Acer TravelMate 3000 - opinions

I just found this interesting lappy, and that it is very well priced in the US.
Here there are detailed reviews: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/hardware/notebooks/0,39001748,39089180p,00.htm?
http://computershopper.com.com/Acer_TravelMate_TM3002WTCi/4514-3121_7-31343005.html


If someone has it already, it would be good to know the opinion and impressions.

I am interested in the fan noise, the keyboard quality and comfort (is it full size?), and how robust is the construction. Can I boot from the external DVD/CD-RW drive connected via FireWire port? Is the case made of plastic or magnesium composite?

 

ok, heres my attempt to answer all these questions. had the laptop for about a month now, and i'm very impressed with it:

fan is on more often when plugged into ac power (even at lower processor speeds), need it on all the time when running at full speed, and it is noisy. when you run the processor at low or medium speed on battery power, the fan never comes on. the laptop also gets warm when on ac power, much less so on battery power.

you can boot from the external firewire drive.

the keyboard is very good, though not excellent. it is full sized, better than a lot of other 12" widescreen (defintely better on key size and spacing than the dell 700m, medion/msi, winbook/alienware, etc...) my keyboard has no flex except in the top corners (the escape and delete keys). again, very good, better than most, but not the absolute best i've ever used.

the casing is plastic, but fairly sturdy (no ripples on the lcd if you tap it). build quality is about on par with dell latitude in my opinion (better than inspiron, not up to IBM or Fujitsu levels).

Let me put it this way: basically, if you want a 3 lb 12" widescreen notebook, its either this, the dell latitude x1, or maybe the asus w5a (i've used all three). the acer is the fastest notebook of the three, as well as by far the best value. the asus is nice because of its integrated optical drive, but it has a larger footprint, its a bit heavier, its more expensive, and in my opinion has an inferior keyboard to the acer. the x1 is fanless, so it can get quite warm (though in fairness the acer gets warm without the fan on too), but it has excellent quality (made by samsung for dell). the x1 is also about a half pound lighter than the acer, but it lacks a pc card slot and its trackpad is not nearly as good. even with a rare dell coupon that works on the x1 (i've only seen 1, and it was this week), the x1 is still a couple hundred dollars more than the acer and without the coupon its six or seven hundred more. x1 vs. 3000, the x1 is a bit nicer. but not several hundred nicer in my opinion. note, the dell gets better battery life, though its slower (both due to its ULV processor). if battery life is the biggest issue, the X1 should be your choice...

like i said, i think the 3000 is the best value of all the ultraportables. if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

 

read review here: review

is there a beefier version w/ better vid card?

 

squart,
thanks for the link. Here there is another useful review I found:
http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/notebooks/0,39023980,39198097,00.htm

cuoog,

many thanks for your informative answers. This one "when you run the processor at low or medium speed on battery power, the fan never comes on" sounds very promising. So, if you run office applications and e.g. call for a new browser (the processor clock jumps then up to a max for short, and it usually causes fan to switch on on some lappys) the fan is still out?

Have you tried to monitor the fan behavior vs. the processor temperature. Well, if you haven't, it probably means you are just happy with the fan.

Did you try to boot linux or other OS than Windows from the external optical drive?

When I look on the picture of TM3000, given its sizes it is difficult to believe that main buttons of the keyboard are full sized. But if you say they are bigger that winbook/alienware then they should be full sized (btw, those of 12" MSI are full sized).

Concerning the plastic case, does it passively disperse the heat from the inside of the laptop well?

Your answers are pretty convincing arguments in favour of TM3000 vs. others 12" competitors in the same price range. Unfortunately, here in Europe this model is sold
much more expensive (starting from 1500-1600 Euro) which makes it not so attractive
as in the US.

