Useful – Parallels Desktop mounted when started all partitions available in Windows (even USB and NTFS) in Mac OS X as well. This has the advantage that files that are formatted on NTFS can be copied on USB devices (Mac OS X is normally only capable of reading the Windows standard file system NTFS). Acer as10d7e battery
Especially confusing is the fact that the "Apple" key is exactly where the Windows "Alt" would be. Instead of typing an "@" users would close the running application since Apple + Q is the command for closing programmes. Acer as10d5e battery
In addition to this, the Pos1 and End keys are unlike as in Windows or Linux resulting to the line's beginning / end, it will move the cursor to the document's beginning / end. This can cause real anger when working with long text documents. However, this problem can be solved by using the tools keyfixer and keyfixer firefox at least for the most important applications (e.g. in Eclipse users need to change the options manually to solve the problem). Acer 934t2078f battery
Besides, the control of the Mac windows is quite tricky at the beginning. For example the size of the windows can only be changed by moving the right corner on the bottom of a window. Furthermore, there are occasionally no means of getting full screens of certain applications as the green (+) in Mac OS X enlarges only to the optimum size. There is also the lack of switching between applications in Mac that many Windows users will miss (despite the excellent Exposé). The tool "Witch" helped us to deal with this problem and also changed the "Apple" key to the Windows "Alt". So when pressing Apple + Tab, we were able to switch between our running applications. Acer LC.BTP00.123 battery
Another useful tool is "Hibernate" that helps to change the standby mode of the MacBook Pro (standby, hibernate or standby + hibernate). The hibernation mode did not work at the start (the laptop awoke but demanded a restart of the system). But the tool "MacFuse" (used to e.g. describe NTFS in the finder) was the cause of this malfunction. After the uninstalling of MacFuse the problem did not occur any longer. Acer BT.00607.130 battery
Mac OS X can only read NTFS file systems, which is quite annoying when exchanging files via Boot Camp. Parallels Desktop solves this problem at the expense of the low gaming performance in Windows. Acer BT.00607.127 battery
Even server connections need to be done by third party applications (e.g. Fugu or Cyberduck – our preferred tool) that most Linux distributions can handle automatically. Acer BT.00607.126 battery
The uninstalling of Mac OS X applications that were put on via "Installer" also requires third party tools to de deleted without any residua in the system (e.g. OSXPM – OSX Packet Manager). The uninstalling procedure is quite easy by drag & drop expect with programmes that were installed by "Installer". Acer BT.00607.125 battery
Our result is that after having gotten used to Mac OS X, we did not really miss Windows. The design, Acer AS10D75 battery the impressive UNIX core and the consequent but useful drag & drop function make this product very appealing. Since you do not use the so called "standard operating system" Windows any longer, there will be some difficulties occurring with peripheral devices. In the test even a Microsoft Comfort Curved keyboard worked very well with the MacBook Pro; Mac OS X driver for hot keys are also available. On the downside there were not any drivers suitable for the Logitech G5 gaming mouse. In this case shareware drivers such as "USB Overdrive" we required in order to make use of resp. to configure the other keys (the mouse worked well even without any drivers). Acer BT.00606.008 battery
Even after the endurance test the overall impression of the MacBook to be a quality product with an excellent design and a very good finishing were maintained. Especially the small details (MagSafe, remote control, etc.) are very delighting.The number of interfaces was limited though due to the flat case. The two USB inputs are definitely not sufficient, thus making the lack of a docking station very painful and disappointing. Acer AS10D73 battery
The keyboard is (for Windows users in particular) the greatest weakness of this laptop. The response characteristics are not optimal and the layout (since based for Mac users) requires quite a lot of time to getting used to. In addition to this, on the one hand the lack of the second track pad key is a bit disturbing while one the other hand the two finger scroll system is quite nice. Acer AS10D71 battery
