I copied and pasted the info below right from the Futureshop website. Just wonder what anyone might think of how well this Acer laptop will actually run Vista, especially with Aero:

Experience power and portability in an unrivalled capacity with the Aspire 5630 laptop from Acer. With Intel core 2 duo processing paired with a host of high end features, this notebook arms you with the tools and features you need to accomplish more while on the go. More Info

WebID: 10084051
Mfr. Part Number: LX.AY30X.075
Processor Type Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo T5200
Screen Size 15.4"
RAM (Preloaded / Maximum) 2GB DDR2 SDRAM (Exp. To 4GB)
Hard Drive 160GB 5400RPM
Optical Drives 8X DVD SuperMulti Double Layer
Graphics See The Features Section
Average Battery Life Dependant On Usage
Product Weight 2.77 kg
Audio Type Intel High Definition Audio Support
Battery Type Lithium-Ion
Cache 2MB L2
Fax/Modem 56K V.92
I/O Ports See The Features Section
Included In Box Info Not Available
Network Card 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g WLAN, WPAN
Other Software See The Features Section
PC Card Slots 1 Type II
Pointing Device Touchpad
Preloaded Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
Processor Speed 1.6GHz
Product Dimensions 35.8(W) x 3.6(H) x 26.5(D) cm
Removable Storage None
Screen Type TFT LCD
Speakers Acer
System Bus 533MHz
Warranty 1 Year Parts & Labour

More Information

Built for Vista
This laptop has been built with the next generation of interactivity in mind. Featuring the hardware required to run the powerful and beautiful Windows Vista, this laptop is ready for awesome online media experience, fun home creativity projects and powerful business applications. From Windows Live to Live Anywhere to Windows Media Center and beyond - Windows Vista provides a great view of the future.

FEATURES:

Featuring the ultra-efficient Intel Core 2 Duo T5200 processor combined with a hefty 2GB of memory, this system processes information quickly - giving you the ability to execute multiple normally resource tasks without bogging down the system’s speed.

A large 160GB hard drive gives you more than enough storage room for all of your documents and digital media files.

An integrated 8X DVD Super Multi double layer drive has the ability to read multiple disc formats and burn your own DVDs up to 8GB in size.

Four USB 2.0 ports make it easy to connect multiple external devices and quickly transfer information to and from the laptop.

Connect to the web wirelessly with 802.11a/b/g wireless connectivity.

This model comes equipped with Windows Vista Home Premium.

Graphic Card: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 With Up To 256 MB of TurboCache (128MB of Dedicated GDDR2 VRAM; Up To 128MB Of Shared System Memory), supporting NVIDIA PureVideo Technology (WMV HD, High-Definition MPEG-2 Hardware Acceleration), Microsoft DirectX 9.0, Shader Model 3.0, OpenEXR High Dynamic Range (HDR) Technology, NVIDIA PowerMizer 6.0, PCI Express

I/O Ports: 4 x USB 2.0 Ports, External Display (VGA) Port, S-Video/TV-Out (NTSC/PAL) Port, Headphones/Speaker/Line-Out Jack, Microphone-In Jack, Line-In Jack, Ethernet (RJ-45) Port, Modem (RJ-11) Port, DC-In Jack For AC Adapter

Included Software: Acer Empowering Technology Acer GridVista, Acer Arcade, CyberLink PowerDVD, Acer Launch Manager, Norton AntiVirus, Adobe Reader, CyberLink PowerProducer, NTI CD-Maker
Please Note: This product only contains English operating instructions and system software. In this context GB or Gigabytes refers to 1 Billion Bytes. The actual formatted capacity will be less.

Asus K8V-X
Athlon 64 2800+
ATI AIW 9800 Pro
512 PC3200
WD 80 GIG
LG DVD-RW
XP Home

Full time employee of Dharma. One of the "others".

You seem to be awfully lot more concerned about the Aero feature than anything else. So quoted from this official article:

A Windows Aero-capable graphics card is a graphics card that meets the following requirements:

• Supports a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver

• Has a DirectX 9-class graphics processor unit (GPU) that supports Pixel Shader 2.0

• Supports 32 bits per pixel

• Passes the Windows Aero acceptance test in the Windows Driver Kit (WDK)

Does the PC have it?

i_XpUser

FYI Windows Vista Aero comes in many flavors:

Window Switcher

Windows Flip

Windows Flip 3D.

The PC you are thinking of buying will work with the first two flavors. As for Flip 3D, no Windows Aero-Capable cards have ever been developed, tested and marketed yet.

i_XpUser

The laptop is for a friend who doesn't know much about computers. I can recommend anything that doesn't involve Vista since I know nothing about it.

Hell, I try to get my friends to use Linux, not this overbloated MS crap but they're indoctrinated so I just nod and help them the best I can.

So if I go through your thinly veiled sarcastic response, I can safely assume that it supports WDDM, it does support DX9, and it says "Shader model 3.0" so hopefully thats the same as the pixel shader 2.0

So it SHOULD run aero fine, but if anyone other than XPuser has an opinion, it would be appreciated.

Asus K8V-X
Athlon 64 2800+
ATI AIW 9800 Pro
512 PC3200
WD 80 GIG
LG DVD-RW
XP Home

Full time employee of Dharma. One of the "others".

XpUser's advice is correct. Being an Acer owner the laptop you mention is a good one. Honestly, as one of my tech friend suggests, that right now the best best, fully developed, no bugs and slickest aero features are found on Macs OSX.

There is no middle ground with Aero - it's either it does or it doesn't and the GF Go 7300 does support Aero Glass.

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

Thanks, and my apologies to XPuser if I was too harsh.

Asus K8V-X
Athlon 64 2800+
ATI AIW 9800 Pro
512 PC3200
WD 80 GIG
LG DVD-RW
XP Home

Full time employee of Dharma. One of the "others".

Nay you weren't at all :-) Why Vista Ultimate? There isn't even hardware available (yet) that supports Bitlocker.

i_XpUser

I think this one comes with Premium and not Ultimate but you're right. I'm sure there is a lot about Vista thats either not supported yet or broken right out of the gate, which is why I don't upgrade for at least a year personally. I've waited at least a year with every major OS.

I'm not even sure if I'll bother with Vista since Linux does everything I need out of a PC.

As for Aero, and those not familiar with Linux, go to youtube and you can find some videos of desktop eye candy for Linux that makes Aero look plain by comparison.

Asus K8V-X
Athlon 64 2800+
ATI AIW 9800 Pro
512 PC3200
WD 80 GIG
LG DVD-RW
XP Home

Full time employee of Dharma. One of the "others".

FYI
The manufacturer part number as posted on Futureshop website for this laptop is wrong it should read LX.AY30X.104 not LX.AY30X.075
The actual model number is: AS5630-6459

Right now this particular model is for sale @ Futureshop for $999 Cdn, plus you get a free 250GB external USB drive as a bonus. I was window shopping for laptops for a while now and I think this is an unbeatable value for money regardless whether it runs Vista Aero or not ;-)