 

keys are definitely the same size as the medion/msi

itll boot of the cd-rom. however, don't consider this a linux laptop. most of the sonoma laptops dont run smoothly on anything but the most modern, hacked up kernels. i like ubuntu, but it doesnt really run at all. i've heard it runs better with the latest fedora, but i have not tried it myself.

on battery, with the proc profile set to low, the fan has not yet come on. even with wi-fi on, running 10 different apps, for hours at a time. it just doesnt do it.

i really like the acer 3000, but honestly, 1700 euros should buy you a samsung (i forget the model number, the one the dell x1 is based on). thats a nicer laptop... unless you absolutely need the smallest laptop with a full-speed processor, i wouldnt pay a premium to get the acer.

 

I just got the TravelMate 3002WTCi.

Two points:

1) The supplied DVD/CD-RW is junk. Why not provide a DVD RW? They save $10 and you get stuck with an external drive you''ll probably toss.

2) The quality of the keyboard is sub-par. Mine is continuously working loose (the top sliding tabs work their way out) and now my delete key is broke. P.O.S.

Other then that, the speed is nice. Definitely gets warm, but it has good horsepower for the size.

 

Thanks for the really helpful posts ...

Personally, I am waiting for some reviews of the Acer TravelMate 3210 series before deciding between that and the 3000 series. My main concerns are heat / fan noise, which seem to be a problem on the 3000 series (plus the Acer W3V), but interestingly the Acer TravelMate 8100 series seems to have no such problems (obviously it is a much larger machine, which must help).

Am hoping that the 3210 heat / fan noise characterisitcs are closer to the 8100 series than the 3000 series.

 

I also found this thread really helpful re. the 3000 series ...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=19068

 

Dell Latitude X1 is Samsung Q30. The price starts at 1200 Euro here (hmmm, wow! I found this price today, before the price was like 1800 Euro!) which is on part with the US. It uses 1.1 Ghz ULV PM 733 processor. I am not convinced if it will run my usual applications with no annoying delays I don't like. Just have to check it live and had no opportunity to do it yet. For comparison, Apple Powerbook with 1.5GHz was slightly too slow for me.

I had something against Dell before (a priori) but maybe I should reconsider it.
Dell X1 is attractive because of its size and the lack of always annoying fans, and it is not so expensive as I thought. A review (for record): http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2430 + others linked
(this one is very good: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2366).
The deal breaker for me is the display resolution 1280 x 768 (Apple powerbook had even smaller, and I couldn't stand it as I like many apps open simultaneously).
1280x800 WXGA is absolute must for me for a 12" laptop!

So, I still favor Acer TraveMate 3000 (especially, if I were in the US)!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@ deadken, more details about your KB problems would be appreciated!

@ physik, if your nickname points to your location in Germany, you might be interested to know that I have seen TM 3000 cheaper in Spain: 1500.- in mediamarkt and even 1250.- on some Spanish website (probably it was without tax).
Thanks for your contributed useful link!

 

Did someone try to cool down TM3000 with undervolting programs like RMClock or Centrino Hardware Control?

Is it effective/compatible/meaningful with Acer Power Management?

So far the above programs were the only partial escape from the fan noise
(at least at at low processor load) for me.

If someone has (a link to) a picture of the inner construction of TM3000, please post it here!
We will look on it from the point of view of the effectiveness of heat engineering.

PS: What about the loudspeakers quality of TM 3000?

 

I received my TM3002 yesterday morning. My initial impressions were that this is a very nice machine for the money. Definitely wins the bang for the buck contest for the machine category. I'll probably throw together a little review when I have more time, but I just wanted to chime in about the heat and fan issues.

I'm not sure what is going on with so many of the notebooks these days. It seems that none of the manufacturers/designers know squat about heat/thermal temp regulation. The TM3002 falls into the same pitfall.

The fan turns on at 50C and turns off at 46C. The fan only runs at one speed (as far as I can tell). So the machine is initially silent then blasts the fan for about 10 seconds (after I installed AS5 and decreased the CPU voltage) to cool 4 degrees then shuts down. After a few seconds or minutes (depends on what you're doing) the fan cycles again.

I did lots of warranty voiding work on my TM3002 (maybe I'll share at a later time ) and along the way I discovered that the machine does not do a fan check during POST. What that means is the machine does not spin up the fan to check for proper operation before moving along in the boot process. What that means to you and me is that you can covert the crazy fan machine into a silent wonder. Think of it as a widescreen Panasonic Toughbook for about half the price.

