Acer never stop to amaze us how fast they move once they decide something fits their politics. Acer does its job well and hits the market with innovations the moment they are available, and it is how the company works. And it works well given the fact they are 2nd largest PC supplier in global market, even as they are heavily underrepresented in North America (read USA and Canada). Which also means they have a huge impact on any market, at least as much as HP and Dell. There are no wonders behind this – the company doesn’t sell its name but hardware. Even if we throw out the past examples, they are really the first known manufacturer that not only is rumored to have a ATI Mobility Radeon HD5650 notebooks as we wrote here, but the first to use the new Core i5 and Core i3 processors from Intel, as you will see later in this article. By the way – both i3 and i5 are under NDA until January, but you can find details in Wikipedia, as usual, so we wont give credits to other reviewers about copying the stuff. Before we continue with the list of 8942Gs, check this out:
If you think 8942G is too big and too heavy for you (both are true, now matter how big hands you have), there is still the Acer Aspire 5942G 15.6 laptop based on Core i7, i5 and i3 and ATI Mobility Radeon HD5650 with 1 GB GDDR3 VRAM, which will hit the market as soon as early January – by the same time the first 8942G would be available too. There is even more – Acer is planning to renew their 17.3-inch line with Acer Aspire 7740 with similar specs (forget about Mobility Radeon HD5850, it probably doesn’t fit the power profile of those less-than-18-inch notebooks) and it’s gonna be cheap, cheaper than any other manufacturer Core iX based solution we’ve heard of. Anyway, we’ll follow with details about those later this week. For now – lets go back on the topic – Aspire 8942.
Acer Aspire AS-8942G-334G50Mn
- Intel® Core™ i3 processor 330M (Dual core, 2.13GHz, 3MB Cache)
- 4 GB DDR3 1066 MHz RAM (probably 2+2 GB modules)
- ATI ® Mobility Radeon ™ HD 5650 1 GB GDDR3 (“Madison-Pro” Graphics Card 1024MB DDR3 VRAM)
- 18.4 Full HD Acer CineCrystal™ high-brightness (220-nit) TFT, 8ms, 1920 x 1080
- 500 GB HDD, SATA, 5400 rpm
- DVD Super Multi DL
- 5-in-1 card reader (MMC, SD, MS, MS Pro, xD), Acer HD Crystal Eye webcam, Fingerprint reader
- 10/100/1000 LAN, Wake-on-LAN ready
- Integrated Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100 (802.11a/b/g/Draft-N), Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™
- 8-cell 4800 mAh Li-Ion Battery
- VGA, HDMI, 4x USB 2.0, Firewire, Infrared, eSATA
- Five speaker Dolby surround sound, with Acer Tuba CineBass Subwoofer
- 1x Line-in, S / PDIF
- 105-keys keyboard with number pad, backlit keyboard
- 1x ExpressCard ™ / 54
- 4.6 kg, 440 x 295 x 44 mm
- Microsoft ® Windows ® 7 Home Premium 64-bit including Acer software package (Acer Arcade ™ Deluxe featuring Cinema, Album, Music, Acer home media, online media, Acer Backup Manager, Acer eRecovery, Acer Power Smart Manager, Acer Bio-Protection, Acer Crystal Eye, Acer GridVista ™, Acer Launch Manager, Acer Game Zone, Acer Game Console, burner software, virus scanners, etc.)
- Warranty: 2 years manufacturers warranty including 1 year International Travelers Warranty
- Expected price: 800 EUR excl. VAT in Western Europe, 875 EUR excl. VAT in Eastern Europe (shame on Acer’s regional politics!)
- Availability: no info, prolly early January
- Notes: no Bluetooth and might not have backlit keyboard, but who knows?
