page-4 | Acer TravelMate Timeline 8371T. A well designed companion | Laptops

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

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 4 of 7

The right side:

The left side:

Overview:

The only unusual feature here is Acer’s Easy Port Connector, which is basically a port for Acer’s own docking station or “cable management solution”.

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. It’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 don’t make too much noise. They’re raised a bit above the surface, or rather the surface has been lowered. It’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 – besides explaining how the fingerprint reader works, it’s sole function is to be highly irritating. The size of the touchpad is average at best – 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 isn’t too much glare and the colours are quite vivid. Considering its size, the resolution of 1366 x 768 is very nice – 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 isn’t what you want.

It’s got the almost mandatory microphone and webcam for those video conferences. Not much of a surprise, but they’re always nice to have.

Sound and speakers

The audio aspect is as expected; quite acceptable but not something you’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 don’t have a headset handy. Considering that it is a business laptop after all, it’s no surprise the sound is a bit weak.

Noise, heat and power consumption

We’re dealing with a very power efficient product here. With its 6-celled battery it can easily – combined with its powersaving features – reach a battery life of over 5 hours. Very nice with a computer that’ll last for a longer trip.
The fan in the computer is not exactly silent; I wouldn’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.