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Acer's AS5920 Gemstone hits US retail - Engadget

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Acer's AS5920 Gemstone hits US retail

Posted Jul 9th 2007 11:51AM by Joshua Topolsky (Related)

Filed under: Laptops (Related)

Acer has begun quietly introducing its Gemstone (Related) laptop to the US market by slipping the design-minded Aspire into Best Buy's retail catalog, thus marking the debut of the company's stylized new computer on these shores. The 5920, which we mentioned back in May (Related) , is officially on sale now at the chain stores for $1299 (but they'll want you to get that extended service plan too). To refresh your memory, the system is based on the seemingly-ubiquitous Santa Rosa (Related) chipset, with a Centrino Core 2 Duo turning the gears, a 15.4-inch, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT-powered display, an HD-DVD drive, and 802.11a/g/n. Other bells and whistles include Bluetooth, a 5-in-1 media reader, built-in webcam, and Acer's amazing V.92 high speed modem.

[Via TGDaily (Related) ]

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Neutral Jakob @ Jul 9th 2007 11:59AM (Related)

Wow finally I've seen stuff like that in Denmark before in US :D

That laptop had been in Danish Stores for weeks!

Neutral kr @ Jul 9th 2007 5:29PM (Related)

Thats because Acer does most of their business outside of the states. The only sales they do in the states are sales to smaller local computer stores and online sales. They don't have any marketing here either. The surprising thing is they are number 3 or 4 here after HP and Dell... However in Europe, Asia and Africa they are number one or two for notebooks, so that's why you have seen them there for a while. One of the few brands that doesn't tailor almost exclusively to US customers....

Highest Ranked Brian @ Jul 9th 2007 11:59AM (Related)

That looks slick

Neutral nikster @ Jul 9th 2007 8:21PM (Related)

that's what I thought before I saw it in real life. the ads and pix look very slick, but in real life the thing looks almost like any other laptop. the design isn't outright offensive but it's also not exciting in any way shape or form.

price / specs is still very good, and if anything the new design looks sturdy. good-looking is not what i would call it though.

Neutral Joe Smith @ Jul 9th 2007 12:00PM (Related)

Screw the MacBook, this looks way better!

Neutral John @ Jul 9th 2007 12:04PM (Related)

Clamshell iBook!

Neutral hartmania @ Jul 9th 2007 12:13PM (Related)

What are you guys talking about....that thing looks liek "My First Computer"

Neutral Rohit Kapur @ Jul 9th 2007 12:13PM (Related)

Hey guys, I was just curious, as I'm really considering buying this laptop:

Doesn't the Santa Rosa chipset have to have 802.11n in it?

Plus, I read two reviews of this laptop - one on Cnet and another on LaptopMag - and while Cnet states it doesn't have 802.11n, the latter states that it does.

Can you guys clear that up?

Neutral drtibbs @ Jul 9th 2007 4:06PM (Related)

I have one of these right infront of me, it only has G. I opened it up and he wireless part is replacable. I bought mine when bby had them on sale for 1100 and added a 100 dollar one year accident coverage plan. It was a very good deal for me then.

Neutral JON BLAST @ Jul 9th 2007 12:14PM (Related)

I used to play Gemstone 3 back in the day on AOL.

kill gnome

search gnome

get chest

GO WELL

Highest Ranked ADR @ Jul 9th 2007 12:20PM (Related)

This is by far one of the best laptops for the money. Best Buy has it on sale for $1099. Almost every other laptop up to $2000 has an integrated intel graphics chipset or a 7300gs class gpu. You can actually play games on this thing. The only thing that was holding me back was the 1280x800 screen.

It also can play HD-DVD movies which for that price might mean that HD-DVD drives are being dumped from suppliers. This is the best deal since the E-machine M6805.

Highest Ranked Chuckles McGee @ Jul 9th 2007 12:20PM (Related)

Sweet! V.92 modem! Glorious, glorious porn at 56kbps!

