Acer Aspire 9802WKMi review

Most laptops are designed to be as compact as possible. So it's a little surprising to come across one that's proud to be among the biggest ever. In fact this monster incorporates the largest laptop screen we've seen, measuring an incredible 20.1in.

The 9802WKMi weighs a hefty 7.8kg - so you won't be moving it around very often. Most of the weight is in the lid, which is particularly thick for a laptop display. But while it may be heavy, we can't argue with the results. Its resolution of 1680 x 1050 gives you plenty of room to work with and a similar screen for a desktop would set you back around £600. The image quality is also good enough to make the most of video files, DVDs and digital photos. Colours look great, with the gloss finish making for inky blacks and vibrant shades. Contrast is good, the backlighting is even and its viewing angles are impressive.

Having provided such a great screen, Acer has sensibly included extra hardware to make the best use of it. For starters, there's a built-in hybrid TV tuner, so you can pick up both digital and analogue broadcasts. It's controlled using Acer's own Arcade software, which is a repackaged version of our favourite PowerCinema application from CyberLink. You can watch and pause live TV, schedule recordings, play DVDs and browse photos.

Big screen, big features

If you tire of watching TV, you can always play games instead. The nVidia GeForce Go 7600 graphics chipset isn't the fastest available, but you'll still be able to play any recently released 3D game. Although the Acer only scored 31% in our demanding Call of Duty 2 benchmark, when we reduced the detail settings it ran smoothly and looked impressive. This isn't a laptop for serious gamers, but those who want to play the occasional big release will be satisfied.

There's plenty of space for ports and connectors. Four USB ports are provided, along with a multi-format memory card reader . So, whatever brand of digital camera you have, the Aspire should take a compatible card. A pair of expansion slots cater for both the ageing PC Card and the newer ExpressCard/54 formats, so you'll be covered if you want to add new capabilities later.

Inside the beast

Inside, there's a good-sized 100GB hard disk, although here it's likely to fill up quickly with TV recordings, media files and game installations. Expect to need some external storage before too long if you plan to fully use all of this laptop's features.

This laptop isn't portable in any sense. Not only is it huge, but its battery life is also relatively poor - only 1 hour and 38 minutes in our light-use test and just over an hour and half in our DVD rundown test. To be fair though, this is a laptop designed to run from mains power for most of the time. The Aspire has an Intel Core Duo T2300 processor, along with 1GB of RAM. This combination gave good results across all our benchmark tests.

There's a lot to like about the Aspire, it's powerful, has a great screen and a good set of features. But then, for this price we'd expect no less. If you want a huge screen and really don't have space for a desktop then this machine is for you. Everyone else will be better of getting an equivalent desktop PC for less money.

Author: Seth Barton