Sorry, couldn’t contain my excitement there. Here I go again, becoming the self-appointed PR representative for Acer Malaysia, who does an abysmal job of making the public aware of their latest products. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Acer Malaysia, you suck at PR. Big time. Many a time I’ve written to them asking for information, only to be stonewalled. And answered with “we have no information regarding that product at this time”. I mean, seriously, if it wasn’t for the fact that Acer’s products are value for money, I would have banned all mention of their name from this blog, for all eternity.
On to the Aspire 1820PT then. Here’s the product page on Acer Malaysia’s website. Basically, this is an 11.6″ netbook with a touchscreen, running Windows 7, which improves support for touchscreens by some leaps and bounds compared to previous Windows versions. The specifications of the 1820PT are:
| Operating System |
|
| Processor & Chipset |
- Intel® Core™2 Duo processor supporting Intel® 64 architecture
- Mobile Intel® GS45 Express Chipset
|
| Memory |
- Dual-channel DDR3 SDRAM support
- Up to 4 GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, upgradeable to 8 GB using two soDIMM modules
|
| HDD |
- 160/250/320GB or larger hard disk drive*
(Specifications vary depending on the model)
|
| Storage |
- 5-in-1 card reader supporting:
- Secure Digital™ (SD) Card, MultiMediaCard (MMC), Memory Stick™ (MS), Memory Stick PRO™ (MS PRO), xD-Picture Card™ (xD)
- storage cards with adapter: miniSD™, microSD™, Memory Stick Duo™, Reduced-Size Multimedia Card (RS-MMC), Memory Stick PRO Duo™
|
| Display |
- 11.6″ HD 1366 x 768 (WXGA) pixel resolution, high-brightness (200-nit) LED-backlit TFT LCD with integrated multi-touch screen, supporting finger touch and pen input
- 11.6″ SD 1024 x 600 (WSVGA) pixel resolution, high-brightness (200-nit) LED-backlit TFT LCD with integrated multi-touch screen, supporting finger touch and pen input
- Convertible design with screen image auto rotation
- 16:9 aspect ratio
- 16.7 million colors
|
| Graphics |
- Mobile Intel® GS45 Express Chipset with integrated 3D graphics, featuring Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD (Intel® GMA 4500MHD) with up to 1759 MB of Intel® Dynamic Video Memory Technology 5.0 (64 MB of dedicated video memory, up to 1695 MB of shared system memory), supporting Microsoft® DirectX® 10
- Dual independent display support
- MPEG-2/DVD decoding
- WMV9 (VC-1) and H.264 (AVC) decoding
- HDMI™ (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) support
|
| Multimedia |
- Supports 7.1-channel surround sound and 2-channel stereo output (multiple streaming)
- Optimized 2nd Generation Dolby® Sound Room®4 audio enhancement, featuring Dolby® Headphone, Dolby® Natural Bass, Dolby® Sound Space Expander
- High-definition audio support
- S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) support for digital speakers
- MS-Sound compatible
- Built-in microphone
|
| Communication |
- Acer Video Conference featuring integrated Acer Crystal Eye webcam, supporting enhanced Acer PrimaLite™ technology
- Acer Video Conference Manager software, featuring Video Quality Enhancement (VQE) technology, supporting 640 x 480 resolution online video calls
- WLAN: Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100 (dual-band quad-mode 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N) Wi-Fi CERTIFIED® network connection, featuring MIMO technology, supporting Acer SignalUp™ with Nplify™ wireless technology or
- Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ network connection, featuring MIMO technology, supporting Acer SignalUp™ with Nplify™ wireless technology
- Intel® WiFi Link 1000 802.11b/g/Draft-N Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ with Acer Nplify™
- Supporting Acer SignalUp™ wireless technology
- Featuring MIMO technology
- LAN: Gigabit Ethernet; Wake-on-LAN ready
- WPAN: Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
(manufacturing option)
- WWAN: UMTS/HSPA at 850/900/1900/2100 MHz and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), upgradeable to 7.2 Mb/s HSDPA and 5.7 Mb/s HSUPA, supporting receiver diversity and equalizing at 2100 MHz
(only for 3G models)
|
| I/O Interface |
- 3x USB 2.0 ports
- 1x HDMI™ (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) support
- 1x external display (VGA) port
- 1x Headphones/speaker/line-out jack with S/PDIF support
- 1x Microphone-in jack
- 1x Ethernet (RJ-45) port
- 1x DC-in jack for AC adapter
- Multi-in-1 card reader (SD™, MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD)
|
| Security |
- Slot for Kensington lock
- BIOS user, supervisor, HDD passwords
|
| Power Supply & Battery |
