December 2009

As the leading computer notebook brand in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Acer has teamed up with Ferrari to be the official supplier to Scuderia Ferrari, the racing team of Ferrari. Leveraging this partnership, Acer is able to introduce exclusive, racing inspired notebooks that are elegant, cutting-edge, and powerful, much like the actual Ferrari automobile. The new Acer Ferrari 4000 revamps the previous generation Acer Ferrari models by pumping more horsepower and sporting a new design.

Overview
As the leading computer notebook brand in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Acer has teamed up with Ferrari to be the official supplier to Scuderia Ferrari, the racing team of Ferrari. Leveraging this partnership, Acer is able to introduce exclusive, racing inspired notebooks that are elegant, cutting-edge, and powerful, much like the actual Ferrari automobile. The new Acer Ferrari 4000 revamps the previous generation Acer Ferrari models by pumping more horsepower and sporting a new design.


The Acer Ferrari is designed to impress, especially with its sleek looks and powerful components. Like the Acer TravelMate 8100 series, the Ferrari 4000 is composed of Acer's Folio design. To distinguish the new platform from its predecessors, the 4000 retains its own racing-inspired theme made up of an elegant thin-and-light carbon fiber casing in sleek black and Ferrari-red trims. Even the included Bluetooth mouse matches the system. Under the hood, the Acer Ferrari 4000 (model 4005 WLMi) sports AMD's new Turion 64 mobile processor, running at 2.0GHz on ATI's Radeon Xpress 200M chipset. Other prominent features include a luminous 15.4-inch widescreen LCD with razor sharp 1680 x 1050 native resolution, a new modular slot-loading dual layer DVD burner, 100GB hard drive, and 1GB RAM. This attractive package also combines a myriad of other bells and whistles.
Avid gamers will be satisfied with the performance from the mid-range ATI MOBILITY RADEON X700 graphics with 128MB DDR VRAM. Although the Ferrari 4000 possesses some characteristics of a desktop alternative, it measures only 1.2 inches thin and weighs 6.3 pounds with its 8-cell battery. While not the most ideal computer for intensive travel, it's still a well-balanced machine suited for moderate portability and is actually more portable than other notebooks in the same class.
The stunning Acer Ferrari 4005 WLMi gives you power and status, for a hefty $2,199 price tag.

Design 

Portability
Although the Acer Ferrari 4000 possesses some attributes similar to a desktop alternative notebook, this is a performance laptop that won't break your back. Measuring 14.3-inches wide, 10.5-inches long and only 1.2-inches thick at the front section and extending 1.4-inches thick towards the back, the Ferrari is ideal for large sized cases and backpacks. I had difficulty slipping this computer in most of the mid-sized carrying cases, but I found the lightweight Samsonite L35 carrying case to be the perfect companion. Even the stylish Boa XM backpack from Booq will house the Ferrari comfortably.



The Bluetooth mouse matches the system nicely.
At 6.3 pounds with the 8-cell battery, the Ferrari is not intended to accompany you everywhere you go, but is rather suited for occasional travel. Unlike the Fujitsu N3510, which weighs a pound more and is .4-inches thicker, the Ferrari is a well-balanced machine that is feasible for travel while offering a spacious viewing area. The thought of being able to watch a DVD movie on such a large display anywhere I go makes it more appealing to take out and about, where typically laptops with a screen of this caliber are made to be used on the desk and nowhere else.
Case and Design
Acer and Ferrari were able to assemble an aesthetically impressive notebook that illustrates originality and style. The new Ferrari 4000 uses the same chassis as the Travelmate 8100 series and is composed of the same Folio design, but instead possesses its own racing-inspired theme. Moving away from the all Ferrari red design found in the previous generation Ferrari models, the revamped Ferrari 4000 comes in a sleek black finish but keeps the Ferrari's 'Rosso Corsa' red trim on the side panels and on the edge of the top lid. Not only is the carbon fiber lid lighter and stronger than other materials, it also gives off a distinctive look with the black and grey checkered shades.


The silver Acer logo is emblazoned in the top lid while the yellow prancing horse emblem is embossed in the center of the carbon fiber lid.
The two tone color scheme keeps it sleek and refined, with the interior constructed from polycarbonate plastic wrapping around from the keyboard area to the bottom chassis. The edges are curvaceous and the rubberized surface around the palm rest and keyboard area is smooth, resembling the texture of a racing tire - it's also one of the most comfortable textures my palms have ever rested on. In addition, the rubber-like texture serves to insulate heat generated from the internal components.


Sleek and durable chassis gives it an original style.


The yellow prancing horse emblem is found again on the palm rest area.
There are two sets of status indicators found on the computer; the first is located on the upper-left corner above the keyboard (below the display screen) and the second set is on the front of the computer. The upper-left corner below the display contains LED indicators for power (power button), hard disk, caps lock, and num lock. All indicators emit a greenish glow when activated.

Conveniently located on the front panel are a set of highly useful indicator lights which provide a quick glance at the power, battery charge, Bluetooth, and Wireless LAN. Both the power and battery status indicators emit a green glow when active (or amber for the battery when it's charging) , while the Bluetooth and Wireless LAN buttons light up a dazzling blue and amber glow, respectively. The Bluetooth and Wireless LAN buttons are used to enable or disable their associated functions.


Located on the upper right hand corner are four easy-launch keys to instantly launch your frequently used applications. Each button has symbols designated for email, web browser, Acer eManager, and a user programmable option. The email button is used to launch your email client, such as Microsoft's Outlook; however, it is also user programmable to designate other applications. The web browser key is used to launch your favorite web browser, but is also user programmable. The Acer Empowering key ('e' symbol) is used to launch the Acer eManager application (more on this in the software section). Lastly the user programmable button is available for you to assign your favorite application via the Launch Manager software. Unfortunately there are no multimedia hot keys despite the available room around the top section of the keyboard.



Quickly launch your favorite application.

Design Continued

Keyboard
The black, full-sized 88-key ergonomic keyboard contains all the essential keys, particularly the Windows and Ctrl keys at the bottom left of the keyboard, where normally some laptops contain only the Fn key. The PgDn, PgUp, Home and End cursor keys are also present and are placed vertically on the right side of the keyboard. The Caps Lock, Shift, Alt, Tab, Backspace, and Enter keys are of appropriate size. Like most laptop keyboards, the numeric keypad is embedded within the keys located near the center of the keyboard and is activated with the num lock key. In addition, there are function keys to adjust the audio volume, alter the screen brightness, put the system to sleep, disable or enable the touchpad, and switch to an external monitor when connected. When toggling one of these function keys, such as the audio for example, it will activate an on-screen volume indicator. This helps you identify exactly which volume settings you want to select. The on-screen indicator applies to other function access buttons as well, with the exception of the screen brightness, which is not available.


With respect to usage, the 'Acer FineTouch' keyboard offers decent key travel distance and excellent response. You will notice from the picture the keyboard employs a five-degree curve for a more ergonomic placement, which I find neither an advantage nor disadvantage compared to the straight-laced arrangement keyboards. Some users may need to be accustomed to this unusual layout while others will pick it up immediately. On that note, I can type quickly, accurately, and comfortably with this keyboard. You may think this is the same keyboard found on the Acer TravelMate 8100 series, but in fact it feels slightly different in terms of its depression levels and noise generation. The keys are soft and feel light when depressing them (not as stiff as the ThinkPad T42, softer than the Acer TravelMate 8103/8104, but not as soft as the PowerBooks). Overall, the Ferrari keyboard has minimal spring, allowing the keys to be quite responsive (slightly more responsive than the Acer TravelMate 8103/8104) while exhibiting little noise (quieter than the TravelMate 8100 series' keyboard). Like the TravelMate 8103/8104, the keys depress at a comfortable 2.5mm of depth which feels comfortable when typing. Some may find the travel too shallow, especially if you're accustomed to the 3mm travel distance from the IBM ThinkPads. The keyboard is centered nicely with 1.2-inches of room on each side, and there is sufficient room around the palm rest area to ensure your wrists also enjoy a comfortable typing experience. This is certainly a solid keyboard that comes close in comparison to the likes of the IBM ThinkPads and even Apple Powerbooks. As I've stated similarities and differences, I prefer the Ferrari keyboard over the the TravelMate 8100 series' keyboard.

