My new Acer TravelMate 6291 – TCA Park Square

I just got a new laptop – acer travelmate 6291. It comes with the usual promise of high speed processing loaded with intel core 2 duo, 1gb memory and 160gb hard disk – quite impressive. I got it for Php 62k at a TCA store in Park Square Makati.
Why this laptop? – first of all, its 12 inches. Comes in handy when travelling but one of the reasons I got it was because of the excellent customer service provided by TCA. They were patient enough to show me all the details and answer all my stupid questions. Thanks! Anyway, I was chosing between this one and another notebook with pretty much the same specs – Compaq. Price difference was like 7k only. I chose this because it was simpler and the hard drive was bigger by 40gb.

How’s it so far?

1. Speakers are weak – but what can you expect from a compact 12 inch notebook. So its all good.

2. Vista SUCKS! I’ll talk about that in another post. But my first experience with Windows Vista was a nightmare. It works great with troubleshooting especially when your looking for a wifi connection – but it checks every freaking thing you do. Some say that it adjusts to your behavior and in time it will process faster… I’m still hoping!

3. Touchpad – its small but has good sensitivity. I heard that Acer is relatively new to the notebook market and that’s why they are quite affordable. I still prefer the HP touchpad, especially the one that comes with the new hp pavillion tablet notebook – that feels about right and you won’t hesitate pressing hard on it not to mention the side scroll which comes in handy and was easy to use. Acer also has the side scroll thingy on the touchpad but I’m not impressed with how it works.

4. Webcam – it comes with a built in webcam which is relatively ok – but of course it won’t do much good at high noon outdoors. I went to camarines sur watersports complex last weekend and was showing the sites through my webcam – too much glare even when I tried adjusting it. At around 5pm in the afternoon it improved.

5. LCD – its relatively smaller compared to other 12 inch notebooks I saw. Its average. Glare is still a problem and it won’t work well with direct light.

6. Keyboard – hahaha, 12 inches – what do you think? After a week, you get used to it.

7. WIFI – the wireless connection features are great. I think the acer software that comes with it really helped a lot. It automatically detects and troubleshoots your problems and compared to other laptops I think it can detect and connect faster… but that’s just me. I have no idea on the hardware or configuration settings (*wink)

8. Other stuff – it comes with the standard card readers, 2 usb slots, dvd writer – but not the fancy one where you can actually have a laser image printed on the dvd. Its not yet hdmi but it has a svideo out for presentations which is a waste coz I have a 32 inch lcd hdmi compatible tv and hooking this up would have been great. Anyway, I plan to use my old desktop for it -I’ll post another entry when I get that working. I still need to upgrade my video card to have the hdmi out thing. Going back, the location of the earphone, speaker and mic jacks are conveniently placed right in front of you which makes it convenient to use but I think most notebooks are designed this way nowadays.
Overall, I’m happy with my new acer travelmate. I know that for the same price I could get a better one especially if I bought it in Singapore or Hong Kong… but!.. I don’t have the cash and the BPI SIP 12 month zero interest really helped.
Next move is to maximize mobility – I’m working to get this notebook hooked up with my voip phone through the vphone of vonage. Wish me luck!