Acer TravelMate 3002WTCi

To keep pace with the lightweight laptops flooding the market, Acer has come out with its lightest ultraportable yet. The Acer TravelMate 3002WTCi weighs just 3.2 pounds and slides easily into your bag. What separates it from the competition is its heavy-duty processor (the Pentium M 740) and its amazingly low price ($1,299 direct).

Slim at just a bit over an inch thick, the 3002WTCi can compete competently with the Lenovo/IBM ThinkPad X41 and the Sony T350P (though the featherweight Toshiba Portégé R200, at 2.7 pounds, is still in a league of its own). The display is a crisp, clear 12.1-inch widescreen, and the full-size keyboard is comfortable to type on. Like the Toshiba R200, the Acer has a responsive touchpad with scroll functions. We like that it also has keys for turning wireless on and off, like the MPC TransPort U1000.

The 3002WTCi doesn't go with the conventional low-voltage processors commonly found in the ultraportable group. Though low-voltage processors serve the dual purpose of saving power and keeping processor heat to a minimum, they sacrifice performance. So instead, the processor is a Pentium M 740 (1.73 GHz), whose greater horsepower enabled the 3002WTCi to beat both the ThinkPad X41 and the Toshiba R200 handily on our SYSmark 2004 SE tests. The MPC U1000 carries a similar processor (Pentium M 745), with an even better SYSmark score. Unfortunately, the 3002WTCi takes a hit on battery life, mustering only 1 hour 40 minutes with its standard three-cell battery. Thankfully, Acer bundles a six-cell battery at no extra charge, which delivers a runtime of 3:45 but adds 0.7 pounds to the system weight and protrudes about an inch from the back. You can only use one battery at a time but with both you can get about 5 hours of battery life.

Unlike the MPC TransPort U1000, the 3002WTCi lacks a built-in optical drive. The external (FireWire) DVD/CD-RW combo drive, included in the price, weighs about a pound. In addition to the FireWire port, the system has three USB ports, a 4-in-1 card reader (SD, MS, MS Pro, and MMC), and built-in Bluetooth. What you don't get on the 3002WTCi is what puts the IBM and Toshiba ultraportables a notch above the Acer (at least for enterprise buyers): A more robust software suite and a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which provides a hardware security alternative for storing your passwords and keys.

If you're in the market for an ultraportable and are on a tight budget, the Acer TravelMate 3002WTCi, with its impressive performance, is a competent—and much cheaper—alternative to the big-name competition.

Source : www.blogger.com