Qualified OK...
Written: Apr 28 '00 (Updated Feb 03 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Small & Fast
Cons: Slight hiss from the LCD panel
The Bottom Line: Runs well with Windows 2000 - not recommended with Windows 98. Acer support has been highly problematic.
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| sncestes's Full Review: Acer TravelMate 340T PC Notebook |
Update 2/2/2001
This is going to be a bit long winded but...
This laptop has had occasional problems booting (cold or warm reboot) Windows 98, from the day I bought it. However, as time went along it got worse. It would stop booting either just before the desktop was displayed or while the desktop systray items were being built. The only way to clear it was power down, sit thru the scandisk checking and try again. Once it took me an hour to get the machine up. For a long time I thought I had loaded some program that was causing the problem. However, I purchased the new 12GB hard drive (that came with 0 useful instructions on how to migrate current 'stuff') and it hung again immediately after a fresh install from the recovery disk. I knew then it was not my problem and I UNFORTUNATELY decided to send it back to Acer. 1st time back after main board replacement it hung after about the 4th reboot. Back to Acer. 2nd time back, after they replaced the HD and memory, it hung on my first attempt to boot it. And I discovered they replaced by 12GB HD with a 9GB HD! After an angry call back to Acer I finally talked to a supervisor 'Ken' who promised to find the HD and personally monitor the machine when I sent it back. Ken did as promised, found my original HD and installed a BIOS update. On return the machine booted 4 or 5 times without a problem. The warm reboot problem still existed but I think that that is related to the MS knowledge Base article (that I now can't find) regarding the Acer's M5229 disk controller. Another interesting point is that it looks to me like the BIOS update they installed is not available on the web. I tried that one and was warned that it was 'downlevel' from what they installed.
The upside of all of this is that, rather then screaming back to Acer, I decided to try Windows 2000. After I removed Windows 98 from the machine and installed Windows 2000 -- the boot problem is gone. Overall Window 2000 on this machine (Note: I had previously added memory for a total of 192MB) is a great improvement and it runs noticeably faster. Systray add-on’s like HotIDE and hibernation support are now built in. I have seen two or three 'hangs' (hard - no mouse response or KB response) over the last couple of weeks but at least 0 problems booting the machine.
Downside? Very unimpressed with Acer support though I give kudos’ to Ken for letting me bend his ear and following through with something that actually helped me. I still like the machine though I can no longer recommend it if you want to use Windows 98.
End of update.
Update 10/22/00
About 2 months ago the hard drive started making a 'whirring' noise. At one point I thought I was losing the hard drive but the noise has stabilized to just a constant mild drone.
I have added a Iomega Zip drive (USB) and found incompatibilities with it and the external CD/Floppy. The CD won't connect if the Zip is plugged in and vice versa. Once the CD is connected then the Zip gets disabled. I have to disconnect the CD & re-enable the Zip via the Control Panel System Device Manager. Email to Acer Technical Support about a month ago has been ignored.
I have downgraded my recommendation slightly.
End of Update.
I purchased my 340t because I was looking for a smallish laptop that had enough ‘oomph’ to support my programming work in VB, Access, and Powerbuilder that would integrate easily with my home network and travel well. It has not been a disappointment. I am extremely satisfied with the machine.
First, the few rants that I have
Shortly after receiving the laptop and installing a few applications it began having trouble booting. The machine would hang while building the systray on the bottom of the screen. I finally gave up and rebuilt the hard drive using the recovery disk and have had no problems since. The CD and Floppy are housed in a separate unit that is almost as heavy as the laptop itself. Being separate, the CD would be difficult to manage on a plane but the point is probably moot since I recall that using a cable like this would not be permitted on a plane anyway. The LCD panel makes a slight hissing sound that is a bit distracting in a very small quiet room (like my home office). The 2MB video memory is a bit on the small side.
Lots of raves!
The machine has been terrific; it weighs 4 pounds, is fast, small and has many features built in. The screen is very bright with no viewing problems and large enough (12.5” diagonal) but not too large (the plane thing again), for my needs. It has a 450MHz Pentium III processor; 6GB hard drive and came with 64MB of memory. Adding another 128MB was completely painless. Shop around for memory though as Acers rates are a bit high. I found memory from a reliable distributor for about 1/3 their price.
The machine has lots of built ins. There is a 10/100MB Ethernet, 56K modem, one USB port, IR Port, Mic/Line in/Line out, and one PCMCIA slot. There is also a PS2 port that can be split to support both an external keyboard and mouse. The speakers are small but they sound surprisingly good. The external video connection can support desktop expansion, i.e. 1/2 on the laptop and 1/2 on the external monitor. It also has the usual parallel and serial ports. The external CD/Floppy can be connected and disconnected when the machine is up and running. Battery life is ok at about 2 hours or so. I have found the capability to ‘hibernate’, power off, and later resume where I left off very useful.
The case feels like its made of metal and it seems very strong. Acer support actually was useful and helped me reconfigure an ‘as delivered’ odd keyboard setup that caused the ‘ and ~ keys to ignore the first key press and then display twice on the second.
To wrap – I am thrilled with my Acer and, as long as you don’t always need the CD, would highly recommend it!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
sncestes
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Location: Washington
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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