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I recently found myself in need of a brand new laptop. With a tight budget and moderate needs, I knew it wasn’t visiting be simple to search out a product that might do what I wished and still be in my value range.

As a Network Technician and a Net Designer, I required a machine that may have enough storage to store all my software, comes for my clients, and still be able to handle an occasional temporary operating system backup from a consumer’s machine. The qualifying candidate conjointly had to possess a tight quantity of RAM and a moderately fast processor to stay up with the demands 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 some smart deals for underneath $500, but nothing that will handle the processing load that Studio MX 2004 would place on it. The average 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 in the fields I work in, not nearly enough space or power to stay up with my demands.

I quickly realized that a new laptop would be required in order to fulfill my needs. Realizing that almost all tight laptops are priced at over $1,000, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot when I started looking around. But, to my surprise, a native retail chain had a special running on the Acer Aspire 3004WLCi for $600 when a $a hundred and fifty rebate. This was the high finish of my budget, however the specs were far additional than what I believed I might find during this value 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
three USB 2.0 Ports (one front / a pair of 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 maximum resolution: 2048 x 1536
One kind II PCMCIA Slot
AC Power Adapter / four-cell lithium-ion battery
1.five”Hx14.three”Wx11″D / 6.2lb. w/ Battery
Microsoft Windows XP Home SP2

OK, before I’m going into the Professionals and Cons of this technique, let me first say this… As a Network technician, I’m a bit of a stranger to Acer products. I’ve seen them before, but I’ve never used them. In an trade dominated by Dells and HPs, Acer appeared a lot of of an “off-whole” to me. With that in mind, I wasn’t expecting a full lot for my money. Fortunately, I was not disappointed, but 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 Professional SP2 and I went through the system and performed many minor software performance tweaks on the operating system; all of which can be performed using the native Windows XP Pro utilities.

Professionals:
The Acer Aspire 3004 WLCi may be a reasonably powerful system for $600. Even at the original $750, this method is tough to beat in 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, Internet Explorer 6.zero, Opera 8.5, Resize Browser, CPick, Java JRE, NOD32 Anti-Virus, Hotmail Popper, and many 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 because of the generous and quick 512MB of DDR333 RAM, but even therefore, the processor shocked this long-time AMD user.

The 60GB onerous drive provides an ample amount of storage for average users. It’s on the lower end of my necessities, but sufficiently massive 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 house left over to simply accommodate a 20GB consumer system backup.

Additionally, this system contains a very good Broadcom WiFi controller. In my 3 story townhouse, that has glorious insulation, this system can be used anywhere in my home with a symptom strength of “Terribly Good” to “Glorious”.

The system is ergonomically laid out. I have rather massive hands, and most trendy laptops are entirely too small for me to realistically use for any extended period of time. Typically, at intervals 20 or thirty minutes, my wrists and hands begin to ache from making an attempt to take care of a very unnatural position in order to type the documents I’m working on. Not thus with the Aspire 3000 series. These laptops have a relatively large chassis with a keypad that’s virtually perfect for someone with giant hands. I’ve actually found that I can type nearly as fast (roughly 35wpm) on this laptop as I can on my desktop system that has an ergonomic split keyboard (40wpm).

Cons:
If you’re trying for a Multimedia system, or if you plan to try and do any graphics intensive gaming, carry on trying; this system isn’t for you. Even with the widescreen WXGA display, this machine isn’t well suited for watching DVDs. The integrated video controller is solely acceptable and the monitor requires a lot of “fiddling” with so as to search out the “simply 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 very own reflection. Also, the viewing angle is unimpressive. If you are trying to read the screen from something bigger than fifteen degrees in any direction, you are either wanting at a washed out or negative variation of the original. I’ve never been a big fan of LCD. I’ve invariably felt that a top quality CRT invariably looks better, but this screen is additional harking back to a LCD of three years ago than a complete new product.

The integrated audio and video controllers are a precise sore spot as well. I’ve forever most popular growth controllers over integrated controllers, but during this value vary, I knew I’d be stuck with the thus-therefore quality of an integrated controller. No surprise here. As usual, the quality and performance is sub-par with these controllers, except for my wants, they are doing the job. However, if you plan on being attentive to any audio playback on this machine, you had higher pack a quality set of headphones. The small speakers on this machine are terrible sounding. Once more, no massive surprise.

Now, about battery life. I don’t understand who was in control of defining this aspect of this machine, but they have a checkup from the neck up. Battery performance on this machine is absolutely unacceptable. Unless you tune the system down considerably, it is terribly troublesome to squeeze a lot of than an hour of real usable outing of this technique’s battery life. The manufacturer states that it will run for 1.5 hours on the battery. I’ve never been ready to induce more than an hour out of the unit. In this era, this is often not acceptable. Fortunately, there are terribly few occasions after I want to use this method where I’m not shut to a power outlet.

My solely alternative major grievance is the lack of expandability of this system. You get 2 SODIM memory card slots (filled with 256MBx2 sticks from the factory), three USB 2.zero ports and a Kind II PCMCIA slot on this machine, and that’s it. No internal expansion capabilities, no firewire, no serial or parallel connections, and you can not swap out the combo drive easily. Given the price range of this technique, I am extremely not surprised, but I am a small amount disappointed. Fortunately, there are an abundance of USB adapters accessible that allow me to do whatever is needed.

Summary:
If you just would like a basic system for work or college related tasks the Acer Aspire 3004WLCi could be a solid performer that may handle average use with ease. I’d positively suggest this unit to college students or traveling professionals who want an inexpensive, user-friendly laptop, however who don’t plan on using their laptop on batteries terribly typically, or who do not intend on taking part in several games or movies. For the worth aware shoppers out there, this method is unquestionably worth the money. In my humble opinion, you get additional than what you purchase, but not by much.

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