page-3 | Acer TravelMate Timeline 8371T. A well designed companion | Laptops

Acer TravelMate Timeline 8371T. A well designed companion - Physical aspects

Sunday, 26 July 2009 18:24 Allan

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Article Index
Acer TravelMate Timeline 8371T. A well designed companion
Specifications
Physical aspects
Physical aspects continued
Benchmark
Benchmark continued
Conclusion
All Pages

Page 3 of 7

Physical aspects

First impression

The size and weight are really good; it’s nice to pick up if you’re of the “a laptop should be mobile” persuasion. It’s primarily black as business laptops tend to be. Luckily it doesn’t come across as cheap, which it really shouldn’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 it’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? That’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 – not the biggest I’ve seen – 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. It’s not too cluttered and minor details like the lowered area around the keyboard so it’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 they’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 – very nice because otherwise you get that lousy “they reduced the display to save money” feeling.

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

The front:

There isn’t much of interest at the front. There’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 it’s a 6-celled kind.

The bottom:

The bottom is where you insert/remove the battery; it’s real easy but something you really only do once. There are also some vents so the computer doesn’t overheat.