- ACPI 3.0 CPU power management standard: supports Standby and Hibernation power-saving modes
- 62.16 W 5600 mAh 6-cell Li-ion battery pack:
• up to 8-hour battery life
- 3-pin 30 W AC adapter
- ENERGY STAR®
|
| Keyboard & Special Controls |
- Acer Backup key
- 84-/85-/88-key full-size Acer FineTip keyboard, with inverted “T” cursor layout
- Multi-gesture touchpad pointing device, supporting:
• two-finger scroll
• Pinch-action zoom
• flip and rotate
- 10 function keys, four cursor keys, two Windows® keys, hotkey controls, embedded numeric keypad, international language support
- Easy-access switches with LED: Bluetooth®, WLAN/WWAN
(Specifications vary depending on the model)
|
| Weight & Dimensions |
- 285 (W) 208.9 (D) 28.5/34.5 (H) mm (11.22 x 8.22 x 1.12/1.36 inches)
- 1.72 kg (3.79 lbs.) for non-3G SKU
|
| Color choices |
- Diamond black
- Sapphire blue
- Ruby red
|
| Quality & Reliability Tests |
- Temperature & humidity test
- Free drop test
- Acoustics test
- Weight and Pressure tests
- Spillage test
- Shock and Vibration tests
- Electrostatic discharge immunity test
- MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) test
- Hinge life test
- Keyboard-switch life test
|
| Software |
- Acer Crystal Eye
- Acer Video Conference Manager, featuring Video Quality Enhancement (VQE)
(Specifications vary depending on the model)
- Acer GridVista™
- Acer Backup Manager
- Acer eRecovery Management
(Specifications vary depending on the model)
- Acer GameZone
- Acer Game Console
- Acer 3G Connection Manager
(only on 3G models)
- McAfee Internet Security 2009 Suite 60-day trial version
- Adobe® Reader®
- Adobe® Flash® Player
- Google™ Toolbar
- Google™ Desktop
- Google™ Setup
- CyberLink® PowerDVD™
- My WinLocker
- Microsoft® Works 9.0 with Office Home and Student 2007 Trial
- Microsoft® Windows Live™ Essentials Wave 3
- Orion™
|
| Options |
- Memory expansion modules
- Additional battery
|
| Warranty |
- One-year International Travellers Warranty (ITW)
|
|
Wow, what’s that “quality and reliability tests” section doing there? Can we put this to the test ourselves? 
The processor is actually an Intel Core 2 Duo, SU4100 at 1.3GHz, which supports 64bit processing. The battery is a 6 cell one, of 5600mAh capacity, good for up to 8 hours of claimed operating time.
Sorry, I don’t have the exact specifications of the unit on sale here, nor its pricing. I did not see it today while I was at Lowyat Plaza at the usual notebook retailers. But if anyone has any information on the exact specification and pricing, please do share with us! Otherwise, we’ll have to call up Acer Malaysia to ask, and depending on the time of day, may not be the best of options. But looking at the pricing of the existing line, I’d hazard a guess that the 1820PT will be sold anywhere between RM 2,099 and RM 2,299.
So, who’s getting one? Jump in with your comments, as usual. I won’t bite!
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No acer for me! Phobia about it.
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 10:03 am
@Hawke, love or hate for a brand is very personal, so I’m not even going to bother trying to change your mind about it!
[Reply]
dad , may be acer management have meet their sales target ( by using price reduction and war ) , need not any help , dont worry , when the top ask for more sales , and they cant meet it , they will look other help or blog……
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 10:04 am
@andy, yes, I think so. They sell very well, for precisely the reason I mentioned – value for money, compared to competitors. And that’s why with just one netbook (the Acer Aspire One), they have managed to win the number one spot from Asus in the netbook market, although Asus has maybe 1,938,493 netbook models on the market.
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Its probable that with their impressive sales locally and worldwide, they have a certain air about themselves. What more in 3rd world Malaysia, where the generally dislocated local office think we cannot tell the difference between orangutans and lizards. And so treat us like kids , waiting for their handouts …sort of – you ask no questions and I will not tell you any lies. Or pretend dunno like what is happening on the market.
There is a chronic tidak apa take it or leave it attitude bertween Acer International , Acer Malaysia …and the local individual retailers. A huge communications gap so to speak.
;D
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 10:05 am
@toni, you hit the nail right on its head!
[Reply]
The specs really got me reading…I abandoned Acer long time ago and now i am on Dell. If the price is right…i might be heading the Acer way….