Touch pad
To match the laptop's overall wide-aspect design, the touchpad measures 3-inches wide and 1.5-inches in length, offering sufficient surface area to allow comfortably gliding of one's finger. Like the palm rest area, the black flush surface is clean and smooth, sensitive to touch and responds accurately to movement. As with most touch pads, it also allows for tapping to execute an action if you prefer not to use the click buttons. To the right and bottom edge of the surface area, the touchpad has a function to scroll vertically or horizontally. This allows you to scroll in applications like Internet Explorer when sliding your finger in the appropriate direction.



The two click buttons are appropriately sized, emitting slightly less noise than the TravelMate 8100 series' touchpad buttons. For added convenience, there is a useful center click button that serves as a four-way scroll button to scroll up or down and move left or right within a page. The left and right click buttons are brushed in gray metallic.

Connectivity Options
Thanks to its wide frame, the Ferrari 4000 is loaded with a multitude of connectivity options surrounding all sides of the computer. Since the cables are spread out on all sides of the machine, there are no protruding parts that can accidentally break off during transit; as an added benefit, cable clutter is greatly reduced. The computer offers a whopping four USB 2.0 ports instead of the common two ports found in most laptops. For users who prefer to connect their laptop to an external monitor, television or projector, the Ferrari 4000 supplies all available video outputs, including DVI-D, VGA, and S-Video. DVI is an option not commonly found on your average consumer notebooks. This is a must for anyone planning to use an LCD monitor or digital projector.



DVI-D & S-Video



VGA
On the front panel, you will immediately notice the left and right speaker grilles made of tiny hole-punches that gives the notebook a very distinctive look. The 5-in-1 card reader is capable of reading Secure Digital (SD), Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, MultiMediaCard (MMC) and xD-Picture cards, allowing the transfer of files from the majority of digital cameras. Next to the 5-in-1 card reader is a built-in mono microphone that is stationed inside a tiny hole-punch. An Infrared port is available for short range wireless IR devices such as PDAs and printers. The Speaker/Line-out/Headphone jack connects to audio line-out devices such as speakers and headphones and includes SPDIF support. Next to it is the Line-in/Mic-in port that accepts microphones and line-in devices such as an audio CD player. As mentioned in the preceding section, there are two backlit buttons for activating Bluetooth and Wireless LAN. Both radios can also be disabled when not in use in order to conserve the battery.


Two stiff hinges hold the LCD panel together, located near each corner of the display. The LCD panel contains dual latches that keep the lid securely closed, preventing any type of movement when shuffling the laptop around. When shut, the screen hovers slightly over the keyboard and palm rest area, reinforced by eight rubber pads to prevent the screen from touching the keyboard and wrist area.
On the rear, there is a DVI-D port that supports digital video connections like modern LCD flat panel monitors. There is also the requisite S-Video port to connect to a television or display device with S-Video input. Lastly we have the huge 124-pin Acer ezDock connector that connects to the Acer ezDocking station for expandability.


The battery pack fits nicely without protruding and is made to offer a hand grip when carrying the notebook.
On the left-side: VGA port, ventilation slots, Ethernet 10/100/1000 jack, phone port, one of the four USB 2.0 port, 4-pin IEEE 1394 FireWire port, and PC Card slot.


On the right-side: the remaining three USB 2.0 ports are found positioned horizontally, the slot-load Super-Multi DVD+/-RW drive (hot swappable), power connector and security keylock to connect a Kensington-compatible security lock.


Heat and Noise
In a notebook, components such as the hard drive and the cooling fan are responsible for generating heat and noise. The cooling fan on the Acer Ferrari, which is located on the left side of the notebook, operates constantly regardless of whether the processor throttles down . Unfortunately, the Ferrari's fan noise is more noticeable than that of the Acer TravelMate 8100 series. During general Internet/email usage with the AC power plugged in, the continuously spinning fan creates a low-pitched whooshing sound as the air passes through the system's vents. When using the Acer Ferrari for gaming, also with the system plugged into the AC power, the noise generated from the fan is substantially more noticeable as it spins faster to remove excess heat from the chassis. Whether or not the noise level of the fan is tolerable will depend on the individual user. After using a wide range of notebooks and experiencing vastly different levels of noise, I found that the fan noise generated from the Ferrari is louder than I would prefer.



Heat build up on the Ferrari is minimal. Mobile Meter reported around 45-49 degrees Celsius at full performance (2.0 GHz) when idle. During heavier loads, temperatures reached around 51 to 56 degrees. The system becomes warm, but never reaches uncomfortable levels. A few areas like the touchpad and palm rest can become lukewarm. Compared to the Acer 8104, which recorded 61 degrees during heavy load and 46-50 degrees during idle, the Ferrari actually runs cooler, perhaps due to the faster and louder spinning fans. The rubber material as mentioned in the Design section may also play a key role in minimizing the heat output.

Upgrading and Expansion
Upgrading the Acer Ferrari 4005 is simple, thanks to the easily accessible compartments located on the bottom side of the machine. The Wi-Fi mini-PCI adapter, memory, and hard drive are all user replaceable. There are two RAM modules pre-installed in the computer, two 512MB sticks of 333MHz (PC-2700) DDR made by Hyundai for a total of 1024MB (1 GB).



To replace the hard drive, the user simply needs to remove the hard drive access panel. The Acer Media Bay, which currently houses the slot-load optical drive module, allows the user to swap the optical drive for another modular device, such as a secondary battery or hard disc drive. Simply release the latch located at the bottom to detach the optical drive. In addition to the Ferrari's wide-array of connectivity options, the optional Acer ezDock is available to transform the notebook into a true desktop computer with many of the same connectivity and expansion options.



The slot-load optical drive bay can be swapped out for another drive.

Features

Processor/Chipset/RAM
The Ferrari is powered by the high-end AMD Turion 64 ML-37 clocked at 2.0 GHz with 1MB L2 cache. Essentially, the Turion 64 processor is a mobile variant of the Athlon 64, meaning Turion retains the powerful AMD64 micro-architecture. As the '64' moniker implies, Turion supports 64-bit operation and is designed to work with 64-bit operating systems like Windows XP 64-bit and the upcoming Windows 'Vista' (Codenamed Longhorn). There are two types of Turion chips, ML and MT flavors. Since Turion is still relatively new, the ML variety is the most common. ML chips have a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 35W, meaning at most the chip will dissipate 35W of power. The MT chips stand to offer the most competition against Intel's Pentium M as they consume a mere 25W, but right now the MT Turion's are few and far between. The AMD64 architecture does not use a conventional front side bus (FSB), instead using HyperTransport technology to interconnect the different components and runs at 1600MHz (800MHz upstream & downstream).


