Acer launches TravelMate Timeline series and Aspire One Pro

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Posted on 28 Jul 2009 at 12:06

Acer has unveiled a new range of business laptops with a claimed battery life of over eight hours, plus a business version of its Aspire One netbook, the Aspire One Pro.

The TravelMate Timeline series of netbooks is similar to the Aspire Timeline range, with a more business-like design, magnesium alloy chassis and features such as fingerprint readers and docking ports.

Acer's claim of day-long battery life are credible: the TravelMates use the same Intel ULV (Ultra-Low Voltage) processors as the Aspire models, such as the 3810T we reviewed in this month's issue of Computer Shopper. This achieved an amazing ten hours of battery life in our light usage tests, even though Acer conservatively rated it at "eight hours plus" based on the MobileMark '07 benchmark.

The new Timelines will support multi-touch gestures on their touchpads, but we found the touchpads were too small on the 13in model for our liking. There were some nice touches though: an LED indicator on the battery tells you roughly how much charge is left, and the eject button for the optical drive is conveniently located on the top edge of the case, rather than on the side.

Acer has also included disk anti-shock protection for its hard disks, and it claims the inclusion of Intel's Laminar Wall Jet cooling technology will keep the laptop cool while sitting on your lap.

The new Acer One Pro is a business version of the popular Aspire One netbook, and features a smarter design and improved video conferencing abilities. The built-in webcam and microphone have features that correct for ambient light and sound to get the best picture and voice quality. It has a reinforced hinge design for heavy usage, and weighs 1.3kg.

Acer claims a battery life of seven and a half hours, which is partly due to the use of an LED-backlit screen, which runs at 1,024 x 600 resolution.

3G will be offered as an optional extra in the next couple of months on TravelMate and Aspire One Pro models. The TravelMates' 13.3in, 14in and 15.6in models mirror the consumer Aspire range, and will ship with a choice of Core 2 Solo and Core 2 Duo processors. Prices range from £579 for a single-core 13.3in model, to £709 for a dual-core 15.6in version. The Aspire One Pro will cost between £349 for the standard XP Home version with a 160GB hard disk and 1GB of RAM, to £449 for a model with XP Pro, 2GB of RAM and a 64GB solid state drive (SSD).

Author: Barry de la Rosa