Acer TravelMate 5720 vs Acer Aspire 5920

Hi,

I'm new to this forum (and to laptops), and am looking for a good laptop for general (home & business) use, and have done quite a bit of research, and had decided that I would probably get an Acer Aspire 5920.

However, I have just spotted the Acer TravelMate 5720 (specifically, the Acer Travelmate M5720G-302G16 - part number LX.TK30X.033), with similar specs, but over £150 cheaper! For example:

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_TravelMate_5720G-302G16_LX.TK30X.033/version-1.asp

And even cheaper here:

http://www.simplyacer.com/product/id/216566/LX.TK30X.033

What is the main difference between this and the Aspire 5920? I realise the TravelMate doesn't have the nVidia 8600M GT graphics card, but has an ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 (with 256Mb Video RAM), but I will only be a light to moderate gamer (haven't played PC games for a few years now), so probably wouldn't need the latest DirectX 10 stuff - would the TravelMate be a good PC for me? How good is the ATI Radeon X1700 for light to occasional gaming? (I would like to play the [original] Half-Life, Unreal, Doom III and similar games, and maybe a few more recent ones).

Also, I guess the TravelMate isn't Santa Rosa, so doesn't have Turbo Memory, and a few other things, but I'm not too bothered about that. For over £150 less, does this sound like a great deal? Is there a catch or something I've overlooked?!

Also, how does the build quality of TravelMates compare with Aspires?

Any thoughts + advice would be very welcome! Many thanks...

 

The x1600/1700 series were never really good, and the 8600M GT in the Aspire is about twice as fast. However, the games you have listed should be able to run decently on the x1700, though not at max details (Meaning not 4xAA 8xAF, mostly it is Doom III which is the culprit here, the rest should be a piece of cake, even for the x1700). More recent games will however run significantly better on the 8600M GT.

I don't know for sure, but to me it seems certain people have been complaning about poor screen quality on the Aspire, don't know if it is better on the travelmate's..Some person with a broad knowledge of Acers could perhaps enlighten a bit mroe

[sarcasm]
Ever seen all those videos about all the thought's which went into their "gemstone" design? Now can you see why it's $$$
[/sarcasm]

 

Thanks for the information. You say that the X1700 was not really a good card, however I have seen some threads on this forum saying that it's not too bad - maybe ok for casual gaming? I would never describe myself as a "gamer": I last played PC games 4 or 5 years ago (maybe more), and wish to use a laptop mainly for work (software development, word processing, etc), internet use (email, browsing etc), some multimedia (watching DVDs, listening to CDs, graphics, Photoshop, watching / recording TV via a DVB-T tuner, processing photos, etc), plus some occasional gaming. I don't even (yet?) own Doom 3, and indeed I may not use the laptop much at all for gaming - although it would be great if I could play a few nice games from time-to-time on it. I will also run Ubuntu Linux on the laptop, but via a VMWare "virtual machine" (my desktop runs Ubuntu as the main "host" operating system, and Windows 2000 via VMWare Server). Do you think the TravelMate 5720G is adequate for this sort of use?

I'm on a fairly tight budget, and £800 to £900 is my maximum, so I could still get an Acer Aspire 5920G (and may yet do so), but to me £150 extra is quite a lot of money: is the Aspire worth that much extra? (I don't know if I need DirectX 10 compatibility or not). I want a laptop to last me 2 - 3 years if possible, and I don't really want one that runs too hot either, if possible.

Is the ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 better than the nVidia GeForce Go 7300? I was looking at another laptop, the Acer Aspire 5633 WLMi (see: http://www.shopacer.co.uk/pp/Acer_Aspire_Laptops/Acer_Aspire_5630_Series/Aspire_5633WLMi.html),
which is around £10 less than the TravelMate 5720G, but only has an Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 @ 1.66 GHz (as opossed to the 2GHz T7300 of the 5720G), and has no Firewire port, and has the nVidia Go 7300. So the TravelMate 5720G seems a bargain at just £10 more - surely there's a "catch" somewhere though that I've overlooked ?!

A laptop with a 2GHz T7300 Core 2 Duo, 2Gb RAM (expandable to 4GB), 160GB hard disk, Discrete graphics card (ATI X1700 with 256Mb video RAM). 4 x USB 2, 1 x Firewire, 15.4" screen with built-in webcam, all for £645, seems too good to be true? I have not seen any reviews of the TravelMate 5720G, so if anyone else can find one, let me know!

Thanks...

 

Hi,

I am also new to this forum, but I spotted your post while looking for a review of the Travelmate 5720.

I ave just ordered one from acernoteboooks.co.uk (my last laptop was from them too, no complaints with it), so if you've not bought one yet I will be able to give a review of the 5720 a few days after I receive it.

I'll post more information here once it arrives.

 

Hi Garadox,

That's fantastic! Yes, please do post a review when you have the laptop and are able to do so - many thanks!

Which version did you order - the 2Gb RAM (£649.97) one?
( http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/Acer_TravelMate_5720G-302G16_LX.TK30X.033/version-1.asp).
I believe www.acernotebooks.co.uk is the same company as www.laptopsdirect.co.uk.

I haven't ordered yet - I'm still trying to decide between the TravelMate 5720G and the Aspire 5920, but the TravelMate is over £150 cheaper, with similar specs (although an ATI Radeon X1700 instead of the NVIDIA 8600M GT, so no DirectX 10) - so it seems like a bargain to my eyes!

Have you found any reviews of the 5720 yet? I haven't seen any UK magazine or website reviews (just a review of an Australian model, which is irrelevant as the specs are completely different!).

Hope you enjoy your new laptop - good luck with it!

 

I would stay away from any notebbok that does not have a DirectX-10 videocard.

 

Me too! Why you wanna buy notebook with older DX card

 

I also say for just little game the x1600 is not that bad it play half 2 and leftcoast technologies preview not too badly

 

Hello there,

I only just came across this site because I myself have a Acer TravelMate 5720G... and I bought mine from laptopsdirect.co.uk

I thought this little bit of info might be useful to you.

When I ordered my laptop I believed it would come with the Radeon X1700 like described on the site, and I also was torn between getting the other laptop you mentioned but decided on this one in the end because the £150 price difference!

Anyway, to my surprise when the laptop came and I checked it over I noticed it said Radeon X2500 on it.

I'm not very knowledgable about graphics cards and what not, but surely the 2500 is an improvement from the 1700?

Well I was chuffed anywho !

 

From what I have been reading the X2500 is actually a slower version of the X1700.

 

but why would they make a new version slower than the older?!