Looking for a laptop to replace your desktop PC? Want a machine that will meet your playtime and workday activities? Look no further because the Acer Aspire 8943G is here to answer all your gaming and multimedia needs. Read on and be impressed with what this “œgigantor” from Acer has to offer.
Look and feel
The Aspire 8943G boasts an 18.4inch Full HD glass display (edge-to-edge). You might not enjoy carrying a 10.1lbs machine in your bag but you can definitely move it around your house from room to room. With a 1920×1080 maximum display resolution, multitasking will be a lot more efficient since you can open two applications side by side. Despite its large size, this laptop still exudes a very sophisticated design. The lid is made of brushed metal and the rest of the exterior is housed in a solid plastic body.
The widescreen display goes well with the built-in Blu-ray / DVD drive and Dolby Home Theater audio system. Visual and audio playback was superb when I tried playing a Blu-ray copy of Star Trek. Action scenes and digital effects played flawlessly, paired with a clear and full volume output. The music playback can definitely fill a small room without any distortion.
The typing area is very spacious, giving way to a full chiclet-style keyboard setup with a dedicated number pad, just like in a traditional desktop keyboard. The 3.5 by 2.5inch multi-touch pad is very responsive. It even has a dual-touch mode feature which allows you to switch the from multi-touch to media-console mode, where dedicated areas indicated by icons (play, stop, forward/back, and mute) are displayed on the touch pad. This feature is quite handy, especially when playing your videos. On the other hand, not everything on this machine is touch-sensitive. Located at the front-edge, below the keypad, is the very accessible volume dial.
Along the sides of the Aspire 8943G are the set of ports that includes, VGA and HDMI connectors, USB/eSATA combo port, USB and FireWire ports, headphones and mic jacks, Ethernet jack, three regular USB ports, plus the Blu-ray/DVD drive.
Other features include a 5-in-1 card reader, Fingerprint Scanner, 1.3 megapixel webcam, Bluetooth 3.0 and 802.11b/g/n WiFi connectivity, and a Digital TV tuner with remote control. With the 18.4-inch screen, you can sit comfortably from a distance and control Windows Media Center with the remote for your viewing pleasure.
Performance and battery life
The Aspire 8943G is not only intimidating on the outside but also powerful on the inside. Processing speed comes from its Intel Core i7-720QM (1.6Ghz) processor that can “œturbo boost” up to 2.8Ghz when needed. This is paired with two sets of 4GB DDR3 RAM (8GB all in all) and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 chip with a dedicated VRAM of 1GB that can produce high frame rates. It’s absolutely perfect for gaming and 1080p Full HD viewing.
Heavy multitasking plus DVD playback had the battery (fully charged) last for more than two hours which is ok since you probably won’t bring this to a coffee shop. It’s also bundled with Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) that includes the Media Center software to manage your video, photo, and music files.
Here’s the Windows Experience Index of the Acer Aspire 8943G:
The lowest sub score of 5.9 came from the two 640GB hard disks but everything else has a very decent score. You can expect the highest performance level from this machine.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a desktop replacement that can satisfy your entertainment and business needs, then the Acer Aspire 8943G is for you. It’s the perfect machine for gamers and multimedia enthusiasts who need to move their machine every now and then.
Acer Aspire 8943G Specs:
- 18.4″³ Full HD Display (1920×1080 pixels)
- Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz (4 cores, 8 threads, Turbo Boost to 2.8GHz)
- ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 w/ 1GB DDR3 VRAM
- 2 x 640GB HDD
- 8GB RAM (2 x 4GB DDR3)
- Blu-ray, DVD SuperMulti Drive
- Gigabit LAN
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth 3.0 + HS
- Fingerprint Reader
- Card Reader (SD, MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD)
- 5 x USB 2.0 ports
- 1 x eSATA port
- 1 x IEEE 1394 port
- 1 x HDMI port
- 1 x Consumer Infrared (CIR) port
- Acer Media Center Remote Control
- 4800mAh 8-cell Li-ion battery
- SRP: Php120,900
Editor’s note: This post is contributed by Jai Katipunan with some slight revisions by the editor. Jai is a runner and a surfer and also moonlights as a disc jockey from time to time.