Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi
Product: Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi
Type: Notebook
Configuration:
* Intel Core Duo 2.0GHz T2500 processor (Intel Yonah processor)
* 2GB RAM 533/677
* 15.4″ WXGA screen
* Seagate 120GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
* ATI Radeon X1600 512MB
* DVD-Dual Layer DVD Writer
* Built-in 1.3 Mega pixel camera, with 225-degree swivel ability
* Bluetooth Voice over IP (VoIP) phone
* New Intel Pro wireless 3945 a/b/g
* Gigabit Ethernet
* Ports: 4 USB2, 1 Mini Firewire
* Weight: 6.6lbs
* Battery Life: Approximately 6 hours of (87W 7800mAH )
* Carbon Fiber finish lid
* Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
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If you thought you could escape with just four reviews on the Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi, you were sorely mistaken. PC Advisor comes in with the fifth full review (at least, on this blog) of the desktop replacement notebook, and concludes with a high build quality rating of 9 out of 10, and an equally positive features rating of 8 out of 10.
It adds nothing much to the discussion, so let’s skip ahead to the conclusion, which is that “…the TravelMate is a quality laptop – it’s fast and well built, and the battery life is decent. The graphics are good and attention has been paid to design details and build quality. But it’s not cheap.” Of course, given their last sentence, it shouldn’t be surprising that they awarded a mere 6 out of 10 for the TM8204WLMi’s value for money rating.
However, it should be surprising that they were actually concerned about the TravelMate 8204’s price at all given the performance value you’d get from it. At least, none of the prior reviews had any problem with the 8204’s price. But then, we are talking about UK prices here…
- Though the Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi has somewhat been replaced in spirit by the Ferrari 5000 revealed earlier this month, there’s little doubt that it’s one solid notebook - at least, from the three reviews, and multiple comparisons we’ve seen so far.
Today, we have yet another review on the 8204WLMi, and this time its by PC World Canada. While I feel that its little more than a summary, and some opinion on readily available technical specifications, you might be interested in their conclusion, which is that, “This 15.4-inch laptop (the TM8204WLMi) turned in solid WorldBench 5 performance, but its battery life was so-so.”
Other than that, I suggest reading more detailed reviews, such as this one by TrustedReviews.
- PCWorld reviews the new Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi Dual Core Napa Notebook. High praise returns with, “After running this dual-core Yonah-powered Acer notebook through our benchmarks, there’s no doubt that Intel’s new Napa platform is the fastest mobile specification currently available. What’s more, the price tag of £1,761.33 isn’t at all bad when you take into account its remarkable power capabilities. If you want desktop power on the go, this is the notebook for you. But, as ever, if you wait a little longer you’ll be able to get your hands on a faster model - a 2.33GHz Yonah CPU is expected mid-2006.”
- PC Magazine reviews the new Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi Dual Core Napa Notebook. With a review praising the TravelMate 8204WLMi as much as the previous review by PCWorld, PC Magazine says, “”Stylish,” “full-featured,” and “cutting-edge technology” are just a few of the phrases that come to mind when looking over the Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi. Thanks to a carbon-fiber chassis, an awesome webcam, new ATI graphics, and dual-core processing from Intel—all in a system that weighs less than 7 pounds—it well deserves our Editors’ Choice award.” And their bottom line: “With the advent of dual-core processing, this is the best-looking and best-performing laptop to date.”
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Well, I hope you are ready for more action on the Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi. It is now TrustedReviews’ turn to review the new Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi Dual Core Napa Notebook. TrustedReviews says that, “The TravelMate 8104WLMi was a great notebook that showed off the Intel Sonoma platform to great effect. But the new TravelMate 8204WLMi takes notebook technology to the next level with Intel’s new Napa platform. Although it may not be priced as aggressively as other Acer notebooks, you are getting a whole bundle of cutting edge technology wrapped up in a great looking chassis – the carbon fibre lid really does look awesome.
There’s no doubt that Intel’s dual core Yonah chip is a fabulous piece of kit and anyone who’s serious about using a notebook as their main computer should definitely go down this route. Expect to see masses of new notebooks based on the Napa platform over the coming months, but Acer’s competitors will have to work hard to come up with a better model than this one.”
- If the two TM8200 vs. MacBook Pro comparisons before this were insufficient, you have another from NotebookReview.com. This one is more of a detailed review of the MacBook Pro, and thus, the comparison is primarily between the MacBook Pro and the various “WinBooks”. But there is enough detail and more importantly, we see the reviewer using the more realistic pricing of the TravelMate 8204WLMi, i.e. $2,527.00.
The reviewer concludes that that, “On paper, Acer’s TravelMate 8204WLMi beats Apple’s best on features with a fantastic list of specifications (double the RAM, 20% larger hard disk) and matches the MacBook Pro’s innovations. A good example of the innovation is the inclusion of a VoIP Bluetooth phone that slides into the 8204’s PCMCIA slot. The pricing that I found for the Acer ($2419 CDN at Digital Spyders Inc.) puts it right into the MacBook Pro’s price range (factoring in the cost of some software to balance things out). I am pretty sure that the 8204 will create a lot of buzz when it is available in stores.”
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On this blog alone, we’ve featured four MacBook Pro vs. Acer TravelMate 8200 comparisons. But none of them had the luxury of comparing apples with apples, so to speak. Prior to a week back, Windows XP didn’t run on Macs. But with Boot Camp out, reviewers now truly have “…a baseline for a true head-to-head contest of Apple hardware vs. PC hardware, without operating systems or Rosetta or anything else qualifying the results.”
And it seems CNET is the first of the big-name review sites out with a comparison between a MacBook Pro XP and an Acer TravelMate 8200. They also added in a HP Pavilion dv1000t and an older-spec MacBook Pro running Mac OS X (1.83GHz Intel Core Duo T2400 processor) for additional context.
And their conclusion? Well, they didn’t give one. But the benchmarks should speak for themselves. In almost all tests, the MacBook Pro running Windows XP natively had almost the same scores with its Acer and HP counterparts. All except in heavy duty gaming though (e.g. Doom 3), where the TravelMate 8200 won by a mile.
So, Windows-users, would you buy a MacBook Pro now? Me? I’ll stick to a TravelMate 8200.
It seems Intel’s newly revealed Yonah platform - especially the dual-core processors included in the recently reviewed Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi - have managed to impress PCWorld. They say, “Initial PCW tests confirm Intel’s claim that its dual-core Yonah processors boost performance while reducing battery drain. Our figures relate to whole systems, so do not strictly compare like with like, but they nevertheless indicate a significant improvement.”
On the Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi, they continue, “We got an early look at an Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi using a 2GHz Core Duo 250 Yonah, which scored 231 in our Sysmark performance benchmark, almost exactly a third better than the 174 achieved by the Evesham Voyager 270 that won our February notebook group test. That used an Intel M770 mobile processor clocking slightly faster at 2.13GHz.”
Read more at PCWorld
