Acer Aspire 2920 review

£600 is very cheap for an ultraportable - at least £100 cheaper than most we've tested before, and hundreds of pounds cheaper than most on the market.

Admittedly the Aspire AS2920 isn't the very slimmest or lightest laptop you can buy, and at two kilograms it only just squeezes into the ultraportable category. But we'd much rather carry this around all day than any other laptop we've seen for the same money.

The outside looks stylish, with a grown-up glossy black finish that'll look good beside your iPod. Open the lid, however, and the interior reminds you of one of those speak-and-spell toys from the 1980s. The keyboard and monitor surround are both finished in matt grey plastic with a hint of beige. We can only presume Acer were going for a retro look. It doesn't really fit with the exterior and will put some people off.

Still, if the Aspire is a bit like a toy, that's also true in a good way. The lower part of the chassis is sturdy enough to withstand the odd tantrum. The screen is fairly well protected, too, by the lid, and although it does flex a bit when twisted, it's far better than many current laptops in this respect.

The display is a 12.1 inch widescreen TFT with the usual 1280x800 pixel resolution. We found it fairly bright, with an even backlight. Viewing angles were OK (it's annoying if everything goes dim unless you're perfectly straight-on) and colours looked vibrant. That's partly due to the fashionably glossy finish on the screen, which also risks nasty reflections from strong light sources; this can be a pain if you're trying to focus on work.

It's a sign that Acer may have designed this as a compact machine for the home, rather than a business PC - a theory supported by the inclusion of Windows Vista Home Premium, which comes with Windows Media Center to handle entertainment tasks. It's the right choice for most users.

Acer has thoughtfully put a dedicated volume control dial on the front, so you don't have to fiddle with keyboard shortcuts. There's also a coaxial S/PDIF output for connecting to a surround sound amplifier, and support for Dolby Home Theater, so you get Dolby virtual surround through your headphones. That's particularly useful when watching movies on the go, which is easy thanks to the built-in DVD drive. Conveniently positioned above this on the right-hand side is a memory card reader. There are also three USB ports, along with an ExpressCard slot for adding a TV tuner or 3G data card. The only omission is FireWire - users of MiniDV camcorders beware.

The battery lasted for a very impressive four hours and 17 minutes in our light use test, and two hours and 44 minutes of DVD. So you'll get either an afternoon's worth of office work, or almost any feature film watched, before the battery dies.

The 250GB hard disk is one of the biggest you'll find in a laptop, and there's more space here than you're likely to need, at least for a while.

Application performance is equally impressive. The 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 processor tore through our general (2D) benchmarks, and with 2GB of RAM fitted you shouldn't need to upgrade the memory in the laptop's lifetime. We can't really see why you'd need more processing power than this in a small notebook, and it's certainly more than you'd expect for the money.

The keyboard is the only disappointing feature, with some annoyingly small keys, including Return, and a less than positive feel. This and the gloss display mean the Acer isn't the best business ultraportable, but if you need a compact laptop to carry around and don't want to compromise on storage or performance, it's a great deal.

Author: Seth Barton