Similar to Intel's SpeedStep technology, Turion 64 and the AMD64 architecture support PowerNow technology, where the clock speed and voltage will adjust dynamically based on system usage. When the processor clocks down to 800 MHz, it is still fast enough to watch DVDs or do general-purpose computing (Web browsing, word processing) with respectable performance. Clock speed can be adjusted in the power options located in Window's Control Panel to 'Portable/Laptop'. A nifty little application called SpeedSwitchXP can also be used to force the processor to run at Full, Adaptive, or Slow speeds with or without the adapter.
As stated in the preceding section, the Ferrari 4005 comes with two 512MB DDR333 (PC-2700) sticks for a total of 1GB and is upgradeable to a total of 2GB (2x1GB sticks). CAS latency is rated at 2.5-3-3-7 for each stick. Turion's integrated memory controller supports single channel DDR400 (PC-3200) memory however out of the box, the Acer Ferrari will only support DDR333; after testing this with two sticks of 512MB DDR400 (PC-3200) RAM modules from OCZ.


Unlike the Centrino platform, which consist of all Intel components (processor, chipset, and Wi-Fi), Turion can be used with chipsets supplied from a number of vendors; in this case the Ferrari uses ATI's Radeon Xpress 200M chipset with a Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN card.

GPU
The Radeon Xpress 200M chipset package supports a discrete PCI-Express video card with dedicated video memory. PCI-Express GPUs demand more power compared to the AGP solutions, potentially affecting battery life. Aimed at performance-oriented thin notebooks, the ATI MOBILITY RADEON X700 powers the video of the Ferrari 4005 WLMi . The X700 is ATI's first midrange native PCI Express based mobile GPU. The chip inherits the architecture of RADEON X800 and is similar to its desktop counterpart, the X700. Key features include DirectX 9 hardware acceleration support, 8 rendering pipelines, 6 vertex pipelines, and 128MB of dedicated video DDR RAM.


The core clock is rated at 358 MHz while the memory runs at 345 MHz, or 690 MHz effective . The Centrino-based Acer TravelMate 8104 has the same core clock, but the memory is clocked at only 297 MHz (or 594 MHz effective) on the same X700 GPU. ATI's X-series of Mobility Radeon GPU's include a number of features made specifically for mobile computing, like new power-saving (POWERPLAY 5.0) and image quality (LCD-EE) technology. The POWERPLAY 5.0 technology monitors system activity and dynamically adjusts clock and voltage based on system usage. ATI's LCD Enhancement Engine (LCD-EE) technology compensates LCD response time and allows for better image scaling, perfect for high-resolution widescreens such as the one on the Ferrari 4000.

To test the ATI MOBILITY RADEON X700 GPU, I loaded one of the more graphically intensive games available, Half Life 2.With the resolution set to 1024-by-768 and recommended image settings (mostly all on high) set by the game, frame rates varied between 70-100 frames per second according to the in-game FPS display. Overall I was impressed with the detail and fluidity of game play. Moving on to Doom 3 running at 1,024-by-768 resolution on high image quality, it is very playable and varied between 40-60 frames per second. During scenes with heavy action, frame rates varied between 20-30 frames per second. Visually speaking, the graphic detail surrounding the creatures and the environment looked convincingly lifelike. Like in Half-Life 2, game play was smooth and purely playable. Stuttering is noticeable only when every graphical option is set to the max, but for the most part, both Half Life 2 and Doom 3 perform very well and better than I expected. Based on this analysis, the RADEON X700 GPU will certainly satisfy casual gamers, allowing games to run at modest resolution, particularly 1,024-by-768 with image quality features set in the middle to high range.
[Note: CPU speed was set to run at full performance during game testing.]

Display
One of the great features on this power-thin-and-light notebook is its wide-aspect 15.4-inch WSXGA+ TFT LCD screen. Considering the Ferrari 4000 is such a high-end notebook, I'm surprised Acer didn't incorporate their CrystalBrite technology (glossy screen) to enhance image clarity. Even though a transmissive display (as opposed to a transreflective/glossy screen) was used, image quality is still bright and clear, but by no means as impressive as transreflective screens. In 2D desktop use, it does offer sufficient brightness and contrast, with colors appearing bright and true. Text is very sharp and perfectly legible at the high-resolution, and the response rate is fast enough to keep up with games and movies without significant 'ghosting.' In addition, scrolling through a webpage full of text does not exhibit motion blur.



Beautiful luminous widescreen display is identical to the Acer TravelMate 8100's display.




The viewing angle is sufficient.
The 15.4-inch widescreen offers large and wide viewing estate, thanks to the 1680-by-1050 resolution. It also offers decent viewing angles; viewing the screen from a slight angle (horizontally or vertically) causes minimal distortion of the colors and brightness. When watching DVD movies, video quality is smooth; pictures and colors look bright, but lack the 'true color' vibrancy you would get from a transreflective screen. In addition, an image rendered on screen does not seem to be as crisp as with transreflective displays. Compared to DVD playback on the Toshiba Satellite M45 (which uses a transreflective LCD screen), color rendering on the Toshiba is more vibrant and brightness is more consistent. It also has better color accuracy and a slightly wider viewing angle than what is offered from the Acer Ferrari. But if you want to compare between matte screens, the screen on the Acer Ferrari and TravelMate outperforms the Asus V6V's display in all respects.

Sound
Instead of using RealTek's High Definition audio codec (found in the Acer TravelMate 8103/8104 and in Sonoma based notebooks), the Ferrari comes equipped with the standard AC'97 audio specification. The on-board stereo speakers are positioned in the front panel behind the distinctive hole-punched grills. Although the speakers produce loud and clear sounds, they lack bass, a common trait among most laptop speakers.
Like the Sony VAIO notebooks, the Ferrari's on-board speakers can reach high volumes without becoming distorted. Dialogue in movies sounded clear and the surround sound effect was impressive but bass was non-existent. Sounds and vocals were crisp, but once again bass was lacking during MP3 playback. The gaming environment sounded impressive. I was immersed with the sounds from Doom 3 as the audio's 3D sounds amplified the atmosphere and feeling of isolation. I listened to the sound produced from the Acer TravelMate 8104 with high definition audio and I did not notice any differences in sound clarity between the Ferrari with AC' 97 audio and the Acer TravelMate 8104 with High Definition audio.

Overall, the sound capabilities produced from this machine are above par compared to most notebooks with a non-branded set of speakers (ie. Harman Kardon). Music, gaming, and movies sounded excellent with my trusty Sony headphone connected. It should be noted that an optical cable with a mini-jack adapter on one end and a toslink on the other is required if you want to connect the notebook to a receiver with Dolby Digital enabled.

Features Continued 
 
Wi-Fi
The Ferrari 4005 WLMi uses a Broadcom wireless card, which can connect to 802.11b or 802.11g wireless networks. Although Acer does not mention this anywhere, this wireless card comes with a feature called 'Afterburner' technology developed by Broadcom, more popularly known by the 'SpeedBooster' moniker coined by Linksys. 'Afterburner/SpeedBooster' claims to increase 802.11g speeds by up to 35%. At default, the feature is disabled but can be enabled from the device manager.



Simply enable 'SpeedBooster' in the Window's device settings.
In addition to 'Afterburner/SpeedBooster', Acer employs its own SignalUp technology to enhance the antenna signal strength and range. According to Acer, their SignalUp feature can achieve a boost up to 25% in wireless signal strength compared to wireless notebooks from Dell, HP/Compaq, and Toshiba. For added security, it has support for Cisco Compatible Extensions (CCX) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). As mentioned earlier in the design section of the review, the Ferrari 4000 includes the now common wireless hot key to turn on or off the Wireless LAN Card located on the front panel, which helps conserve battery when Wi-Fi is not needed.



