Acer TravelMate 630XC Notebook Review

Not so long ago I tested the Acer Travelmate 621XC and it was clear that an Intel® Pentium® 4-Ì in the same box should be expected soon. Well, this is what we have today in our lab. According to Acer, TravelMate 620 are mobile PCs of the business class with extended functional capabilities. They are meant for users who need high mobility together with high performance. Well, it's not much time that passed, no new designs were invented, and the Acer's one was always brilliant. 

Technical characteristics of the Acer TravelMate 630XC (specification)

• Processor - Intel Pentium 4-M 1.4 GHz 
• Chipset - ALI ALADDiN-P4(M1671 and M1535+); 400MHz system bus
• Display - 14.1" TFT, up to 1024X768, 16.7 Ì colors
• nVidia GeForce 2Go 100 with 16MB DDR video memory (all 630 models currently ship with 32MB video memory) 
• DualView supported (operation with two monitors)
• Hardware 3D graphics accelerator, 4x AGP supported
• Hardware MPEG2/DVD decoder
• 256MB DDR-266 SDRAM; expendable to 1024MB (the tested model has 256 MB). 
• PCI bus based audio system supported 3D sound, SoundBlaster Pro and MS DirectSound compatible
• Drives. 
• Ultra ATA/100 hard drive with DASP system, from 20GB (the tested sample comes with Toshiba MK2018GAP 20 GB). 
• 8x DVD-ROM or DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive (the tested sample has Matsushita UJDA720 DVD/CD-RW), integrated into the notebook (AcerMedia bay). 
• I/O ports. 
1 CardBus PC Card connector (1 I/II Type) supporting ZV (Zoomed Video) 
• 1 Smart Card connector
• AC adapter
• ECP/EPP parallel port
• PS/2 compatible port for mouse&keyboard 
• Port for external monitor 
• Line-in/ Line-out/ mic-in audio ports
• FIR (Fast Infrared), IrDA compatible
• RJ 45 network port
• RJ 11 modem port
• 2 USB ports
• IEEE 1394 port
• Port replicator connector
• Communication
• Integrated 10/100 Mbit/s network adapter (Wake-on-LAN supported) 
• Built-in fax/modem 56Ê ITU V.90 (Wake-On-Ring supported) 
• Integrated adapter of wireless network 802.11b (optional, the tested sample doesn't have it) 
• Dimensions and weight
• 323 X 265 X 35 mm 
• 2.58 /2.66 kg depending on the components and model
• Power subsystem
• 59W Li-Ion battery pack
• 70W 100~240V AC adapter
• Run-down life: 3.5 hours (with ACPI used) 
• ACPI v2.0 supported 
• Windows XP 

Accessory pack:

• Notebook; 
• Power unit with cable; 
• Cover for the drive bay; 
• Cable for modem connection; 
• CD-RW disc
• World-wide 1-year warranty; 
• User manual in English (printed); 
• Guide for modem (!); 
• Brief Manual for XP Home Edition (in English); 
• Manual for Recovery CD (in English); 
• Technical support reference; 
• "Just For Starters" Guide; 
• TravelMate; 
• Card describing all main hot keys of the computer (typical of Acer); 
• Envelope with two smart cards
• Recovery packet in 5 CDs - boot disc with drivers for Windows XP, e-version of the user manual and Help, and two recovery discs for Windows XP Home Edition - in two languages. 
• CD with Norton Antivirus 2002; 
• CD with Nti CD-Maker Plus Edition.

First impressions

On the left: 

• Hard drive cover; 
• USB port; 
• SmartCard Reader' and PC Card slot; 
• Battery compartment cover.

On the back (left to right): 

• air vent; 
• power unit connector; 
• USB port; 
• PS/2 connector; 
• external monitor output; 
• expansion slot (for port-replicator); 
• parallel port; 
• audio-out; 
• audio-in; 
• telephone line connector; 
• network connector; 
• IEEE 1394 connector. 

The right panel, like the left one, is not overloaded - it contains a Kensington lock, power button (!), air vent and AcerMedia Bay.
 

First impressions from operation, ergonomics

Fir the first time I was looking for the power button quite long as I got used to the fact that it's located on the keyboard. But it's not a disadvantage. 

Well, it asks to insert a Smart card. It's the right time to show how information is protected in the notebook. The preinstalled software includes PlatinumPAS(TM), PlatinumSecure(TM) and PlatinumKey(TM). 

