Acer Aspire 4520

When Aspire 5572 got fried by lightning all was not lost. It's spirit was reincarnated into Acer Aspire 4520 which I obtained while I was back in Kampua Town for CNY. Technically everything is new except for some salvageable parts I scavenged from 5572 which are later added to 4520. Why another Acer? Well frankly speaking I don't want to waste all my would be ang pow on something at one go (this was before CNY and I had everything planned and accounted for), plus I spent 2 days scouring Kampua Town on the eve of CNY (it was no fun with all the jams and crowds) looking for the next best machine and eureka! I stumbled upon this little beast.

I was left with two choices of the same model that day, one 4520 with Intel and another with AMD with NVIDIA GeForce graphic card, both on the same shelf in the same shop with the same price tag. Basically it was love at first sight and I came back to that shop the next day. It was a quick decision, as my gamer side influenced me to grab the one with AMD AND the NVIDIA (gila good bargain wey). Here's the spec:

- AMD® Turion 64 x2 Mobile Technology TL-60 (2.0 Ghz, 2 x 512KB L2 Cache)
- NVIDIA GeForce 7000M (Wheee!!! XD No more lag playing big games)
- 1 Gb DDR2 (Originally 512, but was added with 512 RAM from 5572)
- 270GB HDD (Originally 120Gb, also upgraded with salvaged parts)
- 802.11b/g WLAN
- DVD-Super Multi DL
- Dolby Digital Live built-in speakers

Oh the 4520 have no Bluetooth (yeah wtf indeed, all the post-'07 pre-'08 laptops have no Bluetooth, hmm?) but never mind, bought RM50 external Bluetooth device so problem solved.

This 4520 is not to be mistaken with the one with Intel. The AMD processor version has a total white frame, whereas the Intel processor version has a black top frame and white bottom frame as seen here. And eerily the power button resembles X-Box 360's power button (click here).

I don't really enjoy having a built-in webcam. Why? Because you'll never know you might left it on while you are away doing something unimaginable in the background... But anyways the Crystal Eye webcam is nice, comes in 320 x 240 or 640 x 480 resolution. Very clear too, but have that 'rusty' effect in low light environment.

Here comes the customizations. I won't buy if I can't personalize it. Yes, the original crystal-ish back casing was nice, but I sent it to Apple Signcraft in Lanang that very afternoon for a full Hishamization. I wanted a vinyl with my name in VAIO curvaceous font style, and she gave me this. Never mind la, she did it for free. Plus Apple know my taste and preference for black and shiny stuff, and this was a job well done. I'll give Apple another visit on the next holiday to change the name font.

I also asked Apple to put another layer of vinyl on the left hand pad where the AMD and NVIDIA sticker were (hence the 2 lumps in the pic). Why? Because from experience, that part of the laptop will turn black after prolonged gaming use...

The OS? The new Windowz Hisham 2008. A Ham-made hybridized operating system composing elements from Mac OS X and Linux based on XP. No Vista. No more please.

Oh ya almost forgot. The 4520 cost RM1,999 only. That's why it was a good bargain. I've seen some markets in Oil Town selling them for RM2,099, that extra RM100 is a rip off. Apart from th RM1,999 you can add another RM298 to get 3 years warranty. Nifty.