Acer TravelMate 4050LCi

Author's product rating:   

Speed	Average
Look & Feel	Satisfactory
Comfort & Portability	Satisfactory
Robustness & Durability	Good
Value For Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Economical, Wireless LAN  -  a boon, Good workhorse, Value - for - money configuration
Disadvantages:	Low memory  -  512MB seems to be the norm these days  -  HDD space low  -  40GB just isn't enough

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I recently re-located to the UK - one of the many re-locations that I have had to endure - and my most common grouse was that I cannot lug my computer around with me. Being an self-employed IT professional, it would be an understatement when I say that my PC (a.k.a. personal computer) is one of my most important possesions. So after umpteen back-ups and recoveries, I finally decided to opt for a portable computer a.k.a. a notebook.

My search for a notebook - note that laptops were out of the question because I intend to work extensively on my new PC - began with a quick shortlisting of my requirements:

1. A decent processor - definitely not a Celeron
2. Should support wireless LAN - especially the 802.11b/g standard
3. Decent amount of RAM - preferably 512 MB RAM for running software development tools
4. A decently-sized HDD with a CD-Writer to back up data to digital media at regular intervals.
5. A budget of £600 * maximum *
6. I want to see my notebook before I bought - which meant that I could not benefit from any on-line deals

After a quick search, I narrowed my search to two brands - Toshiba and Acer. I had to opt out of Dell and IBM because both seemed to charge a premium for their brandname and their notebook/laptop offerings are targetted towards the business user. SONY was way out of my budget - no surprises there.

While the few Toshiba notebooks that I found in Currys were way above my budget - the company seems to think that the DVD-Writer are a must-have for a laptop. So, I had to drop this option. Next, I reviewed some Acer notebooks and chose the Acer TravelMate 4050.

A quick review of the list of features of my latest acquisition:

1. Name: TravelMate 4052LCi
2. Processor: Pentium M 725
3. Screen: 15.0" XGA TFT LCD
4. HDD: 40GB
5. DVD/CD-RW Combo drive
6. RAM: 256MB DDR
7. Support for 802.11 b/g WLAN
8. LAN, Internal Dial-up Modem, Firewire port

Once the initial excitement of my new purchase subsided, it was time to get to down to work. Initially, I was worried that performance would degrade as I installed the software development tools that I use on a regular basis. My fears were unfounded as I did not observe any loss of speed or performance as I kept piling on the applications - and I am talking about memory-hogging, processor-intensive applications such as Microsoft Office, Zend Studio (a JAVA-based PHP development suite) and their like. The hard disk space of 40GB was a matter of concern. But then, as there is a common catchphrase in Hindi - yeh dil maange more (translated in English as "this heart yearns for more"). So, I had to make do with 40 GB HDD that this notebook comes equipped with.

Setting up the Wireless LAN was breeze - I have a LINKSYS Wireless router connected to the Telewest Cable Broadband modem. Some quick configuration and my notebook was surfing the waves of the World Wide Web without any problems.

Power consumption - while I cannot and will not rattle off statistics that I cannot prove, I will admit that the power consumption is decent - the notebook is equipped with Acer-supplied proprietary software titled Acer ePowerManagement that allows users to define different turn power-hungry devices such as the screen, hard-disk etc when the laptop is not in use. Alternatively, you can kick in the Windows Hibernate mode if the computer is not used for a prolonged duration.

RAM - While the computer does not slow during normal use, there is a noticeable loss of performance when I start up multiple applications at the same time. This is where an additional 256 MB RAM would have come in handy - and is probably the only drawback of this configuration.

HDD - I am not a compulsive "downloader" of songs and movies from the Internet and - not to mention - a legal netizen who does not believe in downloading pirated material. So, the HDD of 40GB is sufficient for most of my requirements. Alternatively, if you are big music/movie buff - and believe in storing your digital collection on your notebook, you may find yourself asking for more - very soon.

Software - While the notebook comes pre-installed with a bunch of handy tools and utilities - not to mention Windows XP Service Pack 2, you have to make do with a Recovery Disk that * should *
be able to get your notebook back to a default state if it crashes. While I have had my share of misfortunes with HDD crashes, I was bit discomforted by the absence of an CD with the OS installer. I suppose that you might buy it on your own - and add to the ever-increasing profits of a certain Redmond-based company.

Another drawback is the absence of any software such firewall software, anti virus software, anti-spyware software packages to prevent any uunwanted intrusions. While I was given a 30-day trial version of Norton AntiVirus, I was certainly not keen on spending a penny more than the 600 quid that I spent buying the notebook.

Finally, the icing on the cake - though many may not agree - was the 3-year insurance deal from Comet that I opted for. My primary reason for subscribing to the scheme was tha they offered me a one-year interest free loan. This helped me ease the financial burden of spending 600 quid on the gadget at one go and provided me with the security that it will be replaced if something goes horribly wrong. After all, it is quite common to spill a mug of coffee while one is busy hammering at the keyboard.

In conclusion, I can state that after three months of usage, I have yet to face any major problems with my notebook. While the performance would have been better with more RAM, I am pretty satisified with the "workhorse" that I have added to my collection. And fingers crossed, the next re-location will not be as troublesome as the last!