The PlatinumPAS protects data on the BIOS level. During the POST procedure the program checks whether a main or emergency Smart card is inserted, and if it doesn't find it the booting process stops. 

The PlatinumSecure extends capabilities of the authentication procedure on the OS level using cryptographic methods. When the card is ejected this program starts up the screensaver and locks the system. The emergency Smart card is necessary to enter the system and disable the protection if a main card is lacking. Besides, the utility allows for encryption of files. 

The PlatinumKey provides auto user authentication on sites which require passwords. 

All those things can be disabled. 

When we inserted the card the computer booted up successfully. The keyboard is very handy. I was never disposed toward TouchPads because you have to move your hands down to position the pointer or press mouse buttons. And here thumbs are right above the pointer management system, and you don't need to raise the base of the palm above the keyboard. The TouchPad of the TravelMate 620 series differs from that of the TravelMate 610. The swing scroller is replaced with a disc which has some more functions (like back-next in the browser). 
 

TravelMate 610	TravelMate 620

I don't know how useful these functions are, but the touchpad itself helps a lot. 

There are no more complains about its operation. Now let's turn to such function as Recovery. This process is implemented ideally in the Acer notebooks. You boot from the system CD-ROM and choose what you need to do. There are the following ways.

• You can set it back to the initial state - this option is very useful for resellers as all user information get lost - an image created by the Norton Ghost program is written on the disc. 
• Reinstall applications - this is a useful function if you have deleted a program and then understand you can't do without it.

 

 
 







• At last, driver installation - this is for advanced users who work with discs partitioned to their liking. 

Service and user support

Service. Any of authorized service centers (the list is available on the site) can implement diagnostics of a notebook and, in certain case, repair. But to be repaired a computer gets into the central service center, if the warranty is valid. If not, any Acer's service center can repair it on the spot. 

Site. The design is comprehensive, the descriptions of models are detailed and illustrated, supplemented with a demo program etc. There is a base of drivers and BIOS updates. 

The hot-line support was checked when we tested the TravelMate350 model. Well, it does work. 

Modernization

So, the scores: 
 

	Scores max.	Our mark
Accessories	25	24
Appearance and ergonomics	25	25
Ease in handling	25	25
User support	25	24

Total: 98 scores. 

We lowered the scores for 

"-1" - no floppy disc drive; 

"-1" - lack of user manuals and description of accessories on some sites in other languages. 

Tests

• Microsoft Word 2002 
• Microsoft Excel 2002 
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 
• Microsoft Outlook 2002 
• Netscape Communicator 6.0 
• McAfee VirusScan 5.13 
• Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1 
• Macromedia Flash 5 
• WinZip 8.0 

Well, as for the graphics results the situation is clear - an integrated controller and GeForce2Go are different things. And the disc subsystem doesn't shine. I think it's the chipset to blame. That is why the scores of the ZD Content Creation Winstone 2002 and SysMark 2002 Office Productivity are so close. 

The advantage of the new model in the MadOnion 3DMark 2001 is unquestionable. That is why I will omit the results of its predecessor. 
 

MadOnion 3DMark 2001
(32 bit color, 32 bit Texture Format, 24 bit Z-buffer depth, Frame Buffer - Double buffering, Hardware T&L)

Resolution	640X480	800X600	1024X768
3DMark Result	2807	2093	1397
Details
Game	fps
Car Chase
Low Details	47.8	34.7	23.4
High Details	20.9	17.7	12.5
Dragothic
Low Details	45.7	34.2	22.8
High Details	22.7	17.6	12.5
Lobby
Low Details	48.2	32.2	19.8
High Details	26.4	18.9	11.8

Finally, the Rage Games Expendable. 
 

Expendable, timedemo (fps)

Resolution	Color depth
	16 bpp	32 bpp
640x480	82.58	74.6
800x600	75.57	56.08
1024x768	58.68	outofvideomemory

Quite unexpectedly... I think it's because the test is not the latest, and 16 MB of video memory is not enough. Well, this computer wasn't developed for games. 

General scores

I'm very fond of the design of the Acer's notebooks! That is why the estimation is subjective :). All in all, this is a good business machine. Though I'd take the TravelMate 621XC, just to save money. But Acer keeps on reducing prices little by little.