Random Thoughts by Paolo Caesar

Acer Aspire 4740G Specs and Review

I recently bought a new laptop, Acer Aspire 4740G. My old laptop is still alive but I believe it will die anytime soon. It shuts off by itself sometimes and I fear the worst for it. It is also an Acer Aspire which I bought from the States. So I bought a new one for insurance purposes and so that I won’t be disturbed with my online work when its death arrives. So why did I buy another Acer laptop? Well, I like Acer because it is durable but at the same time cheap. I also like the specifications of this Acer laptop model which I am laying out below:

Acer Aspire 4740G Specs

• Intel® Core™ i3-330M (3Mb L3 cache, 2.13GHz, DDR3 1066 MHz, 35 W)
• Mobile Intel® HM55 Express Chipset
• 2.0Gb DDR3
• 500Gb SATA
• 8X DVD-Super Multi double-layer drive
• 14in. HD 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, high-brightness (200-nit) Acer CineCrystal™ LED-backlit TFT LCD, supporting simultaneous multi-window viewing via Acer GridVista
• NVIDIA® GeForce® 310M with 512Mb of dedicated DDR3 VRAM, supporting NVIDIA® CUDA™, PhysX™, PureVideo® HD technology, OpenEXR High Dynamic-Range (HDR) technology, Shader Model 4.0, Microsoft
• Dolby®7-optimized surround sound system with two built-in stereo speakers
• Optimized 3rd Generation Dolby Home Theater®7 audio enhancement, featuring Dolby® Digital Live, Dolby® Pro Logic® IIx, Dolby® Headphone, Dolby® Natural Bass and Dolby® Sound Space Expander, Dolby® Audio Optimization, Dolby® High Frequency Enhancer technologies8
• True5.1-channel surround sound output
• High-definition audio support
• S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface)9 support for digital speakers
• MS-Sound compatible
• Acer PureZone technology with two built-in stereo microphones, featuring beam forming, echo cancellation, dynamic gain control (TBC), and noise suppression technologies
• LAN: Gigabit Ethernet, Wake-on-LAN ready
• WPAN1: Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
• Acer InviLink™ Nplify™ 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED
• 2.3 kg (5.07 lbs.) with 6-cell battery
• 342 (W) x 239 (D) x 23/38.6 (H) mm (13.4 x 9.4 x 0.9/1.5 inches)
• 48.8 W 4400 mAh 6-cell Li-ion battery pack
• Up to 3 hrs battery life
• Multi-in-1 card reader
• Acer Crystal Eye webcam with 640 x 480 resolution
• Acer PureZone technology
• Multi-in-1 card reader (SD™, MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD)
• Three USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI™ port with HDCP support
• External display (VGA) port
• Headphone/speaker/line-out jack with S/PDIF support
• Microphone-in jack
• Line-in jack
• Ethernet (RJ-45) port
• Modem (RJ-11) port
• DC-in jack for AC adapter
• Easy-launch keys: Acer Backup, WLAN, Bluetooth®, programmable, volume up, volume down, touchpad lock
• Media control keys (printed on keyboard): play/pause, stop, previous, next
• Windows 7 Home Basic
• Acer Arcade™ Deluxe featuring Cinema, Album, Music, HomeMedia,
• Acer Backup Manager
• Acer GridVista™
• Acer Crystal Eye1
• Acer eRecovery Management
• 1 Year Limited Local Warranty – Parts and Labor
• Acer 14in. Targus Carrying Case

I bought it from Electroworld ATC at the price of P40k.

What do I think of my new laptop? Awesome! It is fast, thanks to the 4 cores (2 real and 2 virtual cores) and the fact that I am using a 64-bit version of Windows 7. I have yet to test my video card to max but I have tried playing Civilization IV and it worked pretty well. The sound is fine and everything else is working as advertised.

Normally, I open a few applications at once (Firefox, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, etc…) and my new laptop is taking it quite fine. Never hanged before and no blue screen of death

All in all, I say that this is a good laptop to get especially if you are in a shoe-string budget. I give this a 9.5/10 rating.