I've been running all morning without a fan and silence is bliss. I'm running at 50C now and this is after running Prime95 and SuperPi about 15 minutes ago. Max temp with those apps running was a warmish 65C (after 15 minutes of testing). The ambient air temp is around 74F. That's not bad for running the CPU at full speed with passive cooling.

Anyways, gotta go run some errands. Hope to post more info later in the day but the wife is running the show today.

 

Excuse me my ignorance. Would you please explain it in more detail? Sounds very promising, but what is "POST" here, etc.

My current 12" also has :noisyfan:.

 

Don't know what else I can add to my previous statements.

The top tabs holding the keyboard in keep unfastening. The keyboard then tends to pop up at the top. The delete key is now half on/half off. I'm hoping I can hold this thing together until I get my old notebook fixed.

 

Hi deadken,

I am looking for an exact same type of notebook as you have. Just as ivar I am also concerned about noise. I ordered the HP4200 2 weeks ago and noticed that the fan was ALWAYS ON! It was spinning very low but the sound was hearable and it distracted me constantly during surfing. It got so annoying I decided to send it back.

So actually my question to you; Is this acer dead-silent when it is in idle mode? Or can you still hear a very soft whirring (I'm not sure if I use the right word, my native language is not english).

Can you hear the HDD when in idle mode?

Thank's
ivan

 

More reviews of Acer TM3002
http://reviews.cnet.com/Acer_Travel...60.html?tag=vid
http://laptopmag.com/Review/Acer-Tr...te-3002WTCi.htm
http://www.axxess-berlin.de/web/pro...p=1&warenid=856

 

Those reviews don't answer my question. (3 dead links, but thank's anyway ivar ) Perhaps there are some acer 3000 users on this forum who haven't underclocked and can answer my question? About the fannoise in idle mode...

 

@ivanilia, yes, they don't. The links were not intended to answer your question but rather to bring more information to the thread visitors. I am also interested to hear more about the issues related to the fan and keyboard from the actual owners of the laptop.


I am sorry, somehow the links really don't work! However, it is still possible to find these articles on those sites!

 

Its not completely silent. If you listen closely you get a slight whirl from the hard drive.

I did get a new keyboard from acer, so I am happier with the notebook.

Funny thing was, while Dell inisists you send the old part back, Acer tells you that there is a $50 disposal fee if you send it back.

 

Thanks for sharing this with us! Did they send the keyboard to you to replace it itself? Is it easy to replace it? It is good to know that such an option exists!

 

I am happy to hear that you don't hear a fan when listening closely. The HP 4200 (1.73 gighrz) had a fan which was constantly on with very low noise. Only me (and a few others) can hear it. My girlfriend didn't notice it.

I ordered the travelmate 3004WTMi. It's the only model available here in the netherlands. Expect a review within a few days...

ivan

 

Its a long story, but yes I replaced the keyboard my self.

Acer was very good about sending out the keyboard, and told me the directions are on the web for replacing it.

Ok, I thought, so when I went to the web to get the instructions, they were no where to be found. I called back, and after assuring me the instructions were there, the woman finally checked and admitted they were not. We looked for models which resembled the notebook, but we could not find any with instructions.

She then notified me that the previous tech had made a mistake sending out the keyboard, and that it was not a user replaceable part. I would have to send in the notebook and wait two weeks. I told her I would consider it.

Finally I got up nerve (I figured, hey the keyboard is broken anyway) so I released the keyboard latches, and pushed back the spring clips which hold the keyboard on. No real problems (except figuring out the cable release). Had a new keyboard running in 5 minutes.

I believe the main reason they don't have instructions on the web is that there appears to be no memory beneath the keyboard, and the only instructions you'll find on the web is for changing that memory. Keyboard replacement is only a side benefit of these instructions.

Now I hope they don't bug me to send the notebook back in.

 

Anyone knows where in the States we could get a TM3004 model? The one with 2.0 P-M, and external DVD+/-RW optical drive, 80/100 GB HD, and 1 GB DDR2 533 MHz RAM.

