Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G-2634G1TBnkk

Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G review

These days we're seeing a lot more slim and light ultraportable laptops. Rising up against these size zero models is the Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G.Like the Dell XPS 15z and the Macbook Pro 17 inch, this is all about packing in huge amounts of power, and who cares if it's on the chunky side. After all, as our mothers told us: it's not the outside, it's what's on the inside that counts.As with the previous Ethos models, the Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G is an entertainment centre that's designed to sit on your desk at home.Crushing the scales at 4.2kg, you wouldn't want to carry this laptop any further than the next room, to avoid popping a couple of vertebrae.That said, we were impressed at how thin the Ethos is. Sure, 40mm can't really be described as 'thin', when you consider that the Samsung 9000 series measures just a smidgen over 10mm. But considering the girth of this machine, it's comparatively slender.We also liked the smart design, which follows the XPS 15z's mantra of 'keep it simple'. The dark chassis has a brushed metal finish that spreads everywhere except the palmrests, and it looks as solid as it feels.We didn't find any hint of flex no matter how hard we poked and prodded, which is to be expected at this price point.