Touch-screen Acer notebook

The Aspire 5738PG comes with a 15.6-inch touch screen. You can use your fingers to flip photos, zoom in to or zoom out of photos and maps, and perform drag and drop functions - just like you do on an iPod, except the screen is much bigger.

I found the touch-screen feature convenient for closing windows or interacting with all types of screen commands. You simply touch the close or X mark of a window to close it in one move instead of having to use the touch PAD to move the cursor to the X mark and then click the left button. Or you can tap "Yes", "No" or "Next" buttons on the screen for an instant response.

When you tap anywhere on the screen inside a document window, a virtual keyboard pops up, which you can change into a hand-writing input if you wish. However, I found that that it was faster to type with the notebook's real keyboard rather than writing or using the virtual keyboard.

To make the most of its touch-screen technology, Acer provides the so-called Acer TouchPortal easy-to-use interface. The TouchPortal is a gateway that converges all multimedia functions in one place and enhances touch-screen access. Access to pictures, video, music files and touch-screen-enabled games and applications are all found in one place. Using TouchPortal, you can easily browse your photo collections and music files and play songs, for example.

The TouchPortal makes the use of the notebook computer really fun. The touch-enabled fun applications include Microsoft Surface Glove, a map program. You can zoom in to an area or rotate it with your fingers. Microsoft Surface Glove is part of the Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7.

Yes, the Aspire 5738PG runs on the new 64-bit version of Windows 7.

I found that the notebook performed well in both general and multimedia applications. It comes with all the necessary muscle for handling multimedia applications and games. That is, it is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at 2.53GHz with 4GB of memory, and a 500GB hard drive. Its graphic power comes from ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570.

Best of all, it comes with a Blu-ray drive. With its bright 15.6-inch HD LED back-lit LCD screen, the notebook also serves as an ultimate mobile home theatre. I enjoyed watching a crisp and clear Blu-ray movie on the Aspire 5738PG's very bright and clear screen.

Windows 7's performance assessment utility reports that the Aspire 5738PG has good performance. On the 1 to 7.9 scale, the Aspire 5738PG scored 6.1 for processor performance, 5.9 for gaming graphics performance and 4.1 for the destock transition graphic effects of the so-called Windows Aero.

The Acer Aspire 5738PG has a suggested retail price of Bt45,900, without VAT.

Specifications: Acer Aspire 5738PG

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 2.53GHz

Memory: 4GB DDR3 1066 MHz memory

HDD: 500GB

Optical drive: 4 x Blu-ray Disc

Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570

Screen: touch-screen 15.6-inch HD LED LCD

Wireless network: Acer Nplify 802.11 a/b/g/n

I/O interface: Multi-in-1 card reader (SD, MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD), 4 x USB 2.0 ports, HDMI

Battery: 6-cell lithium-ion battery

Size (mm): 383 w x 250 d x 26/37 h

Weight: 2.8 kg