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Acer's Ethos range are built for entertainment, and aimed squarely at those who want a smart and powerful portable for enjoying their games and media collection. We're big fans of previous Ethos models, so gleefully put the Aspire Ethos 8951G through its paces.
We liked
Featuring one of Intel's most powerful Intel Core i7 mobile processors and a mighty 8GB of memory, the Ethos 8951G is a better performer that ten Ron Jeremys. You're fully future-proofed and can multi-task to your heart's content.
You'll have no trouble running the latest games (although some detail fiddling is required on the most demanding titles), which look fantastic on the bright and vibrant 18.4-inch screen. The Full HD 1080p resolution means both games and Blu-ray films are presented at their best.
And now you can enjoy movies from the comfort of your sofa, thanks to the detachable touchpad which doubles as a remote. It's a cool gimmick, although not entirely perfect.
Finally, the generous 1.5TB hard drive means you won't have to constantly remove old films and games to add new ones.
We disliked
As with previous Ethos models, this bad boy is best left at home. The 4.2kg weight will break your back if you attempt to lug it around on a regular basis, and it isn't the easiest to slip into a bag or rucksack. We were impressed by the three-hour battery life though.
The Ethos 8951G has few flaws, but we were disappointed by the rubbish touchpad. It works fairly well as a remote control, but not so well as a device for moving the mouse cursor around. We'd have also preferred more powerful built-in speakers.
Verdict
As a home entertainment machine, the Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G does almost everything right. Attach a mouse and some decent speakers and you're set.
