Anything comparable to the 3201XCi?

Acer Travelmate 3201XCi:
Part#: LX.T4806.040
CPU: Pentium M Processor 715 1.50GHz
Display: 14.1" XGA TFT
OS: WinXP Professional
Memory: 512MB
Graphics: ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9700(64MB)
HD: 60GB
Optical Drive: DVD/CD-RW
Communication: 802.11b/g WLAN, Gigabit LAN, V.92 modem
Ports: 2 x USB2.0, VGA, IEEE 1394, FIR, Audio Ports, PC Card slot, 3-in-1 card reader
Average Battery Life: 4 hours
Dimensions: 13.0" x 10.0" x 1.0" - 1.2"
Weight: 4.8 lb.
Manufacturer Warranty: 1 year


This is the main laptop I'm looking at right now - I want something light and thin that I can play games on, that is not too big. I really don't want 15" widescreen, a 15" REGULAR screen would be fine though.

My only gripes with this notebook are: screen resolution is a bit low, and the 64mb GPU is a bit low. But I know you can't always get EVERYTHING you want in a laptop, especially considering how light this one is.

So, are there any other laptops with similar specs I should be looking at? My budget is somewhere around $1700. But I want to stay under 5 or 6 lbs, and not much bigger dimensions than this model.

Thanks in advance,

 

It is as good as it gets. Excellent design, specs and price.
Though HP has nc6000. But afaik it has severely underclocked GPU and it's way more expensive.

BTW, widescreens usually provide better viewing angles and overall viewing quality. You should not be that negative towards them. If you ever going to watch a movie with couple of friends - might not work for you with regular 4x3.

I'd suggest checking this particular notebook in the store and comparing its screen to others.

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Blueman
So, are there any other laptops with similar specs I should be looking at? My budget is somewhere around $1700. But I want to stay under 5 or 6 lbs, and not much bigger dimensions than this model.

Thanks in advance,
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

 

Personally, I don't think there's any better unit with these specs and at this price point. The NC6000, even though it's an excellent system, can't compete in bang for the buck. The only thing lacking with the 3201XCi is its CPU. Too bad they didn't have more offerings for higher processor speeds.

-Vb-

 

Ya, the CPU is the lowest point.

However, since I'm not going to be doing too much CPU intensive stuff....

I have just ordered my own 3201XCi!! It should be here in a few days, so after my initial setup and all that I will surely post my thoughts.

Can't wait!

 

Hey Blueman,

Congratulations on the purchase! I know there's a lot of people here eager to hear what you have to say about the 3201XCi, myself included.

-Vb-

 

Where did you buy yours, blueman? I am looking to buy one of the 3201's too...can't wait to hear your thoughts.

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Blueman

 

I ordered it from Newegg for $1449.

 

I received it!!

So my first impressions:

First the bad, since that's what I tend to notice first:
*the HDD is not 5400rpm as people have been saying. Since I called Acer and was told EXPLICITY that it was, I'm going to call them and see what they have to say about that.
*The mouse buttons are a tad hard to push down, and they make a bit too much 'click' noise for my taste.
*The system comes pre configured with 2 equally sized FAT32 partitions. I don't know WHY they didnt set them as NTFS drives, but this is pretty easily changeable, so its not a big deal. Changing the partitions wasn't hard either with Partition Magic.
*The bios stays in it's "acer" load screen for a seemingly long amount of time (30 seconds-ish), and it's getting longer. This may be a problem with my system....hmm....
*The overheating fan can be a bit loud for quiet environments like a small seminar classroom. But this is inherent in all laptops I've seen, so this isn't really specific to this computer.

