Acer TravelMate 290 Laptop (1.4 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, 802.11 b/g, DVD/CD-RW Combo)

Hit the road without feeling weighed down with the 6.2-pound Acer TravelMate 290 notebook PC. The Travelmate 290 features Intel Centrino mobile technology to give you the 54g wireless connectivity and extended battery life you need to work just about anywhere as well as a 1.4 GHz Intel Pentium M processor. Other features include a 40 GB hard drive, 512 MB of installed RAM, a combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, and Windows XP Professional.

The Basics

• Hard Drive: The 40 GB ATA/100 hard drive is on the small side compared to other notebooks. However, it does offer a decent enough capacity for storing documents and productivity software for road warriors--but not enough for much multimedia storage.
• Processor: The 1.4 Ghz Pentium M processor is considered at the middle of speed range compared with other Centrino notebooks (with current speed topping out at 1.7 GHz). Because of its design, the Intel Pentium M gets more done per clock tick than a Mobile Intel Pentium 4, thus providing the discrepency in GHz measurement (i.e., 1.7 versus 3.2). The Pentium M processor is designed specifically for low-power mobile usage, and it features the latest in power-saving technologies--ensuring you push your battery and productivity to the max. It has a front-side bus (FSB) of 400 MHz and a 1 MB L2 cache.
• Memory: The 512 MB of built-in memory (DDR SDRAM) is a good start for power users. It has two memory slots in total, with a maximum memory expansion up to 1 GB (2 x 512 MB).
• CD/DVD Drive: It is equipped with a combo drive that is capable of reading and writing of both DVDs and CDs. It uses the DVD+RW format, one of two formats for rewriteable DVDs.
• Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has a 109-key key keyboard with 6 launch keys (1 for power button, 1 for wireless on/off switch, 1 for Internet browser, 1 for e-mail, 2 programmable buttons) and a touchpad with 4-way scroll button.

Sound and Graphics
The Travelmate 290 features a large 15.1-inch XGA TFT display with a native resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. Video is powered by an Intel Extreme Graphics 2 card with 64 MB of video RAM. It also has an sound card that's integrated into the main board, and offers built-in stereo speakers.

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
This Travelmate 290 model has an integrated 802.11g (or 54g) wireless LAN, which is quickly becoming the most popular wireless standard and is compatible with 802.11b connections as well. You get a good range of external connections, including:

• 3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
• 1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) ports for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
• 1 VGA monitor port
• 1 S-Video port for connecting to a TV
• 1 fast infrared (FIR) port
• 1 PCMCIA (or PC Card) slot (Type II)
• 1 headphone jack and 1 microphone jack

It also offers and integrated 56K modem (V.92) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Preloaded System and Software
The Aspire 1700 comes with the Windows XP Professional operating system (which adds Microsoft's IIS Web server, back-up and recovery utilities, Remote Desktop, and other enhanced business features). Other preloaded software includes Norton AntiVirus 2003, Adobe Acrobat Reader, CyberLink PowerDVD, and NTI CD Maker 6.

Dimensions and Weight
The Travelmate 290 is nicely portable, measuring 10.9 x 13.1 x 1.3 inches (L x W x H) and weighing 6.2 pounds--though this is a bit heavier than other Centrino-based notebook PCs.

Power
It is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that has 2.5 hours of battery life (depending on usage), 2 hours of rapid charge, and 3.5 hours of in-use charge time.

What's in the Box
This package contains the Acer Travelmate 290 notebook PC, AC power adapter, and printed operating instructions. It's backed by a 1-year limited warranty for parts and labor as well as a 1-year International Traveller's warranty (ITW).