The Silent One a.k.a. My Acer Aspire 4530 series

Like I've already promised you guys in the previous post, I will tell you all you need to know about The Silent One a.k.a. my Acer Aspire 4530 series. The specs for this laptop are as follows:

• Platform :

AMD Turion™ X2 dual-core mobile technology RM-70 (1 MB L2 cache, 2 GHz, DDR2 800 MHz), supporting AMD HyperTransport™ 3.0. NVIDIA® nForce® MCP77MH media and communications processor (MCP)

• Memory :

512MB DDR2 memory, upgradeable to 4 GB4 using two soDIMM modules

• Display :
14.1″” WXGA high-brightness (200-nit), Acer CrystalBrite™ TFT LCD, high-def 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, supporting simultaneous multi-window viewing via Acer GridVista™. 16 ms high-def response time.

• Graphic :
NVIDIA® GeForce® 9100M G integrated 3D graphics with up to 7525 MB of TurboCache™ (256 MB of dedicated system memory, up to 496 MB of shared system memory), supporting NVIDIA® PureVideo™ HD technology, OpenEXR High Dynamic-Range (HDR) technology, Shader Model 4.0, Microsoft® DirectX® 10.

• Audio :
Two built-in Acer 3DSonic stereo speakers.
High-definition audio support
S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) support for digital speakers
MS-Sound compatible
Built-in microphone

• Storage :
160GB HDD

• Optical Media Drive :
DVD-Super Multi double-layer drivem

• Communication :
Acer Video Conference, featuring:
Integrated Acer Crystal Eye webcam, supporting enhanced Acer PrimaLite™ technology
Optional Acer Xpress VoIP phone.

• WLAN :
Acer InviLink™ 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED® network connection, supporting Acer SignalUp™ wireless technology.

• WPAN:
Bluetooth® 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate).

• LAN:
Gigabit Ethernet, Wake-on-LAN ready Modem: 56K ITU V.92 with PTT approval, Wake-on-Ring ready.

• Dimensions :
339 (W) x 243 (D) x 29/39 (H) mm.

• Weight :
2.40 kg

• Power :
ACPI 3.0 CPU power management standard: supports Standby and Hibernation power-saving modes
48.8 W 4400 mAh 6-cell Li-ion battery pack
3.0-hour battery life
3-pin 65 W AC adapter
Energy Star 4.0

• Special Keys & Controls :
88-/89/93-key keyboard with inverted “”T”" cursor layout, 2.5 mm (minimum) key travel.
Touchpad pointing device. 12 function keys, four cursor keys, two Windows® keys, hotkey controls, embedded numeric keypad, international language support, independent US dollar and Euro symbol keys.
Empowering Key. Easy-launch buttons.
Acer Arcade™ Deluxe WLAN, Internet, email, Bluetooth®.
Volume wheel

• I/O Ports :

ExpressCard™/54 slot
5-in-1 card reader (SD™, MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD)
Three USB 2.0 ports
External display (VGA) port
Headphone/speaker/line-out jack with S/PDIF support
Microphone-in jack Line-in jack
Ethernet (RJ-45) port
Modem (RJ-11) port
DC-in jack for AC adapter

The Silent One (the laptop I'm currently using) faced a few known problems:

• Blue Screen of Death

Because the vendor installed Windows XP Professional as the OS, this laptop kept on showing BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). Some says that this problem persists because of the unsuitable BIOS installed and that reformatting the laptop should solve this problem. However, I haven't tried this method just yet because I don't wanna loose my precious data during the reformatting.

• Overheating

This laptop uses Nvidia 9100M G graphic card, and AMD Turion X2 as a processor. Despite the good performance that it can offer to gamers, the laptop can be easily overheated and shuts down after awhile. I dunno about other laptops in the same series however, this happens quite a lot to the Silent One. Maybe the Silent One is indeed a faulty product... I wonder...

• Battery Power Consumptions

The laptop consumes a lot of battery power. If the power scheme is set to 'Always On' with 'never' to all available options, the battery couldn't last even 30 minutes!! Damn, maybe the Silent One's battery is a faulty product too, who knows...

• Problematic Webcam

People who often uses webcams for video chatting and for other purposes will have to find a better laptop with a more stable webcam software and hardware. It is undeniable that the webcam (when it works) provides good quality pictures even during low-light video chatting, but the webcam has some known issues that the user has to deal with. The webcam, eventually stopped functioning, giving an error message that "the webcam is in use by another application". What you'll get is only a black/grey screen with no pictures at all. Maybe the Silent One's webcam is faulty too, like its battery... T_T

• Speakers

Hmm... I'm pretty sure that this is The Silent One's unique problem, that is, The Silent One's very own personal problem. I'm pretty sure that his brethrens shouldn't face this issue if it isn't as faulty as The Silent One. Maybe, the Silent One is indeed a rejected product sold for extra profit margins by the vendor...who knows...

Other known issues are still unknown at the time I'm writing this crap. But, don't cower yourselves from buying this laptop. Maybe it's full of pointless issues, but the performance is top-notch... at least for the price you paid... (I paid RM 1880 for the Silent One, maybe that's why it's full of crap ;P)

The followings are the screenshot of several games I played using The Silent One:

This is from Counterstrike Source with 28 bots and 4 human players. The Silent One is the host of the game and the game runs very smooth on each computers, no lagging at all!

This is from when I played Dawn of War: Dark Crusade with a trainer. The population cap is removed and the settings were set to high in every available options. It started to slow down a bit when mega battles were on the screen, especially when all 8 players, (8 AIs and me) brought together all their squads to try and destroy my base.. hmm, still, I do think that the Silent One's performance managed to exceed my expectations.




I really love this game... Especially when I'm playing as the zombie! For those who love FPS, this is a must-have for all of you out there... Left 4 Dead requires quite a performance from a laptop. Yet, the Silent One proved that you can get good laptops with really small budget! Buy this laptop in the stores near you now! wahahaha~ Time to shoot some zombie ass...