Ok, now the good!:
*IT IS BEAUTIFUL! The folio design is just gorgeous, with perfect curves, and a stunning gun-metal grey finish. Try an aesthetic masterpiece.
*It is just as thin as it looks.
*the screen is gorgeous! Bright and crisp, no ghosting when I watched a DVD on it. I haven't tried fast games yet. I was afraid 1024x768 would be too small for my taste (I have 1600x1200 on my 20" LCD for my desktop), but it is really perfet for this size screen.
*Keyboard is lovely! Full size and nice and quiet. Keys have good spring to them, and they feel solid and not cheap plastic.
*Speakers are surprisingly loud and clear. Still laptop speakers, but I was expecting a tinny mess, and they're pretty decent.
*touchpad is a good size, and the scroll button is also nice. The scroll does exist on the touchpad, but it's finicky, and I'm not sure how to use it yet.

So those are the first impressions. I'll report back when I try some games, and when I have more of a chance to try the battery life.

 

more stuff:

When the power cable is not plugged in the system has a utility "e power manager" that allows you to adjust the brightness of the screen, the speed of the CPU, whether wireless is on, etc. For taking notes in class I shut everything to its lowest setting and the system still ran perfectly normal for wordprocessing. At this level I suspect the computer has about 4 hours of battery life, maybe a TAD under. With brightness up and wireless on and CPU up, the battery life goes downhill pretty quickly. I'll have to do more tests to see.

 

Hey Blueman,

Sorry to hear about the HDD speed. Zmax who also bought one of these units found this out as well. He too was told be Acer support/sales that the HDD was a 5400rpm. I hope they make good on their claims saying that it's 5400rpm and do a swap for you.

Otherwise, congratulations on your new notebook! [ ] Oh, what do you think of the latchless design for this unit? How does it stay closed? Someone mentioned that it uses magnets to keep it shut.

-Vb-

 

Cool beans. Any chance of a set of pics? I would love to see some non-manufacturer-supplied-promo images.

--------------

Visit the Sony S,T, & X-Series Forums at http://sony.thumbrocket.com

News, info, and the latest deals on the S,T,& X-Series

 

I'm also interested in the Acer Travelmate 3200.
You mentioned the overheating fan being a bit too loud for quiet environments...
Is the fan running all the time? Or is ist just when the CPU load is high?
If you work in CPU intensive programs such as Photoshop (with big pictures) or if you load big programs (such as Adobe Reader), does the fan often kick in?

I'm asking this, because my former laptop (a hp nx7010, which I sent back), was really quiet when only lightly used, but as soon as you opened bigger programs or did something in Photoshop (say, changing the Curve, Level, applying a filter, saving a file) the fan kicked in with high speed, then seconds later switched itself off again. So, basically, when working, the fan kicked in every 20 seconds for a couple of seconds. I found that very annoying. Its much better if the fan runs at low level for a while then at hight speed for just a few seconds...

And something else: I know, it may sound ridiculous, whats the fan noise like? I'm not asking for the fan noise level, I mean the noise itself.. is it low or high pitched? Are there different RPM levels?

Last but not least: Whats the built quality like? Is it robust? Is there any groaning?

Thanks a lot

 

only the 3201xmi or the 3202xmi

 

Blueman- Thx for the review, its hard to find reviews on the 3201xci but after seeing ur post, i finally jumped the gun too![ ] it will be arriving from newegg next monday with the newegg beach towel!![8D]

 

Blueman,

Thanks for all the questions you've answered so far. Great work!

I did have one other question, what's the battery life like with only a 6 cell battery? It's rated at 4hrs on Acer's site, do you get that?

Thanks again!

-Vb-

 

The fan does not turn on and off like you said - but if you have it on high settings and are doing something processor intensive it tends to just stay on. I prefer this, as it's easier to tune out.

The fan noise is a woosh of air combined with a slightly high pitched hum. Unfortunately since laptop fans have to be so small they're usually all pretty high pitched. There does seem to be different RPM levels, and the pitch increases with them. But to be honest, I'm only running this at its highest specs in my room with my desktop and a fan going, so I can't hear it too well.

The build quality is excellent. I would put it just under the IBM Thinkpad. It doesn't have a metal case, so there is the tiniest bit of give on the back of the screen.

