Acer TravelMate 4001WLMi

[eXoR]

Pictures of this laptop are available aswell.
Click here for the pictures.

Introduction:

I bought my laptop nearly one month ago, and my reason for picking this laptop is that it would give me the best "bang for the buck".
Since I like playing games now and then (online FPS games mostly), the laptop had to be capable of running games like Unreal Tournament 2004, Call of Duty, Need for Speed: Underground II and such.

According to the (few) reviews I read about this laptop, and based on my own knowledge I decided to buy this laptop.
And I sure wouldn't be disappointed by it.

Let's first list the specifications of this laptop here:

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Processor: Mobile Intel® Centrino™ 1.5Ghz (Dothan) 2Mb L2 cache. Chipset: Intel i855GM/GME rev. A2 / 400Mhz FSB
Connectivity: Integrated Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 BG network connection
Memory:2x 256Mb DDR3333
Hard-disk: 60Gb ATA/100 hard disc drive
Storage: LiteOn SOSW258S CD-RW/DVD+/-R
Monitor: 15.4" WXGA TFT LCD with 1280 × 800 pixel resolution; 16:10 viewing ratio
Peripherals: S-video (NTSC/PAL) TV-out
Graphics: ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON™ 9700 64Mb
Multimedia: Audio system with two built-in speakers.
Communication: 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet; Wake-on-LAN ready. 56K ITU V.92 modem with PTT approval; Wake-on-Ring ready. Integrated Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200BG network connection 802.11b/g dual band Wi-Fi
I/O Interfaces: 3x USB 2.0, 1x Infrared (FIR),1x VGA for external monitor, 1x 32bit type II PCMCIA CardBus slot, 1x S-video out (NTSC/PAL), 1x IEEE 1394 port, 1x RJ-11 jack, 1x RJ-45 jack, 1x speaker/ headphone/ line-out jack, 1x microphone/ line-in jack, 1x DC-in jack for AC adapter
Security: Slot for Kensington lock, BIOS user and supervisor passwords
Battery:
Keyboard & Special Controls: 88-/89-key keyboard; Acer FineTouch™ keyboard with a 5-degree curve; inverted "T" cursor layout; 2.5 mm (minimum) key travel. Touchpad with buttons and 4-way integrated scroll keys. 12 function keys; four cursor keys; two Windows® keys; hotkey controls; embedded numeric keypad; international language support. Four easy-launch buttons: Internet browser, email with LED, Acer Empowering Key, and one user-programmable button
Weight and dimensions: 364 (W) x 279 (D) x 33.9/38.9 (H) mm (14.3 x 11.0 x 1.3/1.5 inches), 2.91 kg* (6.42 lbs.) for 15.0” LCD model; 2.95 kg* (6.48 lbs.) for 15.4" WXGA LCD model (*actual weight may differ, depending on configuration)

Unpacking:

When I unpacked this laptop, I was pleasently surprised.
Everything was wrapped well in plastic, and everything that needed to be there was there.
The laptop was also wrapped up well in foam, so no harm can be done to it while transporting it from the shop to your computer basement.

Installing the laptop:

Now, I must say I'm a quite noob when it comes to 'recovery partitions' and 'pre-installed' Windows installations, since I always built my own PC and installed my own Windows version on it.
But Acer fixed the installation in quite a neat way, with a one-time bootlauncher and an (edited) version of Norton Ghost.

When everything has been installed, you're ready to go. Comments regaring the OS of choice set aside: it does what it has to do.
No drivers have to be installed anymore, everything is recognized as it should be, and the most standard things such as Acrobat Reader 6 are included in the installation.

Performance:


The laptop performs quite well. I had a XP2200+@2200Mhz / 512Mb DDR400 / Geforce FX5200 128Mb before this laptop, and I must say that I'm impressed by its performance.
The only thing I noticed quickly is that the harddisk can't really catch up with harddisk-intensive games.
Since I had a 7200RPM 8Mb cache harddisk before, I noticed the switch to a 4200RPM harddisk quite fast.
This, however, is only a minor inconvenience for myself.

I've ran a series of tests with the laptop, and here are the results:
3dmark 2001SE: 10712 points
3dmark 2003: 2776 points ( compare url )
HDTach: Average read speed: 24 KB/s - 1 MB/s - Accesstime: 18 ms
SiSoft Sandra:
- CPU MultiMedia benchmark: Integer: 14212 it/s Float: 15779 it/s
- Memory bandwidth benchmark: Integer: 2309 MB/s Float: 2311 MB/

I will do a battery benchmark with Mobilemark soon maybe, I don't know for sure yet.
In any case, the battery performs well, and I can easily work five hours on the battery (office work).

