TM 3000 notebook delivers big punch

TM 3000 notebook delivers big punch

Zatni Arbi, Contributor, zatni@cbn.net.id

When Acer, Fujitsu, HP and Toshiba introduced their first generation Tablet PCs, was the market ready?

Granted, there are specific uses for the smaller notebooks with a touch screen, wireless connectivity, handwriting recognition and a slew of other facilities that we rarely see in an ordinary notebook.

If so, then perhaps IBM made the right decision not to jump on the Tablet PC bandwagon. Among top notebook PC vendors, IBM was one of the few that never introduced a Tablet PC product into the market.

Although Acer, HP and Toshiba have updated their Tablet PC lineup, a new trend has emerged. The current generation of ultraportable subnotebooks may now be competing with the Tablet PC and "more people outside Japan are buying the ultraportable notebooks," said Jason Lim, Acer's Country Manager for Indonesia. He should know, as Acer was the No. 4 notebook vendor worldwide and No. 2 in Indonesia for Q1 of 2005 with a 21.1 percent market share.

The ultraportable -- or super ultraportable -- notebooks have always been popular in Japan. If you still remember Toshiba's Libretto, you can bet that consumers in Japan have been able to buy the latest model Libretto for some time now.

Some people, some jokingly some seriously, say that the Japanese have smaller fingers than Westerners, and that is why the ultra-portable notebooks are so popular there but not in Europe and the U.S.

Perhaps, because most Indonesians' fingers are about the same size as Japanese ones, many of us have few problems using the smaller keyboard. Whether this is true or not, these ultra- portable notebooks are fast gaining popularity in Indonesia.

TM 3000 Series

Courtesy of Acer Indonesia, I had the opportunity to play around with Acer's light and beautifully designed TravelMate 3002WTC. Jason Lim and his colleagues certainly have a lot of reasons to be optimistic that this model, which has won RedDot Design Award 2005, will sell well in Indonesia.

Here are some of those reasons: Small as it is, the keyboard is surprisingly wide and very comfortable to use. It is a full keyboard with nice tactile feedback and a generous palmrest.

My complaint is, however, that the part of the palmrest just below the spacebar is a tad too high, and it blocks my thumbs each time I hit space. The touchpad is nicely located, although the buttons are again a bit hard to use. These are just two minor complaints, though.

At 1.4 kg, the TM 3002WTC is a very lightweight Intel Centrino-based notebook. Women will certainly love this notebook. The 1.73 GHz Intel Mobile Processor certainly provides more than enough horsepower to run standard Office applications. It comes with three USB 2.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet -- a relatively new feature on a subnotebook -- a modem, audio jacks, a FireWire and a VGA port.

The DVD/CD Writer drive is external, and it is included in the box. There is also a second battery that is larger and offers more power. Acer claims that the six-cell battery will give you six and a half-hours of power.

The battery is slightly taller than the standard, so it will protrude a little bit when you insert it into the bay. No floppy diskette drive is included, but this doesn't matter. With people using the USB thumb drives everywhere now there is probably little need for it.

Patents Galore

Deserving a special note, this ultraportable computer features at least three important new technologies. First, the Wi-Fi uses a more efficient antenna technology called SignalUp. It utilizes two specially designed antennas called the Planar Inverted F Antenna (PIFA), which are placed on top of the LCD panel.

The design produces a uniform three-dimensional signal sphere, which results in an omni-directional signal field. Still within the safe limit for human health, this technology patented by Acer allows the user to sit further away from the access point and still enjoy a stable connection.

The screen also deserves mention. Unlike most other ultraportable subnotebooks, the TM 3002WTC comes with a wide- ratio screen. The resolution is also quite high -- 1280 by 768 pixels.

More importantly, the screen uses Acer's CrystalBrite technology. You will recognize this type of screen by the smooth, specially coated surface. Acer claims that its CrystalBrite gives the user better color saturation, a higher contrast ratio as well as a sharper photo and image display.

Another feature that I have not seen before is Acer GridVista. The entire screen can be divided into two, three or four individual planes, and you can drop your applications very quickly into any of these "boxes".

This is good for quick comparison of a similar Word documents during the editing process, for example. You can achieve the same effect with the Split menu in Word, but with GridVista you will not need to manually drag and resize the windows.

Changing the BIOS setting, including the brightness of the LCD screen, does not require us to reboot the system. Acer has incorporated its eManagement suite, which lets us configure the system as necessary. The ezDock is optional, unfortunately.

And, if you have Bluetooth cellphone, you will be happy to know that this subnotebook, petite as it is, already has Bluetooth capability. There are LEDs and switch buttons on the front panel to turn on or off the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. There is also a 4-in-1 reader for MS, MS-Pro, MMC and SD memory cards.

However, if you are like me and find it impossible to read the ultra-fine text display on a computer screen, this subnotebook is not for you.

During my test I tried to change the resolution to 800 by 600 pixels, and I got stretched characters in addition to funny- looking icons. People with normal eyes will have little problem adjusting to the fine resolution, though. Another thing that is sadly missing is fingerprint security protection. I think this feature should now be included in every new notebook.

Nonetheless, the list of features found in the TM 3002WTC is already impressive. And, consistent with Acer's approach to the market, it does not cost too much to acquire this sleek notebook.

If you think an ultraportable, subnotebook computer with a extremely long battery life is what you need (and not a Tablet PC), by all means check this one out.