X-bit labs

14" Widescreen: Most Optimal Solution? 10 Contemporary Notebooks Roundup (page 2)

Category: Mobile

by Vasily Melnik

[ 06/07/2006 | 10:56 PM ]

Testing Participants

Acer TravelMate 3222WXMi

I’ll start off with this rather fresh model from Acer.

The device is agreeable to the eye and to the touch and would look equally well on a desk and in your hands. This computer features the exclusive folio design the point of which is to make the notebook look as a document folder rather than what it actually is.

Well, I wouldn’t say the designers met their goal. The texture and color of the material cannot conceal the simple fact that this is a typical notebook. You can only mistake this thing for a folder if you are looking at it from the front and a little from above, and only at dusk. Well, it’s just the job of the marketing department to come up with pretty names and their explanations. We’d better move on to details. There are no special surprises or odd solutions here:

Besides the speakers’ grids, there are power source indicators and buttons to turn on/off wireless interfaces (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) on the front panel.

There are two audio connectors on the left – for your headphones and microphone.

I really can’t understand why they have to put these connectors on the front panel – that’s not the best place for them. But it’s good that Acer moved them to the left so that the attached cables didn’t get in your way.