Pro's:
- Good value for money
- Ensured of a good laptop for gaming due to the onboard ATi Radeon Mobility 9700 chip.
- Although some laptops have better specifications in theory, the Acer still out-performs them in benchmarks.
- 3x USB 2.0

Con's:
- Caps Lock / Num Lock led hardly readable
- Bluetooth button built in the chassis, but not available on the mainboard. A factory option, they say. Too bad I didn't get the choice.
- Lack of serial port(s)

Conclusion:

As you can see I only have a few con's, and the few that are there are petty little things.
This laptop sells for €1400 in The Netherlands, and I think it's a pretty good deal for what you get.
Besides, the styling of the Travelmate series is excellent, in my opinion.

I'd recommend it!

[oGu]

Nice buy. I am also happy with my TM 4002WLMI wich is exactly like yours but I have the 1.6 dothan instaled. HOw does your lappy handle the heat. Mine if I use it in stnadard office never gets hot but if I game with it you can feel the heat in the top right corner of the keyboard.
Usefull link if you want to make DVD burner write dual layer:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=108852

[eXoR]

Originally Posted by oGu

Nice buy. I am also happy with my TM 4002WLMI wich is exactly like yours but I have the 1.6 dothan instaled. HOw does your lappy handle the heat. Mine if I use it in stnadard office never gets hot but if I game with it you can feel the heat in the top right corner of the keyboard.
Usefull link if you want to make DVD burner write dual layer:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=108852

I've written a mini-howto regarding the Dual Layer question already, but thanks for the link.

The laptop does get quite warm during gaming, but in my case it's a bit right of the touchpad.

[triadone]

u guys got your model #s right? could be just an isssue of what part of the world u bought it in... here in the US the 4001, 4002, models are the low end intel integrated graphics versions. the 4501-2 are the Radeon versions. could we get some clarification so ppl aren't going to newegg etc. and mistakenly buying the $300-400 cheaper one thinking they're getting a sweet deal? thx

[eXoR]

Originally Posted by triadone

u guys got your model #s right? could be just an isssue of what part of the world u bought it in... here in the US the 4001, 4002, models are the low end intel integrated graphics versions. the 4501-2 are the Radeon versions. could we get some clarification so ppl aren't going to newegg etc. and mistakenly buying the $300-400 cheaper one thinking they're getting a sweet deal? thx

For clarification: I've got the Acer TravelMate 4001WLMi, with an ATi Radeon Mobility 9700 64mb. Bought in The Netherlands.

(All this information was already in my startpost, but well )

[oGu]

Originally Posted by triadone

u guys got your model #s right? could be just an isssue of what part of the world u bought it in... here in the US the 4001, 4002, models are the low end intel integrated graphics versions. the 4501-2 are the Radeon versions. could we get some clarification so ppl aren't going to newegg etc. and mistakenly buying the $300-400 cheaper one thinking they're getting a sweet deal? thx

Also for clarification I bought my notebook with ati MR9700 from Romania. ALL EUROPEAN versions have ati instaled. Only US versions have integrated intel graphics

[geejo]

eXoR
I just checked your 3d mark link u posted

there it is stated "
Display Information
Graphics Chipset ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600
Driver Name ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9700
Driver Version 6.14.10.6451
"

You mentioned the graphics chipset as ATI 9700...but there it 9600....

Could u please clear this confusion

[maia]

I have a 4001WLMi too (1.5 Dothan, MR9700 64MB).
The MR9700 is basically a MR9600 but with higher core frequency and is, most of the time, recognised as a MR9600. The sticker shows a MR9700 and it is, in fact, a MR9700.
As for the European/US versions, at least in Europe, there are indeed the laptops with Intel Integrated Graphics. Those are the 4001LMi and 4002LMi (they're about 200$/€ cheaper). We're talking about the 4001/4002WLMi (notice the "W"). This "W" makes the distinction between the Integrated vs MR9700 chips.
Hope I cleared things out

[geejo]

Originally Posted by maia

As for the European/US versions, at least in Europe, there are indeed the laptops with Intel Integrated Graphics. Those are the 4001LMi and 4002LMi (they're about 200$/€ cheaper). We're talking about the 4001/4002WLMi (notice the "W"). This "W" makes the distinction between the Integrated vs MR9700 chips.
Hope I cleared things out