Simply push the buttons to enable or disable.
In regards to wireless performance, signal strength and download speeds were excellent overall. My tests mainly consisted of connecting to a home 802.11b/g wireless network with no difficulty to speak of. Signal strength was reported between 'very good' to 'excellent' while using the laptop in my home network, even when being about 30 to 40 feet away from the wireless base station.

Bluetooth
The Ferrari also features integrated Bluetooth wireless technology to wirelessly sync with Bluetooth enabled devices like printers, mice, keyboard, PDA, and cellular phones. I connected the included Bluetooth mouse (more on this later) and the Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse with ease, thanks to the Add Bluetooth Device Wizard that detected the mouse immediately with no software drivers needed in order for it to operate. The MX900 Bluetooth mouse felt responsive and precise without ever loosing connection. Although Bluetooth works within a smaller scope, it is useful for connecting multiple devices simultaneously. If Bluetooth and WiFi are not enough, the Ferrari comes with infared (IrDA) communication that allows you to synchronize with PDAs or mobile phones.

Bluetooth Mouse
To accompany your Ferrari, Acer included a matching Bluetooth optical mouse. The cool-looking mouse bears the same Ferrari Red stripes, black rubber surface and the prancing horse label. The rather large mouse is powered by a pair of AA Ni-MH rechargeable batteries and can be charged with the included USB charging cable.



To recharge the mouse, plug one end of the cable into your Ferrari's USB port and the other end into the Bluetooth mouse.
Synchronizing the included Ferrari Bluetooth mouse with the system was seamless, but using it was a different story. The Ferrari mouse did not perform as well as the Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse. At most it was erratic, and at times simply would not respond, even after a long charge. It's also fairly heavy compared to the MX900 and exhibits a loud noise when clicking. It's unfortunate that a laptop of this caliber would include a flaky performing mouse.

Optical Drive
A new feature for Acer laptops is the Ferrari's slot loading Super-Multi DVD+/-RW Dual Layer drive; previously slot load drives were found only in Apple's PowerBook and iBook laptops. The versatile drive is capable of burning DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, CD-R/RW and reading DVD-ROM & DVD-RAM discs. The drive loads incredibly fast; as soon as I insert a disc the movie or application loads almost instantly. Made by Matshita, the drive is modular or 'hot-swappable,' meaning it can be removed from its drive bay. This allows another module such as a second battery or hard disk drive to be placed inside the bay. The drive burned a system backup DVD and a couple of audio CDs with no problems to report.



Simply insert a disc directly to the slot-load or push the eject to spit it out.
The supported disc formats, read and burning capabilities are as follow:

Read: 8X DVD+R, 8X DVD-R, 8X DVD-ROM, 4X DVD+RW, 4X DVD-RW, 3X DVD-RAM, 2.4X DVD+R DL, 24X CD-RW, 24X CD-ROM, 24X CD-R
Write: 8X DVD+R, 8X DVD-R, 4X DVD+RW, 4X DVD-RW, 4X CD-RW, 2.4X DVD+R DL, 2X DVD-RAM, 24X CD-R

Hard Drive
The Acer Ferrari 4000 does not disappoint when it comes to storage capacity. Acer includes a massive 100GB Seagate Momentus 5400.2 (ST9100823A) hard disk drive with 8MB data buffer and a reasonable 5,400 RPM rotational speed. This is the identical drive installed in our Acer TravelMate 8103 and 8104 test models. Thanks to the SoftSonic FDB bearing motor in the Seagate, the drive is virtually silent when operating. When the disk drive seeks, it exhibits only a slight crunching noise that is just barely audible. Although the drive provides 100GB of storage space, it is not contiguous. The hard drive oddly came in FAT32 formatted with two partitions. Acer included a hidden restore partition reserved on the C: drive so that users can restore the operating system, drivers, and utilities to factory default using the eRecovery utility. In respect to performance, the drive outperforms the Hitachi 60GB 5400RPM in our performance test. This has everything to do with the areal density of the platter. Areal density refers to the amount of data per square inch that can fit onto the disc platter. Since there is an arm that physically moves around the drive to read data at different points, the more data you can fit in a square inch means the less movement that arm has to do. The less 'seeking' the arm has to do, the more data it can read in a given period of time. The Seagate drive has a 21% greater areal density, allowing it greater performance despite the same spindle speed and cache.

Battery
The rated capacity and voltage of the 8-cell lithium ion battery is 4,800 mAh and 14.8V, respectively. The physical shape of the battery with grip support makes for an excellent carrying handle when toting the notebook around by hand. It weighs almost a pound at 15.4 ounces and measures 8.3-inches long, 2.5-inches wide and 1.1-inches thick.



Designed to offer grip-support when carrying with your hands.
During general use like web browsing, word processing, MP3 playback, and photo editing, the battery lasted a little over 2 hours and 25 minutes with the power scheme set to 'Portable/Laptop'. With the brightness setting set in the middle and power scheme set to 'Portable/Laptop', the 122-minute DVD movie 'From Hell' played through the entire duration with 20% remaining. Unfortunately, the Acer Ferrari did not come bundled with Acer's ePowerManagement application utility, which allows for you to control all the computer's power schemes and battery efficiencies.

AC Adapter
The AC Adapter is a commonly overlooked part of a notebook's features, even though it is the most important part! The included AC adapter weighs exactly 13 ounces and measures 5.2-inches long, 2.3-inches wide, and 1.2' thick, which is slightly larger than the TravelMate 8100's AC adapter but is more compact compared to ones from Sony or Dell. Still, the AC adapter is extremely light and can easily slip in a carrying case or backpack pocket. Unfortunately, it is missing a strap or some form of cable management around the adapter to organize the lengthy power cables.



The AC Adapter is slightly larger than the AC Adapter used for the TravelMate 8100 series.
Both the Ferrari 4005 and the Acer TravelMate 8104 can operate without the battery pack installed if the AC adapter is plugged in.
Software
Acer included a vast array of software applications to streamline your computing experience. The Acer eManager is comprised of three software utilities to manage the system:
  • Acer eSetting to control and modify your device settings and boot sequence.
  • Acer ePresentation software helps make connecting the notebook to a projector quicker and simpler.
  • Acer eRecovery can backup and restore your system. 
  •  


One of my favorite programs is Acer's GridVista that helps organize and manage the numerous open application windows so I can have two, three or four windows in plain view when I work, eliminating the need of minimizing and maximizing each application window and reducing screen clutter. Simply run the program and select the number of windows you want to view simultaneously: double, triple, and quad.



Simply drag and drop each window into the appropriate grid to view all of them simultaneously.


The The Ferrari wallpaper is cool!

Setup Method
The Acer Ferrari 4005 WLMi was set to run at full performance by setting the power scheme set to 'Home/Office Desk' with the AC plugged in, meaning that the CPU will not underclock while running the tests. For the battery performance test, the power scheme was set to 'Portable/Laptop'. This activates PowerNow technology, which lowers CPU speed when not needed, thus increasing battery life. Screen brightness and audio were both set to 50% and Wi-Fi & Bluetooth were turned on. Each test was repeated 3 times to ensure accuracy. Before each test was run, the laptop was rebooted and its hard drive

Business Winstone 2004 runs business related applications through a series of scripted activities and uses the time a PC takes to complete those activities to produce its performance scores. Each application runs 5 tests through a series of demos and activities. Business applications include:
  • Microsoft Access 2002
  • Microsoft Excel 2002
  • Microsoft Frontpage 2002
  • Microsoft Outlook 2002
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
  • Microsoft Project 2002
  • Microsoft Word 2002
  • Norton AntiVirus Professional Edition 2003
  • Winzip 8.1
Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004 is a single large test that runs multimedia applications through a series of scripted activities and returns a single score. Applications include:
  • Adobe Photoshop 7.0.1
  • Adobe Premiere 6.50
  • Macromedia Director MX 9.0
  • Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 6.1
  • Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9 Version 9.00.00.2980
  • NewTek's LightWave 3D 7.5b
  • Steinberg WaveLab 4.0f
Business Winstone 2004 Batterymark measures a laptop computer's battery life by simulating real-world usage. The program measures the time it takes to drain the battery by running applications such as Microsoft Office XP, Norton AntiVirus, and WinZip through a series of scripted activities to drain the battery in a realistic way.