Thanks!

 

Speaking of those 3004's, the thing that really upsets me is that the rest of the world seems to get the best of the Travlemate 3000 series. We don't even have the option of getting some of the cooler toys that they do.

Did you know that when you buy one in some places (Thailand, I think), they give you a free Acer executive bag for the notebook or something like that. It's been a pain in the butt trying to get a good sleeve or case for mine.

Another thing is the dl dvd burners that they get. I didn't think that I would need a dvd burner with my laptop, but seeing that as a bundled item overseas and the frequency with which I use large files is pretty big.

Also, even though our 1.73 is faster than most of the other ones out there at the same speed, I really wish that we had the option of getting the 2ghz ones. I'm pretty sure that you can choose different options on other Acer models, so why not this one???


Does anybody know if you can order the dual layer external drive from Acer or exchange them somehow? The only thing I've seen on their accessory order page is an external floppy drive, and uh... thanks but no thanks.

Also, anybody had any real luck with finding cases?

 

ivanilia,
you should have paid a lot of money for it in Holland!
We are waiting for your review!
Here there is a UK review of 2GHz TM3004:
http://www.compshopper.co.uk/shopper/reviews/72800/acertravelmate-3004-wtmi.html

 

Hi ivar,

I had planned to write a review last weekend but the HD from the acer died the same day i got it. So i've had to test the customer service of acer right away which was okay. I did not have to send the laptop in. Just the harddisk. In the meantime I've unscrewed the old HD from my sony and placed it in the acer. I'm going to try to write a review in the coming weekend. Just for now I can say I'm very satisfied, but it took me some time and energy to get to this point.

To be continued...

(ps; I don't think 1700 euros is much for what you get, quite cheap actually)

ivan

 

New review & pics: Acer TravelMate 3000
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/arti...351,pg,1,00.asp

"Both memory slots and the hard drive are easy to access, though the procedure for reaching the latter is not documented. This led to my removing the wrong set of screws at first. (Tip: You don't want the ones located next to the hard drive, but the two midcase screws labeled with an "H.") Aside from missing information on how to upgrade the hard drive, the printed and Acrobat manuals are thorough and easy to search."

Acer TravelMate 3004WTMi
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/72893/acer-travelmate-3004wtmi.html

"The keyboard is generally well laid out, with Delete at the top right and Control at the bottom left. But punctuation keys around the Enter key are tiny, making you pause before striking an apostrophe, question mark or similar. Key travel is fine, although the boards are a little too bouncy and lack the feeling of support underneath.

Alas, the top 25 per cent of the touchpad surface didn't respond on both machines either. We're sure Acer will attend to these issues as production gets into full swing, but, if you can, try one personally before buying to ensure you're happy with it."

"The 2GHz chip generates a lot of heat for such a confined space: the thermal design power (TDP) is a not insignificant 27W. It's no coincidence that the right side of the notebook feels very warm after a while, and it soon gets uncomfortably hot on your lap. It's all too much for the tiny three-cell battery, which fed the furnace for just one hour, 42 minutes under light use. Constant fan activity under intensive loads exacerbates the situation, with the battery quitting after just 34 minutes. That's simply not enough in such a portable machine."

 

:acer:

i've just got my new Acer Travelmate 3002 Tmi with 1024 MB Ram. And i'm very, very pleased. I'm working now for at least two hours with this notebook (office, email etc.) and in my office i can't hear the fan, only if i go with my head at least 10 cm near to the notebook.

Best regards,

Andreas

 

@andfi,
what is your impression about the build quality and how often the fan goes on in office applications? Is it annoying in relatively silent room?

 

Are you sure your fan was running? I could hear mine from about 15 feet away, and I certainly don't have young ears anymore. The fan doesn't kick in until the CPU registers 50C. If your ambient temp. is < 20C this might not happen. Above 20C, the cpu would hit 50C any time the cpu was mildly active.

Maybe acer is using different fans in different builds. My 3002's noisy fan was a sunon maglev (1.7w I believe). What is yours? You can check by lifting the keyboard (dosn't even take a screwdriver).

