11.6" Acer Travelmate for $375 (edit: $289 for faster Celeron version)

[Kaido]

Update: Faster 1.4ghz Celeron model available for $289 at Adorama:

http://www.adorama.com/AC2617.html

Thanks to Roland00Address for the catch. See Zap's benchmark links for performance comparisons (beats the Pentium).

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Overstock.com has the Pentium model for $375:

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics...tml?cid=123620

Also on Newegg for $375:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834215547

Specs:

11.6" LED 1366 x 768 (non-touchscreen)
802.11n + Gigabit + Bluetooth 4.0
1.3ghz dual-core Pentium + Intel HD graphics
4GB RAM (max 8GB)
320GB HDD (no optical drive)
3.04 pounds & 1.1" thick
40 watt PSU
Webcam, Mic, 3 USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, VGA
Windows 7 Home Premium

Pretty decent deal on a basic new ultraportable laptop. It looks like a nice alternative to a netbook - small, no optical drive, slightly better CPU than an Atom. Some quick upgrades:

8GB RAM for $35:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231342

***************
Edit: Looks like it takes a 7mm drive, not the standard 9.5mm. Having trouble confirming, but here's a link to a Newegg search for 7mm drives: (up to 512gb)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...H&N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=7mm+ssd&x=0&y=0

Assuming it has a standard 2.5" SATA drive, I like the Mushkin brand of SSD's. The 120GB is $85:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226236

Or the larger 240GB is $180:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226226

So you can outfit it with a 120GB SSD and 8 gigs of RAM for under $500. Nice!

 

[luv2liv]

i still think it is overpriced for a netbook. maybe $250 since a nice netbook is about $200 now

 

[Kaido]

i still think it is overpriced for a netbook. maybe $250 since a nice netbook is about $200 now

I dunno, the cheapest netbook I found on Newegg was this one for $229:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834230359

Specs:

Windows 7 Starter 32-bit
1GB RAM
10.1 screen @ 1024 x 600
Dual-core 1.6ghz Atom CPU

So for ~$150 price difference, you're stepping up to a 1.5" larger screen, better resolution, quadruple the RAM (which is also upgradable), a better version of Windows, and a real CPU (albeit a Pentium instead of a Core i-series). 11.6" is usable; 10.1" is annoying, in my experience. I've been through my share of netbooks and have found that the larger 11.6" size is actually workable without driving you totally nuts (mostly due to the 1024 x 600 resolution on the netbooks, I think - half the programs get cut off on the bottom!). But, it depends on your needs. I think $375 for a "real" computer that is also ultraportable is pretty nice, compared to a netbook.

 

[Roland00Address]

This is better yes it is a celeron 1.4 ghz but they are both sandy bridge dual cores with 2mb of cache, the celeron actually has a higher ghz since it came out later than the the pentium b967 1.3 ghz

http://www.adorama.com/AC2617.html?g...FcsWMgodMBgAIA

289.50 and free shipping

 

[Kaido]

This is better yes it is a celeron 1.4 ghz but they are both sandy bridge dual cores with 2mb of cache, the celeron actually has a higher ghz since it came out later than the the pentium b967 1.3 ghz

http://www.adorama.com/AC2617.html?g...FcsWMgodMBgAIA

289.50 and free shipping

I'd be interested in seeing some comparison numbers between that Celeron and the Pentium...Celerons are typically slower, even at higher clock speeds. Otherwise a good deal, $289, nice!

 

[Zap]

I'd be interested in seeing some comparison numbers between that Celeron and the Pentium...Celerons are typically slower, even at higher clock speeds.

Your thinking is outdated. A Celeron is as fast as Intel wants to make it. Back with the first slot 1 Celerons, Intel made them L2 cacheless which hurt performance. Then they gave it a smaller cache (1/4 size) than Pentium II of the time, but at full core clock versus 1/2 core clock on the Pentium II so some things were fast, some slow. With Pentium III the Celerons just had merely 1/2 the amount of cache, so some things were same performance, some not as good.

Then came Pentium 4. Celerons again had 1/4 the cache. This is what most people think of when thinking "Celeron." This was back when Intel was banking on clock speeds and made the "Netburst" architecture. That particular architecture really hurt if not given enough cache, so the low cache Celerons suffered in performance.

Since then the socket 775 Conroe based Celerons were okay, still hampered by low cache but more by low MHz. Now the Sandy Bridge Celerons have 2MB cache, which sounds very little compared to Core i7 quads of 8MB cache, but is almost as much as Core i3 with 3MB cache. Indeed performance is actually (for once) awesome compared to same MHz but more expensive dual core Pentium and Core i3.

