BLENGOK

Wrapped in Acers new magnesium alloy "ProFile" chassis, the TravelMate 5720 can be equipped with a solid selection of Intel Centrino Duo mobile processors and enough conveniences to make your mobile computing a little more enjoyable. In this budget notebook a worthwhile purchase compared to low-priced offerings from HP and Dell?


Through an excellent online deal with TigerDirect.ca, I managed to get the Acer TravelMate 5720 for less than $900 with taxes and shipping included. The TravelMate 5720 features the following specs:

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7300 2.0GHz
• 15.4" WXGA LCD
• 1GB DDR2 533MHz RAM
• Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
• 100GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
• 8X DVD +/- dual layer recorder
• 53 watt-hour 6-cell battery
• 802.11 a/b/g WLAN
• XP Professional, SP2
• Ports/Slots: 1 IEEE 1394 (FireWire); 4 Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0); 5-in-1 memory card reader; VGA monitor out port; S-Video out; RJ-45 Ethernet LAN; RJ-11 modem; PC card slot; ExpressCard 54mm; DVI-D; headphone/speaker jack; microphone; Bluetooth

In case you didnt know, the TravelMate is the business side of Acers line of portable computers. Judging by its design and business software package, it seems to be a poor mans IBM Thinkpad, but more on that later.