 

Yet another recent review of TM3002!
http://laptop-notebook.blogspot.com/2005/10/acer-travelmate-3000-series.html

 

Now Acer has announced a new 12" subnotebook on Napa platform:
Acer Travelmate 3010!

From Acer: " TravelMate 3010 is ideal for roving business professionals who require reliable, go-anywhere computing. Featuring a pre-coated aluminum design in an ultra-light and compact 12.1-inch form factor, the ultra-portable TravelMate 3010 weighs only 1.5kg with a built-in camera. Its high-brightness 16:10 widescreen enhances viewing experiences and readability for use on the road, while Acer ezDock (optional) preserves full desktop extendibility. Integrated Acer Video Conference solution, superior GraviSense and Anti-Theft security technology make the TravelMate 3010 the optimum business companion for road warriors who must stay productive in their ever-changing workspace."

For some reason more details are found on German site acer.de (in German): http://acer.de/acereuro/page92.do;j...Param=DE&LanguageISOCtxParam=de&crc=157291278

procesor: T2600
chipset: Intel 945GM
graphics: Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
screen: 12,1 WXGA 1280x800
camera: 1,3 Megapixel CMOS-camera
WiFi: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG, IEEE 802.11a/b/g tri-mode Dualband WiFi Certified with support of Acer Wireless-Technology SignalUp.
3x USB 2.0 Ports, 1x Firewire IEEE 1394 Port, VGA-Port,
Ethernet-Port (RJ-45), Modemport (RJ-11), WPAN (Bluetooth 2.0),etc.
HDD: ATA
weight: 1.5Kg
Batttery life: up to 7h.

To be available in Germany starting from the end of 02.2006.

 

Hi. I've got the 3004, with a 2GHz. My fan is a sunon as well, and it's noisy. I think it's mostly because it gives off a pretty highpitched sound. Anyone with a silent acer care to report what brand/make their fan is?

 

TM 3010 series is already available in Europe for the price starting from 1450 Euro (in France, Belgium, Germany, UK, Spain), and the prices are already slightly falling!

Link to the latest review:
http://www.itweek.co.uk/itweek/hardware/2149545/acer-travelmate-3012

 

A small collection of links to reviews with a few soundbites from each that I've been compiling while deciding on a purchase. (I just now bought this from buy.com after having terrible backorder/customer service issues from the normally respectable Zipzoomfly)

http://flux.stikipad.com/home/show/Acer+TravelMate+3002WTCi

 

Guys this lap is spectacular!

Bought it for 1200$ in the US.

I'll write sth more in a couple of weeks since the laptop is too new to assess it correctly.

So far no regrets. It's so small I carry it in blister-foil-like A4 envelope and it fits perfectly

 

duffyanneal,

I just received a Travelmate 3002, and the noise of the fan is almost enough to make me send it back. I'm currently trying out RM clock, and it is somewhat effective, but still that fan comes on when I'm doing nothing more strenuous than web browsing. Just wondered if you were willing to share any pointers about how you achieved your blissful silence.

Is the program you are using functionally different from RM clock?

Thanks for any input,
Mat

 

if it really pisses you off just lower the speedof the CPU using ePowerManagement.

btw, it's strange that it's so annoying to you. My TM3002 is really quiet !?

I can definately say it's a great buy. So farfantastic performance!

 

I tried using that, and set the CPU to the lowest setting, but still the fan would come on, even when doing light web browsing. I've heard that RM Clock is a more robust solution, so I'm playing around with that some. I'm happy with all other aspects of the computer, except I find the display to be dim and slightly washed out, and the atrocious speakers, but those I expected and have no concerns about.

I love the weight, the look, the keyboard, the BT, and so on.

Its just that in my relatively silent office, with several iMacs, and a couple powerbooks, the silence is suddenly pierced by this high pitched fan coming from my small new subnotebook.

 

hmm... strange mine is dam.n sharp . Previously I have been using an IBM R51 and other quality laptops so I have some comparison.