We had thread running about the this earlier about acer model suffix
from wat i know

Wlmi and wlci

W- Wide Screen
C- Combo drive
M- Multi drive

yet be not sure what each letter stand for

Most european version comes with ATI and Asian and Us model comes with integrated graphics

And about the dvd drive ....i thing it is LG....that modeling (HL-DT-ST) which is infact Hitachi's drive chipset or mechanisum

and yes even lg desktop dvd burner comes with DVD ram support and with same model numbering...so it must be an LG ..and the good news is you can write DVD RAM and the bad news is you wont find the availablity of DVD ram media

[DJ OXYGeN]

Originally Posted by maia

As for the European/US versions, at least in Europe, there are indeed the laptops with Intel Integrated Graphics. Those are the 4001LMi and 4002LMi (they're about 200$/€ cheaper). We're talking about the 4001/4002WLMi (notice the "W"). This "W" makes the distinction between the Integrated vs MR9700 chips.
Hope I cleared things out

No you didn't...
The "W" stands for Widescreen.
Now I'll try to tell the differences... but sorry for my bad enlish

4002LMi = 15" XGA with Intel Graphics
4002WLMi = 15.4" WXGA with Intel Graphics

4002LMi-M11 = 15" XGA with MR9700
4002WLMi-M11 = 15.4" WXGA with MR9700

But some shops just don't write the "M11" for the ATI-Chip so you have to look at the specs of the model.

greetz DJ OXYGeN

ps: I'm located in Germany and have ordered a TM 4002LMi-M11 two days ago for €900... and I can't wait no more...!!!

[eloraby]

Hi, I just bought a new 4001NLCi notebook a couple o'days ago.
I should say, that overall, I'm quite impressed with it, but I have had a couple of issues with it that I want to share with you.

1) The sticker on the front says it is a 1.5 Centrino / 2MB cache. But in the bios it says 1.6 Centrino / 2MB. Also SiSoft Sandra 2005, Windows XP SP2, Intel Processor ID, and Centrino diagnostics all say it is a 1.6 processor. Even Acer's own software, identifies it as an 1.6 Dothan. Could this be true?
Could this be an overclocked CPU?
The salesman openned the boxes' seal in front of me. It has not been tested before.

2) The bios says that the maximum shared VGA ram is 32 MB RAM, but acer's software says it is 64 MB. Other diagnostics software show 512 Total Ram, 32 MB Shared and 480 Available.
NB. I had a ram update from 256 to 512.

3) On the first day of using this notebook, the touchpad just kept getting hotter and hotter . It was like touching a frying pan. My finger tips were burning. Also the laptop's bottom was very hot. But the Cpu's temp never rose above 55 C, and the HDD's temp was approx 46 C. The cooling fan only kicked in once or twice, for a few seconds.
On the next day, all was OK, even the processor's temp rose to 62, and the touchpad was cool.
My assumption is, on the first day i had the notebook placed on a cushion in bed, and on the second day it was on a table. Was the cushion getting in the way of the notebook's ventilation?
Is this normal?

[maia]

BTW, my DVD seems to be the "HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4080N" according to the device manager. Does anyone know what brand it is? I think it is an LG (due to the layout of the "numberation"). But what confuses me is that inside the DVD bezel it says: "LITE-ON DUAL BZL"... Can anyone help me here? Can this DVD right all current formats (Dual (+-), Dual Layer, etc...)?

[oGu]

From what I read on the internet there are 3 manufacturers that provide acer travel mate 4000 series with DVD burners.
Pioneer
LG
Lite-on

[geejo]

Originally Posted by oGu

From what I read on the internet there are 3 manufacturers that provide acer travel mate 4000 series with DVD burners.
Pioneer
LG
Lite-on

I can tell u this for sure ...since your drive is listed as HL-DT-ST it is defenitly an LG drive

But still i cant figure out Model prefix ...as to which one comes with ATI or Intel integrated

[sandeep21]

hai,

i was wondering if any of u guys can inform me how to installl my dvdrw drive into my laptop, its an acre travelmate4002wlmi model. i just a new one and need to remove the old one and swap with a new one, can anyone pls help me out in this issue, pls give me clear instructions to do this, i would be thankful for the help prpovided.

cheers
sandeep