2.5Ghz and its running awesome

[Pathik]

Arey congrats man.

[dOm1naTOr]

congo bro for the purchase

[ankit_niitian]

Originally Posted by shantanu

i oCed the CPU to run at 2.5Ghz and its running awesome

Someone told me that if you overclock an AMD, then it will give problems

[ashu888ashu888]

^^

well, it wasn't me for sure..

Originally Posted by ankit_niitian

Thanks Shantanu for sharing the information . Is the 9100M better than 8200M on the CQ50??

And yes, OFCOURSE !!! the 9xxx series are WAY way better than their 8xxx counterparts, (tats the reason y i hv been telling alot of ppl to go for HP's DV series coz they hv 9xxx gpu as compared to DELL's 8xxx series of GPU..well i mean IF they hv that kinda budget...)
-----------

Cheers n e-peace...

[abhisheksohal]

hey....can u try on some other games on this laptop..like Prince of persia(the new one) ,crysis,nfs undercover,gta4,fallout 3 etc. and post the frame rate and your settings fro each game.. i'll highly appreciate your reply..

hey...n u've also mentioned in the specs that the geforce 9100 m g has got 256 mb DEDICATED memory..Are u very sure about it?? Do check if its not sharing it with the system RAM.. and lemme know..

[abhisheksohal]

REPLY MAN!!! ITS BEEN TOO MANY DAYS SINCE I"VE POSTED AND NO ONE'S REPLIED!!! C'MON!!

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by shantanu

4520 has geforce 7050.. its nothing comapred to 9100M .. trust me.. my friend has DEll with 7050 and Centrino 2 and 2 GB .. COD waw runs like a Slide show on his lappy.. whereas mine runs at decent Frame rates.. its very much playable at high settings.. so its good.. and i too got it with 2 Gb ram in 31k.. with Case .. i oCed the CPU to run at 2.5Ghz and its running awesome

WHAT ? You OCed the CPU of a Laptop ?
And that from 1.9GHz to 2.5GHz ?
Thats pretty good.
How is battery life with OC ? What about performance difference ?
It looks totally COOL

[abhisheksohal]

Isnt overclocking for laptops dangerous...and from 1.9 to 2.5 would be like makin ur system temp. go really high!?! is your lappy really runnin fine?!? Reply shantanu man!! ASAP!!

[shantanu]

very sorry for not replying.. i was busy.. , the temp has gone up a bit, about 2 deg. not much.. games are running fine on this.. !! The laptop is running great.. infact its almost running normally like it should..

another reason is that i am using the coolermaster notepal for cooling..

[MetalheadGautham]

What does coolermaster notepal cost ?
any pics of your setup ?
battery life ?