Urban Echo

It is a fact that Apple’s iPad and iPod touch would still need some time to make their effective place in hand-held gaming. But it is also a fact that although Apple’s place in market is not as strong as Sony’s PSP and Nintendo’s DS lineup, but still its increasing impact cannot be denied at all. It is seen that App Store has almost all the games with same titles as Sony’s PSP and Nintendo’s DS family but their main plus point is that these games are cheaper.
Nowadays Nintendo’s condition has improved very much and their level of expectations is also increased. Earlier, Game Cube and Nintendo 64, although had good points but unfortunately their sales were not up to the mark and they couldn’t compete with their rivals Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo looks very satisfied nowadays as Wii caught on despite doubts that an SD console would thrive alongside the much more powerful Xbox 360 and PS3.Current position of Nintendo is so good that they only consider Apple as their strongest rivals and according to them, defeating Sony is not a big deal for them now.
The battle between Nintendo and Apple will be very interesting to watch in future. Nintendo is planning for some more surprises to make their position strong in market; where as Apple’s iDevices would be able to inspire people with their multitasking. Nintendo’s gaming revolution like the idea of motion gaming will be now competing with Apple’s multitask devices. Apple having iPad, also acting as an E-reader and Smartphone also performing the task of portable computer, shows their strong capabilities to make a mark in gaming also.

The increasing popularity and capability of Apple is no doubt an achievement and also a major threat to all gaming company’s including Nintendo. It’s going to be very interesting to watch what fate will decide for both these rivals in future.

While Jetstar used to rent digEcor's digEplayer portable IFE units to passengers, it no longer does so. DigEcor says today it hasn't supplied Jetstar in several years, and that Irish firm Airvod is the current provider. Hard on the heels of Bluebox Avionics' iPad-based in-flight entertainment system comes word of what appears to be the first carrier to test out the technology: Jetstar, the low-cost subsidiary of Australian Qantas Airways.

Starting later this month, passengers on select domestic Jetstar flights will be offered an iPad for a rental fee of AUD 10, according to Flight Global. Along with the device will come a wide assortment of music, movies, eBooks, magazines and games. The trial is being conducted in partnership with Bluebox and Stellar Inflight.

So is Jetstar going to be rolling out the devices on its entire domestic and international network? Well that's rather huge. Jetstar's fleet consists of Airbus A320s, A321s and A330s. The carrier also holds an order for 15 787s. A bit of in-flight connectivity would go nicely with this deal, eh?

The iPad is currently the hottest gadget in the world and it stands a good chance of being picked up by passengers in droves.

The Acer Aspire 5740G is essentially a well-needed update to the 5738G albeit an internal one. This is because the changes are in the configuration of the laptop.

Our laptop came with the following configuration:

Intel Core i5 430M
4 GB DDR3 RAM (2x2 GB)
500 GB 5400 RPM HDD
24x Optical Drive (slow)
ATi Mobility Radeon HD 5650 with 1 GB DDR3 RAM


Acer under-clocked the graphics card core speed at 500 MHz negating the speed advantage of DDR3 memory which is clocked at 750 MHz. Games such as Batman Arkham Asylum and Need For Speed Shift can be played at highest detail at full resolution. World In Conflict can be only played in 1024*768 at High setting without stuttering (This should be an important consideration when playing new demanding strategy games such as StarCraft II).



The packaging and presentation remains staid. You pay for the laptop and the carrying case (included with the laptop). There are no recovery discs (you will have to burn your own) and there is no documentation (the PDF files are on the hard disk). The Acer "Gemstone" design is the same. In fact, placing the 5738 and 5740 together will not yield any visible difference except that the 5740 loses the fingerprint reader (a feature in the 5738G that was hampered by bad placement and bad software) and has bigger rear rubber feet giving the laptop a slightly thicker look.

Unfortunately, some of the performance irritants are retained in this update. The DVD drive remains slow in reading and writing discs. For the size of a 15.6" laptop, the speakers lack depth and volume. A set of speakers is recommended to enjoy movies and games.

That being said, the 5740G is neither a gaming nor multimedia laptop in the true sense, but it is a compelling choice in the Indian market as no other laptop comes close in specs and configuration (and price). In fact, at the time of writing this review, this is one of the only Core i5 laptops, but this is the only laptop in the market with a mid-range DirectX 11 graphics card (the Dell Studio 15 comes with the entry-level 5450).

Cons:

• no documentation
• no recovery disc provided - you'll have to burn it yourself
• no Win 7 installation disc
• restrictive practice of placing warranty void stickers on RAM and hard drive openings (!) preventing up-gradation of RAM and hard drive
• battery only charges when laptop is first powered on
• no Firewire
• no eSATA
• frequent scrolling due to screen aspect ratio
• below average/average battery life - nearly 2 hrs 15 min.
• poor lid opening mechanism
• no slot loading optical drive :-)
• speakers produce underwhelming bass-less sound
• third party power adapter
• no LEDs on the exterior - a feature found even in netbooks
• only one color - dark blue
• screen flex
• hinge - prefer book opening types
• USB ports are placed too close together
• slow DVD drive (24x CD writing)

Pros:

• separate bluetooth and wifi keys
• full keyboard layout

Our verdict: the Acer Aspire 5740G is a good buy (do look for a good bargain, though), but this wishlist should improve a good thing:

• An eSATA port
• A slot loading DVD drive
• Speakers with a sub-woofer
• Keyboard with better tactile feel
• switchable graphics
• BlueRay drive
• WWAN card
• A 14" version - definitely more portable and fits in more backpack