Laptop-Review.eu

Summer is upon us and many of us are off to warmer pastures, but we still find the time to do a review now and then. With the fact in mind schools and universities will soon start up anew, we aim to do a number of hot reviews for the student segment.
Acer has given us a small laptop for the businessman who requires mobility, but wonā€™t sacrifice stability and connectivity for it. This particular machine theoretically competes with the other small notebooks and netbooks ā€“ however it belongs in a price range a fair bit above the netbooks weā€™ve reviewed.You do get substantially more power in this model from Acer though; the question is whether itā€™s worth it to get more performance and slightly less mobility rather than keep it cheap but lose out on some features.

The reviewed model is a pre-sample, meaning that the product is not 100% final. It may therefore be different from the retail model, and these early products usually contain smaller errors and faults, which is something we will take into consideration in the review.
We take a closer look at this great TravelMate.

The product was kindly lent to us by Acer

Specifications

Category:
Business

Processor:
IntelĀ® Coreā„¢ 2 Duo processor SU9400

Chipset:
Mobile IntelĀ® GS45 Express Chipset

RAM:
4 GB DDR3

Hard drive:
320 GB HDD

Display:
13.3ā€ WXGA TFT 1366 x 768px

Sound card & speakers:
HD Audio
MS-Sound compatible

GPU:
IntelĀ® GMA 4500M shared

Battery:
6-celled lithium-ion-battery (Li-Ion)

Inputs/Outputs:
Multi-in-1 card reader (SDā„¢, MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD)
3x USB 2.0 ports
1x external display (VGA) port
1x Headphones/speaker/line-out jack
1x Microphone-in jack
1x Ethernet (RJ-45) port
1x DC-in jack for AC adapter
1x Acer EasyPort IV connector
1x 0.3M DV CrystalEye Webcam

Connectivity:
Built-in 10/100/1000 LAN
Built-in 802.11b/g or 802.11b/g/draft-n

Dimensions:
323.6 (W) x 228 (D) x 24.9/25.3 (H) mm
about 1.65 kg incl. battery

Support:
Support is available via Acer

Warranty:
1 year

Operating system:
Windows VistaĀ® Business

Software included:
- Acer Crystal Eye
- Acer GridVistaā„¢
- Acer Assist
- Acer Bio-Protection
- Acer PowerSmart Manager
- Acer Launch Manager
- Acer eRecovery Management
- McAfee Internet Security Suite 60-day trial version
- AdobeĀ® ReaderĀ®
- AdobeĀ® FlashĀ® Player
- Googleā„¢ Toolbar
- Googleā„¢ Desktop
- eSobi
- Office Ready
- Windows Live Essentials

Price:
About Ā£700 incl. VAT.

Package contents

We didnā€™t really get any extra contents; all the included software is pre-installed. There wasnā€™t any manual either in the package we got, but the computer is ready for use when you get it anyway.

The model comes in three different display sizes ā€“ the one weā€™re testing is the smallest. Depending on how much one travels, one might be inclined to choose mobility over size. The weight is also an aspect many will consider; this one weighs a little more than 1.5kg including battery, which is really quite bearable.

As an added protection for your private documents and the like, Acer has included bio-protection. This is basically a fingerprint reader that registers your fingerprint as the owner of the computer, and you can then use it to log in and out of the computer. This is quite handy since your fingerprint is unique.

The wire has a fine length and is not too short; if anything itā€™s almost too long, though you almost never get enough length when it comes to laptops.



Included:
- AC adapter

Physical aspects

First impression



The size and weight are really good; itā€™s nice to pick up if youā€™re of the ā€œa laptop should be mobileā€ persuasion. Itā€™s primarily black as business laptops tend to be. Luckily it doesnā€™t come across as cheap, which it really shouldnā€™t in that price range. The materials are quite good without being too metallic, but not the usual cheap plastic either. They are probably best described as a quality, high-end kind of plastic which feels good to the touch.



Unfortunately itā€™s absolutely plastered with assorted stickers when you get it. Okay, they tell you a bit about what this laptop can do, but you should honestly know that before making a purchase. Ah well, scrape them off and you end up with a rather handsome computer. It far from an eyesore, although it has a big, blue diode that lights up at the front when running on AC for that disco feel. Too much? Thatā€™s a matter of taste.




The speakers are located beneath the display, and under those is the keyboard which takes up a lot of space. Nice with a big keyboard, even on smaller laptops. The touchpad is okay ā€“ not the biggest Iā€™ve seen ā€“ with the mouse buttons below separated by the fingerprint reader. The overall impression is that of a computer with a successful coupling of design and functionality. Itā€™s not too cluttered and minor details like the lowered area around the keyboard so itā€™s just that tiny bit easier to find the keys in the dark add to the impression Acer cared for this product.




The lid:



The lid is securely fastened with some great hinges. Like most of the computer theyā€™re made of a sort of hardened plastic or rubber, the surface is very nice to the touch, they look good and go perfectly with the rest of the design. The display is quite wide and almost edge-to-edge ā€“ very nice because otherwise you get that lousy ā€œthey reduced the display to save moneyā€ feeling.




