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!