3DMark 2001 SE PRO build 3.3.0 measures graphics performance by benchmarking the CPU, memory, and graphics through a series of 21 tests, including simulated games, theoretical tests, DX8 feature tests, and image quality tests. Resolution was set to 1024x768 with all default settings.

3DMark 2003 build 3.6.0 measures DX9 performance through a series of 3D game based sound, graphics, and CPU tests. Resolution was set to 1024x768 with all default settings.

PCMark 2004 build 1.3.0 uses real life application tests to generate a combined score by running specific tasks like application loading, game tests, 3D rendering, multimedia encoding, and more. Resolution was set to 1024x768 with all default settings.

PCMark 2005 Advanced build 1.0.1 is the latest update to Futuremark's popular overall system benchmarking program. The 2005 version adds multithreading, DirectX 9, Windows Media Player 10, virus scanning, High Defintion video playback (WMVHD), and a vast number of other tests to its suite. Testing your computer's CPU, RAM, hard drive and graphics card, PCMark05 drives your computer to the max to determine its strengths and weaknesses.

Doom 3 (Version 1.1) using the built-in time-demo, initiated with the console command 'timedemo demo1 precache'.
Test1:
  • 800x600 resolution
  • Quality Setting: Medium
  • 0xAA
  • VSynch Disabled
  • High quality special effects enabled
  • Shadows enabled
  • Specular enabled
  • Bump Maps enabled
Test2:
  • 1024x768 resolution
  • Quality Settings: High
  • 4xAA
  • VSynch Disabled
  • High quality special effects enabled
  • Shadows enabled
  • Specular enabled
  • Bump Maps enabled
Half Life 2 (Source Engine 7) timedemos Coast 05 and Canals 08 from Anandtech.com with the following tests and graphic settings:
Test1 (Low Image Quality):
  • 1024x768 resolution
  • Medium model detail
  • Medium texture detail
  • Simple Reflection water detail
  • Low shadow detail
  • 0xAA
  • Trilinear filtering
  • Low shader detail
  • V Sync disabled
Test2 (High Image Quality):
  • 1024x768 resolution
  • Highest model detail
  • Highest texture detail
  • Reflect All water detail
  • High shadow detail
  • 4xAA
  • Anisotropic 8X
  • High shader detail
  • V Sync disabled

Configurations 

Specifications Ferrari 4005 TravelMate 8104 TravelMate 8103
Processor
AMD Turion 64 Mobile ML-37
(2.0 GHz, 1MB L2 Cache)
Intel Pentium M Processor 760
(2.0 GHz, 2MB L2 Cache)
Intel Pentium M Processor 750
(1.86 GHz, 2MB L2 Cache)
Front Side Bus None 533 MHz 533 MHz
Chipset
ATI Radeon Xpress 200M
Intel 915 PM Express
Intel 915 PM Express
Wireless LAN
Broadcom 802.11b/g with SpeedBooster
Bluetooth Wireless
IrDA
Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG (802.11a/b/g)
Bluetooth Wireless
IrDA
Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG (802.11a/b/g)
Bluetooth Wireless
IrDA
LCD 15.4' WSXGA+ TFT LCD (1680x1050) 15.4' WSXGA+ TFT LCD (1680x1050) 15.4' WSXGA+ TFT LCD (1680x1050)
Hard Drive 100GB Seagate Momentus
5400RPM 8MB Cache (ST9100823A)
100GB Seagate Momentus 5400RPM 8MB Cache
(ST9100823A)
100GB Seagate Momentus 5400RPM 8MB Cache
(ST9100823A)
Memory
1GB DDR333 PC2700 SDRAM
(2 x 512MB) on
Single-Channel Mode
CL 2.5
1GB DDR2-533 SDRAM
(2 x 512MB) on
Dual-Channel Mode
CL=4
512MB DDR2-533 SDRAM
(1 x 512MB) on
Single-Channel Mode
CL=4
Graphics
ATI Mobility Radeon X700
128MB of DDR Video RAM on
PCI Express
ATI Mobility Radeon X700 128MB of DDR Video RAM on PCI Express
ATI Mobility Radeon X700 128MB of DDR Video RAM on PCI Express
Graphics Interface S-Video/TV-out/DVI-D S-Video/TV-out/DVI-D S-Video/TV-out/DVI-D
Optical Drive Slot-Load DVD-RW Super-Multi Double Layer Tray-Load DVD-RW
Super-Multi Double Layer
Tray-Load DVD-RW
Super-Multi Double Layer
Modem Integrated V.90 Modem Integrated V.90 Modem Integrated V.90 Modem
Ethernet 10BASE-T/1000BASE-TX Ethernet 10BASE-T/1000BASE-TX Ethernet 10BASE-T/1000BASE-TX Ethernet
Audio Realtek AC' 97 Realtek High Definition Realtek High Definition
Audio Interface Microphone, two stereo speakers, headphone/line-out with SPDIF support Microphone, two stereo speakers, headphone/line-out with SPDIF support Microphone, two stereo speakers, headphone/line-out with SPDIF support
Ports 5-in-1 Card Reader
FireWire 1394
4x USB 2.0
PC Card
5-in-1 Reader
FireWire 1394
4x USB 2.0
PC Card
5-in-1 Reader
FireWire 1394
4x USB 2.0
PC Card
Weight 6.3 lbs. with 8-cell battery 6.3 lbs. with 8-cell battery 6.3 lbs. with 8-cell battery
Size (W x D x H) 14.3' x 10.5' x 1.2'-1.4' 14.3' x 10.5' x 1.2'-1.4' 14.3' x 10.5' x 1.2'-1.4'
Operating System Windows XP Professional w/SP2 Windows XP Professional w/SP2 Windows XP Professional w/SP2
Battery
4,800 mAh
4,800 mAh
4,800 mAh


The Ferrari 4005 WLMi shipped with the latest ATI video driver version 6.14.10.6546 dated 6/13/05 whereas the Acer TravelMate 8100 series' lastest ATI video driver is v6.14.10.6497 dated 4/28/05. Something else we discovered, the X700 shipped with the Ferrari is clocked at 345 MHz / 358 MHz (Memory/Core) and the X700 shipped with the TravelMate 8104 is clocked at 297 MHz / 358 MHz (Memory/Core).

Performance 
 
General Usage (Business Winstone 2004)

Business Winstone tests a combination of CPU, RAM, and hard drive. Interestingly, the 4005 and the 8104 offer performance well within the error range.

Multimedia Content Creation (Business Winstone 2004)
 

This benchmark is heavily dependent on the CPU and RAM subsystems. Interestingly, the Turion-based 4005 wins, even with its substandard DDR333 RAM.


