Not Much RAM for Multitasking

The more RAM your laptop has, the faster programs will run and the greater number of windows you can work in at one time. If your needs are simple and you rarely do more than two things at once on your PC, the relatively modest amount of memory that comes installed in inexpensive laptops will be enough. Today the standard amount of RAM shipped in most PCs is 2GB. If you like to multitask–say, you want to launch a search for a file and start backing up data to a disc while you watch a news video–you need more memory.

Windows Vista Installed

Microsoft’s Windows Vista introduces more graphical and functional changes–big and small–than the OS has undergone in quite some time. Among the graphical changes, the splashiest is the glasslike transparency of overlapping windows. Flip 3D, which lets you view open windows in a cascading 3D stack on the desktop, is eye-catching too. And the Windows Sidebar displays small applets on the desktop designed for specialized purposes, such as weather reports or sports scores. On the practical side, the new systemwide integrated Instant Search lets you look for a needed file from practically anywhere and at any time. Keep in mind, however, that because Vista offers so much, it requires a speedy CPU, ample RAM, and a good graphics card. Check out the other components of this laptop to be sure that Vista can run smoothly on it.

Not Much RAM for Multitasking

The more RAM your laptop has, the faster programs will run and the greater number of windows you can work in at one time. If your needs are simple and you rarely do more than two things at once on your PC, the relatively modest amount of memory that comes installed in inexpensive laptops will be enough. Today the standard amount of RAM shipped in most PCs is 2GB. If you like to multitask–say, you want to launch a search for a file and start backing up data to a disc while you watch a news video–you need more memory.

Despite some admirable qualities, including great battery life, the Acer TravelMate 3002WTCi would not be my first ultraportable choice. It’s a snazzy-looking little wedge-shaped unit that weighs only 3.2 pounds and costs just $1199 (as of 6/26/2006). However, a clunky external optical drive and a cramped keyboard layout spoil its appeal.

With its optical drive and power adapter, the 3002WTCi weighs a not-very-ultraportable 5.3 pounds. Not only is that external drive something else to keep track of, but it’s a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, which offers far less storage capacity than the rewritable DVD drives found in competing models.

I liked the keyboard’s slant and its four user-programmable quick-launch keys, but it was hard to type on, mainly due to its half-size punctuation keys. I found these keys hard to hit consistently. Ditto for the Page Up and Page Down keys, which are positioned horizontally in the lower right corner instead of vertically down the right side. The four-way scroll button on my unit was so stiff it was almost unusable.

The 3002WTCi is loaded with features, including a vivid 12.1-inch WXGA screen and both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless communications. Each wireless technology has its own handy button on the front of the notebook that serves as a combination status light and on/off switch. The TravelMate’s complement of ports is also generous for a small notebook: Three USB ports, a FireWire port, and a four-in-one-card reader.

The 3002WTCi might be the only notebook on the market right now, ultraportable or full size, that comes standard with not just one but two swappable, rear-mounted batteries, one of which is a high-capacity power pack. Although the three-cell battery lasted only 1.8 hours in our tests, the twice-as-powerful six-cell battery endured an impressive 4.7 hours. The bigger battery extends the back of the unit by an inch but adds only 3 ounces to the total weight. The batteries can’t be hot-swapped, unfortunately, but it’s still nice to have them.

The unit’s speed is decent–the 3002WTCi uses a 1.73-GHz Pentium M processor–but not phenomenal, such as what we’ve seen from models using newer dual-core chips from Intel. As configured with 512MB of RAM, this Acer earned a WorldBench 5 score of 75. That places it in line with the average of 74 earned by four other laptops we’ve tested with a 1.73-GHz Pentium M 740 processor and 512MB of RAM. While the notebook is slower at multitasking in multiple windows because of the single-core processor, it’s plenty fast enough for most applications.

Although this fact isn’t documented, the 3002WTCi is fully user-upgradable: Its 60GB hard drive and two 256MB memory modules are easily accessible via bottom compartments. (The otherwise thorough Acrobat manual omits hard drive upgrades, which led to my removing the wrong set of screws. Hint: The screws are located midcase and labeled with an a??Ha??.) For desktop cable management, a 124-pin connection on the back lets you add Acer’s optional $299 ezDock.

The 3002WTCi is nicely designed overall, and hunt-and-peck typists who do mainstream work on the go might be happy with the compact unit. Others looking for a better typing experience in an ultraportable should keep looking.

Built into the top-center of the display bezel, the 1.3-megapixel Acer OrbiCam swivels 225 degrees in the screen frame to capture images in front and in back, and it comes with great software. A cool tracking feature automatically zooms and recenters faces when they move out of camera range. Stills are a snap to take. There’s even an avatar feature that lets you replace your face with an animated character if you feel like appearing on camera as someone (or something) else.

