Video Quality
Most netbook displays are typically 10.1″ with 1024×600 resolution, or larger 12.1″ panels with 1366×768. The display on the Acer Ferrari One 200 is pretty unique in that it uses a 11.6″ panel and has 1366×768 resolution. This is an interesting combination as you gain the resolution of a larger panel without the increased size and weight.According to Acer, the panel is rated at 200 cd/m2 which is fairly bright considering most consumer desktop LCD displays are between 200 to 300 cd/m2.
Watching the 1080p Toy Story 3 trailer.
There are a few downsides with the implementation of the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 on the Acer Ferrari One 200. First is the lack of HDMI output – this means you’ll have to rely on the old-school VGA output for any sort of external display. Second, the ATI Mobility Radeon 3200 does not accelerate Flash video in any way. This is a bit of a drawback since there is so much HD content available using Flash these days, like Ryan’s report on the Asus OC Summit ROG Experience Tour filmed in 1080p.
720p Flash video played back – CPU handles all the processing and get a bit bogged down.
Numbers aside, how does the screen look?
Watching movies (Pixar’s Up, Star Trek, and other HD trailers available on the web), viewing still images, and performing desktop activities was excellent on the Ferrari’s display. The display was bright while maintaining good colour reproduction. The blacks were crisp and clean.
However, because the resolution is relatively high for a display that is physically small, text can be a bit hard to read especially on backgrounds that are not solid colours (i.e. labels on desktop icons against the wallpaper). This can be improved somewhat by going through the ClearText optimizer or by increasing the desktop font size a little.
Editing photos in Adobe Lightroom was pure win on this display.
Having reviewed and used a fair share of portable systems as an Editor and consumer, I have to say that the display of the Acer Ferrari One 200 is one of the nicer ones I have used. This is a bit of a surprise since I was not expecting a display of this quality on a product branded as a netbook and at the sub $600 price point. For those of you who are picky about displays, I think the Acer Ferrari will impress you.