AS3004WLCi...any good?

Operating Systems Microsoft® Windows® XP Home

Platform Notebook PC

Expansion Ports 1 - Type II PC Card Slot

Processor Brand AMD

Processor Class Sempron™

Processor Speed 1.8Ghz

Memory Type DDR

Memory Size 512MB (256MB x 2)

Memory Speed DDR333 (PC2700)

Memory Slots (Total) 2

Memory Slots (Available) 0

Capacity 60GB

Optical Drive Type CD-RW / DVD-ROM Combo Drive

Graphics Description Integrated Graphics

GPU/VPU SiSM760GX chipset with integrated Mirage™2 graphics

Communications Description Integrated Modem
Integrated LAN
Integrated Wireless LAN

Interface Type Acer InviLink 802.11b/g wireless LAN

Width 14.3"

Height 1.5"

Depth 11.0"

Weight 6.2 lbs

Display Type WXGA TFT LCD with Crystal Bright Technology

Viewable Screen Size 15.4"



is this a good buy for $549? Or is there a better deal elsewhere?

BTW, this is going to be for college, so it's probably going to be sitting in my dorm the whole time.

 

It is a low end laptop and for that price, if you dont mind the poor battery life.(since Acer ships with a 4 cell battery)

It is a decent notebook for basic use - word, surfing etc. Forget any sort of gaming as the SiS graphics is pretty low end but it can play DVD's and other older less intensive games just fine.

Other options in the price range would be the Dell XPS M140, although it has a smaller screen for a hunderd $(~$650) more you can get a better laptop than the 3004...
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 740 (1.73GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
14.1 inch WXGA
512MB Shared DDR2 SDRAM 1 Dimm
Featured Upgrade! 60GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
8xCD/DVD burner(DVD+/-RW)w/dble-layer DVD+R write capability
Intel® PRO 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps)
Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 900
6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (53 WHr)
1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I went online and looked at the prices, but couldn't find anything lower than $1,000! Do you have a link to a site selling it for $650?

On an unrelated note, if I were to replace the DDR RAM on a laptop, do both modules have to be the same storage size?

 

I suppose you are in the US right?? If so then the XPS M140 should be selling at that price on Dells US website...
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=iXM140S1&s=dhs

For your other question, no not necessay to use the same size memory, you can mix and match memory of any sizes as long as they are the same format - as in a DDR SODIMM(commonly used in laptops) can only be replaced/paired with another DDR SODIMM. Its the same with DDR2.

The advantage of havine equal size memory is to enable the dual channel memory feature. This doubles the available memory bandwidth but its usefullness is limited to few programs like Photoshop, some games which can benefit from the extra bandwidth. But by and large most programs will like the extra memory over the increased bandwidth.

 

My 2 cents - I'm not sure about pricing in the U.S., but it's would appear to be close to the prices here in Canada. For about $100 more you should be able to find an Aspire 5000 (the 5002WLMi) and you get nearly the same packege with exception of the 8 cell battery and the AMD Turion 64 CPU. While you may not need the 64 bit extensions, the Turion I've found doesn't mind if you under volt the CPU which in turn yeilds a touch longer battery life and much cooler operation. With mine I usualy get just a hair over 3 hours of batery life useing wireless and pushing the system using programs such as ditributed.net.

The big issue with both the entry level 3000 and 5000 series Acer notebooks is the intergrated graphics adpater is gutless - they are made to be inexpensive portable office work horses. So neither will pay any current games with much athority.

 

miner: thanks, looking at it right now!

nukedathlonman: I am under the impression that any integrated video would be terrible at gaming, but apparently the Intel GMA 900 is better?

 

another question...in order to meet my budget, i would have to get the P4 M 740 processor for the xps m140. My question is, how would this configuration compare with the sempron 3100+ equipped AS3004WLCi?

 

First off, its a Pentium M not a P4, this make a big difference as the Pentium M is a mobile processor and will give much better battery life and performance. Performance wise it is much better than any Sempron and is more comparable to the Turion.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2382&p=3
The above link should give you a rough idea of the Pentium M's performance.

Read the review of the XPS M140 for more detailed information...
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2671&review=XPS+M140+and+Inspiron+630m

The graphics on the Dell is only slightly better than the SiS and both are capable of anything other than 3D graphics(which is used in most games). Also at your budget there arent many laptops which are capable of good gaming experience. Expect to pay a little more if you want good gaming experience(around ~$1000 min)

You could also consider the HP dv5000z which can be configured with 128MB dedicated ATi X200 which has dedicated memory and is probably your cheapest option. It can play the latest 3D games but mostly at lower/medium settings.

 

Just as an FYI
Hmm...one of the rumors is that Dell is probably going to replace the XPS M140 soon and the low price might be due to the fact that they might be clearing out their inventory to make way for the release. They should probably be updating with dual core cpu but this means the cost might go up.
Even then it is a good deal considering the PentiumM is sgnificantly faster than the Sempron.

 

hmm thanks for the heads up. I think i'm gonna go with the m140 after all. The free DVD burner and 7200rpm hdd upgrades were too enticing to forgo. Thanks again!

 

Cool! Good luck!