Great value but let down by Vista

I'll do the highlights first...

Pro - Tiny PC, great styling, easy to get going, pretty much everything you need is included, fantastic value.

Con - Windows Vista, it's still noiser than your average hi-fi components, 19" 'widescreen' LCD needs Viagra to extend its vertical size.

So, on to the detail...

It is amazing what can be packed in a box - in this case I'm talking about the actual packaging that arrived at my door 4 days before Amazon's expected delivery date (and in the middle of **another** UK mail strike to boot). Acer has managed to pack the PC, LCD, keyboard, mouse, speakers, power pack and assorted CDs and manuals into a box about the size that your average VCR might arrive in. It's neat and clean and very professional looking.

Physically setting the unit up is a breeze for anyone who has seen the back of a PC before. And if you haven't but can figure things out with a bit of trial and error then the one-page install diagram should be sufficient. Basically, this is as no-brainer a PC installation as you can get.

The PC itself is like a wannbe laptop - think about the size of your typical leather-bound Bible and you get the idea. It really is as cute as Acer make out and won't embarrass you if you do decide to set it up in your family room.

However, it's obvious from the one-page install diagram that for some reason these L100's are not fully kitted out with all the interface options. Not that you aren't getting what you paid for, but I at least looked longingly at the S-Video and SPDIF icons and wondered why they are missing (OK, I know the most likely answer - PRICE).

However, one ommission that's harder to understand is WiFi. There **seems** to be a socket for an antenna on teh back immediately under the headphone socket. But the one-page install diagram had nothing connecting to it and I could not find any mention of WiFi in the Windows Devices table, so I'm guessing it's one of those 'too hard to remove at the factory' things that leaves you teased but unsatisfied. Perhap's it is there, but Amazon tend to trumpet such features in the PCs they sell and it's not mentioned so I'm thinking bye-bye integrated WiFi.

The rear of the unit has 4 USB ports packed pretty close to each other. I plugged in the mouse, keyboard, a Logitech headset and a Cruzer memory stick and it all fit. But I have some older memory sticks that are less slimline than the Cruzer and they won't fit in at all.

The Ethernet port is on the back along with a DVI port, the VGA port and microphone/speaker jack. Oh yeah, and the power plug point as well. That's a barrel connector with the actual transformer as a seperate unit just like a laptop (and no kidding, the plug pack is **almost** as big as the PC itself).

The front has another two USB ports hidden behind a sleek cover. The cover also hides another microphone/speaker jack, SD card reader and what looks like a FireWire port. The DVD slot is nice in that it does not pop out a tray - it's more like ones in cars where you push the DVD in a bit and it's neatly sucked in the rest of the way. Very child friendly indeed.

Now I get to something of a let down - though I fully admit I am being very fussy with this expectation - being the included 19" widescreen LCD panel. I already have a 19" panel that is not widescreen and the Acer panel **is** wider, no doubt about that. But it is also about 2" smaller in the vertical screen size. So it looks a bit squeezed. Anyway, it performs well, is visually fantastic and for the price it's still a bargain, so don't be put off. Just don't expect to throw out your old TV and use the LCD unless you are planning on viewing things in a smallish room.

So, I managed to get the box unpacked, connected and turned on in under 30 minutes without any sparks or smoke. Then I encountered Vista. It's my first play with Microsoft's newest operating system and I have to say, it seems full of gratuitious frills when compared to XP. And either the Acer is slow...or Vista is slow. I **think** it's Vista because with that AMD chip and 1GB of RAM the Acer sure looks good on spec. Plus, in use Vista seems to lag way behind the mouse clicks. Example, I downloaded Skype and clicked the 'Run' button on the IE download dialogue box. Nothing seemed to happen - though I did notice a fancy green slider moving across the top of the dialogue box - so I clicked it again. Result...two instances of the Skype installer asking me to proceed. It's been a common enough occurance with all types of windows that I'm thinking maybe Vista harks back to the hippy culture of the 60's when you could take your time Man, 'cause like, what's the rush?? I don't want to diss on Vista but I find it visually clunky and way too clever for its own good. Oh yeah, expect to go have dinner while all the Windows updates are downloaded and installed the first time around (and that's not Vista's fault...it pulled down about 120 Mbytes of updates spread across 37 programs and they take a while to install).

Apart from that, there is some included software that's likely to annoy more experienced PC users than not (and Amazon is on the iffy side of disclosure in the product details on some of this). For example, you get a 90-day trial of Norton, even though Amazon clearly states"Additional Software: Norton AntiVirus 2006". No mention of trial versions. You also get a trial copy of Microsoft Office, though it looks like a student version. Neither of those is a killer (well maybe Norton's is), but it's nice to know in advance what you're going to have to bolt on and what really comes with the price. There was a trial version of eSobi which is a very fancy search engine. Being old school Google I removed it post haste.

I also removed the trial version of Norton and installed CAs Security Centre. I can't claim it's better or worse than Norton, but having used the CA product for years I am familiar enough with it to get a new PC secured in short order.

