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Entered CNET Catalog: 05/03/2004
SKU: 0099802189747
Manufacturer: Acer America Corp.
Manufacturer description
Acer Aspire 2020 series is a unique fusion of elegance, entertainment and power. The solid and sophisticated aluminum casing with hardened anodic coating helps to defend the Aspire 2020 against daily wear and tear, while the multimedia software suite, 15.4" panoramic display and latest mobile and wireless technologies from Intel let users stretch the limits of both their work and leisure hours.Product summary
The good: Refined design; top-notch performance; good battery life; no-tray DVD Multi drive; good multimedia software and controls.
The bad: Expensive; lacks a TV tuner; three-prong AC adapter.
The bottom line: Acer's exceptional entertainment system squeezes excellent performance and nearly five hours of battery life out of a thin, sophisticated laptop.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 09/07/2004
Below the touch pad sits the Aspire 2020's unique Arcade button--its ace in the entertainment hole. The Arcade button launches an excellent entertainment-software interface that lets you choose whether you want to watch a movie, create a CD, listen to music, or view photos. It can play content from the system's hard drive, the CD/DVD player, or a flash memory card, but it can't tune in a favorite Internet radio station.
As of September 2004, the Acer Aspire 2020 is available in only one configuration, but it's a solid one, featuring a second-generation 1.8GHz Pentium M processor, an 80GB hard drive, and 512MB of 333MHz DDR memory. While Acer currently doesn't offer higher-speed drives, the company is planning to introduce a wider variety of options and configurations in the future. The Aspire 2020's tray-less DVD Super Multi drive, which sucks discs in and can play or burn CDs as well as all of the major DVD formats, is a nice touch. Unfortunately, both of the laptop's RAM sockets come filled with chips, so to upgrade memory, you'll have to remove one (the system can hold a maximum of 2GB). As is, these components add up to one of the fastest notebooks yet, outdone only by bulky and expensive Pentium 4 EE-based systems, such as the Dell Inspiron XPS Extreme Edition.With a 15.4-inch wide-aspect screen powered by ATI's mobility Radeon 9700 graphics processor with 128MB of dedicated video memory, the Aspire 2020 has 20/20 vision. It's equally good for watching DVDs as it is for running the demanding Trainz railroad simulation game or editing video clips. About the only thing the Aspire 2020 lacks entertainmentwise is a built-in TV tuner, but not many laptops have one. You can easily add an external tuner, however, as the Aspire 2020 has three USB 2.0 ports, as well as connectors for FireWire, external monitor, S-Video out, and audio, including an optical S/PDIF plug for a digital sound link.
In addition to standard modem and Gigabit Ethernet connections, the Aspire 2020 can connect with Bluetooth devices, and its Intel 802.11b/g data radio has an exceptional 125-foot range. You also get a mixture of old and new ports, including a Type II PC Card slot; a stodgy parallel port; an infrared transfer window; and a four-in-one flash slot that works with Secure Digital, Memory Stick, MultiMediaCard, and SmartMedia modules. The machine comes with Windows XP Professional and a decent software package, including NTI DVD and CD Maker for writing discs. Unfortunately, there's no productivity suite included.
Mobile application performanceThe Acer Aspire 2020 achieves superior mobile performance, thanks to its Pentium M 745-1.8GHz processor. A Dothan-class Pentium M, this processor has twice as much cache memory as the HP Pavilion zt3000, as well as the advantage of a 100MHz clock speed. As a result, the Aspire 2020 outscored the Dell and HP systems by 13 and 24 percent, respectively. The best-performing Pentium M system we've seen to date, the Acer Aspire 2020 is an excellent system for office and content-creation apps.
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BAPCo MobileMark 2002 performance rating |
To measure maximum notebook application performance, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's SysMark 2004, an industry-standard benchmark. Find out more about how we test notebooks.
Performance analysis written by CNET Labs assistant lab manager Eric Franklin.
Intel's new Dothan Pentium M processor marks a great improvement over the older Banias Pentium M architecture. Working to reduce the chip's power consumption, Intel ended up also improving its efficiency, resulting in a fast processor with a long battery life. The Acer Aspire 2020, running a Pentium M 745 processor with a 14.8V, 4,300mAh (64WHr) battery, scored extremely well in CNET Labs' performance and battery life tests. With more than four and a half hours of battery life when running office and content-creation apps, the Acer Aspire 2020 is geared for long-lasting mobile use.
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BAPCo MobileMark 2002 battery life in minutes |
Battery life analysis written by CNET Labs assistant lab manager Eric Franklin.
To measure mobile application performance and battery life, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's MobileMark 2002. MobileMark measures both application performance and battery life concurrently using a number of popular applications (Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Excel 2002, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, Microsoft Outlook 2002, Netscape Communicator 6.0, WinZip Computing WinZip 8.0, McAfee VirusScan 5.13, Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1, and Macromedia Flash 5.0).
System configurations
Acer Aspire 2020
Windows XP Professional; 1.8GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 128MB; Hitachi Travelstar 80GN 80GB 4,200rpm
Dell Inspiron 8600
Windows XP Home; 1.7GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB; Hitachi Travelstar 7K60 60GB 7,200rpm
HP Pavilion zt3000
Windows XP Home; 1.7GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 64MB; Fujitsu MHT2080AT 80GB 4,200rpm
Acer provides support for the machine for as long as you own it, with a direct e-mail link for service as well as a toll-free hotline that's open 24/7. When we gave Acer's tech support a call, a technician was on the line in just less than two minutes and correctly answered our test question.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 User Rating: 
2/10
WILL break
Pros: inexpensive (but for a reason)
Cons: H drive went out 2 months after purchasing, shipped it to acer, they replaced it..lost everything. 1 year later, it went out AGAIN..no longer under warranty and lost everything again..bought a new hard drive & now have to send them $ for restore disk
User Rating: 2/10
Buyer Beware on Acer Laptops
Pros: I can't think of many
Cons: Fit, finish, durability, etc.
