Acer TravelMate 630/AOpen 1545
The Acer TravelMate and AOpen notebooks seem to have been put together in the same factory. They are cosmetically different but have the same connectors in the exactly the same places and feature almost the same running gear. The Acer features a Pentium 4 2.0GHz processor, while the AOpen features a P4 1.8GHz. Both are equipped with 256MB of RAM, a 40GB IBM hard disk drive, a 15in display, and a 32MB nVidia based graphics accelerator.
The Acer has a Smart Card reader where the AOpen doesn't, but the Acer only features a DVD-ROM drive, where the AOpen has a combo DVD/ CD-RW drive.
We found the Acer notebook a lot more aesthetically pleasing than the AOpen. The arrangement of keys on the Acer is a little different to what you may be used to—the whole keypad is slightly curved—but to its credit, it is quite comfortable to use. The AOpen on the other hand has a standard square keypad.
These two notebooks are quite heavy. One of the reasons is because of their large 15in displays. The Acer is a little lighter mainly because of its curved case, which doesn't occupy as much space. The Acer has a rubber Disk Anti Shock Protection (DASP) rubber mechanism, which the AOpen doesn't.
On the performance side of things there wasn't much between the two. The Acer should have been a lot faster because it had the faster processor, but in fact it was slower in some of the overall tests. The Acer didn't perform as well in Business Disk or High-End Disk. Its poor performance in these tests may have been due to the different IDE drivers and different firmware versions that were pre-installed.
In terms of battery performance they were almost identical, and they performed quite well in comparison to all the other notebooks. Only the Toshiba managed to run for longer.
| Product: | Acer TravelMate 630 |
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| Price: | AU$4999 |
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| Vendor: | Acer |
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| Phone: | 1300 366 567 |
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| Web: | www.acer.com.au |
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| Interoperability: |
½Good selection of connectors. |
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| Futureproofing: |
Large 15in display, only one PC Card slot. |
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| ROI: |
½The AOpen offers better value for money. |
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| Service: |
1-year warranty. |
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| Rating: |
½ |
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| Product: | AOpen 1545 |
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| Price: | AU$3799 |
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| Vendor: | BlueChip InfoTech |
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| Phone: | 02 8745 8400 |
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| Web: | www.bluechipit.com.au |
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| Interoperability: |
½ Good selection of connectors. |
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| Futureproofing: |
Large 15in display, only one PC Card slot. |
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| ROI: |
½ Similar performance to the Acer, so better value. |
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| Service: |
1-year warranty. |
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| Rating: |
½ |
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2%
4%
