Acer Ferrari One 11.6-inch Netbook

Acer turns the average netbook with a larger screen into a sexy machine celebrating exotic Italian cars.

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: Acer
4 minutes & 32 seconds read time

Introduction


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I am a huge fan of cars. I like sports cars of all types, but I get really excited when the cars are exotic, hail from Italy and sport a prancing horse on the hood. I will never be able to afford a Ferrari of my own, unless I hit the lottery, but I can afford the dead sexy Acer Ferrari One netbook.

This sexy, red machine has all sorts of Ferrari inspired cues that make it one of the best looking machines you can buy. It looks high-tech and really stands out from the more plebian netbook hoards. I often lament the fact that all netbooks are pretty much the same, but thankfully Acer offers something a lot different here.

The unique aspects of the machine extend further than the Ferrari red hue on the lid and the faux carbon fiber of the wrist rest. The hardware isn't your average netbook fare either. The hardware that Acer chose for this machine certainly helps to set it apart as well.

If you are tired of owning a netbook that looks like every other machine on the market, the Acer Ferrari One may be exactly what you are looking for, even if it is just like some of the other Acer One 11.6-inch netbooks under all its good looks.

Specifications, Availability, and Pricing




The Acer Ferrari One netbook is available online at several sources for about $599 and the full specs are below.

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The Acer Ferrari One




Acer Ferrari One 11.6-inch Netbook 1


The top of the lid is swathed in the sexy Ferrari red and has the prancing horse logo that Ferrari is famous for. The paint quality is first rate on this netbook.

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Nothing to see on the back of this netbook; no grates, no ports, no nuttin'.

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The left hand side of the machine has a VGA output, USB port, and a cooling grate.

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The front of the machine is pretty sparse; you can see a bit of chrome from the track pad buttons and the cooling grates on the bottom.

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The right side of the notebook has the AC port, RJ45 connector, two USB ports, audio ports, memory card reader and a Kensington lock port.

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This is the full bottom shot of the machine. You can see the cooling grates, battery pack and the cool feet that look like tires.

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This is a cool touch; here you see a close up of the cool feet that look like the tire from a Ferrari.

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The keyboard is a chicklet style that is well spaced and has good typing feel. You can also see the multitouch track pad here as well.

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The screen is very glossy as you can see, but it does well with colors.

Benchmarks - Battery Life, Audio and Video Encoding


For the benchmarks today, I will be using my typical netbook test suite including iTunes, Windows Media Encoder and Battery Eater Pro. The first test is Battery Eater Pro.


Battery Eater Pro

As always, the disclaimer with this benchmark is that your real world battery mileage will vary. The performance benchmark was done with all power saving settings turned off and the screen set to 100% brightness. The power saver test was done with the same settings, but the LCD was set to 50%.

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iTunes Encoding

Version and / or Patch Used: 7.1.1.5
Developer Homepage: http://www.apple.com
Product Homepage: http://www.apple.com/itunes

For the iTunes encoding test I take my Stone Temple Pilots Core CD in MP3 format and encode it to AAC using iTunes and record the time the task takes with a stopwatch.

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Windows Media Encoder

Version and / or Patch Used: 9
Developer Homepage: http://www.microsoft.com
Product Homepage: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/encoder/default.mspx

The final benchmark is my Windows Media Encoder test where I take the 1080p HD Magic of Flight video from Microsoft and use WME to change the video to DVD quality video with CD quality audio. Check out the chart below to see how well the Acer netbook performed.

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Hands on Use




After all of the benchmarks were done, I spent some quality hands on time with the Acer Ferrari One netbook. I love the looks of this machine, it is in my option one of the sexiest netbooks on the market. The Ferrari theme that Acer uses is for not only the external colors and materials of the machine. The Ferrari theme extends to the software as well. The Ferrari One comes with a Ferrari theme installed with a desktop background that has the Ferrari F1 car and features a calendar that shows right on the desktop.

The netbook also has a Ferrari screensaver that shows different images of the Ferrari F1 car. I wish that the screensaver also had some Ferrari street cars as well; I am not interested in F1 at all. The sound system for the netbook is also Ferrari inspired with revving engines instead of the typical Windows sounds. The Ferrari One is a cool netbook for sure and as you saw in the benchmark section, the netbook has good performance as well.

The LED backlit screen is very glossy, which is a pet peeve of mine for general computer work. However, the screen is perfect for watching video with smooth playback and good color reproduction. Colors are crisp and sharp and the screen has good contrast. The netbook has a great sound system that is much better than the typical netbook. The sound system uses Dolby Home Theater tech and the sound stage the small netbook is capable of is much broader and more immersive than your typical netbook is capable of, even if it lacks bass (which is typical in the segment).

I was very impressed with the performance of the netbook in benchmarks. It performed better than most of the netbooks I have tested and its battery life was right in there. I continue to be impressed by the AMD platform netbooks that I have seen. The keyboard of the Ferrari One is a chicklet style with keys that are spaced well and offer good tactile feedback. For a smaller screen netbook, the keys are large and typing is comfortable.

Final Thoughts




The Acer Ferrari One is a niche netbook that will only interest those with a fascination with exotic cars and Ferrari or F1. This machine is the same underneath as other Acer netbooks that sell for less money, making the Ferrari trappings just for show.

As a Ferrari fan, I would readily pay the extra money for this netbook and the performance is as good as the machine looks. If you don't care a bit about Ferrari, save some green and get a basic netbook from Acer with the same specs. Ferrari fans will love the Acer Ferrari One.

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Shane is a long time technology writer who has been writing full time for over a decade. Shane will cover all sorts of news for TweakTown including tech and other topics. When not writing about all things geeky, he can be found at the track teaching noobs how to race cars.

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