As far as latchless design: It's wonderful. The thing definitly stays closed - I guess it may be a magnet - something seems to 'click' when I close it. But it's also just tight hinges that keep it closed. It's easy as cake to open with one hand, and I think we all know how beautiful the folio design is.

I'd like to just re-emphasize my happiness with the screen - beautiful!

Any other questions?

 

Thanks for answering my questions. However, I still have some questions.

This high-pitched noise you've mentioned, is it a very high-pitched squeaking, which you can still here, when you move a couple of metres away from the laptop? The fan of the hp nx7010 I possessed made this kind of noise which was very annoying, because it was too high to fade out, you simply couldn't ignore it.

When you (re)boot windows, does the fan come on? This is a good test to find out how quickly the fan kicks in...

 

The battery life they advertised is sort of manipulating. It gets ALMOST 4 hours if you have everything on it's lowest setting within the Acer power management utility they provide (i.e. the cpu at lowest speed, screen lowest brightness, etc.) I find this works great for taking notes in classes - but, and I'll actually try this out today, I imagine playing games would drain the battery life pretty instantaniously.

wdso - the fan noise DOES fade if you get 2 or 3 feet away. as laptop fans go this one is really not very offensive by my ears.

The fan does come on right when you start the computer, but it then shuts off after the "acer" POST screen goes away. So no, it does not come on when booting into windows, just when you first start up (or come out from hibernation/stand by).

 

Hey Blueman it's good to see your reviews of the 3201XCi, I've been looking into getting one myself. Of course it probably won't be until at least another year or two, and by then they may even have something better.

Though I got a question that I can't seem to get answered, it's about the CPU speed on the 3201XCi. I know the Pentium-Ms are becoming more popular with the notebooks, and I've read from PCWorld they tend to out perform the Mobile Pentium 4s. My current notebook is a Dell Smartstep 200n, so it's got a Mobile Pentium 4 2ghz under the hood. So my question is, do you (or anyone else reading this) know if a Pentium M 1.5ghz can measure up to performance of a Mobile Pentium 4 2ghz at least? Not sure if you can answer this but I thought I'd ask anyway. Overall I love how the 3201XCi looks, and I'm looking for a fairly light machine for usual useage yet can run a decent amount of games out there (Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries, War Of The Ring, or maybe even Splinter Cell at the highest rate?). I'm not looking into a gaming laptop, just something that can hold it's own a little, doesn't need to run the most intense games out to date.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks

 

Striker,

The Pentium M 715 1.5Ghz Dothan CPU will outperform a Mobile P4 2.0Ghz without even trying. This CPU is probably closer to a P4 2.6Ghz or higher DTR model (desktop).

Here's a link that compares the Pentium M (Banias & Dothan) CPU's vs a Pentium 4 (DTR). As you will see, the CPU's can hold their own vs a much higher clocked P4.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2129&p=1

-Vb-

 

You've been great help man But now I'm ultra confused....I see slight changes in the specs for this Acer Travelmate 3201XCi. Like Newegg.com says it's got a Pentium M 705, while Blueman says his is a 715. I checked also on Neobits, and they say its 715 too...which am I to believe now? I really hope I can get it with the 715 cause I heard the 705 from the article you gave me, eats up power and has a lower performance rating than the 715.

 

I just bought a new 3201xci from newegg last week, it's pentium M 715, which is dothan core with 2mb cache. I will write a review on it when i play wiht it a bit more, but so far its been great.

 

Alright thanks for the confirmation. Perhaps so, but some other sites I checked all have the 715, some for an even slightly cheeper price too. But thanks though dude Can't wait to get this thing.

 

actually, i just checked out the newegg page, when i bought it, it stated the laptop as 715 core with 2mb cache, and a little bit more expensive as well. 1459, then soon became 1499. now its 1435 and the specs have changed, I suspect they might have ran outta the new 3201xci with dothan and selling the older model of 3201xci with normal centrino core now. you are probably at best calling up newegg to confirm which model ur looking at.