Apart from that I installed my Freecom TV tuner, the latest Windows Media Player, Mozilla Firefox, QuickTime, Shockwave and other sundry apps over a period of about four hours.

As an aside, the hard drive is set up as two logical drives; each of them are about 70 Gbytes each and one is labelled 'DATA' so there is no mistaking what you are supposed to load up on that baby. The drive itself is probably the noisiest single part of the system - sit close and you can hear it clicking and whirring away.

Indeed, in terms of a much vaunted feature - that 28 db noise figure - the L100 is still a PC and it has fans. Two of them in fact that I can see. And they are the kind that spin faster as the PC does more work, which I find a bit annoying to be honest. It is not going to bother you if you are using this just as a PC, as it really is much quieter than your average box (but not as quiet as most laptops). But it might bother you if you install this in the bedroom for watching DVDs and TV (with an additional USB tuner of course) unless your tastes run to James Bond and Jason Bourne-style flicks where it's wall to wall sound. And in that case, the supplied speakers won't float your boat. Full kudos to Acer for putting them in because they will get you going out-of-the-box and are perfect for straightforward PC work. But if you are planning on the L100 being the centrepeice of your audio-visual world you will be shelling out for a serious set of speakers (and if you are that way inclined, you clearly won't mind spending the extra pounds).

In summary, the L100 is a great PC at a very good price that sits comfortably on the coffee table or desktop. I recommend it as a great first PC because all the hardware comes in one box...though you'll still have to shell out extra pounds when the trial software comes to an end. I don't recommend it for anyone who wants to open the lid and pack more things inside. Basically, there just aint the room!

Nice monitor, a worthy purchase

bought 1 of these to replace my 19" Sony monitors. Look great, hdmi connection with a seperate sound port too, something lacking on my Sony hdtv, using these at work for design work they give you a 20% stretch on how the image actually looks so a circle looks like an oval unless you switch to native 1920 x 1200 which sorts that out but text in emails & icons are tiny then, I'm still undecided using them for that but probably my ignorance on how to set it up doesn't help, if you keep aspect ratio the screen works out only 20mm taller than my old Sony ones. Warnings about dead pixels on these monitors from sellers, out of 3 monitors I have 1 dead pixel on 1 of the monitors which you really only see when the screen is black.

Great for gaming & watching movies in these proportions though & I'm sure I'll get it how I want it once I've got past these first few days of playing with it, 5 stars from me no problem.

A while on now, sorted out my resolutions 1440 x 900 works great so it's all good in that regard but one thing has become apparent that the viewing angle isn't so good, with that my Sony HDTV wins, If you look at the screen from slight to sharp viewing angles it can give lighter or darker area's, nothing major really but like to be thorough.

The price gives it away...

Frankly, if you want to do more than have pretty pictures up in the background of an office somehwhere I wouldn't bother. Looks fine and works straight out of the box but that's as good as it gets. I've an excellent system and all settings have been checked, double checked, triple checked and I still can't get it to focus properly. Hurts eyes when doing text work or at the computer for long periods(1hr+). Past experience says others may not notice this problem. I do though.

Yusmart TFT Monitor

Very pleased with the monitor, superfast delivery and very easy to set up, the speakers are not much cop, but overall execellent value for money---well done everyone at Amazon again.

Excellent!

After a long term delay on my first choice, I went for this instead.
Just got it about an hour ago, and have to say I'm really happy.
I haven't had a monitor like this before, so I have no comparison to judge from, but I dont think that matters too much. I know this is a beautiful monitor.
It's so easy to set up. The settings menu is simple and in no time I had it exactly how I like it, although the brightness does need to be turned down!
The only thing that I could complain about is the foreign 2-pin plug, but luckily I had an adapter spare, so I wasn't slowed down.
My eyes are still getting used to the change in screen, but in a good way!
Films do look excellent aswell which was something I wanted to buy one of these for, I was immediately taken by the picture quality even on standard films and not neccessarily the obvious good looking high detail ones.
Overall I cant complain about anything. I haven't bothered with the speakers as I have my PC set up to a proper sound system.
If you are looking for a monitor with this type spec you wont be disappointed by choosing this one. 5 Stars!

Absolutely stunning TFT monitor - must buy

I will keep this review short, as amazon sadly no longer seem to be offering this outright fantastic TFT screen from Neovo.

I was recommended the brand (having never heard of them before..) by a technically minded work colleague of mine. I was in the market for a TFT (flat screen) monitor, and personally preferred going for a more expensive model from the ever-reliable iiyama brand.

However, the price of this neovo product - the F-419 19" TFT screen - was so much more reasonable I felt I had to give it a go.

Since then, I haven’t looked this. Both the design and screen quality (12ms refresh time) is simply stunning! If I had one concern at first, it was that the screen was quite simply _too_ bright. However, my worries were short lived as this was rectified by tweaking the contrast control (down)

I cannot recommend this wonderful product highly enough. 5 stars feels like an understatement. If you can source one, grab it with both hands - I did.