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Specifications

Product HP Compaq nc8000 Acer TravelMate 3200 Apple PowerBook G4
Vendor HP Acer Apple
RRP (test configuration inc GST) AU$2795 AU$3699 AU$4499
Phone Number 1300 305 018 1300 366 567 133 622
Web Site www.hp.com.au www.acer.com.au www.apple.com.au
Warranty 3-year on-site 1-year RTB + 2hr Commitment Warranty Express Service + 1-year International Traveller's Warranty 1-year RTB
System weight including battery (kg) 2.96 2.18 3.1
Processor Intel Pentium 1.7Ghz M Intel Pentium 1.6Ghz M Power PC 1.5Ghz G4
RAM installed/max (MB) 512/ 1024 512/ 2048 512/ 2048
Hard drive capacity 40GB 40GB 80GB
Display size in inches 15 14.1 17
Native resolution 1024x768 1024x768 1440x900
Graphics processor & memory ATI Radeon 9600/ 64 ATI Radeon 9700/ 64 ATI Radeon 9700/ 64
USB (no. of ports) 2 2 2
Parallel (no. of ports) 1 0 0
Serial (no. of ports) 1 0 0
PS2 (no. of ports) 0 0 0
DVI 0 0 1
VGA 1 1 0
TV out (type of port) 1 0 1
Firewire (no. of ports) 1 1 2
PCMCIA card slot 2 1 1
SD/ MMC/ MS slot 1 / 0 / 1 1 / 1 / 1 0 / 0 / 0
Compact flash slot 0 0 0
Smart media slot 0 0 0
SPDIF 0 0 0
Docking port Yes No No
Optical drive type DVD-ROM/ CD-RW DVD+ recorder/ CD-RW DVD super drive DVD-R/ CD-RW
Fingerprint recognition scanner No No No
Integrated modem Yes Yes Yes
Integrated wired network (100M or 1000M) Yes 1000M Yes 1000M Yes 1000M
Integrated wireless network Yes Yes Yes
Integrated Bluetooth Yes No Yes


Fujitsu S-Series Lifebook Sony VAIO VGN-A29GP IBM ThinkPad T42 AOpen OpenBook 1557
Fujitsu Sony IBM Bluechip Infotech
AU$3999 AU$3499 AU$3599 AU$2799
1800 288 283 1300 720 071 1800 289 426 1800 803 802
www.lifebook.com.au www.sony.com.au www.ibm.com.au www.bluechipit.com.au
1 year 1 year international (optional 2 years extended local warranty) 3-year RTB 2-years pick up/repair/return warranty (battery only 1 year)
1.75 (with weight saver) 3.3 2.25 2.72
Intel Pentium M 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M 1.6Ghz Intel Pentium M 1.7Ghz Intel Pentium M 1.8Ghz
512/ 2048 512/ 2048 512/ 2048 512/ 2048
60GB 60GB 40GB 80GB
14 SuperFine 15.4 14.1 15
1024x768 1280x800 1024x768 1400x1050
Intel 82855/ 64 ATI Radeon 9200/ 64 ATI Radeon 7500/ 32 ATI Radeon 9600/ 64
3 3 2 2
0 0 1 1
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 0 1
2 1 2 1
1 / 1 / 1 (supports MS Pro) 0 / 0 / 1 0 / 0 / 0 1 / 1 / 1
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 1
No Yes Yes No
Super multi drive (DVDÃ,±R/RW and DVD-RAM support) Double layer multi format DVD recoder DVD-ROM/ CD-RW Multi format DVD recoder
Yes No Yes No
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yes 100M Yes 100M Yes 1000M Yes 100M
Yes Yes Yes Yes
No No Yes No

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Talkback 4 comments

    Sorry guys, but the reviewed x ...Anonymous -- 01/04/05

    Sorry guys, but the reviewed x86 machines seem rather lame to me.

    On 10th September 2004 I bought a Clevo M375E notebook that beats nearly every specification of the reviewed units.

    This unit has a Fujitsu 100GB HDD, Intel Dothan 2GHz, 2GB of PC2700 SDRAM, Pioneer single layer 2x DVD-RW burner, 54MB WiFi, build-in camera, 3 format card reader, 15.6" wide-screen LCD @ 1680 x 1050, S-Video out, dual display support, FireWire, Gigabit LAN, v.92 modem, IR, 3 x USB2, 1 x Type 1 PCMCIA and serial port.

    It is the fastest PC I have ever worked on, easily beating most P4 desktops in everything that is not hard drive or CDROM intensive.

    The only thing it lacks is BlueTooth, which was available as an option.

    The 2GB of RAM dent the battery life a little, as do the 2GHz Dothan and huge screen resolution, but I still get over three hours of practical work on a single charge with the WiFi turned off.

    When I bought it, the RAM was very expensive, but this has come down considerably since.

    This unit retail now for less than $4500.

    For taxation reasons, I normally replace my notebook once every financial year. If this reviewed collection is exciting the "envy crowd" now, I may hold on to this unit for another year. I can't see that updating only to get dual-layer or BlueTooth is worth my while...

    Surprised to see none of the h ...Anonymous -- 02/04/05

    Surprised to see none of the high-end Toshiba notebooks in this review. They are exceptional (albeit expensive) machines which definitely deserve a mention.

    As usual, these tests are quic ...Anonymous -- 06/04/05

    As usual, these tests are quick and light. If you want a notebook that will last hopping on and off planes, being thrown in the back of taxis, and travelling from home to work every single day, then test for a year. The only one left standing without a breakdown will be the IBM T42.

    I now have 18 of these in my company and apart from a dead CDROM and one dodgy video cable, they have been outstanding under very tough operating conditions. The 12 Toshiba Sats I had were ditched after 4 dead screens, 3 dead DVD-Roms, 9 dead HDDs and 5 dead motherboards (one of which was because the unit was dropped).

    The Apple is very nice, but if you want robustness with Wintel, then IBM and maybe Acer are the only ones to go for.

    you're wrong the apple powerbo ...Anonymous -- 02/05/05

    you're wrong

    the apple powerbook has a 100GB HDD, 128MB VRAM with dual link DVI, and firewire 800 is defineitly not new to the powerbook range. its been there for over a year

    digital optical audio out? dont see that on anything else out there.

    if you wnat to report, get the facts right morons

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