Acer TravelMate 610

Richard Price
3 July 2001

I like the way laptops are evolving --- slim, light-weight, with a bright screen and enough power to make desktop systems redundant --- pity about the price though!

The new Acer is no exception and is certainly more than adequate for the intrepid road warrior. It is powered by a Pentium III 800MHz processor, has 128 Mb RAM (upgradeable to 512), a 20Gb removable hard drive and an 8x DVD/CD-RW combo. This drive is hot-swappable so the DVD could easily be replaced with another hard disk or a second battery could be plugged in instead. Alternatively it can be removed altogether to save on weight. Not that the TravelMate is heavy --- it weighs in at 2.4kg and is less than 3 cm thick.

The battery lasts for 2.5 hours and it only takes 1.5 hours to recharge thanks to a fast recharge capability. Even so, anyone on the road would find an extra battery useful.

Overall the TravelMate 610 is a stylish looking machine with a magnesium alloy casing and a large 14" 1024x768x16.7m screen.

There is no built in floppy drive. To tell the truth I never even noticed it was missing. A separate USB floppy disk drive comes with the machine and works well.

The TravelMate uses smart card technology to allow security-conscious users to guard against unauthorised access, encrypt files or manage on-line account information. Even if the computer is stolen sensitive data is safe.

The TravelMate boasts a range of connectivity options to suit any environment. A built in 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet connection, a data/fax modem and a wireless LAN (only available on some models). Apparently it also has Bluetooth capabilities but I was not able to test this.

The thing I noticed immediately was the ergonomic keyboard design. It has a nice feel to it, more like a Porsche then a Mini Moke. The keys are not in a straight row, but are arranged in a slight curve like the cars at a drive-in movie. Great if you touch type, but takes a little getting used to particularly if you hunt and peck the keys. The delete key is far up on the top right hand corner, just above the backspace key - weird, but I got used to it in time.

Speakers and microphone are built in. The two speakers are in the front, right under your wrists when typing. I think that tends to muffle the sound.

However there are line-in and line-out ports so speakers or headphones can be plugged in.

As well as two USB ports there is a PS2-compatible port suitable for keyboard or mouse, an SVGA port, infrared port, type II CardBus slot, modem port, Ethernet port and a 100-pin docking port.

LAN, email and Internet quick launch keys at the top of the keyboard are a good idea and another three quick launch keys are user-programmable.

The test machine came with Windows ME pre installed and a few other bits of software, none of which caught my eye except for IBM ViaVoice - software that enables a user to dictate text and control the computer.

I was intrigued. Ever since I was a child I have heard how one day we would be able to talk to computers. Three hours of trying to set up the system so ViaVoice could understand me proved hilarious --- not the sort of thing I would want to be doing on an aircraft or in an open-plan office.

Perhaps one day when I have more time to spend I may achieve better results. Although I hope it doesn't catch on, mobile phones are bad enough already.

Whether intended for business, academic, technical or design applications this laptop deserves a high rating because the modular design allows a level of customisation and upgradability usually only possible with desktops.

Price: RRP AU$5,666
www.acer.com

By Richard Price, Editor, EnergyME.com

For information on getting a product reviewed email richard@energyme.com