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Here is an interesting question for you: How does product placement and sports sponsorship effect you? Personally, I like it. When I see a character in a movie or television show using a product I own, it validates my purchasing decision. Like in Mission Impossible when Ethan Hunt is seen using an Apple PowerBook I remember thinking how cool that was and wondering if the cool-looking Operating System he was using was Apple's Copland (the doomed next-gen Mac OS that preceded OS X). Now, whenever a character on TV uses a computer, I have to identify what brand they are using.
Similarly, in sports I like to see the tech that I am using employed by the teams I cheer for. When I am in the market for something, if a supplier of that item sponsors a team in one of my favorite sports it makes a difference to me. I used to buy Motorola phones when they sponsored Lance Armstrong's cycling team. When Motorola dropped out and USPS stepped in, I switched to using their services to complement my rabid eBay buy/sell addiction. Their sponsorship made it possible for me to continue watching an athlete participate in a sport I enjoyed. Yes, product placement and sponsorship influences me.
Sure, there is some push back on the whole branding thing. It's been argued that we are ourselves becoming branded - but hey that is a choice we make, right? And everything else being equal, wouldn't you rather have a branded item than a plain generic one? I would. For manufacturers this is a good way to make a commodity item into something a lot more desirable.
Having this opinion probably makes me the perfect target for an item like the Acer Ferrari 4005 WLMI with battery such as Acer 6M.48RBT.001 battery , Acer 805N00005 battery , Acer 90.NBI61.001 battery , Acer 90.NBI61.011 battery , Acer 91.48R28.001 battery , Acer 916C4310F battery , Acer AS07B72 battery , Acer BATBL50L6 battery , Acer BATCL50L battery , Acer BATCL50L4 battery , Acer BATSQU410 battery . There are few brands as recognizable as Ferrari, and there are few things as hard to differentiate as computers.
Ferrari makes products that stand out, so the appeal of using the brand is understandable. In addition to making a great product in the form of performance cars, Ferrari runs a number of successful racing programs. The pinnacle of this being the Ferrari Formula One team.
I dig Formula One (F1), and I have followed it since I was a kid. I even idolized Gilles Villeneuve when I was a kid. Villeneuve was the Ferrari F1 driver whose passion and exuberance came to symbolized the team for many people in the late seventies and early eighties. Tragically, his racing career (and life) were cut short in a racing accident. There is no shortage of racing legends associated with this brand.
The Ferrari F1 racing team has a number of high-tech sponsors. AMD led the charge into F1, and they were shortly followed by Acer as an official supplier to the Ferrari team. It isn't any surprise that Acer would make an AMD Turion-based, Ferrari-branded notebook. Why not make an Intel Centrino-based Ferrari? Intel sponsors Toyota F1.
If you care how your gear looks, you will love the Acer Ferrari. Simply put, I have not seen a more desirable notebook. Pictures do not do the Ferrari justice. It is both understated and bling. The carbon weave lid looks great and is functional too. I could understand people passing on the previous generation Acer Ferrari's based on their outrageous (bright red) looks, but I can't see people having the same issues with this one.
The Ferrari is as well made as any ThinkPad or PowerBook that I have tested. I suspect that this isn't the only Acer notebook that is built this well. Making a notebook like the Ferrari should bring some attention to a company that is now the 4 largest notebook maker in the world (behind Dell, HP and Toshiba).
In the build quality and looks department the Ferrari is a clear winner -- well ahead of its nearest rival. Like Michael Schumacher did so many times in the 2004 F1 season, the Acer Ferrari starts the 'build quality and aesthetics race' in pole position and disappears into the horizon when the start light goes green. Simply put, in drives away from its rivals.
In terms of performance I would have to rate the Ferrari better than most notebooks in its class. It comes in cheaper than the similar performing Acer 8004 WLMi sporting Intel's fastest Centrino combo. It loses ground in office applications, but the Ferrari wins in most media applications and games. People buy machines like these because they want better frame rates in games or in encoding tools, not to make MS Word operate faster. There is a better choice from AMD in terms of energy consumption, that being the lower power version of the 2 GHz Turion. Also, the HDD is not a championship winning part.
I would say that in the 'performance race' Acer's Ferrari wins by having a keen pit strategy. It wins, but by a close margin.
Expandability in this class of notebook is almost unheard of. I don't have the guts to open the Ferrari up and have look inside. It is very thin so it is pretty hard to imagine a socketed CPU or an accessible AXIOM module. This notebook could be a classic in the future. Anything that lets you keep it longer and get some use from it in the future is a plus. If any one has access to the Acer service manuals let me know.
What about the 'bang for the buck' race? Making a value judgment on the Ferrari is a little tougher call. In my opinion, at about $2400 CDN this Ferrari is a lot more desirable than your similarly priced high-end notebook. As mentioned earlier, Acer makes the TravelMate 8104 WLMi which packs a 2 GHz Centrino into the same chassis as the Ferrari, with the same video card, but minus the Ferrari branding. The 8104 sells for about $300 more than the Ferrari -- and it is gray. Performance between the two is very close. Given the choice I would take the Ferrari.
Acer also offers a lower spec'd version of the Ferrari at what I consider to be a good price point ($1900 CDN). You get half the RAM, a 1.6 GHz Turion rather than 2 GHz, an 80 GB HDD (5400 RPM) and the CrystalBrite screen mentioned earlier. The only question becomes can you live with the 1.6 GHz Turion? If it turns out that the Ferrari's CPU is in a socket, this issue will be rendered moot because you will be able to upgrade it yourself.
In the final analysis, if you are looking at a high end notebook, you really should check out the Acer Ferrari. It is an excellent performer with top-notch looks. Acer has put together a premium notebook that is easily differentiated from others based on both the choice of internal components and looks.
Acer's sponsorship of an F1 team has paid off for them. Although their other notebooks are nice, I think it is fair to say that they are not objects of desire for most people. I think that the Ferrari changes that.