Description:
Definitely large and cumbersome when compared to the new breed of lightweight ultra-portables flooding the market, the Acer Aspire 1710 (AS1712Smi) Notebook PC is nevertheless an incredibly capable and feature-laden rig best suited to power users who don't need to carry their notebook everywhere they go. If your goal is to replace your desktop PC, astound your friends with impressive subwoofer-enhanced audio, or to have access to desktop-level speed and versatility from locations other than your home base, the biggest and baddest notebook in the entire Acer roster packs more than enough muscle for the job. Measuring 14.9 by 12.6 by 1.9 - 2.2 inches and tipping the scales at 14.1 lbs (with combo drive) or 15.7 lbs (with combo drive and battery), the Acer Aspire 1710 (AS1712Smi) is clearly a weighty proposition. But if easy portability is not its forte, performance certainly is. Powered by a commanding 3.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 CPU, one full GB of main memory (twice the notebook average), and a potent nVidia GeForce FX Go 5700 graphics card with 128 MB of dedicated video memory, the unit is ready for anything you can throw its way, including most 3D games and applications. In fact, it will outperform the vast majority of today's stay-at-home desktop PCs. And there are certain advantages to its large profile. At 17 inches, the system's SXGA TFT display screen is both enormous and very detailed, supporting resolutions up to 1280 by 1024. Furthermore, Acer has stocked the unit with a bevy of top-notch amenities, including a whopping 120 GB hard disk (double the notebook norm), an all-inclusive 109-key keyboard with hotkeys, a Touch Pad with 4-way scroll key, and a versatile DVD-Dual drive through which you can burn and listen to audio CDs, archive data, play your favorite movies, and write DVDs in today's most fashionable formats, DVD- and DVD+. The Acer Aspire 1710 (AS1712Smi) will keep you in touch no matter where you go. Communication options include a high-speed LAN port, a low-speed RJ-11 dial-up modem and, last but certainly not least, an 802.11g wireless LAN for those times when you can't plug in. To ensure you can efficiently interface with all the latest high-tech gadgetry, Acer has also equipped the unit with a variety of connectivity facilities, including four high-speed USB 2.0 ports for standard plug and play devices, one FireWire IEEE 1394 port for fast data transfer from digital camcorders, an S-Video TV-out, and a futuristic assortment of alternative audio-video ports. As expected in a notebook of this size and scope, battery life is not particularly strong. Average life expectancy between charges is just one hour.
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