PCMark04
The Ferrari's single-channel DDR333 couldn't edge the TravelMate 8100 series equipped with DDR2 533 but its faster clocked X700 GPU gave it a big lead in the graphics test.
Here are the associated scores (numbers in bold highlights the higher score)


sources : http://laptoplogic.com



TAG: Acer, Notebook, Acer Ferrari 4005 WLMi, ATI Video

The Aspire One is another venture into the Netbook range, but this time from the laptop manufacturer giant Acer. It has a 8.9” 1024x600 beautiful glossy screen and handsome colors give it an edge for a consumer choice as far as looks go, but it’s whats inside that counts more so for those who are looking for the “best bang” for the buck. We’ve managed to find the sought after 6-cell battery version, which brings running time to nearly 6 hours – if you are looking for a sporty sexy netbook, you should read the following to see if it screams your name and offers that smoke a cigarette after satisfaction.

The Aspire One is another venture into the Netbook range, but this time from the laptop manufacturer giant Acer. It has a 8.9” 1024x600 beautiful glossy screen and handsome colors give it an edge for a consumer choice as far as looks go, but it’s whats inside that counts more so for those who are looking for the “best bang” for the buck. We’ve managed to find the sought after 6-cell battery version, which brings running time to nearly 6 hours – if you are looking for a sporty sexy netbook, you should read the following to see if it screams your name and offers that smoke a cigarette after satisfaction.

Design
Beautiful is one word to describe the Aspire One. No doubts the highly metallic color schemes, the chrome accents and stark bezel (although rather large) it seems to fit in with the niche that looking good for mobile devices might surpass the purpose they were developed for. I do admit that the glossy screen and paint finish is nice, but attracts dirt and fingerprints like kids to a candy store. The trackpad also offers some confusion. I’m at a loss as to why they put the buttons where they did, it is a little awkward so be prepared for that.
Being that this is an 8.9” LCD model, one would hope or expect that the actual dimensions of the unit would be smaller than other netbooks with the 10” display. You would be wrong – the bezel makes up the big chunk of space that provides the extra dimensional space, and when you pick up the 6-cell battery version as we did, the depth of the unit is actually larger than some of the 10” modeled netbooks out there! That’s because Acer opted to protrude the extra capacity to the rear (not down as in the MSI Wind) it makes for a bulky back that doesn’t offer lift, and might make the dimensions hard to find a “bag” made for such dimensions. If it’s one thing that I do love on the design, is the simple LED status lights which are located towards the top rear of the unit – making things visible no matter if the LCD is open, or closed. One thing I also dislike is the way Acer implemented the Wireless radio button – slider thing. It’s cumbersome and should have been a plain button instead. It’s too easy to accidently trigger, and when you really want to trigger it, it’s hard to tell with the slider if you have “slid it all the way” to disable / enable it.
Keyboard:

The keyboard on the Aspire one is nice. Although they have switched the fN and Ctrl layout, at least they cover all the basics and make the keys seem natural. They are somewhat larger for a netbook, and offer great travel. There is some flex, but not to bad. Negatives is that it’s a black keyboard, and although it matches the color scheme, hunting for fN keys in the dark is troublesome.
The touchpad leaves some tweaking to be worked with – it does it’s job, but the buttons are laid out on either side of the pad, and it’s awkward for normal laptop users to adjust to this. Other than that, I have no complaints other than you’ll have to bump up it’s sensitivity a bit, and the paint job matches the rest of the chassis which looks the smarts for sure


Display Quality:
Being LED backlit, the LCD on Aspire One carries a 1024x600 resolution and it has a glossy finish. The color push on the LCD seems to be slightly red – but more importantly, the viewing angles on the Aspire wind are horrible! Severe color shifting and inversion happens at nearly any angle that isn’t “directly” in front center of the screen. This makes it even difficult to read a webpage at an angle of the screen, as the top might be in correct placement, making the bottom shift and invert! But – you do get better contrast and excellent color reproduction. It was a noticeably different than that of the MSI Wind – and even with some instances of extreme glare, the backlighting seemed to bleed a lot around the edges. Making blacks seem more gray and annoying with a letterbox
Connectivity

The Aspire One, much with other netbooks, offers some consideration as to how you wish to use the unit for it’s connectivity installed. Most if not all netbooks offer at least one USB 2.0 port but anything after that is sort of up to the manufacturers.
On the left, you have a power port, VGA out, Ethernet connection, USB 2.0 port, and a SD card slot. This slot ONLY accepts SD media (or mini/ micro with the correct adapter)
The right houses microphone in, audio out, 2 more USB 2.0 ports, a multi card format (that surprisingly also supports XD format for those who have devices that use this, is awesome) and a lock slot.
The front has that weird wireless slider switch and it tells you it’s on with an amber LED above it housed in a silver casing. However, it’s sometimes whats inside that matter to most. With the Aspire One, this models sports the ability to connect via B/G/ for wireless networks, but is missing the next gen format of N, and it does not support Bluetooth. Why they opted for this surprised me, as being mobile and connectivity, one would hope an investment such as this wouldn’t gather a whole new computer to implement said “newer” technologies. Something to consider is also the in-ability to use the mini pci-e slot located with the unit – it’s there, but it offers no connection harness. That brings a casual WTH from me, as I would assume it would be nice to simply add some features before making a whole new unit. If you feel handy and competent enough to add said connector – go ahead. But for me, I’m just baffled they include a slot and no harness.

Upgrading
Upgrading is possible, but not without seemingly voiding some sort of warranty. The RAM and Hard drive can be upgraded, but much further than that isn’t possible. Again, these netbooks are made for a purpose, and modifying past these thresholds often isn’t beneficial, and down right dangerous. There is a small following of how to overclock the Atom processor using software, which we will cover on a later date. I just mentioned the mini PCI-E adapter (or lack there off) – modify at your own risk!

Performance

We take a different approach to testing these specialized machines and is outlined on our “How We Test page” located at http://www.laptoplogic.com/about/test/ We try to run the tests in as a controlled environment / variables as possible. But, sometimes we’re limited to the software / hardware provided. In this example, Windows XP is loaded on the machine, giving us standard benchmark programs to be run. WorldBench 6: 33 Considering the raw power required by some of these tests, and the paltry processor and specifications provided – a score of this nature isn’t surprising, but it’s notable to see that it can do some of the intensive application test runs (although much slower) If you plan on doing heavy Photoshop or audio rendering, be prepared to either have extreme patience, or a different laptop / computer in mind. Prime32 Score: 120.817

Battery Performance
Much like the MSI Wind – I had both sort of going at once to have things sorted out for you folks. I mean, I know I have a lot of free time all day long (sarcasm) but these things with the 6 cell battery are just awesome. Trying to gather the same amount of battery life (other than the x200) is almost impossible for a simple road warrior machine such as these are.
There was, however, some noticeable improvements from having a smaller screen and no Bluetooth to worry about.


  • Maximum: Running on maximum backlighting wireless modes on and max volume - I managed just over 5 hours of battery life.


  • Medium: With the backlight to 75%, wireless enabled, and volume at 75% I ticked just over 5 hours and 40 minutes of real world usage.


