Travelmate 8371 vs Timeline T3810T-6415?

Hello all.

I have not bought an Acer Timeline or Travelmate yet. I am considering going Acer because of the 8 hour battery life and dual core and I don't see any others out matching this specification set. To date no other vendor has the specs I am looking for.

With that being said as of today there are multiple models out in the 3810T series and models coming out in TravelMate for 8371 for instance.

Which is the absolute best model # or part # of the Acer 13.3" in the USA market. In other words, the most feature rich model with all the trimmings.

Will the Acer Travelmate have the DVD and fingerprint reader while missing more consumer friendly features like better sound and the like? And if I use the pc for home and business usage, which one would be better overall?

I keep waiting because the Acer seems to be the best platform to work on yet prices will drop further, more models will come out with different specifications and the like. Hard to choose which one to buy.

My preferences are WIMAX, SSD, and a matte screen but I still want the dolby sound and the like which is on consumer models.

Am I correct to assume I cant have it all but that the Acer Travelmate will come closest to what I want and I should wait for this model to come to the USA in the coming months?

I guess for me its just a matter of waiting till Acer has all the specs I ideally want.

 

Travelmates have something between glossy and matte display (that's what one of shops wrote at our local forums)
Remember that they miss HDMI/DVI.
I'll probably wait some time as Lenovo, Compal, Dell and Asus (I might be missing someone more) will show their CULV laptops.

 

Do you think the travelmate will be good enough to work in the sun ?
When will those 4 manufacturers come out with their CULV's ?

 

As of today only the Acer has the best battery life at the magic 8 hour + with the Intel dual core 2 duo SU9400 ULV CPU.

The Lenovo T400s doesn't have this and neither do the Idealab models. It is core 2 solo only and unclear what the battery life is.

So Lenovo doesn't seem to be having anything on par with this.

As far as Dell goes, its thin and light is the Adamo which is also not what I want. The E4200 I believe is 12.1" ULV but I am not sure of the battery life. I don't know if any of them will come in a 13.3" with 8 hour + battery like the Acer and I don't know nor think they will.

I think in all honesty even when all the other products are out only the Acer series will qualify.

Acer Travelmate is missing HDMI but can have a dock with DVI and frills and the like.

Using a regular monitor with a notebook is not something I would ever do. If I need to hook it up with my computer I would be using a router to share files across the network. This computer is good for travelling only as its a slower CPU than a Desktop PC. Therefore the Travelmate series to me even with its missing HDMI makes more sense overall along with the fact it is either a matte or a hybrid matte/glossy screen.

A fingerprint reader is nice addition as well but can't those be bypassed easily and I wonder what I will be doing that requires security.

I have a feeling the Travelmate will be missing the dolby sound since its a business class machine however.

Seems like Business vs Consumer class may have different tradeoffs.

According to digitimes, the Travelmate will be out in July. (unclear as to which markets).

If anything comes out with 8+ hour battery life on the same weight or less than the Acer line with the 13.3" size with a ULV Dual core as a competitor I would love to know. But as of today, the Acer is the only one which has accomplished these specifications which I must say is an amazing feet that other makes have not accomplished to date.

Inventec is the ODM on the Acer Timeline. Unclear if the same ODM is used on the Travelmate as well.

Allegedly the DVD is included on the Travelmate from what I hear.

So Travelmate could be the one to get. But as for pricing and what it comes with has yet to be determined. Competitive outlook to date, nothing has surpassed Acer's specs for my needs with current or upcoming models from other vendors.

 

OK, my turn

@ Laptopaddict

About screen: Unfortunately I have no idea how this screen will perform in the sun.

About availability:

- ECS T30IL LINK / Olidada Altro LINK - out now, probably Europe only, 3 models, expensive
- Asus P30 & P80(this one not CULV) LINK - don't know when, might be not in US but the also write about 12h vs 8h battery life, so we don't really know
- Asus XS series - LINK - this year
- Lenovo IdeaPad U350 - LINK - should be July, no Core 2 Duo model?
- Compal 3 models LINK - should be Q3
- Packard Bell EasyNote Butterfly s LINK - out now or almost now, Europe only, +- Acer Timeline 8310 (Acer owns PackardBell), +- same price
- Dell Mini 11 LINK - Q3 and Dell i-dont-know-the-name-yet LINK - should be August, Compal will make it, less expensive Adamo alternative
- Dell and HP also have some plans LINK

One nice link with upcoming CULVs (most but no all of them desribed above)


I know, it doesn't look so good for US customers like for us in Europe

@ adamj023
look above

Sure it has dock option, but it's another ~100USD. Also Travelmate Timelines are 80-100USD more expensive than Aspire Timelines and I know that because they're already available in Europe (at least SU9400 version in Poland and Germany) so on the other hand I see it like: have glossy screen which I can live with most of the time OR pay another ~200USD fo not glosy screen to have DVI. Sure, not everybody will need DVI/HDMI but I want to use it with 32" LCD to watch movies and sell my big HTPC.
You can check prices at http://www.idealo.de

I've read that fingerprint reader is not so hard to be bypassed, but don't want to make offtopic.

13" Travelmate Timeline does not have DVD just like 13" Aspire Timeline. LINK

 

For $100 more that means $999 for the Acer Travelmate Core 2 Duo with fingerprint reader. Not bad at all.

I read one story which said it had a DVD. Even without it, it is not a big deal. For all the info you posted, there is not 1 model with 8 HR + Battery life with a 13.3" screen and 3.5lbs or under in weight. None of the off brands are of interest to me.

TravelMate 8371 for $999 will definitely be worthwhile. I wish they had Wimax and SSD and ATI available. Will see what the options are.

Prices should go down after its been out a few months.

I really don't see any other makes with offerings on par with what the Acer Travelmate 13.3" will offer me.

http://www.acer.de/acer/product.do?link=oln85e.redirect&changedAlts=&CRC=600100215#wrAjaxHistory=2

Found the specs on the German Travelmate. Seems to have everything I want.

Unless someone has a laptop on par with this travelmate under a different brand with same specs or better, it looks like Acer Travelmate is going to be my new laptop.

Specs include wimax, SSD option, and ATI option. All around has everything I can dream of.

The Lenovo doesn't have the core 2 duo ulv.

Dell and Toshiba don't have any models with 8 hour battery life and some.

I can't wait forever. Acer is first to market with a very good product and Acer Travelmate which should be due very soon will be no exception.

Somehow I doubt the new models will be on par or better with Acer which are really doing their job quite well.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'll probably take 13" or more likely 14" Acer Aspire Timeline myself when SU9400 whill show up in my country
I just want (and as You can see also must) to wait max 2 months and check.