Acer Aspire AS-8942G-526G64Bi
- Intel® Core™ i5 processor 430M (Quad core, 2.26GHz, 3MB Cache)
- 6 GB DDR3 1066 MHz RAM (4+2 GB modules)
- ATI ® Mobility Radeon ™ HD 5850 1 GB GDDR3 (“Broadway-Pro” Graphics Card 1024MB DDR3 VRAM)
- 18.4 Full HD Acer CineCrystal™ high-brightness (220-nit) TFT, 8ms, 1920 x 1080 (same screen as 8935G and 8940G)
- 640 GB HDD, SATA, 5400 rpm (Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD6400BEVT)
- Blu-ray reader (вероятно BD reader/DVD writer комбо)
- 5-in-1 card reader (MMC, SD, MS, MS Pro, xD), Acer HD Crystal Eye webcam, Fingerprint reader
- 10/100/1000 LAN, Wake-on-LAN ready
- Integrated Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100 (802.11a/b/g/Draft-N), Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™
- Bluetooth ® 2.0 + EDR
- 8-cell 4800 mAh Li-Ion Battery
- VGA, HDMI, 4x USB 2.0, Firewire, Infrared, eSATA
- Five speaker Dolby surround sound, with Acer Tuba CineBass Subwoofer
- 1x Line-in, S / PDIF
- 105-keys keyboard with number pad, backlit keyboard
- 1x ExpressCard ™ / 54
- 4.6 kg, 440 x 295 x 44 mm
- Microsoft ® Windows ® 7 Home Premium 64-bit including Acer software package (Acer Arcade ™ Deluxe featuring Cinema, Album, Music, Acer home media, online media, Acer Backup Manager, Acer eRecovery, Acer Power Smart Manager, Acer Bio-Protection, Acer Crystal Eye, Acer GridVista ™, Acer Launch Manager, Acer Game Zone, Acer Game Console, burner software, virus scanners, etc.)
- Warranty: 2 years manufacturers warranty including 1 year International Travelers Warranty
- Expected price: 1050 EUR excl. VAT in UK
- Availability: you can buy it here with delivery after 16th December
Acer Aspire AS-8942G-726G64BN
- Intel ® Core ™ i7 processor 720QM (Quad core + HyperThreading, 1.6-2.8 GHz, 6MB L2 cache)
- 6 GB DDR3 1066 MHz RAM (4+2 GB modules)
- ATI ® Mobility Radeon ™ HD 5850 1 GB GDDR3 (“Broadway-Pro” Graphics Card 1024MB DDR3 VRAM)
- 18.4 Full HD Acer CineCrystal™ high-brightness (220-nit) TFT, 8ms, 1920 x 1080 (same screen as 8935G and 8940G)
- 640 GB HDD, SATA, 5400 rpm (Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD6400BEVT)
- Blu-ray reader (probably BD reader/DVD writer combo)
- 5-in-1 card reader (MMC, SD, MS, MS Pro, xD), Acer HD Crystal Eye webcam, Fingerprint reader
- 10/100/1000 LAN, Wake-on-LAN ready
- Integrated Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100 (802.11a/b/g/Draft-N), Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™
- Bluetooth ® 2.0 + EDR
- 8-cell 4800 mAh Li-Ion Battery
- VGA, HDMI, 4x USB 2.0, Firewire, Infrared, eSATA
- Five speaker Dolby surround sound, with Acer Tuba CineBass Subwoofer
- 1x Line-in, S / PDIF
- 105-keys keyboard with number pad, backlit keyboard
- 1x ExpressCard ™ / 54
- 4.6 kg, 440 x 295 x 44 mm
- Microsoft ® Windows ® 7 Home Premium 64-bit including Acer software package (Acer Arcade ™ Deluxe featuring Cinema, Album, Music, Acer home media, online media, Acer Backup Manager, Acer eRecovery, Acer Power Smart Manager, Acer Bio-Protection, Acer Crystal Eye, Acer GridVista ™, Acer Launch Manager, Acer Game Zone, Acer Game Console, burner software, virus scanners, etc.)
- Warranty: 2 years manufacturers warranty including 1 year International Travelers Warranty
- Expected price: 1150 EUR excl. VAT in UK, 1250 EUR w/o VAT in Eastern Europe
- Availability: you can preorder it here and it should be available in days. Also somewhere in Sweden, but we know not their language at all.
- Notes: Acer global politics suck, really. Why the price difference?