[Reply]
andy Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 2:49 am
yes , dell now is getting cheaper , because of the acer attrative price( may be price war ) , and want to compete , without acer price war , i believe dell is selling high price. ACER now is world ranked number 2 or 3 , the big head DELL or HP is watching closedly….
but acer 3 year warranty pricing is much cheaper than DELL….
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 10:27 am
@andy, yep. I believe I read somewhere that Acer is now the world’s second largest PC retailer, surpassing Dell.
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 10:06 am
@Hikaru, this is a tablet form factor, are you sure you need one? Maybe wait or go for the 1810T instead? I’ve been told it’s arriving in stores today!
[Reply]
Wake me up when any vendors ship the Intel SUxxxx series on something better than the craptastic GS45.
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 10:27 am
@AKilla, with ION? I’m not sure there is a market big enough to justify producing those. As it is, even with the Atom/ION netbook combo, the prices aren’t compelling to make me want to buy one over a ULV/GMA500 combo.
[Reply]
Oh My god!, please check out the Acer brochure inside The Star today!!!
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
@csng, thanks for the heads up!
[Reply]
The price is almost double as you suggested:
http://www.getprice.com.au/1820PT-732G25MN-SU7300-1-2-250-W7HP-Gpnc_24–41619287.htm
[Reply]
I fully agree with you when you say “Acer Malaysia, you suck at PR”. Several years ago I saw a new acer laptop (it was laptop then, notebook now) at Low Yat. I wanted to learn more about the specs at acer.com.my but the model was not there. As this was not the first time it happened, i emailed the webmaster and told him if you dont update your web I will email Stan Shih. That did it and the next day he replied he had put the model on the site.
Yesterday I bought the red F200 but sold it to my my daughter for RM900. It was a complicated deal all because of my big mouth. Two days before I wrote to Marco (acer local distributor) about 500Gig HDD on the Ferrari. The next day they replied that for Malaysia it is only 320Gig.
I am eyeing the new Aspire 1820PT discussed above. It was on an Acer flyer inserted in today”s Star. Price RM2299. And tonight surprise surprise it is also on acer website. Acer must be reading your blog.
[Reply]
Acer did it again albeit the other way round. They are too fast putting 1820PT on their site and the retailers are wondering when they are getting it. The Malaysian specs are always anemic compared to those sold elsewhere. Example here 320gig HDD elsewhere 500, here 800FSB elsewhere1066, here DDR2 Ram elsewhere DDR3. Maybe Acer Malaysia reckon nobody wants a unit that is fully stacked. They are grossly wrong.
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
November 29th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
@akba, maybe if they put all those specifications in, the price will be jacked up to an extent that it no longer becomes “affordable”. And since many people are just buying based on price nowadays, Acer is more than happy to let people buy these lower spec’ed machines, then find out later that they have to upgrade this and that, but by that time Acer’s already pocketed the money, so they don’t care!
[Reply]
Sent this to Acer Malaysia
It never fail to amaze me that acer.com.my does not list products on the site that are already on sale at Low Yat. So it does not come as a surprise the opposite is true: acer.com.my is listing ASPIRE 1820PT when other Acer asian sites do not list it. I do not know what strategy Acer Malaysia is using but in the long run we consumers will loose, or lament that if they had waited a while longer they could get the same thing, same price or cheaper but with higher specs.
The reply:
Thank you for your interest shown towards our products. We are truly apologizing on the lateness of our website upgrade, will inform the responsible department on that. Kindly informed that Aspire 1820PTZ-412G32 will be available in Malaysia on the second week of December, retailing at RM2299
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:15 am
@akba, and the website is still not updated! Where’s the 1810TZ eh?
And the price for the 1820PTZ has been known for a long time now! 
[Reply]
Pingback: Will They, Won’t They? « -:: Malaysia Mobile Tech News ::-
I hate Acer tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo….. 2nd time disappointed by acer, but, thats for the notebooks, never tried netbooks(plus multitouch), maybe should giv it a try..
[Reply]
I hope my eyes are not failing me, Acer 1820PT has been removed from acer.com.my. So much for 2nd week of December launch!
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 12th, 2009 at 12:33 am
@akba, pssst -> http://mytechnews.info/b/2009/12/whoa-acer-aspire-1820ptz-disappears-from-acer-malaysia-website.html
[Reply]
Pingback: So What Is The Real Reason Behind The Acer Aspire 1820PTZ’s Withdrawal? « -:: Malaysia Mobile Tech News ::-
Acer Aspire 1420 and Acer Aspire 1820PT are not dissimilar. Watch this horror video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKhWOp_rY2I
[Reply]