Co-branding results in a Ferrari notebook

Co-branding results in a Ferrari notebook

Zatni Arbi, Contributor, Jakarta

Driving a red, Ferrari 575M Maranello along Jl. Sudirman, South
Jakarta, is definitely not something that most of us would ever
dream of doing.

Nonetheless, if you were to have a highly unlikely opportunity
to do so, you would certainly say, "Aw, what the heck!" and would
carefully listen to the gentle sound of its 12-cylinder, 5750 cc
engine as it purred away. What an experience that would be!

More feasible is perhaps to take a Ferrari to your next
meeting with the board of directors. At least, you can impress
them with a bright red, computer notebook that conspicuously
displays the Ferrari pony logo.

A closer look will tell your audience that it is made by Acer,
the computer giant from Taiwan. In today's world of high-
performance everything, IT and automotive technologies have
become so intertwined that it provides a great opportunity for a
computer vendor to become an official supplier to a formula
racing team.

Acer was the official supplier to the Scuderia Ferrari team.
The notebook is a spinoff from the cooperation between the two
companies.

"Ferrari had very strict requirements for a co-branding
program like this, though," said Acer Country Manager for
Indonesia Jason Lim, during the recent launch of this notebook in
Jakarta.

"For example, we had to make sure that the color exactly
matched the red of the Ferrari cars. I was also told that even
the name of the notebook had to be 'Ferrari 3000,' not 'Acer
Ferrari 3000.'"

Considering this is a limited-edition notebook, I felt very
honored to be the first to be given an opportunity to take it for
a spin.

Along with Acer, AMD was also an official sponsor of the
Scuderia Ferrari racing team. That is the reason this notebook
uses an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ processor instead of one of the more
common Pentium Mobile processors from Intel.

During my informal test, the 1.45 GHz processor had much more
than enough horsepower to drive most applications, and there
should be no serious compatibility issue with Windows XP Home
Edition, which Acer had chosen for this notebook.

Although it may be considered a collector's item for its
distinctive color and comprehensive features, the price is still
within the affordable range -- US$ 1,999. For that money you get
a generous package of features, including a 15-inch screen, a
large, curved keyboard, built-in 802.11g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
capabilities, a DVD-RW, a 60 GB hard disk, 512 MB of DDR SDRAM,
four USB 2.0 ports, one IEEE 1394 FireWire port, one S-Video out
port, a fast Ethernet adaptor, a built-in V.92 fax/modem, a
parallel port, a multiple-format card reader and a Ferrari mouse.

To begin with, I liked the screen very much. It's big and
bright and was capable of super-high 1,900 x 1,440 resolution.
The ideal resolution for me is of course 1,024 x 768, which gives
the screen a very good contrast ratio.

The vertical and horizontal viewing angles are acceptable,
although still somewhat below those on my Eizo Flexscan 685
monitor. The graphics subsystem incorporates an ATI Radeon
Mobility 9200 chip, and it also has 128MB of RAM.

I also like the scroll button at the bottom of the touchpad,
which makes it very easy to scroll up and down. There are also
two buttons on the front panel to toggle the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
facilities on and off.

The keyboard has a nice feel. I would suggest that Acer make
better use of the extra space on the sides of the keyboard area
by placing the PgUp, PgDn, Home and End keys on the right, rather
than making you use a combination of the Fn key and the PgUp or
PgDn key to get Home or End.

The hard disk is protected from accidental bumps or vibration.
You can see the color-coordinated protective pad on the underside
of the notebook.

The processor feels a bit warm, although the keyboard and its
surrounding panel are still cool enough to let you work
comfortably for hours. As there is an opening for the fan on the
underside, it is not really advisable to use it on your bed --
something that I like doing. The Li-Ion battery lasts more than
two hours, but I think I would have got more operating time if
I'd spent longer setting its power management options.

As part of my tests, I tried connecting the Ferrari 3000 to a
ThinkPad T40 using peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection. It took me
quite some time to get the two notebooks talking to each other,
as I'd never done it before -- not because they refused to do it.

When they were finally connected, I was even able to surf the
Internet from the Ferrari 3000 by sharing the ThinkPad's Internet
access. Once again, I got the chance to really appreciate the
power of wireless LAN.

There are definitely a lot of things to like about this
notebook, but there are also a number of suggestions that could
be made.

For starters, Acer might want to use a cordless rather than a
corded mouse. Also, this early production unit showed a number of
design changes that were apparently made quite late in the design
process.

Acer's design team, for example, must have started with the
idea of making the DVD-RW drive removable, since you can still
see what was to be the opening for the latch underneath the
notebook. What worries me a bit, as a result of the design
change, is that the plastic undercover of the DVD-RW felt a bit
flimsy, and therefore you need to be extra-careful when lifting
the 2.9-kg notebook, with your hand clutching the right side.

Another last-minute design change was also noticeable in the
smaller slot beneath the PC-Card slot, which I guess was meant
for a smartcard reader.

This thin slot is now covered. On the rear panel, there was
also a covered opening next to the parallel port. I would say it
was meant to be used for a either a 15-pin serial port or a
connector to a docking station. Clearly, with so many USB ports
and a large display already available on it, this notebook would
hardly need a docking station. Keeping in mind that this is an
early production model, I have no doubt that Acer will improve
the overall design next time.

Technologically speaking, the notebook may not represent the
latest advancements as its four-wheeled siblings embody. However,
if you want an eye-catching notebook that you can take to the
boardroom to grab the attention of the big guys, here is the
undisputable choice. Its computing performance and broad array of
amenities will definitely not disappoint, either.