Maybe try always to set the brightness to the max. I noticed in some cases the brightness goes to 90% for example after hibernation.

true. however, even the best laptop speakers are bad (even in HP dv1000). So actually I'm happy that they're so small because they don't take up space from more important features. It's also good if a laptop has some air venting space => for that to occur the manufacturer has to minimze stuff like sound card,speakers etc. Personally I think that that the engineers did a heck of a good job.

I have some 2.1 creative speakers which i plug in at home when i want some real deep sound.

I also saw some portable creative speakers. pretty small, powered from usb 50$. Seem to be really a nice buy for someone who is "on the go" and needs speakers for deep sound or even for presentations or stuff like that

• keyboard: agreed => it's topnotch

• weight: fantastic

• bt: it's great, however I have a question? Have you tried connecting a bluetooth headset to it to talk via SKYPE?
  I heard there are some problems and that not all headset's work with skype.

 

Hey guys,
would you please measure the CPU temperature at which the fan switches on.
Use mobilemeter or speedfan. The notebook silence often critically depends on how high this temperature is set up by the producer.

I found notebook hardware control (NHC) more effective in cooling down the processor than rmclock

 

A review of Travelmate 3010 (a core duo version of TM 3000) is published !

http://www.itreviews.co.uk/hardware/h923.htm

 

This review is totally not on point. I don't care much because I already own the less powerful version (tm3002 wtci), still I don't like when sb is totally not objective.

I mean, d.amn, from my point of view this review is totally ridiculous.

 

@stefeq,
your more detailed point by point critics of the review would be welcome here, because you already own a similarly designed tm3002.

 

Acer TravelMate 3020 Is Coming Soon! It's white!

"TravelMate 3020, featuring Acer’s ‘OrbiCam’ built-in camera with face tracking technology. This one was decked out in white with a pearly white keyboard that reminded me of early iBooks. Looks like it could be a winner on the style front as well as price."

Here is the link to the photo of 3020

 

to ivar and all to whom it may concern, as you wish - here goes:

let's follow the parts of review I find inconsistent with reality. The author of this review seems to be competent, however it's as though he's had a bad day so he decided to pick on the acer tm3010, thus making the review ridiculously untrue


1.

not true. the empowering software is actually quite a great feature. It is well designed and puts all the necessary stuff into one place. Of course I could turn all the devices (cardbus,bluetooth,lan,wireless,firewire) on/off using the system devices manager but it would be too cumbersome. noone would bother to do that.

With the soft on top of the system it's d.amn easy - even my mum can do it . If it weren't for the soft the not-technically-savvy users wouldn't bother to turn anything off as a result the battery would last for a shorter period of time.

2.

not true. Can't see nothing wrong with it. actually I'd say that it's way better than IBM displays

3.

ok happens from time to time but pretty rarely. I mean come on! so you just need to hit the button 2-3 times. definately not sth of which you should write "you find yourself hitting the brightness keys on the keyboard."

As for "even if it's dark" part, I have to say that when I'm working with the lights out I set the display to not more than 20% brightness.

4.

"doesn't look good" - huh !?

5.

oh really!? It just so happens that by some chance the tm3000 series have won the reddot design award for 2005


6.

actually I don't know how can one hit them by accident. I have no idea why somebody would keep his hands/fingers anywhere near these switches. Switching them by accident is like .... IMPOSSIBLE.

7.

many find the positioning convenient. Including me. It's pretty arguable. Even when we consider using the laptop on one's knees.

8.

The only "plus"! - the camera. Is this guy nuts?

I'd just like to remind you we're talking here about a 1,2 kg laptop with 1280x800 display that fits into a regular A4 paper file! This baby outperforms many desktops that are up to 10-15 times heavier. I mean it's so light you can lift it with 2 fingers

I believe he didn't even mention the low price advantage and the fact you get 2 batteries for the regular price

All for now Hope this'll clear up the image for now. Looking forward to your comments.

 

Hello all

Does anyone know the release date of Acer TM 3010 series for Asia like Hong Kong? I been hearing that Acer TM 3000 series is a great laptop and I am waiting impatiently to get one.

Thanks