Acer Aspire AS-8942G-728G1TBn
- Intel ® Core ™ i7 processor 720QM (Quad core + HyperThreading, 1.6-2.8 GHz, 6MB L2 cache)
- 8 GB DDR3 1066 MHz RAM (4+4 GB modules)
- ATI ® Mobility Radeon ™ HD 5850 1 GB GDDR3 (“Broadway-Pro” Graphics Card 1024MB DDR3 VRAM)
- 18.4 Full HD Acer CineCrystal™ high-brightness (220-nit) TFT, 8ms, 1920 x 1080 (same screen as 8935G and 8940G)
- 2x 500 GB HDD, SATA, 5400 rpm (Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT)
- Blu-ray reader (probably BD reader/DVD writer combo)
- 5-in-1 card reader (MMC, SD, MS, MS Pro, xD), Acer HD Crystal Eye webcam, Fingerprint reader
- 10/100/1000 LAN, Wake-on-LAN ready
- Integrated Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100 (802.11a/b/g/Draft-N), Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™
- Bluetooth ® 2.0 + EDR
- 8-cell 4800 mAh Li-Ion Battery
- VGA, HDMI, 4x USB 2.0, Firewire, Infrared, eSATA
- Five speaker Dolby surround sound, with Acer Tuba CineBass Subwoofer
- 1x Line-in, S / PDIF
- 105-keys keyboard with number pad, backlit keyboard
- 1x ExpressCard ™ / 54
- 4.6 kg, 440 x 295 x 44 mm
- Microsoft ® Windows ® 7 Home Premium 64-bit including Acer software package (Acer Arcade ™ Deluxe featuring Cinema, Album, Music, Acer home media, online media, Acer Backup Manager, Acer eRecovery, Acer Power Smart Manager, Acer Bio-Protection, Acer Crystal Eye, Acer GridVista ™, Acer Launch Manager, Acer Game Zone, Acer Game Console, burner software, virus scanners, etc.)
- Warranty: 2 years manufacturers warranty including 1 year International Travelers Warranty
- Expected price: 1400 EUR w/o VAT?
- Availability: no information
Acer Aspire AS-8942G-724G128Wi
- Intel ® Core ™ i7 processor 720QM (Quad core + HyperThreading, 1.6-2.8 GHz, 6MB L2 cache)
- 4 GB DDR3 1066 MHz RAM (one 4 GB module?)
- ATI ® Mobility Radeon ™ HD 5850 1 GB GDDR3 (“Broadway-Pro” Graphics Card 1024MB DDR3 VRAM)
- 18.4 Full HD Acer CineCrystal™ high-brightness (220-nit) TFT, 8ms, 1920 x 1080 (same screen as 8935G and 8940G)
- 2x 640 GB HDD, SATA, 5400 rpm (Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD6400BEVT)
- Blu-ray Disc ™ Writer with DVD SuperMulti (DL)
- 5-in-1 card reader (MMC, SD, MS, MS Pro, xD), Acer HD Crystal Eye webcam, Fingerprint reader
- 10/100/1000 LAN, Wake-on-LAN ready
- Integrated Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100 (802.11a/b/g/Draft-N), Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™
- Bluetooth ® 2.0 + EDR
- 8-cell 4800 mAh Li-Ion Battery
- VGA, HDMI, 4x USB 2.0, Firewire, Infrared, eSATA
- Five speaker Dolby surround sound, with Acer Tuba CineBass Subwoofer
- 1x Line-in, S / PDIF
- 105-keys keyboard with number pad, backlit keyboard
- 1x ExpressCard ™ / 54
- 4.6 kg, 440 x 295 x 44 mm
- Microsoft ® Windows ® 7 Home Premium 64-bit including Acer software package (Acer Arcade ™ Deluxe featuring Cinema, Album, Music, Acer home media, online media, Acer Backup Manager, Acer eRecovery, Acer Power Smart Manager, Acer Bio-Protection, Acer Crystal Eye, Acer GridVista ™, Acer Launch Manager, Acer Game Zone, Acer Game Console, burner software, virus scanners, etc.)