Nowadays the presence of a webcam is pretty much standard and this one is no exception.

The front:



There isnā€™t much of interest at the front. Thereā€™s a bit of cooling and the aforementioned, large diode that lights up in a powerful blue colour when the laptop runs on AC.

The rear:



The display slides down the rear when you open up the lid, so there are no functions or diodes there. The battery is just below, sticking out a little bit, but not very much when you consider itā€™s a 6-celled kind.

The bottom:



The bottom is where you insert/remove the battery; itā€™s real easy but something you really only do once. There are also some vents so the computer doesnā€™t overheat.

The right side:



The left side:



Overview:



The only unusual feature here is Acerā€™s Easy Port Connector, which is basically a port for Acerā€™s own docking station or ā€œcable management solutionā€.

Diodes:






The majority of the diodes are located at the top, except the large one at the front and a small one by the touchpad. Some of the combined buttons and diodes light green; here you can control WiFi, powersaving mode, and the touchpad. Itā€™s nice with proper shortcuts and most of the diodes are quite pleasant; only the one at the front shines a little too bright.

Keyboard and touchpad:




As mentioned earlier, the keyboard is of good size. The keys are comfortable to use and donā€™t make too much noise. Theyā€™re raised a bit above the surface, or rather the surface has been lowered. Itā€™s very easy to find your way around the keyboard, even in the dark.




The touchpad is covered by a sticker when you get the computer ā€“ besides explaining how the fingerprint reader works, itā€™s sole function is to be highly irritating. The size of the touchpad is average at best ā€“ not the smallest in the world perhaps, but certainly not the largest either. The mouse buttons are separated, easy to find and they work well. No complaints here.

Display:



The display is very crisp and well-lit. There isnā€™t too much glare and the colours are quite vivid. Considering its size, the resolution of 1366 x 768 is very nice ā€“ this is a point where it can really compete with netbooks, which are often limited to a 1024 x 600 resolution. There are of course other aspects as well, but this resolution is great for surfing the web and the like. If you want an even higher resolution, an ultramobile laptop probably isnā€™t what you want.





Itā€™s got the almost mandatory microphone and webcam for those video conferences. Not much of a surprise, but theyā€™re always nice to have.




Sound and speakers

The audio aspect is as expected; quite acceptable but not something youā€™ll ever rely on. In my opinion some external speakers or a couple of good headphones are a great way of getting the best out of music and movies. However, the speakers are fine for Skype if you donā€™t have a headset handy. Considering that it is a business laptop after all, itā€™s no surprise the sound is a bit weak.

Noise, heat and power consumption

Weā€™re dealing with a very power efficient product here. With its 6-celled battery it can easily ā€“ combined with its powersaving features ā€“ reach a battery life of over 5 hours. Very nice with a computer thatā€™ll last for a longer trip.
The fan in the computer is not exactly silent; I wouldnā€™t go so far as to call it irritating, but you can certainly hear it when the computer is working at high performance.

It performs its job of keeping the computer cool well, though. You can easily sit with it in your lap without it getting too hot.

Benchmark

All benchmarks are run at highest performance settings on the laptop. Otherwise no settings have been tinkered with.

Windows Vista Experience Index:



The index is alright but hardly impressive. Itā€™s not bad either, though.

We tested a notebook from Toshiba earlier ā€“ itā€™s in the same sort of price range and also aimed at business users. The display is slightly bigger at 14 inches, but all in all theyā€™re quite similar so letā€™s see how they measure up.

The Toshiba Tecra M10-10H model had the following specifications:

Processor:
Core 2 Duo P8400. 2.26GHz

Chipset:
Intel GM45

RAM:
2048GB DDR2 800MHz

Hard drive:
160GB

Display:
14" WXGA+ TFT 1,440 x 900

GPU:
Mobile IntelĀ® GMA 4500MHD

Battery:
lithium-ion

Inputs/outputs:
3x USB
1x Ethernet
1x 56K modem
1x ExpressCard
1x VGA
1x Firewire
1x eSATA

Wireless connectivity:
Bluetooth 2.0
Wireless LAN (802.11a/g/Draft-N)

Dimensions:
W x D x H : 336.8 x 245.0 x 36.4 (front)/38.4 (rear) mm
Weight : starts at 2.44 kg

Operating system:
Windows Vista Business Edition

Price:
Around Ā£700 incl. VAT.

Boot times and out of standby:





Boot and out of standby times are measured from when the power button is pressed and the Windows desktop appears.

The Acer starts up just a little quicker ā€“ it may be because of the faster RAM and such, or perhaps it doesnā€™t need to load as many programs at startup. If you canā€™t stand waiting the extra 20 seconds the Toshiba needs, the Acer is the better choice. It means little to me, personally.

Battery life:



Idles times are measured at the lowest power profile on the tested models while Classic times are tested at the highest performance profile. Both are tested with BatteryEater 2005 to find the maximum battery life at the given settings.