  • Low: With the backlight on its lowest setting, wireless completely off, and no volume – I managed somehow to finish read that e-novel I’ve always wanted to (started on the Wind…finished on the Aspire one) and squeezed 6 hours and a 22 minutes out of it.
    6 hours is a long time, make no doubts about it, I wouldn’t trade this sort of battery life on a netbook for anything, weight and size aside of it, it makes it a true road worthy companion. DVD watching isn’t really an option since these carry no optical drives – however, you can load an image of your legal DVD onto the machine to watch which is exactly what I did. After 5 hours and 20 minutes on full volume and full brightness, the Aspire One went to sleep hinting that I should plug it in. That was two runs of the same movie…and then I had to start it again! Needless to say that if you want to watch a movie first, then do some spreadsheets and writing later on that cross country flight, you’re more than welcomed to. The Aspire One met my expectations and then some with it’s 6-Cell battery pack, it’s a shame that the Bluetooth function wasn’t available internally (meaning I don’t have to sacrifice a USB port for it)
    Real-life usage:

    The Aspire One was a sexy sidekick whilst testing it with the Wind in coffee shops. Needless to say when you are an electronics guru / editor, everyone who decides to sit down in my java locale, is often surpassed with wonder with small items I am reviewing at the moment. The Aspire One was no different, it’s color set it apart – it no longer looked like a mini Macintosh (Shame on Mac for not living up to the ipod color craze and offering it on their macbook lineup). It’s color and size made it stand out. Which, I’m sure is why a lot of other companies are offering different color schemes than black and white for these little companions.
    The screen estate at 8.9” was a tad small sometimes, it’s barely noticeable in some situations, but in others, it can cut out at least 3-4 rows/columsn working in a spreadsheet document. And typing made the text seem so crystal clear sharp that it was almost hard to read. But not only that, the aforementioned color shifting didn’t help either- remember, this thing carries the same resolution as most other netbooks out there with a 10” LCD – 1024x600 – and it crams it in a smaller space than most as well! It makes things amazingly crisp – but be careful, it comes with some flaws as well. Again, when getting a netbook, look for the features it has and the battery life. I’ve opted to review the 6-cell version, and while I’m sure the 3-cell carries all the same features, it seems to be just that much more worthy of taking along instead of my 15.4” widescreen that barely creeps over 2 hours of battery life. I wish this unit had Bluetooth – it’s one of the things that really marks it down especially when a lot of other netbooks carry this feature.
    The speakers on the Aspire One – of the three that I’ve thoroughly tested, sounded the “best” with the most volume and clarity. Maybe because of placement or brand, but they put out enough volume to make things audible – but don’t expect theatre sound or tremendous sound – they work, and sound OK for skype or to hear some online talk radio…that’s about it.
    The webcam on the aspire one is awesome –the motion trail is minimal, the colors are nice, and the quality is better than the Wind. Only thing is – doing video chat is pretty taxing on this system, and again, you lose some precious screen estate space with an inch and some smaller than the 10” netbooks out there.
    One thing also to note, is that the noise levels that came from the Aspire One are immediately noticeable. I’m not sure because of fan speed, location, or thermal dynamics – this thing like to push out a lot noise to keep it cool. Which concerns me, and honestly annoys me – the MSI wind and Lenovo S10 both have great larger vents that make air output simple and effective – this seems to suffer from a small exhaust and an overworked fan. Is it incredibly loud? No – but it’s constant buzz from the get go and louder than average hum will gather stares from your fellow note-takers in class, and will annoy you soon if you aren’t rocking a pair of headphones. At least, it did for me.
    Conclusion

    All in all, this netbook is nice to look at and does just about everything all the others can do. The specs (which matches nearly every other netbook out there) offers decent hard drive space, 6-cell option, glossy screen and nice webcam to boot. Its looks on the outside are stellar and mesmerizing, but it’s sometimes what’s inside that count, and for this little 8.9” netbook - the LED LCD with sub-par viewing angles, ok connectivity, and noisy fan are merit a average experience. And upgrading it harder to do as it requires a whole disassembly of the lower chassis – but at least there doesn’t seem to be a stupid “void if removed” sticker covering a vital screw hole. Your machine, your risk.

    Bottom Line:
    Glossy, gorgeous, and decently configured and weighing in with a 6-cell battery are the standouts on this machine. It makes a great blogging / classroom companion. Anything much more than that and you should consider something a little larger with faster components, but make sure you mind the noise it puts out – for such a little machine it sure likes to scream like the bigger boys out there…

  • Sources : http://laptoplogic.com



    TAG: Acer, Notebook, Aspire One, Review

    An array is a way of holding multiple closely-related values, such as the test scores of all students in a class. An array is made up of a key and a value, and the key points to the value.
    There are two types of arrays: Indexed array and Associative array. Their difference is in the way the key is specified. Let's look at both of them :

    Indexed Array
    In an indexed array, the keys are numeric and starts with 0, and the values can be any data type. The following shows two ways of assigning values to an indexed array:

    $friends = array("Sophie","Stella","Alice"); 

    This is equivalent to the following :

    $friends[0] = "Sophie";
    $friends[1] = "Stella";
    $friends[2] = "Alice";

    Associative Array
    In an associative array, the keys are not necessarily numeric, and even when they are numeric, not necessarily in any order. So, when you are putting data into an associative array, you'll need to make sure you specify both the key and the value :

    $student_score = array("John"=>80, "Matt"=>90, "May"=>85);

    This is equivalent to the following :

    $student_score["John"] = 80;
    $student_score["Matt"] = 90;
    $student_score["May"] = 85;

    Multidimensional Array
    The arrays in the examples above are 1-dimensional. However, there will be times when multidimensional arrays are desired. What's a multidimensional array? That's when you have arrays of arrays. Let's look at an example below:

    $array1 = array (10,15,20);
    $array2 = array (110,115,120);
    $array3 = array (210,215,220);
    $big_array = array ($array1, $array2, $array3); 

    $big_array is now a 2-dimensional array. For example, if you have the following output code:

    print {$big_array[1,2]}; 

    The output would be

    120 

    Remember to use { } when you are accessing the value of a multidimensional array.


    Sources : http://www.1keydata.com

    Justin Silverton at Jaslabs has a supposed list of 10 tips for optimizing MySQL queries. I couldn’t read this and let it stand because this list is really, really bad. Some guy named Mike noted this, too. So in this entry I’ll do two things: first, I’ll explain why his list is bad; second, I’ll present my own list which, hopefully, is much better. Onward, intrepid readers!

    Why That List Sucks

    1. He’s swinging for the top of the trees

      The rule in any situation where you want to opimize some code is that you first profile it and then find the bottlenecks. Mr. Silverton, however, aims right for the tippy top of the trees. I’d say 60% of database optimization is properly understanding SQL and the basics of databases. You need to understand joins vs. subselects, column indices, how to normalize data, etc. The next 35% is understanding the performance characteristics of your database of choice. COUNT(*) in MySQL, for example, can either be almost-free or painfully slow depending on which storage engine you’re using. Other things to consider: under what conditions does your database invalidate caches, when does it sort on disk rather than in memory, when does it need to create temporary tables, etc. The final 5%, where few ever need venture, is where Mr. Silverton spends most of his time. Never once in my life have I used SQL_SMALL_RESULT.
    2. Good problems, bad solutions

      There are cases when Mr. Silverton does note a good problem. MySQL will indeed use a dynamic row format if it contains variable length fields like TEXT or BLOB, which, in this case, means sorting needs to be done on disk. The solution is not to eschew these datatypes, but rather to split off such fields into an associated table. The following schema represents this idea :


      CREATE TABLE posts (
          id int UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
          author_id int UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
          created timestamp NOT NULL,
          PRIMARY KEY(id)
      );

      CREATE TABLE posts_data (
          post_id int UNSIGNED NOT NULL.
          body text,
          PRIMARY KEY(post_id)
      );

    3. That’s just…yeah

      Some of his suggestions are just mind-boggling, e.g., “remove unnecessary paratheses.” It really doesn’t matter whether you do SELECT * FROM posts WHERE (author_id = 5 AND published = 1) or SELECT * FROM posts WHERE author_id = 5 AND published = 1. None. Any decent DBMS is going to optimize these away. This level of detail is akin to wondering when writing a C program whether the post-increment or pre-increment operator is faster. Really, if that’s where you’re spending your energy, it’s a surprise you’ve written any code at all

    My list

    Let’s see if I fare any better. I’m going to start from the most general.
    1. Benchmark, benchmark, benchmark!