- Warranty: 2 years manufacturers warranty including 1 year International Travelers Warranty
- Expected price: 1427 EUR excl. VAT in Germany
- Availability: late December
Acer Aspire AS-8942G-728G1280TWN
- Intel ® Core ™ i7 processor 720QM (Quad core + HyperThreading, 1.6-2.8 GHz, 6MB L2 cache)
- 8 GB DDR3 1066 MHz RAM (4+4 GB modules)
- ATI ® Mobility Radeon ™ HD 5850 1 GB GDDR3 (“Broadway-Pro” Graphics Card 1024MB DDR3 VRAM)
- 18.4 Full HD Acer CineCrystal™ high-brightness (220-nit) TFT, 8ms, 1920 x 1080 (same screen as 8935G and 8940G)
- 2x 640 GB HDD, SATA, 5400 rpm (Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD6400BEVT)
- Blu-ray Disc ™ Writer with DVD SuperMulti (DL)
- 5-in-1 card reader (MMC, SD, MS, MS Pro, xD), Acer HD Crystal Eye webcam, Fingerprint reader
- 10/100/1000 LAN, Wake-on-LAN ready
- Integrated Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100 (802.11a/b/g/Draft-N), Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™
- Bluetooth ® 2.0 + EDR
- 8-cell 4800 mAh Li-Ion Battery
- VGA, HDMI, 4x USB 2.0, Firewire, Infrared, eSATA
- Five speaker Dolby surround sound, with Acer Tuba CineBass Subwoofer
- 1x Line-in, S / PDIF
- 105-keys keyboard with number pad, backlit keyboard
- 1x ExpressCard ™ / 54
- 4.6 kg, 440 x 295 x 44 mm
- Microsoft ® Windows ® 7 Home Premium 64-bit including Acer software package (Acer Arcade ™ Deluxe featuring Cinema, Album, Music, Acer home media, online media, Acer Backup Manager, Acer eRecovery, Acer Power Smart Manager, Acer Bio-Protection, Acer Crystal Eye, Acer GridVista ™, Acer Launch Manager, Acer Game Zone, Acer Game Console, burner software, virus scanners, etc.)
- Warranty: 2 years manufacturers warranty including 1 year International Travelers Warranty
- Expected price: 1457 EUR w/o VAT in Germany
- Availability: late December
- Notes: there must be some error, as it’s really not much more expensive than the 724G128Wi, yet it has 4 gigs of RAM more than it!
So far we know not of other modifications of Acer Aspire 8942, but as you can expect from huge manufacturer, Acer sells customized notebooks in their distribution channels, so there would be a lot more models than those, most of them sharing the same basics. This time there is no need of Twisted Rating, as we won’t rate ourselves. There is still the issue with Fudzilla talking about ATI Mobility Radeon HD5850 with GDDR5 memory in those notebooks from acer, which is not true, as they are all GDDR3. Stay tuned for Aspire 5942 and Aspire 7740 info!
Update 15.10.2009: Madison Pro is actually the third card in terms of performance after 5870 and 5850 mobile cards, meaning it will be probably named 5750 and include 128-bit memory controller. This is not confirmed, though.
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The “128″ in 8942G-724G128Wi and the “1280″ in 8942G-728G1280TWN stands for 1280 GB of hard disk memory (2×640 GB). So your specs are incorrect (2×500 GB)….
Sorry, it’s a mistake due to cloning the rest of the stuff.
Can you check whether graphics memory is DDR3 or GDDR3? is conflicting in the listings you put up.
Regular DDR3 is cheaper now and not much below performance of GDDR3(which is DDR2 based), possibly also less power than older memory type.
We cannot, even now most GPU-related software doesn’t work well with mobile graphic cards, and we don’t know any details about the GPU itself.
Our guess is that is GDDR3, as Brodway Pro codename comes for the second fastest mobile graphics cards and we should expect more than regular DRAM on it. Also DDR3 still has worse consumption for what we know and it doesn’t come at GDDR3 speeds in mainstream products.
We added a little update in the info concerning Madison Pro chipset – this could be 5750, not 5650 graphics card, with 128-bit memory bus. Still it’s a wildgues though.
Oh you have the hardware? Did you try the latest version of GPU-Z it works for desktop versions Broadway and (sort of) Madison chips?
Otherwise 5 mins with a screwdriver, just get the model code on the top of the ram chips….(a die shot of the gpu would be cool too if you could be bothered ;)
I just asked cause earlier this year ATI indicated it was now GDDR5 for perormance and regular DDR3 for mainstream/budget. Can see this in their desktop parts all 5 series performance are pretty much GDDR5 only, older chips like the 4670 are increasingly DDR3 rather than GDDR3.
Oh, no, we don’t, and Acer don’t seem reluctant to give us some, claiming it’s all under NDA.
Most of the stuff is just a long Acer’s code right now, and we guess they don’t actually ship those, no matter what stock options on some shops tell you now.