Home > Consumer Reviews > Acer Aspire 6530G 16-inch Laptop, AMD Turion X2 RM-72, Vista Home Premium, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 512MB, Blu-ray Drive

Before I start, can I just point out, that this laptop is not an Aspire 6930G (as it is listed at the time of writing this) but an Aspire 6530G.

I ordered this a month ago, and received it yesterday. I haven't had a chance to use it to its full potential, but I thought I would give a more detailed list of the specification, as the one Amazon provides is fairly brief.

Processor: AMD Turion(tm) X2 dual-core mobile technology RM-72 (2.1 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache),
Display: 16" WXGA Acer CrystalBrite(tm) LCD TFT 16:9 Aspect Ratio, 1366 x 768 Resolution
Memory: 4GB DDR2 (2*2GB RAM)
HD Capacity: 320GB 5400rpm 5400 Hard Disk Drive
Optical Drive: Blu-Ray / 8X DVD-Super Multi double-layer drive
Graphics Card: ATI Mobility Radeon(tm) HD 3650 512MB
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
Networking: Acer InviLink(tm) Nplify(tm), 802.11b/g/Draft-N Wi-Fi
Additional Features:
Integrated 0.3MP Webcam
5 in 1 card reader (SD), (MMC), (MS), (MS PRO), (XD)
Fingerprint Reader
Full HD 1080 Playback, 8ms High-def response, HDMI out
Dolby®-optimized surround sound system with two built-in stereo speakers and one subwoofer supporting low-frequency effects
True5.1-channel surround sound output
I/O Interface:
1x Acer EasyPort IV connector
1x ExpressCard(tm)/54 slot
Acer Bio-Protection fingerprint reader
5-in-1 card reader (SD(tm), MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD)
4x USB 2.0 ports (1x USB 2.0 port combined with eSATA port)
1x HDMI(tm) port with HDCP support
1x Consumer infrared (CIR) port
1x external display (VGA) port
1x Headphones/speaker/line-out jack with S/PDIF support
1x Microphone-in jack
1x Line-in jack
1x Modem (RJ-11) port
1x Ethernet (RJ-45) port
1x DC-in jack for AC adapter

I bought this laptop because I will be using it for video editing, and wanted the high specification, and thought it was great for the price.

A couple of things that are missing - There is no firewire port.
This is easily overcome. I ordered an express card from Amazon for £40 , which works perfectly.
Sonnet Technology FireWire/USB ExpressCard 34

Also missing is built in Bluetooth. This is not something I personally use often, and I have a USB Bluetooth Dongle if I was to need it.

This is my first laptop; I have always owned a desktop before now. There are couple of things which are annoying me from the short time I've been using it. For starters, the mouse pad is situated on the left. Not particularly convenient for a right hander. I've been using a USB mouse to combat this, so its not that big a problem. The other annoying thing is the red flashing Wi-Fi light. Its situated at the top right of the keyboard, and it flashes constantly while I'm online. There are some other blue lights above the keyboard for the media controls and also the power button, but these are on constantly, and aren't as noticeable. The red flashing light seems unnecessary, and only goes off when Wireless is disabled.

The laptop is heavy. I was expecting it to be. It isn't the most portable thing, and I wouldn't like to be carrying it about for long periods of time. I need to use it in different locations, which is why I opted for this instead of a desktop, but I'll be driving it from place to place, so the weight isn't really an issue for me.

Overall I'm pleased. Even the 0.3MP Webcam is surprisingly good. I expected it to be completely useless, but the picture is fairly good. I'm looking forward to getting my firewire port, installing Vegas Pro and starting some video editing.

I deliberated long and hard about getting this laptop as it's not the cheapest, and I wondered if it would actually do all the things I want it to. Well, I am pleased to say that it does do all the things I had hoped for, and it looks quite nice to boot.

So what you should know is that it is big - just over 16 inches as it's a widescreen. If you're not familiar with laptop sizes, this is at the big end of the scale, so if you're looking for a neat little thing to whizz around then this is perhaps not for you, because it is a little heavy too. However, this is only down to all the stuff that's packed inside - 4gb RAM, which is plenty to work all your applications quickly, like iTunes and everything else, plus 320gb hard disk space, which is plenty of storage room for all your photos, music, documents and anything else that you want to keep saved.

It also has a Blu-Ray drive, which is also a normal DVD drive so it plays both. The Blu-Rays are played using one of the pre-installed applications, so don't go uninstalling all the rubbish apps you may find (like I did! Ha ha) as some of them are actually needed.

It is a pretty looking thing, a nice black design with a sleek cover and a nice touch as the 'Acer' glows on the back of the screen when it's on. The touch pad is situated more towards the left hand side of the laptop as opposed to the middle, which is just a touch frustrating - why not in the middle if anything?

If you're looking for a cute little notebook to chuck in a bag and fling about then this is certainly not for you. However, if you would like a laptop which may replace/be instead of a desktop PC, then this is a good bet. It's got all the functions of a PC and is great for watching DVD's too.

Bought this just before christmas and it looks good and keyboard is easy to use. This was bought as a desktop replacement but for the price it doesn't quite deliver in terms of performance and speed. It takes about 2 minutes to load/shutdown and when on standby windows closes and restarts itself. The graphics card is an ati 3650 which only just gives enough but struggles to play pro evolution soccer. Battery life is poor , about 2 hours at most just for surfing the net.There's plenty of features on this laptop and it will be good buy if you just want to surf and watch dvd's it's not too big to be used on your lap but for the price i would look for a little bit more from it

This is a fantastic laptop at an even better price (I bought it for £600 April 2009).

Plays Blurays smoothly, HDMI works nicely, optical out works very well through the mini toslink port integrated through the headphone socket. Haven't tried any real modern games yet, but it plays Half life 2 on max settings, so that should at least give you an idea.

Power, ethernet, vga, hdmi, usb, + usb/eSata port, headphone, mic, line in, optical all on left hand side. Power plug fits into the hinge.

Kensington lock (in the hinge), modem, bluray/dvd multi drive and 2 more usbs on the right hand side.

You can use the laptop as a standalone dvd player without booting into Vista by just touching the Acer Arcade button instead of pressing the power button when the laptop is off.

Touchpad isn't that great to be honest, but I'm sure by tweaking the settings you can make it better. Fingerprint reader works well.

In terms of weight, this isn't the lightest thing I've ever used, but it's lighter than what I'm replacing, so that a plus for me.

Webcam and built in mic work fine as well.

In terms of portability, I can't really rate it too high, but in terms of the function that it provides, this is the best thing out there, better than the Sonys/Toshibas/HPs, considering what you get. I would say that this would be ideal as a desktop replacement, especially considering the full keyboard that is given. If you don't mind lugging it around, or your laptop just sits on a desk all day anyway, again, this is ideal.


5 Stars, Highly recommended

27 April 2009.