Neutral JJ @ Jul 9th 2007 12:39PM (Related)

Ah... the good 'ol days of 56k. LOL

Neutral marcomera @ Jul 9th 2007 12:32PM (Related)

Yay, I have been holding out on buying a laptop for this one(even though I really could have used one sooner) I love the new designed look on the outside I'm still not crazy about the inside. I find the inside a little busy but for the value of this laptop it doesn't bother me. Plus I have experience with other acer laptops and have always found them great to use.

Neutral Mrmean @ Jul 9th 2007 1:02PM (Related)

Hideous!!

Neutral ddaw735 @ Jul 9th 2007 1:12PM (Related)

WTF is up with laptop makers putting thier headphone jacks in the front its a b**** to plug up speakers and hide the wires at home.

Neutral Miguel @ Jul 9th 2007 2:02PM (Related)

Um, because they are "headphone jacks," just as you said, not speaker jacks. You can plug speakers into it, but that's not what they're meant for. Wow, what a thought...

Neutral Chris @ Jul 9th 2007 4:49PM (Related)

I love how you just bashed him as if he's the only one in the world who would want their headphone jack to be used as a speaker jack also. I agree, the headphone jack in the front is a poor choice.

Neutral ddaw735 @ Jul 9th 2007 8:04PM (Related)

Well are you saying I dont deserve surround sound or a subwoofer just because I bought a laptop and should only use headphones.

You are an idiot.

Neutral nikster @ Jul 9th 2007 8:24PM (Related)

I have an Acer, and yes, the headphone jack in front is just plain stupid. I don't like it for headphone use because the cable tends to be in the way, and if you use the laptop in an airplane the cable sticks out into my belly.

I don't see any advantage in having these in the front either - what's wrong with headphone jacks on the side? How is it better when they are in the front?

Neutral Kris Janssen @ Jul 9th 2007 1:30PM (Related)

1) That thing is F***Ugly

2) It looks like a plastic toy

3) Acer is crap anyway...

Neutral FrankTheCrank @ Jul 9th 2007 1:30PM (Related)

Hideous is right.

ACER sucks...their warranties are non-transferable. That's why I stopped buying their hardware.

Neutral Ondra Soukup @ Jul 9th 2007 2:47PM (Related)

So. Why did they screw up the design of the old clamshell iBook anyways ? I miss the handle :'((

Neutral Rohit Kapur @ Jul 9th 2007 3:57PM (Related)

Hi guys,

This laptop is a little controversial, in the sense that the specs mentioned on Acer's website are not the specs that are in the laptop being sold by Best Buy for 1299$. Check the two pages. Here's the link for the Best Buy page (the link for the Acer website is in the article):

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8391901&st=Acer&type=product&id=1179876462320 (Related)

Highly Ranked JTJune2 @ Jul 9th 2007 4:23PM (Related)

it's not controversial at all. Acer's website clearly states the following at the bottom of the laptops page

"Product models and specifications may vary depending on country. Please contact your local Acer office."

also notice that they are not exactly the same model number

the US version sold at BB is AS5920-6313

the euro version is AS5920-6661

nothing strange from what I see. We actually just got these at our BB about a week ago, probably the best gaming laptop we have, but it's still an Acer lol

Neutral mrkmny @ Jul 9th 2007 3:59PM (Related)

im shopping around for a notebook and the price and features look good.

is it a good deal eventhough its a t5250(1.5ghz) processor?

Highly Ranked carl @ Jul 9th 2007 4:41PM (Related)

Good price, nice specs, looks weird, questionable quality.

Neutral Tone @ Jul 9th 2007 5:30PM (Related)

i hate it that it's 2 colors. just choose one color damn it.

Neutral tone @ Jul 9th 2007 5:31PM (Related)

oh and the site says the us model doesnt have a cam?

Neutral drtibbs @ Jul 9th 2007 6:02PM (Related)

The one I got from best buy has a cam on it

Neutral JTJune2 @ Jul 9th 2007 6:36PM (Related)

indeed, the one for sale at Bestbuy does in fact have a cam on it

Neutral Richard Lai @ Jul 10th 2007 1:02AM (Related)

HD-DVD for that price? Is it really that good?

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