Acer Ferrari One: An AMD Ultraportable
by Vivek Gowri on June 8, 2010 4:12 AM ESTAcer Ferrari One: Looks Nice, but Unimpressive
Unfortunately, our time with Acer's latest Ferrari-branded creation ends in disappointment. The combination of mediocre performance, poor battery life (relative to the competition), high price, and unremarkable design/build quality is more than enough to sink this one. For the majority of this review, we've stayed away from making price comparisons, because the Ferrari logo definitely adds a price premium to this otherwise unremarkable notebook. At the $569 street price (much less the $599 MSRP), this is not a good laptop to buy. If you have a burning desire to buy a supercar-branded ultraportable for less than $600, I'd rather go buy a used Acer Ferrari 1000, or wait for the new Asus Lamborghini VX6 (12", dual-core Atom N525, and ION 2 graphics).
If you just want a cheap ultraportable, you can find the 1810T for $529 right now and get much better performance and battery life, and not terribly worse graphics. What's more, AMD has now released details of their Vision 2 platform and Intel has the new Arrandale ULV products; both should be showing up any time now, with improved CPU and GPU performance, hopefully at a similar price point. The Ferrari One just can't win; processing performance lags far behind CULV, gaming performance lags behind ION, power consumption and heat are worse than anything with an Intel sticker, dedicated GPU or not, and the price isn't any better either. If you really, really need better graphics than what the standard Intel platform can give you, I'd rather go with the Asus Eee 1201N—the dual-core Atom roughly matches the Athlon 64 X2 L310, and the 9400M is much faster than the HD 3200. But let's face it: no $600 ultraportable is going to be a gaming machine; if you want a real gaming ultraportable, the base Alienware M11x at $799 is your best bet.
As a car nerd and Ferrari fan, I really wanted to like the Ferrari One, but it can't live up to the standards of the previous Acer Ferrari models. They were never world class, but they looked great and had a decent amount of power under the hood. I know AMD sponsors Ferrari and so every Acer Ferrari has AMD processors by necessity, but AMD's processors are difficult to recommend over Intel's offerings, particularly in the ultraportable market at the moment; hopefully that will change next year with Bobcat. It's also possible that a 45nm version of the L310 (i.e. the K325) could make a better showing, but it will have difficulty surpassing the current CULV and upcoming i3/i5 ULV platforms.
If we can get something that can match current CULV power/battery life levels, offer a similar level of performance, and still manage to hit the Atom/ION price points, then we'll have something worth considering. As for the Ferrari One, it's impossible to recommend this AMD-based ultraportable with the current specs. At $449, the Ferrari One would be decent and would at least merit consideration over the 1410 due to the dual-core processor and increased graphics performance. At $499, the proposition gets more questionable, and at anything above that, the math just doesn't add up.
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taltamir - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Glossy red plastic with a giant logo in the middle...this is probably the ugliest looking laptop I have ever seen.
VivekGowri - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
I agree that it's a bit ostentatious, but I actually like how it looks. Maybe it's the Ferrari fan in me, but still. Compared to the regular version of this chassis (1410 and 1810T), the Ferrari definitely has a lot more character, and personally I prefer it (I say this as the owner of a black AS1410.)Anubis - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
its no more ugly then t white plastic laptops with a glowing fruit on themSouka - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
+1 for Anubis :)LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - link
Bashing Apple is like trying to teach a pig to sing.It's a waste of your time, and only annoys the pig.
Plus, other people who see you doing it will wonder why you tried in the first place.
KaarlisK - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
I had never thought that AMD has no asymmetric dual channel capability... Intel can run different sized memory sticks in dual channel, up to a limit obviously.And removing the HDMI port was really unwise.
But I like the looks :D
Could you pleease add Starcraft 2 to your tests? It very much is a game I would casually play on a laptop.
I sure hope that AMD's new 45nm platform has better power consumption :)
DJMiggy - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Sure they can. They just need to go into the future and swipe the game so they can test it.therealnickdanger - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
I'm always looking for a tiny gaming platform and this particular model (w/4GB RAM) always sticks out as a candidate due to its dual-core CPU and decent 3200 IGP... but your review has swayed me. The last thing I want is hot and loud. I'm just going to stick with my original thought and wait for 12.1-and-under Arrandales. If I can get one with a low-end Optimus part for cheap, I'll be a very happy consumer!classy - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
I usually look at the weight of these new laptops. 3.3 lbs is still heavy.maniac5999 - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Hmmm, I guess you have to review what you're sent, but the Ferrari One really looks like it's the overpriced turd of the Congo platform.To quote your conclusion:
"At $449, the Ferrari One would be decent and would at least merit consideration over the 1410 due to the dual-core processor and increased graphics performance. At $499, the proposition gets more questionable, and at anything above that, the math just doesn't add up."
How about the MSi Wind U230? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8... Same size chassis, slightly bigger screen (12.1") and most importantly, a L335 processor, which runs at 1.6ghz, all for $490. add a 2nd 2gb of memory and you're good to go, or you could go for the Toshiba T115D, with a 1.5ghz x2 for $459.
Both of those are more powerful than the Acer (the U230 by a full 33%) and cheaper, and would probably be decent buys for someone looking to do casual gaming on the go. (WoW, SC2, etc. I even have BattleForge running pretty decently on my U230)