      You’re going to need numbers if you want to make a good decision. What queries are the worst? Where are the bottlenecks? Under what circumstances am I generating bad queries? Benchmarking is will let you simulate high-stress situations and, with the aid of profiling tools, expose the cracks in your database configuration. Tools of the trade include supersmack, ab, and SysBench. These tools either hit your database directly (e.g., supersmack) or simulate web traffic (e.g., ab).

    2. Profile, profile, profile!

      So, you’re able to generate high-stress situations, but now you need to find the cracks. This is what profiling is for. Profiling enables you to find the bottlenecks in your configuration, whether they be in memory, CPU, network, disk I/O, or, what is more likely, some combination of all of them.
      The very first thing you should do is turn on the MySQL slow query log and install mtop. This will give you access to information about the absolute worst offenders. Have a ten-second query ruining your web application? These guys will show you the query right off.
      After you’ve identified the slow queries you should learn about the MySQL internal tools, like EXPLAIN, SHOW STATUS, and SHOW PROCESSLIST. These will tell you what resources are being spent where, and what side effects your queries are having, e.g., whether your heinous triple-join subselect query is sorting in memory or on disk. Of course, you should also be using your usual array of command-line profiling tools like top, procinfo, vmstat, etc. to get more general system performance information.

    3. Tighten Up Your Schema

      Before you even start writing queries you have to design a schema. Remember that the memory requirements for a table are going to be around #entries * size of a row. Unless you expect every person on the planet to register 2.8 trillion times on your website you do not in fact need to make your user_id column a BIGINT. Likewise, if a text field will always be a fixed length (e.g., a US zipcode, which always has a canonical representation of the form “XXXXX-XXXX”) then a VARCHAR declaration just adds a superfluous byte for every row.
      Some people poo-poo database normalization, saying it produces unecessarily complex schema. However, proper normalization results in a minimization of redundant data. Fundamentally that means a smaller overall footprint at the cost of performance — the usual performance/memory tradeoff found everywhere in computer science. The best approach, IMO, is to normalize first and denormalize where performance demands it. Your schema will be more logical and you won’t be optimizing prematurely.

    4. Partition Your Tables

      Often you have a table in which only a few columns are accessed frequently. On a blog, for example, one might display entry titles in many places (e.g., a list of recent posts) but only ever display teasers or the full post bodies once on a given page. Horizontal vertical partitioning helps :


      CREATE TABLE posts (
          id int UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
          author_id int UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
          title varchar(128),
          created timestamp NOT NULL,
          PRIMARY KEY(id)
      );

      CREATE TABLE posts_data (
          post_id int UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
          teaser text,
          body text,
          PRIMARY KEY(post_id)
      );

      The above represents a situation where one is optimizing for reading. Frequently accessed data is kept in one table while infrequently accessed data is kept in another. Since the data is now partitioned the infrequently access data takes up less memory. You can also optimize for writing: frequently changed data can be kept in one table, while infrequently changed data can be kept in another. This allows more efficient caching since MySQL no longer needs to expire the cache for data which probably hasn’t changed.

    5. Don’t Overuse Artificial Primary Keys

      Artificial primary keys are nice because they can make the schema less volatile. If we stored geography information in the US based on zip code, say, and the zip code system suddenly changed we’d be in a bit of trouble. On the other hand, many times there are perfectly fine natural keys. One example would be a join table for many-to-many relationships. What not to do :


      CREATE TABLE posts_tags (
          relation_id int UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
          post_id int UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
          tag_id int UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
          PRIMARY KEY(relation_id),
          UNIQUE INDEX(post_id, tag_id)
      );

      Not only is the artificial key entirely redundant given the column constraints, but the number of post-tag relations are now limited by the system-size of an integer. Instead one should do :


      CREATE TABLE posts_tags (
          post_id int UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
          tag_id int UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
          PRIMARY KEY(post_id, tag_id)
      );

    6. Learn Your Indices

      Often your choice of indices will make or break your database. For those who haven’t progressed this far in their database studies, an index is a sort of hash. If we issue the query SELECT * FROM users WHERE last_name = 'Goldstein' and last_name has no index then your DBMS must scan every row of the table and compare it to the string ‘Goldstein.’ An index is usually a B-tree (though there are other options) which speeds up this comparison considerably.
      You should probably create indices for any field on which you are selecting, grouping, ordering, or joining. Obviously each index requires space proportional to the number of rows in your table, so too many indices winds up taking more memory. You also incur a performance hit on write operations, since every write now requires that the corresponding index be updated. There is a balance point which you can uncover by profiling your code. This varies from system to system and implementation to implementation.

    7. SQL is Not C

      C is the canonical procedural programming language and the greatest pitfall for a programmer looking to show off his database-fu is that he fails to realize that SQL is not procedural (nor is it functional or object-oriented, for that matter). Rather than thinking in terms of data and operations on data one must think of sets of data and relationships among those sets. This usually crops up with the improper use of a subquery :


      SELECT a.id,
          (SELECT MAX(created)
          FROM posts
          WHERE author_id = a.id)
      AS latest_post
      FROM authors a

      Since this subquery is correlated, i.e., references a table in the outer query, one should convert the subquery to a join


      SELECT a.id, MAX(p.created) AS latest_post
      FROM authors a
      INNER JOIN posts p
          ON (a.id = p.author_id)
      GROUP BY a.id

    8. Understand your engines

      MySQL has two primary storange engines: MyISAM and InnoDB. Each has its own performance characteristics and considerations. In the broadest sense MyISAM is good for read-heavy data and InnoDB is good for write-heavy data, though there are cases where the opposite is true. The biggest gotcha is how the two differ with respect to the COUNT function.
      MyISAM keeps an internal cache of table meta-data like the number of rows. This means that, generally, COUNT(*) incurs no additional cost for a well-structured query. InnoDB, however, has no such cache. For a concrete example, let’s say we’re trying to paginate a query. If you have a query SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 5,10, let’s say, running SELECT COUNT(*) FROM users LIMIT 5,10 is essentially free with MyISAM but takes the same amount of time as the first query with InnoDB. MySQL has a SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS option which tells InnoDB to calculate the number of rows as it runs the query, which can then be retreived by executing SELECT FOUND_ROWS(). This is very MySQL-specific, but can be necessary in certain situations, particularly if you use InnoDB for its other features (e.g., row-level locking, stored procedures, etc.).
    9. MySQL specific shortcuts

      MySQL provides many extentions to SQL which help performance in many common use scenarios. Among these are INSERT ... SELECT, INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE, and REPLACE.
      I rarely hesitate to use the above since they are so convenient and provide real performance benefits in many situations. MySQL has other keywords which are more dangerous, however, and should be used sparingly. These include INSERT DELAYED, which tells MySQL that it is not important to insert the data immediately (say, e.g., in a logging situation). The problem with this is that under high load situations the insert might be delayed indefinitely, causing the insert queue to baloon. You can also give MySQL index hints about which indices to use. MySQL gets it right most of the time and when it doesn’t it is usually because of a bad scheme or poorly written query.

    10. And one for the road…

      Last, but not least, read Peter Zaitsev’s MySQL Performance Blog if you’re into the nitty-gritty of MySQL performance. He covers many of the finer aspects of database administration and performance. 

    Sources : http://20bits.com

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