Acer 6920: Can it do the following...

[skuliaxe]

I never thought I would even think about buying an Acer laptop, but the Acer 6920 models are making me think twice. For the last 3-4 month I've been regularly scanning the laptop market but never found a laptop that meets my expectations on build, design, components, connectivity and price This Acer actually (almost) meets all my demands.

But I would like to get more information, if anybody could help me out.

1) Sound card:
Initially, I was looking for a laptop with a expresscard54 slot so I could buy a X-fi soundcard and connect my Creative S750 speaker system. But in this review it says:

to set-up a True 5.1 surround system you just need to plug in three pairs of PC speakers

What does that mean? I was hoping that the laptop had 3 optical inputs that could work as line-out as well as mic, headphones... but that doesn't seem to be the case looking at this image where the caption says "Left Side: Power Connector, Modem, VGA, LAN, USB 2.0, HDMI, Audio Ports (Line In, Microphone, Headphones), ExpressCard".

2) Secondary screen:
First off, I suppose that I can do a HDMI->DVI to connect to my PC LCD monitor. I have a 22" 1680x1050 LCD at home and my question is, does the Nvidia 9500 support that resolution when connected as a secondary screen? I know that some laptops only support their own screens max resolution, that's why I ask.

3) Media scroll button: (solved)
The Acer 6920 has a new line of media touch sensitive buttons. One of those buttons is a circular scroll type button. I would like to know if it can only be used with the Acer media software and Windows Media center, or if it can also be used to scroll in documents
I visited a local computer store today and tried out a 18.4" version. I was able to use the circular scroll wheel to scroll in documents

Any thought on the above questions and or the laptop in general would be more than welcome
Thanks.

[Milkman]

1) Sound card:
Initially, I was looking for a laptop with a expresscard54 slot so I could buy a X-fi soundcard and connect my Creative S750 speaker system. But in this review it says:
Quote:
to set-up a True 5.1 surround system you just need to plug in three pairs of PC speakers
What does that mean? I was hoping that the laptop had 3 optical inputs that could work as line-out as well as mic, headphones... but that doesn't seem to be the case looking at this image where the caption says "Left Side: Power Connector, Modem, VGA, LAN, USB 2.0, HDMI, Audio Ports (Line In, Microphone, Headphones), ExpressCard".

If you just connect sets of stereo speakers into all of the audio ports it will send them 6 channel audio? Sounds useless. Its a nifty gimmick but I'm guessing its not goign to be a 5.1 experience to drool before.

If youre worried about multi channel audio You should just go with a USB sound adapter.

[skuliaxe]

Originally Posted by eXclusive

If youre worried about multi channel audio You should just go with a USB sound adapter.

I didn't know that it was available. Is this the kind of USB adapter you are talking about?
If that gives me the option to play music from all 5+ speakers (surround or just same volume from each speaker, stereo) then I'm happy with just that. I'm sure to try that first before spending ~$100 for the X-Fi and an adapter. For the most part I'm just looking for a sound solution that plays music from all 5+ speakers in my S750 system. I'm not that picky about the x-fi quality. The laptop, Acer 6920 does seem to have a ok sound card.

One extra question regarding a USB sound adapter, will it still use the onboard sound card and then split the signal from 1 to 3 lines?

**EDITED**
Seems that the USB multi channel has a drawback. Is is it's own sound card and thus not using the better sound card that is built in the laptop:

"Cons:
» Software seems outdated
» Didn't sound as good as a desktop's integrated audio
» No (official) support for Windows Vista or Linux"

But there might be another product out there that is better...

[Nagoshi]

does your speaker have optical in? If so, then most laptops have optical out from the headphone jack (also called as SPDIF). Laptops cannot output from the mic in and line in, like most desktop motherboards do, thus this theory of using 3 outputs does not work.

Acer make crappy products, especially laptops, with cheap screen hinges and crappy plastics. the only thing they're good at is lowering price.

Most laptop-specific keys, such as media keys, does not act like standard media keyboard keys, and such they are mostly compatible with only Windows Media Player and [insert brand here, now's Acer] own media player.

HDMI at 1680x1050, Im not sure, but if you use a VGA-to-DVI it will work at any res you want. External monitor is used just like a secondary monitor on a normal desktop computer. Those few laptops that does not support higher resolution are probably becaouse of the TV output. I can use my external's screen's 1440x900 on my Asus G1's Geforce 7700, and the 9500 is more recent and powerful, of course it does support it.

Besides, I dont know where you were looking for laptops, but most of them offer what you seem to need. Expresscard, secondary display...

[skuliaxe]

Originally Posted by Nagoshi

does your speaker have optical in?...
...Acer make crappy products, especially laptops...
...Most laptop-specific keys, such as media keys...
...Besides, I dont know where you were looking for laptops, but most of them offer what you seem to need. Expresscard, secondary display...

Thank for the reply,
My speaker system doe NOT have optical in For a 700W RMS speaker system I would have thought that is should have one, but then I have read somewhere that the optical channel on similar speaker systems did not produce as good of a sound, strangely enough (but don't quote me on this).

Acer does make cheap laptops, not the best around, but from gathering information on these models they seem to have a fair build quality. But then again, these are new models and there is no hardware failure report that I know of as of now.

I would have guessed that the media keys would not work with other applications, or as a scroll button... That just leaves Acer, and other brands, some headroom for inter grading that later = More money for them.

About the specs I was looking for. I'm VERY picky when it comes to computers. I'm used to custom building my own, but now I'm looking for my first laptop. I was looking to have a Expresscard54, 802.11-N wireless, high resolution, Core2Duo, ~2-3Gb RAM, Cheap (under $900) and above ALL not a but ugly computer. The last part was the toughest one. I just find most PC laptops to be so ugly
I was looking at some HP laptops that look just fine. I'm going to have to compare the HP to the Acer better to make up my mind. (And yes, I do trust HP for a better quality product).

[PommieB]

Acer's are getting better and improving there build quality all the time, and the 6920 and 8920 are supposed to show that and HDMI ajusts according to whatever the screen quality, it's a tad more convenient than DVI and a whole lot better than VGA, HP would be a better quality product, but they are considerably dearer.