I recently found myself in want of a brand new laptop. With a decent budget and moderate wants, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to find a product that might do what I wished and still be in my value range.
As a Network Technician and a Internet Designer, I needed a machine that might have enough storage to store all my software, projects for my clients, and still be in a position to handle an occasional temporary operating system backup from a consumer’s machine. The qualifying candidate conjointly had to possess a decent quantity of RAM and a fairly quick processor to stay up with the strain of multitasking and using Studio MX ’04 on a daily basis.
At 1st, I checked the auction sites, the refurbished outlets, and the wholesale warehouses. I found a few smart deals for beneath $500, but nothing that might handle the processing load that Studio MX 2004 would place on it. The common machine had 256MB of PC133 RAM, a 20GB HDD, and a 1.0GHz Pentium processor. Not too shabby for a student machine, but for daily service within the fields I work in, not nearly enough space or power to keep up with my demands.
I quickly realized that a new laptop would be needed in order to satisfy my needs. Realizing that the majority good laptops are priced at over $one,000, I wasn’t expecting an entire ton when I started searching around. But, to my surprise, a native retail chain had a special running on the Acer Aspire 3004WLCi for $600 when a $150 rebate. This was the top finish of my budget, however the specs were way more than what I thought I’d realize during this worth range.
Quick Specs:
AMD Mobile Sempron 3100+ (1.8GHz) w/ 256K L2 cache
512MB DDR333 SODIM RAM (expandable to 2GB)
60GB 4200rpm Hard Disk Drive
15.4 Wide Screen WXGA Monitor
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive
3 USB 2.0 Ports (1 front / 2 facet)
Front Audio / Microphone jacks
Integrated Microphone / Speakers
Integrated Audio Controller
Integrated Video Controller (up to 128MB shared)
Integrated 56Kbps Data/Fax Modem
Integrated 802.three ten/one hundred Ethernet NIC
Integrated 802.11b/g WiFi
Maximum screen resolution: 1280 x 800
External monitor most resolution: 2048 x 1536
One kind II PCMCIA Slot
AC Power Adapter / 4-cell lithium-ion battery
1.5″Hx14.3″Wx11″D / 6.2lb. w/ Battery
Microsoft Windows XP Home SP2
OK, before I’m going into the Execs and Cons of this method, let me first say this… As a Network technician, I am a bit of a stranger to Acer products. I’ve seen them before, but I’ve never used them. In an business dominated by Dells and HPs, Acer seemed more of an “off-brand” to me. With that in mind, I wasn’t expecting a whole heap for my money. Fortunately, I wasn’t disappointed, however neither was I entirely wrong.
Additionally, it is worthy to note that before I used this machine, XP Home was trashed in favor of XP Skilled SP2 and I went through the system and performed many minor software performance tweaks on the operating system; all of that will be performed using the native Windows XP Pro utilities.
Pros:
The Acer Aspire 3004 WLCi is a reasonably powerful system for $600. Even at the first $750, this method is hard to beat within the performance department. The Sempron 3100+ processor is surprisingly quick and capable. It handled running Dreamweaver MX 2004, Fireworks MX 2004, Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft OneNote 2003, Firefox 1.5, Net Explorer 6.0, Opera 8.five, Resize Browser, CPick, Java JRE, NOD32 Anti-Virus, Hotmail Popper, and several system services and minor utilities running within the background simultaneously and didn’t complain or turn out any unacceptable sustained CPU usage spikes. This is often partly due to the generous and quick 512MB of DDR333 RAM, however even so, the processor surprised this long-time AMD user.
The 60GB arduous drive provides an ample quantity of storage for average users. It is on the lower finish of my requirements, however sufficiently large enough to handle all my put in software, over 12GB of service software needed for service calls, all my client comes, and it still has enough space left over to simply accommodate a 20GB client system backup.
In addition, this system has a terribly good Broadcom WiFi controller. In my three story townhouse, that has excellent insulation, this system can be used anywhere in my home with a signal strength of “Very Sensible” to “Excellent”.
The system is ergonomically laid out. I have rather giant hands, and most fashionable laptops are entirely too tiny on behalf of me to realistically use for any extended amount of time. Usually, among twenty or 30 minutes, my wrists and hands begin to ache from making an attempt to take care of a terribly unnatural position in order to type the documents I am working on. Not so with the Aspire 3000 series. These laptops have a comparatively massive chassis with a keypad that is almost good for someone with large hands. I’ve truly found that I will sort nearly as quick (roughly 35wpm) on this laptop as I will on my desktop system that has an ergonomic split keyboard (40wpm).
Cons:
If you’re wanting for a Multimedia system, or if you intend to try to to any graphics intensive gaming, keep on wanting; this method isn’t for you. Even with the widescreen WXGA show, this machine is not well suited for watching DVDs. The integrated video controller is only acceptable and the monitor requires a heap of “fiddling” with in order to find the “just right” position for viewing. Furthermore, the glare on the screen of this unit is terrible. I’ve found that in most brightly lit rooms I’m spending a lot of time straining my eyes to see past my own reflection. Additionally, the viewing angle is unimpressive. If you are attempting to read the screen from something larger than fifteen degrees in any direction, you are either trying at a washed out or negative variation of the original. I’ve never been a massive fan of LCD. I’ve continuously felt that a prime quality CRT forever looks higher, however this screen is additional paying homage to a LCD of three years ago than a whole new product.
The integrated audio and video controllers are a precise sore spot as well. I’ve always most popular growth controllers over integrated controllers, however during this price range, I knew I would be stuck with the thus-therefore quality of an integrated controller. No surprise here. As usual, the standard and performance is sub-par with these controllers, except for my needs, they are doing the job. But, if you propose on listening to any audio playback on this machine, you had higher pack a high quality set of headphones. The small speakers on this machine are terrible sounding. Once more, no huge surprise.
Currently, concerning battery life. I don’t apprehend who was in command of defining this side of this machine, but they need a checkup from the neck up. Battery performance on this machine is absolutely unacceptable. Unless you tune the system down significantly, it is very troublesome to squeeze more than an hour of real usable time out of this technique’s battery life. The manufacturer states that it will run for 1.5 hours on the battery. I’ve never been able to get a lot of than an hour out of the unit. In this day and age, this is often not acceptable. Fortunately, there are very few occasions once I would like to use this technique where I’m not shut to a power outlet.
My solely different major criticism is the dearth of expandability of this system. You get two SODIM memory card slots (stuffed with 256MBx2 sticks from the factory), three USB 2.zero ports and a Sort II PCMCIA slot on this machine, and that is it. No internal expansion capabilities, no firewire, no serial or parallel connections, and you cannot swap out the combo drive easily. Given the value range of this system, I am extremely not stunned, but I am a bit disappointed. Fortunately, there are an abundance of USB adapters offered that permit me to try to to whatever is needed.
Outline:
If you only need a basic system for work or college connected tasks the Acer Aspire 3004WLCi could be a solid performer that can handle average use with ease. I might definitely advocate this unit to varsity students or traveling professionals who need an inexpensive, user-friendly laptop, however who don’t plan on using their laptop on batteries very typically, or who do not intend on enjoying many games or movies. For the worth conscious customers out there, this method is unquestionably price the money. In my humble opinion, you get additional than what you acquire, however not by much.
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