S$2998
Product Summary
7.7
out of 10View score
The bad: No DVD burner; no S-video out.
The bottom line: The stylish 3201XCi is a thin-and-light that has enough features to make it worth its money. Those looking for cheaper alternatives to Fujitsu and IBM may want a closer look.
Read full review of the Acer TravelMate 3201XCi »
Average User Rating
CNET Asia Review
The TravelMate 3201XCi certainly has the looks. On the inside you get lots of features along with a 64MB dedicated graphics card. Battery life is average but ranks well in performance compared with its 1.5GHz peers. Although it lacks a DVD burner, there's a 3-in-1 card reader and Bluetooth support. Overall, this Acer has the punch and is a notebook worthy of consideration.
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 The sleek TravelMate 3201XCi |
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Sleek is the first word that comes to mind when you behold the TravelMate 3201XCi. The unit measures 331 x 252 x 30mm and has a weight of 2.18kg comparable with the BenQ Joybook 7000 (2.05kg) which also sports a latchless 14-inch screen. If you like supple screens, this model's LCD has the ability to swivel a full 180 degrees. The textured rubber-like grip that made the 4001LMi comfortable to hold is not felt here as an unnecessary caution label is fixed onto the underside which does not allow a firm grip.
Similar to the Acer TravelMate 4000 series, there's a touchpad with a four-direction scroll along with two plasticky buttons on the front which activate Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Both keys produce a reassuring orange and blue light when triggered, respectively. The other lights on the front edge are two LEDs which display battery and standby settings. Above the keys are four quick launch buttons and the power button. Among them is a button labeled eKey.
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 Try to spot the eKey which opens Acer's intuitive eManager interface. |
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Features
The Acer TravelMate 3201XCi comes loaded with the Pentium M Processor 715 (1.5GHz), 512MB RAM and a 60GB hard drive. For 3D graphical rendering, the ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 steps in with 64MB of dedicated memory for games. A non-removable 9.5mm slim DVD/CD-RW combo drive is found on the right edge. For its price, a DVD dual-format burner similar to the 4001LMi's should have been thrown in.
You get the usual range of ports such as FireWire, Ethernet and modem. Only two USB 2.0 ports are available on the left and right edges. Disappointingly, there's no S-video out but on the upside there's a 3-in-1 card reader supporting Secure Digital (SD), MultiMediaCard (MMC) and Memory Stick (MS) formats. Network-wise, you have a choice of 802.11b/g wireless LAN, built-in Bluetooth and Gigabit Ethernet.
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 The eKey opens up many useful functions like the Acer eSetting. |
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Performance And Battery Life
The Acer's performance is better than average when compared with its peers running on a 1.5GHz processor such as the BenQ Joybook 7000 (Processor 715) and the HP Pavilion dv1000 (Banias-based 1.5GHz). Using MobileMark 2002, we obtained a score of 176.
| BAPCo MobileMark2002 performance rating |
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With 3DMark03, the unit scored 2,694, which ranks well compared with others featuring the ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 such as the BenQ Joybook 7000 and even the mainstream Acer TravelMate 4001LMi.
| Futuremark's 3DMark03 (all with ATI Mobility Radeon 9700) |
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Upon overriding Acer's ePowerManagement settings, we were able to clock a decent battery life rating of 223 minutes (close to 4 hours).
| BAPCo MobileMark2002 battery life (in minutes) |
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Service And Support
Along with Windows XP Home Edition, this TravelMate comes with CyberLink PowerDVD, NTI Backup NOW! 3, NTI CD & DVD Maker Gold and Norton Antivirus. The Backup NOW application gives a touch of user-friendliness in backing up your files. As for CD & DVD Maker, the useful part would be JewelCase Maker which allows you to design CD/DVD sleeves as well as the disc itself.
A one-year limited local and international (carry-in) warranty is provided by Acer. This doesn't bode too well when compared with a three-year warranty provided by others, especially considering the S$2,998 (US$2,133.05) price tag.
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