The weaker 15.4" MacBook Pro with 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo is noticeable slower in new games than the faster one owing to the 128MB graphic memory (faster MacBook uses 256MB). Acer AS10D61 battery Nevertheless, the gaming performance is high enough (thanks to the fast processor and GDDR3 graphic memory) for most current games. Still you need to weigh up on your own whether it would be worth spending more on the faster laptop. An interesting fact is though that the weaker MacBook attained better results in the benchmarks than the expensive 2.4GHz model. This surprising result might be traced back by either defect hardware of the 2.4GHz one or problems with drivers that reduced the benchmark performance. Acer AS10D51 battery
A very significant incentive for buying is the 15.4 inch wide screen with LED background lightning, which is even suitable for intensive outdoor use while requiring less energy than similar screens. He viewing angle is alright although the fairly limited vertical indination of the hinges can cause some disappointment. This can lead to partly flat colours when being used on the womb. Acer AS10D41 battery
Very surprising is the low noise emission of the flat notebook despite the high-performance hardware. The fans can only be noticed under load and yet are not unpleasantly loud. The downside of this is the very high temperature on the bottom side of the MacBook. Again this can cause problems on the lap. Acer AS10D3E battery
The outstanding features of this device really is the included version of Mac OS X. Windows users are most likely struggle with the keyboard layout as well as the windows functions at the start. But with the help of some utilities (see above) that can be gathered fairly quickly, even Windows users will soon appreciate the fairly simple but functional design of the MacBook Pro's operating system. Acer AS10D31 battery
All in all the sum of highlights and features are convincing. There are only a few competitive notebooks in this category that can keep up with the MacBook in terms of performance and mobility. The only real rival is the Lenovo Thinkpad T61p, which is not available in a cheap version (with a fast GPU). The 14" Zepto Znote 6324W might be taken into consideration as a substitute that is equipped with a GeForce Go 8600M TG graphics card Acer AS10D battery
The Asus G2K is already the third model of the G2 series that we were able to look after. After the first encounter of Asus' 17 inch gaming series on the CeBit 2007 in Hannover (Asus G2P) we could take a look at its successor, the Asus G2Pc in a detailed review shortly afterwards. Acer AK.006BT.080 battery
One thing did not change since then: the design of the laptop. Like on the first day, red chassis perforations and red pulsar lights the case, which tries to please consumers with a range of different optics. One example we could present would be the aluminium display cover or the very shiny surface of the base unit presenting a square pattern. The front side edges are finished with a shiny aluminium frame. Acer AK.006BT.075 battery
The mildly reflecting case of the Asus G2K is obviously targeted at gamers. The joy is apparently increased by the flashing red lights at the display's edges. Those who find this feature less useful can simply deactivate the lights by using the "Asus Direct Console". Acer 31CR19/65-2 battery
In terms of finishing, the Asus G2K is as competitive as its colleagues. All hinges and corners are very neatly built and cracking parts are nowhere to be found. The overall aesthetics come out very interestingly. This reaches from metallic cool to futuristic smooth up to the less attractive plastic flair of the display cover. Acer travelmate timelinex 8473tg battery
The case does make a solid impression. No deformation of the G2K could be noticed when pressure was applied onto the chassis. Only the plastic surface of the DVD drives on the bottom side deformed slightly on its very top. Also the pressure resistance of the display can be described as decent. Acer travelmate timelinex 8473t battery
The 17 inch display is hold by two very individually designed hinges that seem to keep the display very safe and sound. The practical test reviewed that the panel did not wobble in a noticeable way and the pressure resistance of the display can be described as sufficient. Acer travelmate timelinex 8473g battery
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In terms of the interfaces, this laptop offers a Firewire port, an analog VGA output, S-Video port and a HDMI port for the rendering of digital audio and video signals. There is also a DVD drive on the right side of the G2K that is capable of the LightScribe so that suitable disks can be written on. Acer travelmate timelinex 8473 battery
The majority of interfaces are to be found on the back of the laptop resp. on the left rear side. This will help to reduce possible difficulties with external devices, which is optimal for the desktop replacements. For those using video conferences and other little gimmicks, the G2K has a built-in 1.3 megapixels webcam on the top of the display. Acer travelmate timelinex 6595tg battery
