The next time I’m stranded on a desert island, I hope I’ve got an Acer Travelmate TM2434WLCi Notebook computer with me.  This is a slim, lightweight (just 6.2 lbs.) laptop computer with enough versitility to be used for business or pleasure, although it’s not recommended for breaking open coconuts.  The touchpad controls are large and easy to work with, and the 15.4″ WXGA (1280 x 800) TFT LCD monitor has gorgeous color and a wide display.  While it only includes 256mb of RAM, you can upgrade to 1GB or 2GB (the manufacturer warns that 1GB memory cards may have limited availability), so it’s a budget notebook which can grow with your needs.

Your Acer Travelmate Notebook will arrive already loaded with Windows XP Home Edition.  It runs on an Intel Celeron 1.6 GHz processor, a 40GB hard drive (upgradeable to 60GB), and integrated graphics and audio cards.  A microphone and two built-in speakers are included, but if you want a more powerful sound system, NewEgg.com has a special deal which allows you to add a portable USB speaker for just $10 extra.  You’ll see this offer on the Acer Travelmate ordering page.  Also installed is a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive, great for enjoying music and movies, or for CD data storage.

Other standard and versatile features include a v.92 56K modem, a 10/100 LAN card, and 802.11b/g wireless LAN capabilities.  Even though the Acer Travelmate is a low-priced laptop, it nevertheless supports simultaneous display on the LCD monitor and an external monitor, something which will be of interest to movie lovers, office workers, and designers.  There’s one PC Card slot available for one Type II card if you want to add-on.

Not to sound like a broken record, but there’s no floppy drive.  Pick up a cheap external one and plug it into one of the three USB slots if you need it.  Otherwise, the Acer Travelmate TM2434WLCi is feature-loaded, and incredibly-priced at just $549.99, with bargain $12.49 three-day shipping!

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 9th, 2006 at 10:09 pm and is filed under cheap laptops. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.