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Barry’s Rigs ‘n Reviews
http://www.barrys-rigs-n-reviews.com
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Copyright © 2003-2007 by Barry Little. All Rights Reserved.
Notebook fires on all cylinders and hits all of these attributes on the mark, with few
exceptions.
Right-click on the
GridVista icon in the
System Tray and
select Options to
change the utility's
settings.
Right-clicking the
icon and selecting
Grid Display for each
available monitor
will bring up a list of
grid configuration
options.
GridVista will place
three buttons in the
title bar of all
applications that can
be dragged and
dropped into a grid.
The first button has
options for making a
window transparent
and snapping it to a
specific grid. The
second button locks
or unlocks a window
to a grid. The third
enables or disables a
window in grid to
always be on top.
A screen capture of a
GridVista four-grid
display on the Acer
Ferrari 4000's LCD
display (left) and a
connected 17" LCD
display (right).
This is what a
GridVista
configuration looks
like on a dual
display. It's
important that the
resolution on both
displays match for
best results.
I was very impressed with the styling and performance of the Acer Ferrari 4000. The
notebook is s a real head-turner wherever I take it. Whether I was reading E-Mail,
working on a spreadsheet, playing games or watching a movie, AMD’s Turion 64 ML-
37 Mobile Processor teamed up with ATI’s Mobility Radeon X700 video, Gigabyte of
RAM, and spacious, speedy hard drive, easily ran circles around my previous Intel
Centrino-powered Toshiba Tecra A2, and the bright, sharp 15.4” wide screen LCD
display never disappointed (not a dead pixel anywhere). While the sound obviously
wasn’t going to compare with a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 sound card playing through a
set of Logitech 5.1 speakers, the 16-bit stereo speakers in the Ferrari 4000 did an
admirable job for their size and power, though they did tend to clip a bit in some
games with the volume pushed up.
Keyboards, touch pads and mice are always a subjective matter. What might be
acceptable to me may be unbearable to you. I personally found the slight curve and
tactile feedback of the Ferrari 4000’s keyboard more enjoyable and comfortable to
type on, especially for extended periods of time, compared to the keyboard on my
previous Toshiba laptop, whose layout was a bit too cramped for me (in fact, I’m
typing this review on the 4000 now). I permitted a colleague of mine to try the
Ferrari 4000. An hour later, she came to the conclusion that while it was a nice
notebook and she was blown away by the styling, the 15.4” wide screen, and the