Acer Aspire 8930G-864G32Bn review

Acer’s Aspire 8930G, with its 18.4in full HD screen and 4kg weight, isn’t what we’d call a portable laptop, but it’s well-equipped for entertainment so it could take the place of a desktop PC.

Amazingly, 5.1 speakers are built-in. They’re very loud, but the surround-sound effect isn’t very convincing. The dedicated Nvidia GeForce 9700M GT graphics can play modern 3D games, managing just under 25fps in our Call of Duty 4 test. If you prefer more passive entertainment, there’s a Blu-ray drive that can play high-definition movies, but it can’t write Blu-ray discs.

The screen is bright, with vivid colours and reasonably wide viewing angles. Unfortunately, the backlight is a little uneven and images have a slight green tint. These are disappointing flaws in a laptop screen at this price. If you want to connect an external monitor, you can use the VGA, HDMI or DisplayPort connectors.

The Aspire 8930G’s large size means that there’s enough room for a standard numeric keypad, which is useful for number entry in spreadsheets. The keyboard isn’t quite as large as we’d like thanks to the touch-sensitive media playback controls to the left of it and the large speakers above it. Its responsive keys still make it pleasant to use, though. We also liked the accurate and responsive touchpad, although its buttons could be bigger.

The Aspire 8930G is equipped with 4GB of RAM and a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 processor. It performed well in all our benchmarks and lasted nearly three hours in our light usage battery test, which is respectable for a desktop replacement.

Acer’s Aspire 8930G is a great replacement for a desktop PC, with its Blu-ray drive, good 3D performance, comfortable keyboard and bright, high-resolution display. Sony’s Vaio FW41E/H has a lower-resolution screen, but it edges ahead of the Aspire as our favourite £900 laptop thanks to its higher-quality screen, larger hard disk, faster 3D performance and generous software bundle.