ACI Olympia review

Gallery

Verdict:

ACI's Olympia isn't a terrible laptop, but whatever aspect most appeals to you, one of the other machines on test can do it better.

Review Date: 27 Sep 2004

Price when reviewed: £915

Reviewed By: Nick Ross

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

The ACI isn't a bad-looking machine.

The metallic blue lid isn't ugly and is certainly strong enough to protect the screen. Open it up, however, and everything looks a little cheap. The finish is a bit plasticky and the grille over the speakers looks flimsy. The body is solidly built, though, and doesn't creak or rattle.

The screen is noticeably the poorest on test, with very narrow viewing angles. If the lid isn't at the perfect angle in relation to your eyes, type degrades markedly in quality. Indeed, when some parts are in sharp focus others are not, so you find yourself moving your head around to get the right image. If you want to watch a movie with a couple of friends, they may have difficulty seeing what's going on if they're sitting on either side of you. They'll also find that the speakers sound a little tinny.

The keyboard is good despite a very minor rattly sound and a tad too much travel (sometimes a letter doesn't register). It's very comfortable to use, and the trackpad is also highly responsive.

In our performance tests the ACI finished just above the ultra-portable Sony and Samsung machines. The 1.3GHz Celeron M processor and paltry 256MB of RAM just didn't provide enough oomph. The Intel 82855 graphics controller scored just 2,149 in 3DMark, although it manage 2.4 frames per second in our gruelling Doom 3 test - but only by automatically switching off most of the more demanding settings.

Features are sparse: two USB 2 ports are present, and there's a combo drive, but a parallel port for old peripherals and a mini-FireWire port are plus points. The only software included is Panda AntiVirus.

Ultimately, the ACI isn't great value. While solid, it doesn't excel at much, and with a battery life score of just 39 minutes, it's not very portable, despite weighing only 2.3kg.

Prev Next

Get more reviews, tutorials and in-depth advice, every month with Computer Shopper.
Click here to try 3 issues for £1

< Previous Reviews : Laptops Next >

Sponsored Links

Be the first to comment on this article

You need to Login or Register to comment.