14 DAY TRIAL // Not long after a certain company started to accept orders for a certain high-end gaming notebook, Acer has provided the market with a pair of mobile PCs that also have a solid level of performance.
The term gaming notebook is one that seems to be reserved, nowadays, for those laptops that are both mighty and equipped with sophisticated casings.
The Dell Alienware M18x, which its maker is now accepting orders for, is one such beast, with a price that can go as high as the $6000 mark.
Then, there are those laptops which, although not as complex (design-wise), still have enough power to run any game without breaking a sweat.
The two Acer Aspire Ethos laptops somehow fit into the former category and were formally announced not long ago.
With screen sizes of 15.6 inches (1,366 x 768 pixels) and 18.4 inches (1920 x 1080 pixels), they are called Ethos 5951G and Ethos 8951G, with prices of 1,399 Euro and 1,699 Euro, respectively.
The Sandy Bridge series of second generation Core CPUs from Intel are used as the main piece, with the Turbo Boost 2.0 technology.
Whatever chip is chosen won't have to worry about memory, since the amount of RAM is not small at all (the listings above have 16 GB).
Furthermore, good graphics capability is granted by a discrete graphics cards, with even NVIDIA GeForce GT 500M series cards selectable.
These, along with a HDD (plus a SSD on the 8951G) and all expected connectivity and I/O options (Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, a DVD/Blu-ray drive, a multi-card reader, speakers, webcam and USB 3.0, among other things) are complemented by LED-backlit, frameless CineCrystal displays with Gorilla Glass.
The hardware is enclosed inside a brushed aluminum-magnesium alloy cover and controllable via the backlit chiclet keyboard and detachable touchpad (can be used as a media remote).