Acer Ferrari One: An AMD Ultraportable
by Vivek Gowri on June 8, 2010 4:12 AM ESTAcer Ferrari One: Battery Life
The Athlon X2/Radeon HD3200 combo sucks up power like no tomorrow, as we'll get to in a minute, but first let's talk about heat. More power draw means more heat output, which means higher temperatures. The Ferrari One can get pretty toasty, especially if you're doing any kind of intensive task—benchmarking, gaming, Skype video chats, HD video, HD Flash, etc. The fan will run, and it will make itself heard. More than a couple of times, I tried muting the speakers only to find that the speakers were off and it was the fan making the noise. Okay, let's see the battery life charts.
Ouch, this one’s painful. The Ferrari One is one power-hungry beast considering its size and performance. It uses significantly more power than the Acer 1410, and 1810T, as well as anything else running an Intel CULV processor—even the ones with dedicated graphics. (We'll see that in a review later this week.) Heck, it’s barely beating the Asus N61Jv, a legitimate entry-level gaming notebook with a full voltage Core i5-430M and NVIDIA GT325M graphics coupled to a 16" LCD.
The Ferrari One lasts under 5 hours sitting idle, just breaks 3.5 hours in the internet benchmark, and less than 2.5 hours while playing x264 video. That’d be acceptable for an ultraportable—in 2006. These days we’re a bit farther along, and anything that can’t break six hours of real-world usage on a 6-cell battery is a poor choice for an "ultraportable". And on that scale, the Ferrari One is very weak. The 48Wh battery doesn't help, obviously, but the identical chassis 1410/1810T draw an average of 9W and 8W respectively in our Internet test, compared to 13W for the Ferrari One.
Another note is that the Ferrari One takes a long time to charge, especially if it's powered up while charging. If you're doing anything CPU intensive during that time (i.e. benchmarking or running a Skype video chat), expect it to charge at roughly 2% an hour. I noticed this with my AS1410 as well, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the Ferrari One (and is easily explained due to the AS1410's 30W AC adapter). Considering the Ferrari One has a 65W adapter, it's weird that charging is so slow.
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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)