Difference between Aspire and Travelmate

Whats the rationale behind having an Aspire series and the Travelmate series?

What i read from hearsay is that Aspire is the lower class series of Acer's laptop and Travelmate is the upper business class and better built since its Travelmate (made for travelling).

Price wise, some Aspire model is more expensive than Travelmate (etc Aspire 1694 Vs TM 4102....) and vis versus.

Better built as in having a better chasis? What gives?

Any comments?

 

Aspire is more consumer oriented where the TM are more business. The quality is similar in my view. This is a common practice, HP, Dell and others do the same thing.

 

i think travelmates are suposed to apeal to people who prefer long baterys and more portability.

 

I have a TravelMate, and it is listed as a "business" notebook by most vendors. I didnt see that when I bought though.

 

Generally I think the Aspire is targetted towards multimedia applications. Travelmates towards business.

Do the Travelmates use Crystalbrite screens?
Can the travelmates play audio & dvd without booting? (I think the Aspires can).

Some models are ~ same price and features (eg Travelmate 3200 vs Aspire 5500, both 14" widescreen notebooks, centrino, Radeon X700 64MB) -so probably the same internal componentry/motherboards. Only difference is the Aspire has a crystalbrite screen and a dual layer DVDwriter -the travelmate has a CDwriter/DVD combo and non glossy screen. All else being pretty much equal. Possibly the Travelmate has a better quality/ lighter chassis? not sure.

For other brands the build quality difference is more obvious (eg Dells consumer line -Inspirion, is poorer build quality (plastic body) than the Business line -Latitude (magnesium alloy body)).

 

The difference between the to models is minor, mainly feature/cosmetic differences.

The Aspire:
- Targetted towards comsumers, flashier colors (silver), Screen sizes/types (15"+)
- Integrated drivers (non-removable)
- Lacking some ports/port replicator feature

The Travelmate:
- Tragetted towards businesses, toned down colors (darker silver/grey), smaller screen sizes (14"+) for better portability
- Removable optical drives for optional devices (battery, HDD, etc...)
- Additional ports for business functionality (port replicator for quick connectivity)

The build quality on both units are about the same. Some units were identical to each other so that batteries could even be swapped.

You mainly need to look at the overall features and see if they fit your needs. If you need the extra ports/features the Travelmate's offer, got with that, if not, you can go for an Aspire. Either way, you're generally getting the same unit.

-Vb-