Prime Notebook Computer Review

This notebook is good design and build quality, good gaming performance, have WSXGA+ resolution screen, and would be able to run the upcoming vista. It’s so light, just about 3.5 lbs. The case is made by the carbon fiber lid, that’s definitely very best but the hinges not strong enough.

The screen is decent but not too bright. The display is quite dim even with brightness on max and some tweaks with desktop overlay in Catalyst control panel. And the light leakage from the bottom of the LCD is disappointing. The 1.3MP camera above the screen is wonderful. And you can mimic your facial expression with animated avatars.
The speakers sound is really weak without any base or surround effect. Add external speakers for more sound quality.
The notebook came with Intel Core Duo. With 2GB RAM and X1600 its mix for good performance. Its also really good for playing games. With everything set to high, its run games well.

Acer 8204 specs :

Processor : Intel Core Duo 2.0 Ghz
Graphics : ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 256MB GDDR3
Memory : 2GB PC4200 533DDR2 RAM
Hard Drive : 120GB SATA HD 5400RPM
Optical Drive : 8x Combo with DVD+R DL
Battery : Lithium Ion 9-Cell
Screen : 15.4″ WSXGA

The 8240’s operating system is Windows XP Professional SP2 with Acer’s Empowering Framework suite, which includes a number of utilities to control the notebooks settings for security, network, performance and others. That’s not too important so you can uninstall it if you want. You can also uninstall power management utility to short windows boot time.
The benchmark result with running Super Pi program is Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi needs only 1 minute 14 seconds to calculate Pi to 2 million digits of accuracy. Its top speed. Dell Inspiron e1705 needs 1 minute 16 seconds and IBM ThinkPad Z60m 1 minute 36 seconds. The Acer and Dell use 2.0GHz Core Duo as their processor, and the IBM use 2.0 GHz Pentium M.

The keyboards curved layout works great and was very easy to get used to. The keys are smooth and feel nice to the touch. The touchpad is smooth and easy to use too. There are four programmable launch buttons above the keyboard and two switches on the front of the notebook that’s work good but not too practical.
The 8204’s ports are DC-in, RJ-11 modem, RJ-45 LAN, DVI, Headphones/speakers/line-out with SPDIF support, Microphone, Line-in, S-video TV-out, FireWire, FIR and Four USB 2.0.
The notebook uses Intel’s PRO Wirless card, which supports a/b/g networks and the speed is excellent.
The Battery is 9-cell lithium ion that can remove and have 3.5 hours life with low-consumption CPU and video card.
The notebook also comes with a security card system, which will add more protection to the data stored on your notebook and Bluetooth VoIP phone. Not usual and not too important.

The Acer 8204 is bad build built with mediocre dim screen and have no external volume control. It also have heat vent facing right hand on the mouse and the sound quality is poor. But it Good looks with comfortable keyboard. The battry life is good and the processor is very fast. The 15.4″ screen is also best for playing games.
This notebook not good enough but if you are looking for a light, business-like notebook and for playing games this notebook is recommended.