TravelMate 8204 Reviewed - Page 3

I hear you loud and clear. Good point. You're totally right. I have read numerous posts from people comparing apples to oranges. Doesn't seem fair

What I want to know is how the 8204 running Windows Vista will stack up to the new Treo 700W from versizon running the new Windows Mobile 5.0. Both have color screens and I think it would be a good comparison. They both have 1.3 mega pixel cameras and Bluetooth, but so far I'm leaning towards the Treo since it's a lot lighter and easier to make a phone call. I still haven't figured out the Bluetooth VOIP PCMCIA card that came with the 8204

I disabled the ez launch buttons so I don't know for sure. I had that feature on my Aspire 2020 and it had to be set up and I don't care to re-enable those right now and go through the process (sorry I've been doing all sorts of things/tests for people and I'm kind of spent on that). But it is the only semi clear button of the bunch, so I presume yes, but I'm not 100% sure. If I get the chance later maybe I will try it. I just have no interest in using it. Maybe someone esle who hasn't gone to the trouble of disabling them can chime in.

EDIT: I take that back. The email button is not the clear one. It had an "e" on it so I took that as the email button, after deciding to use my brain for this task I was able to detect the button directly next to it with an envelope on it. That's the email button and it is not transparent. So I would venture a guess that it does not light up. Then again, who knows. We (8204 owners) should probably still give it a try and get back to you.

Just got done playing BF2 for a solid hour. The temp peaked at 61c (mostly hung around 59c and went right back to 56c with in a few seconds of stopping game play. Worth noting is I have a fan on me so there is good air circulation, but I'd say that's still pretty sweat temps.

I see. Well then let's hope this one will light too. I have the luxury of being able to leave Outlook running, but I also have mine automatically check every 2 minutes as my whole job revolves around eCommerce. I can see how important this is for you so I will test it as soon as I can. I have a bunch of reporting to take care of right now but hopefully before this evening hits I will have had the opportunity to try it out for you. Hang tight...

Well it sure does. Glad I tested it for you so I could give you a definitive answer. What I thought was the print of the envelope is actually transparent and only looks dark because there's no light inside the laptop (obviously). But sure enough, I set it up to check my email and once it detects new email it blinks.

Hope that helps you.

Glad I could help.

Nope none of those problems at all. Except the USB drain. I suppose I have that problem except for I don't have a problem with that That is to say that I am just peachy with the battery life as is. All Core Duo laptops will have that problem until Micro$oft fixes the ACPI driver.

Other than that, I have a big fat ZERO with problems. I even got the screen to look great. I suppose I could have a problem with the NIC card and don't know it. I use wireless most of the time. But the few times I have used it I haven't experience any problems. I did have to tweak it's power settings to get it to stop turning of and then displaying the typical "Cable Unplugged Bubble" but it kept doing that only because the power settings with the ePower manager are set to turn it off by default to save battery power. I suppose that could be some of the other 8204 owners problem. I do have the slower RAM but I'm going to put a hurt on them tomorrow about that. I am curious to see how much better the 3DMark05 scores will be with the faster RAM, especially after reading how much faster the video performance can be with the faster RAM on Tom's Hardware.

Keep in mind that out of all the thousands and thousands of these going out, there has to be a relatively small amount with serious problems. I'll take driver problems all day long over shoddy build quality or a lousy mouse or keyboard with horrible flex. I absolutely would have sent this back if I was having problems at all including any buzzing or sounds when rinnung 3D, but I don't. Got it from TigerDirect.com, let me know if I can be of any other assistance and I will do the best I can to help.

Here ya go. I used a quarter like you suggested since how much more common can you get. I also figured it doesn't get any better than a ruler so there's a couple of those too. I realized to late on the last pic that I had the ruler rocked a little. I'm saying it now so it won't be like a big conspiracy Safice it to say though, the back is barely 1/16 over 1 1/2 inches and that's from the desk surface so that includes the rubber feet. I feel that's a more accurate representation of it's true hight. I'm fine with the hight. It seems like a pretty slim notebook over all to me. Definitely slimmer than most of the notebooks I've owned. Very easy to carry. It's also well balanced. I've owned some pretty lopp sided notebooks (wieght wise). Let me know if you have any other questions. Hope this helps.

No problem guys. Gald I can help. That's what this forum is about. I'm crazy when it comes to selecting a laptop, I research and obsess and then wait and then research and so on.....I am always glad when others share their opinion on new product for better or for worse.

As long as it can help someone make a decision "to buy or not to buy", then my efforts have paid off. Indecision is a horrible place to be. I like to be able to feel good about the decision to purchase, or confident in moving on to something else. Thanks for the thanks. After all the time and effort, it's great that people appreciate it.

Thank you. Gald you liked it.

I don't recal "Exactly" because I disabled the quick launch again after testing it out for Ualdayan. But if you look on your task bar icons you will see a little keyboard key with a finger/hand on it. Right click on that and I believe you click on "eMail Detection" or some such choice. Then just pump in your email settings and how often you want it to check and your done. Then I just sent myself an email from another acount and sure enough it started blinking. Magic

Good luck.

Sorry, I got your request while I was on the road and couldn't respond quickly. Glad you got it to work. I was sending you mental messages, man that suff really works