Racy red notebook has more than enough grunt

By RICHARD PAMATATAU

Looking to get in touch with your inner IT racer or just after another badge of belonging?

Taiwanese giant Acer Computer may have the device for you - its Ferrari 3000 notebook - a tomato-coloured device aimed at those with flashy Italianate tastes and a desire for fast information processing.

Acer says the machine sports Ferrari red because the colour signifies passion, power, style and success.

The notebook features a 15in screen with higher brightness supported by a speedy graphics engine, as well as 128megabytes of video memory, 512 megabytes of DDR RAM and a 60 gigabyte hard disk, as well as a DVD dual optical solution. It is powered by a grunty AMD Athlon XP 2500+ processor.

The machine also will appeal to mobile users who get around a bit with its wireless connectivity (standardIEEE 802.11g) with built-in Bluetooth, LAN connections with 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet and phone line support with 56Kbps V.92 modem or fax.

Image management, including storing videos and images, is made easy with the machine's DVD player/burner, quick USB ports, S-Video output, FireWire IEEE 1394 interface and 4-in-1 memory card reader.

The Ferrari 3000 costs about $3800 and is available through Harvey Norman and Farmers from next month.