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Rick Rizner
When I think of racing, I think of ear-bleeding engine noise and fiery multicar pileups. Maybe that's why I initially steered clear of the Acer Ferrari 4000 with its black-checkered lid and "EAARRRrrrrrooom!" startup sound. (Acer says you can turn this off in Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices, Sounds.) But beneath its novelty exterior, this all-purpose notebook is well equipped, starting with AMD's cutting-edge 64-bit mobile CPU, the Turion 64.
The case, trimmed in Ferrari-red carbon fiber, is solidly built. The front is a jumble of multiple slots, ports, and lights; but it conveniently includes a five-in-one card reader, microphone and headphone ports, and battery and power status lights. The front also has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi LED buttons, which are more convenient than software settings...