The Acer’s ergonomic keyboard, with its 5-degree horizontal arc, is a bit of an acquired taste. The shorter-than-standard (2.5mm) keystroke limits tactile feedback. But the keyboard’s layout is good, which always helps me get used to positioning my hands farther apart on this keyboard, and the user-programmable launch buttons are a nice extra.

Graphics artists and spreadsheet jockeys will appreciate the 15.4-inch wide-aspect screen. The high WSXGA+ resolution of 1680 by 1050 pixels is good for detail work but some users may need to increase the Windows font and icon sizes from their default to avoid eyestrain during everyday use. On the plus side, Acer’s bundled GridVista software makes it easy to arrange applications on the screen using a grid.

Although not billed as a gaming notebook, the 8200 handled games well, thanks to its powerful ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics card with 256MB of dedicated memory. Boosted by 2GB of main memory and a 2-GHz Core Duo T2500 CPU, the 8200 racked up a WorldBench 5 score of 100–one of the best scores we’ve recorded for a notebook. Still, other 2-GHz Core Duo T2500-equpped notebooks such as Gateway’s M685-E have earned scores almost as high while using only half as much memory.

Battery performance could have been better, too. The 8200’s 2.8-hour battery life is a bit short for a midsize 6.6-pound notebook, but you have the option of replacing the DVD burner in the modular bay with a second battery ($179 extra). At 6.7 pounds, the 8200 is definitely quite a portable and powerful notebook.

Wider screen. Sleeker case. Easier upgrades. The Acer TravelMate 8100 offers several advantages over its predecessor, last year’s impressive TravelMate 8000, which the company is still selling. The 8100 weighs about the same–6.4 pounds including an integrated DVD burner–yet boasts an impressively large 15.4-inch wide-aspect screen for working on documents side by side more easily. (The native 1680-by-1050-pixel resolution renders screen elements slightly small but crisp and perfectly readable.)

The unit slopes to a slim 1.3 inches in front, and the lower case is slightly deeper than the closed screen to protect it from bumps and to leave exposed the front ports. Those connections include microphone and headphone jacks in addition to a five-in-one card reader and handy Bluetooth and Wi-Fi buttons that both control wireless communications and serve as glowing status indicators. Three of the four USB 2.0 ports now sit on the right side of the case instead of the left, a welcome change for right-handed folks like me.

The 8100 is fully user upgradable: You can access both RAM slots, and although the hard drive does not slide out of the side (as it does on the 8000), it’s still easy to reach in a compartment on the bottom. Also, the 8100’s battery pops off the rear, not out of a bottom bay–another small improvement.

The 8100 isn’t superior to the 8000 in every way: For example, its battery life was actually slightly lower than that of its older sibling: The 8100 lasted a little over 4 hours on one charge in our tests, about a half hour shorter than the TravelMate 8000 we tested last year. Still, that’s well above average.

On our test bench, the 8100 performed well, doing better than its sibling. It pulled down a WorldBench 5 score of 94 (compared with the 8000’s score of 89), about what I would expect from a 2-GHz Pentium M 760-equipped laptop loaded with 1GB of RAM. Although Acer advertises the 8100 as its mainstream laptop, it’s loaded, with a capital L. It has a removable right-side double-layer DVD burner that swaps out for a second hard drive or a second battery, it has a FireWire port, and it offers three ways to connect an external monitor (via VGA, S-Video, and DVI-D). Those who prefer key cards to fingerprint readers for thwarting break-ins at the BIOS, password, and file levels will appreciate the 8100’s smart card slot, stacked atop a standard PC Card slot on the left side of the case. You get two cards with your purchase, including one that can be set up as a one-time-use emergency card. (After that, you have to return the laptop to a dealer for resetting, which is one reason I slightly favor a biometric security solution.)

The TravelMate’s ergonomic keyboard curves 5 degrees upward on the ends so you end up positioning your elbows in a way that experts say helps prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. It’s an acquired taste. Besides that, I like everything else about the keyboard, including its short, hard 2.7-millimeter key depression (rather than the standard 3mm) and handy set of four user-programmable shortcut buttons.

Acer includes some nice software extras. For instance, the proprietary power management utility makes it extremely easy to specify customized power schemes, including whether the FireWire port and wireless scanning are enabled. Acer’s GridVista, based on Dritek System’s utility for dragging and dropping applications into preset windows on the extrawide screen, looked worthwhile, but I couldn’t get it to work on our unit.

The only area in which the 8100 stumbles is entertainment. Letterboxed DVD movies looked fine on the wide-aspect screen, but sound from the front-mounted stereo speakers was too faint. Hardware volume control is limited to annoying combination keystrokes. Looking up information in the user manuals could be simpler, too. The Acrobat manual preinstalled on the hard drive is more detailed than the basic printed manual, but it has no index. At first, I thought that it also lacked a contents page, but that page simply turned out not to be bookmarked.

Upshot: Except for slightly shorter battery life, the TravelMate 8100 is a better machine than the 8000, which translates into sleek, powerful, well-equipped portable computing for a commensurate $2299.