There is no doubt the Acer offers a longer battery life; since we are dealing with ultraportable computers aimed at business users on the go, this is a fairly important aspect. I definitely think itā€™s worth it to sacrifice other aspects ā€“ like performance ā€“ for a longer battery life.

The processor:

SuperPi:



Super Pi calculates the number Pi with 1 million decimals. The result is a time in seconds, meaning that the lower the number, the better. This can be used for direct comparison with other laptops that have run the same test.

Here you can see the faster processor in the Toshiba win the battle of number crunching. Itā€™s obviously something to keep in mind when youā€™re getting a new computer, but it also illustrates that the two manufacturers have made different choices as to where to save money and where to spend it.

SiSoft Sandra CPU Arithmetic:





SiSoft Sandraā€™s Whetstone and Drystone benchmark tests the processorā€™s ability to do pure number crunching, which occurs during gaming or different forms of picture editing. The measure is in Mflops (Millions Floating Point Operations Per Second) ā€“ the higher, the better.

Much the same here as above; no doubt the processor in the Toshiba is faster not only in theory but also in practice.

SiSoft Sandra CPU Multimedia:





The multimedia test in SiSoft Sandra is calculated on a 2D figure. The output (it/s) is Mandelbrot iterations per second, i.e. the bigger the better.

In our review of the Toshiba we were unable to get a result in this category due to problems with the new version of SiSoft, which is why theyā€™re simply shown as zero. I still put up the results of the Acer so you can compare them with other reviews on the site for example.

RAM - SiSoft Sandra Memory Bandwidth:





Sisoft Sandraā€™s Memory Bandwidth benchmark is used to measure the speed of the RAM ā€“ the higher the value, the better.

The result here actually surprises me a bit as there is DDR3 RAM in the Acer (and more of it) and DDR2 RAM in the Toshiba. It may have something to do with the frequency, but in any case you can clearly see the RAM performance is greater on Toshibaā€™s laptop.

Hard drive performance - SiSoft Sandra Hard Drive Read:



Sisoft Sandraā€™s hard drive test module is used to measure the performance of the hard drive. Sisoft Sandra runs a number of tests on the surface of the hard drive and calculates the average reading speed.
The hard drive in the Acer reads just a little bit faster, but the difference is minimal at best and probably not noticeable outside of benchmarks.

GPU performance - 3Dmark:





The 3Dmark tests show the performance in DirectX 9, and paint a picture of the performance in newer games and applications. 3DMark 2005 and 2006 are based on DirectX 9 and show the performance under contemporary games and 3D applications. No tests have been run in DirectX 10.1 (which both cards support).

Graphics is not really the strong suit of either laptop, though both perform well enough. Once again the Toshiba scores higher than the Acer, and while it does have a better GPU on paper, itā€™s probably not something youā€™ll notice in practice since the difference is so small.

Overall performance:



The PCMark 05 results can be compared directly with other laptops that have run the same PCMark version. The program produces a score from a test that includes the performance of the processor, RAM, hard drive, GPU, etc.
Here we see the final result confirming the overall tendency throughout these tests. The Toshiba scores a bit higher on the overall test, which was pretty much what the individual tests suggested. As such, you get slightly better system with improved graphics compared to the Acer at almost the same price.

Conclusion
Acer delivers a solid product when it comes to the more physical aspects. The overall feel is great and it appears to be made of more than just cheap materials so you donā€™t feel ripped off. This is pretty important when you cross that Ā£500-600 threshold.

The display is beautiful, razor sharp and has a wide angle of view. Itā€™s easy to manipulate the brightness so you can always work under optimal conditions. Furthermore, itā€™s suitably large and can view websites in a decent resolution, making it rather good to surf on for a 13 incher.

The computerā€™s performance could be better, but then again it will likely primarily be used as a work computer and should have no trouble with the Office package and similar programs. Only if you need graphical performance will you have to opt for a different computer. You can easily work, watch movies and listen to music on this one, at a pretty good speed at that.

One of the really positive aspects is the battery. It lasts impressively long compared to the computerā€™s actual purpose. This is highly advantageous in my book ā€“ if you travel by train or plane, youā€™ll want as much battery life is possible.

The price is decent, if a bit expense for a 13 incher ā€“ you do get more bang for your buck on the marginally cheaper Toshiba. On the other hand I find that a longer battery life is worth more than the slightly greater performance you get with the Toshiba. Some value battery life, some donā€™t ā€“ and if you donā€™t, go right ahead and go for the better performing one. Just remember the Toshiba weighs almost 1kg more, which is something you should take into consideration as well.

All in all I think itā€™s a fine product with a great ā€feelā€, sporting a nice battery life and some pretty fair hardware, making it a decent buy as a travel and work computer.Ā Ā Ā Ā  Ā 

Pros:
- Battery
- Display
- Materials
- Weight

Cons:
- Performance (only slightly!)
- Noise

Battery: 4,5 / 5Graphics: 3 / 5Construction: 4,5 / 5Mobility: 4,5 / 5Software: 3 / 5Overall: 4 / 5