******************************
Thank you for contacting Acer America. According to the serial number this
computer is out of warranty and expired on 2/23/2007. There is a flat rate
fee of $449.00 USD for out of warranty notebooks. This fee does not apply
to cracked/broken screens or dropped/abused units. To arrange for service,
I suggest you contact our telephone technical support line at
1-800-816-2237. Hours of operation for live support are 7am-9pm
Monday-Friday and 8am-5pm CST Saturday and Sunday, excluding holidays.
User Rating: 
7/10
Big, light, fast and fun
Pros: Wide aspect ratio screen jumps out at you. Full-sized keyboard, DVD burner and Wifi-G are next. Great graphics card. That's all stuff that you can read about in the specs. So let me tell you: Its fast, the Arcarde function is convenient and Centrino mor
Cons: The look is kinda ugly in real life. It looks huge and kinda 1950s in the use of metal and plastic. No volume knob and no dedicated "end" or "home" keys and resolution of the Arcade DVD player is poor. Everything else is cool, fast and fun. It would b
User Rating: 
8/10
Big, Light, Versatile
Pros: Large, bright screen. Nice Keyboard (although the layout is a little suspect without a dedicated home or end key). Hard drive and DVD RAM drive are big and speedy enough. Great graphics card. Very nice touchpad with scroll button. Arcade is very conven
Cons: Subwoofer is either really tinny or doesn't work on mine. It is also BIG but actually lighter than the Toshiba 5205 that I used to own (about 7lbs). Aside from that, no worries.
User Rating: 8/10
Excellent Value for the price
Pros: After having used 5 other laptops, this is the best for the price. You would have to pay $500 more for a Sony with the save features and a displaynthat isn't as bright.
Cons: Poor location for the Wireless button and the keyboard has a very long stroke for a laptop
User Rating: 8/10
more than just a pretty face
Pros: The notebook is just about as good looking as one can get for a PC and the performance is incredible. I use it for intensive graphics/renderings and it performs as well as a decent desktop graphics workstation. It's very portable and the screen and keyb
Cons: "5 hour" battery life is more like 3.5-4 if you're using any of the actual features of the machine. Wish better warranty options were available. Audio jacks on the front are misplaced.
User Rating: 
6/10
It has many problems even though they are not serious.
Pros: 1. Sound quality is the greatest among all laptiops. 2. LCD is bright and crispy. (much better than sony and ibm) 3. Battery life is amazing. 4. Price is reasonable.
Cons: 1. DVD ROM is much noisier than ibm with a music CD or DVD title played. Sometimes it stops working for about half second and plays again. It is really annoying. 2. Whenever the CD is slided into or out of the DVD ROM, it makes a very loud noise. 3. The s
User Rating: 8/10
Very good decently portable notebook
Pros: small form factor/dvd burner/good screen/fast graphics/great battery/ charges quickly/i <3 my acer
Cons: fingerprints all over the mirrored part/dont know how reliable the system is/no customizing/no high res screen
User Rating: 
9/10
Everything you could want in a Notebook!
Pros: Vivid screen, 128MB Video Card, Fast processor, Extremely sturdy Keybord (one of the best I've had, and this is my 22nd notebook), Great sound (subwoofer included), Great mouse (buttons only slightly too stiff, mostly comes from where you click on them),
Cons: I really wish the hard drive was 5400 RPM or faster. But that said, the speed of the system has impressed me and I just came out of a zd7000 with a 3.2 P4 w/ HT and a Gig of RAM. This is right up there with it's speed and at 1.8 GHz. It's the L2 2MB Ca
User Rating: 9/10
FAST. 512mb memory. 128mb vram. Thin. Good looking..
Pros: I just got an Acer Aspire 2025, and I have taken pictures and written a full review of it that can be found here: http://www.weagel.com/sitebui lder/preview/as2025wlmi.html The review contains tons of photos, benchmarks, and an analysis of many of its
Cons: The mouse buttons are a bit stiff (see review for fix).
User Rating: 8/10
Great machine, a bit big
Pros: The features speak for them selves. Boot time is amazingly fast. The arcade function is pretty cool (no booting required). Sound is good, DVD's play flawlessly.
Cons: No Compactflash slot (I have canon cameras), Screen resolution could be a bit higher for my tastes, but my wife likes it as is. Had major issues with the intel 2200 b/g wireless card connecting to my netgear router. I tried everything with the security se
User Rating: 7/10
Truly, What More Could You Ask For?
Pros: This baby has it all: beautiful wide 15.4 in screen, fast 1.8 Pen M processor, 80 GB HD, fastest graphics card you can get for a laptop (128 MB), 512 RAM upgradable to 2 GB, sleek design that weighs about 6.5 lbs, great battery life, DVD-burner. This all
Cons: I actually don't see any right now; the mouse buttons are stiff but you get used to it (or just use a USB or wireless mouse). Also, I don't think there is anything wrong with a one-year warrenty.
User Rating: 8/10
this is the one
Pros: look at these specs - 1.8Ghz with 128MB 9700 radeon ..and it got all the basic features ..what u need more?
Cons: limited support
User Rating: 9/10
Good price, even better performance!
Pros: Fast 1.8 Pentium M(Dothan) 128Mb Radeon 9700 XP Proffesional 80G Hard Drive 5 Hrs Battery Life
Cons: 5400Rpm HD Low Resolution Screen Limited Support