Trademark of the Asus gaming laptop series G1 and G2 is the outstanding design especially owing to the red A-W-S-D keys, the most important keyboard area for gamers so to speak. These keys are used to guide the game character of to control specific objects within a strategy game, which is the reason why it actually is a good idea to highlight these keys from the rest. Acer travelmate timelinex 6595t battery
The layout of the keyboard and its nice and big keys were mainly responsible for the lack of an additional num pad. Despite the fact that the keys are put together in a narrow way, we did not find any evidence of problems arising from this. Acer travelmate timelinex 6595g battery
Besides, the ergonomics of the individual keys can be described as pleasing even after a long round gaming round. The keys can be pressed easily and present a nicely noticeable pressure point. They can also handle harder strokes that however will result is a deformation of the keyboard mainly around the enter key followed by clicking noise. Acer travelmate timelinex 6595 battery
The Asus G2K also provides the user with two rows with additional keys; one is located on the front side of the laptop where one can control the Media Player and one is put on the right top behind the keyboard. These hot keys can be used for example to deactivate the touch pad or to show the performance index. Nevertheless, the volume can only be changed via the Fn key and the matching hot key. Acer aspire 5733z battery
The touchpad is easy to use, so are its keys, which are separated by a glowing Asus G2 logo. There is not a scroll bar on the touch pad but this is solved when using the excellent mouse included. Acer aspire 5733g battery
Our test model had a WXGA+ panel with a resolution of 1440x900 pixels. The display (that is called as "Color Shine Glare Type LCD Panel & High Brightness") had a reflecting surface delivering a colourful and bright image. The resolution is on the threshold of being too low since icons and texts are already fairly big on the desktop. However, this might be good for those working at a greater eye distance to the screen. Acer travelmate timelinex 6495tg battery
We measured a maximum brightness value of 336 cd/m² in the central area of the display. Despite a drastical fall of the brightness down to a minimum of 226 cd/m² in the upper left, the average brightness level of 276 cd/m² is still very good. The illumination of only 67.3% however reduces this advantage to a certain extend. Acer travelmate timelinex 6495t battery
The high brightness level could also allow outdoor use of the laptop but this is countered by the highly reflecting panel that can create very strong light reflections under certain viewing angles. Furthermore, the weight of 4 kg does not really allow frequent use of the G2K as a mobile device. Acer travelmate timelinex 6495g battery
Regarding the stability of the viewing angles, the G2K again performs quite well. There is a strong deviation in the vertical area creating reflections and little colour changes. The vertical viewing angle is alright, too; the screen darkens and lightens quite a lot depending whether looking from the bottom up or from the top down on the screen. Acer travelmate timelinex 6495 battery
Although most laptops are equipped with Intel CPUs combined with nVidia GPUs nowadays, the Asus G2Kfor instance has an AMD processor and an ATI graphics card. This equipment seems to be coming from one house after the two manufacturers merged together. How this combination is going to perform against the rival one is explained in the following paragraphs. Acer aspire 5745pg battery
With the aid of the 3D Mark 2005 and 2006 benchmarking tools, we could make out that the ATI Mobility Radeon HD2600 graphics is on the direct level of the Geforce 8600M GT. While this ATI GPU is quite a couple of frames slower in the 3D Mark 2005, it performs a lot better in the 2006 benchmark against the nVidia card. The AMD/ATI combination is slightly faster than comparable laptops using 8600M GT graphics cards but is a lot slower than ones equipped with 8700M GT Grafik cards. Acer aspire 5336z battery
Well, how does this actually affect real life gaming? In the Doom 3 benchmark, the G2K was on the same level as laptops with GeForce 8600M GT graphics cards. Laptops using GeForce 8700M GT GPUs and partly some SLI solutions are still significantly faster. The HD2600 graphics card is able to attain highly sufficient frame rates of 70 per second in "Ultra High". Acer aspire 5336t battery
However, the card performed slightly worse in the DirectX 9 first person shooter F.E.A.R. in comparison to a GeForce 8600M GS. Surprisingly the GPU seems to struggle especially with lower details, which could be due to the less powerful processor. Acer aspire 5336g battery
Current DirectX 10 games such as Crysis or World in Conflict were hardly playable. The results extracted from the demo versions were all very disappointing. Even when playing on minimum quality and resolution, it was very hard to play. Acer aspire 5250g battery
