Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi
Notebook Reviews > Acer TravelMate > 8204WLMi

In just the span of a year Acer has moved up the ranks in the notebook arena, securing a good spot in the market share sweepstakes with a wide range of attractive value-for-money models.

The Taiwanese company also makes some top notch performance models like this TravelMate 8204WLMI from the TravelMate 8200 Series. This is Acer's Intel Centrino Duo model featuring the T2500 (2.O GHz) processor. Acer pulls out most (if not all) the stops with this model by endowing it with powerful state of the art components like a 12OGB SATA HDD and ATI's powerful Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics controller with 256MB dedicated VRAM! Not to mention that Acer offers a generous 2GB of DDR2 system memory.

Other great features of this TravelMate include a 15.4-inch widescreen (WSXGA+) TFT LCD display and a DVD-Super Multi double layer optical drive. Another cool feature of the 8204WLMI is that it uses the same carbon fiber cover technology first seen in the Acer Ferrari notebook some time back. This reduces overall notebook weight while maintaining build quality and sturdiness.

Acer has also incorporated a stylish silver colored 1.3MP CMOS camera to the top of the screen. This camera can be rotated to take still/video images in a variety of angles.

Flip open the cover and you'll come face to face with the keyboard that's set in a semi-circular design with ample palm rest area around it. The wide and large touchpad is centrally located below the keyboard. Apart from this you get just 5 buttons on the top right hand corner - power, 3 quick launch keys and the green Acer Empowering Technology button launching Acer's system control software suite. All other I/Os and buttons are neatly wrapped around the four sides of the unit. On the front edge of the 8204WLMi is a silver inlay that houses the stereo speakers, audio input options, Bluetooth, FireWire and the 5-in-1 card reader. You also get a DVI connector on the back to take full advantage of the unit's 3D capabilities.

On the 3D side of things, the remarkable X1600 controller is one of the best notebook 3D graphics out there. You'll be doing desktop-type gaming with no problems on this TravelMate. Besides the stiller 3D performance, the 8204WLMi is a top performer all around. Don't forget it has a Dual Core 2.0 GHz processor with 2GB of DDR2 RAM as mentioned above.

The Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi is a top notch notebook with cutting edge features, components and styling. Well done Acer.