With mobile CPUs in particular, in the past Intel has made the cheaper Celerons unable to downclock (EIST/Speedstep) for power savings as artificial product differentiators. I'm not sure if anything like this is present with the ULV Sandy Bridge CPUs. I'm guessing not, since they always run at the same speed. Normal desktop Sandy Bridge downclocks to 1.6GHz, which is already above these in speed.

Intel® Pentium® Processor 967
(2M Cache, 1.30 GHz)

Intel® Celeron® Processor 877
(2M Cache, 1.40 GHz)

Both are Sandy Bridge dual core CPUs with 2M cache, same HD video, etc. Only difference is that the Celeron is actually higher MHz.

Pentium 967 1.3GHz Passmark score 1304

Celeron 877 1.4GHz Passmark score 1403

It is just a synthetic benchmark, so take it as you will.

If it were my money, I'd buy the Celeron. Except, maybe the TravelMate has a matte screen, which I'd spend money for. :sneaky:

 

[Kaido]

Your thinking is outdated. A Celeron is as fast as Intel wants to make it. Back with the first slot 1 Celerons, Intel made them L2 cacheless which hurt performance. Then they gave it a smaller cache (1/4 size) than Pentium II of the time, but at full core clock versus 1/2 core clock on the Pentium II so some things were fast, some slow. With Pentium III the Celerons just had merely 1/2 the amount of cache, so some things were same performance, some not as good.

Then came Pentium 4. Celerons again had 1/4 the cache. This is what most people think of when thinking "Celeron." This was back when Intel was banking on clock speeds and made the "Netburst" architecture. That particular architecture really hurt if not given enough cache, so the low cache Celerons suffered in performance.

Since then the socket 775 Conroe based Celerons were okay, still hampered by low cache but more by low MHz. Now the Sandy Bridge Celerons have 2MB cache, which sounds very little compared to Core i7 quads of 8MB cache, but is almost as much as Core i3 with 3MB cache. Indeed performance is actually (for once) awesome compared to same MHz but more expensive dual core Pentium and Core i3.

With mobile CPUs in particular, in the past Intel has made the cheaper Celerons unable to downclock (EIST/Speedstep) for power savings as artificial product differentiators. I'm not sure if anything like this is present with the ULV Sandy Bridge CPUs. I'm guessing not, since they always run at the same speed. Normal desktop Sandy Bridge downclocks to 1.6GHz, which is already above these in speed.

Intel® Pentium® Processor 967
(2M Cache, 1.30 GHz)

Intel® Celeron® Processor 877
(2M Cache, 1.40 GHz)

Both are Sandy Bridge dual core CPUs with 2M cache, same HD video, etc. Only difference is that the Celeron is actually higher MHz.

Pentium 967 1.3GHz Passmark score 1304

Celeron 877 1.4GHz Passmark score 1403

It is just a synthetic benchmark, so take it as you will.

If it were my money, I'd buy the Celeron. Except, maybe the TravelMate has a matte screen, which I'd spend money for. :sneaky:

Interesting, thanks for the update. So what's the difference between a modern Celeron and Pentium then? They seem like pretty much the same chip based on the data/measurements.

 

[Plester]

i still think it is overpriced for a netbook. maybe $250 since a nice netbook is about $200 now

This is not a 'netbook'.

 

[darkewaffle]

"celeron" and "faster" confuses me!

 

[puffdraggon]

I have this netbook/notebook and it is a mixed bag. The Celeron definitely gives this thing more oomph by far than my Samsung netbook, which has an Intel Atom single core, and it also seems to be faster than than my notebook with a Pentium T440 dual core. The thing is is bit of a lightweight on build quality, and I find the mouse pad to be on the clunky side - sometimes have to tap it hard, or tap an extra time on the pad to get it to respond. Likewise, the key board is OK but the keys do not have a positive feel -- they are kind of spongey. I can type something and end up having a character drop out every now and then.

So, for its size I love the power but would like the build quality to be better.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

The Celeron model that's $290 was $250 last month at Best Buy. (Or at least if the model that was at Best Buy was different, it was only due to slightly different SKUs - specs were otherwise identical.)

The CPU was more than sufficient for basic tasks, and with an SSD, it was pretty damn peppy for day-to-day tasks like emailing, word processing, Powerpoint presentation making, etc. The keyboard was OK. The trackpad was terrible. I ended up returning it because the trackpad was basically unusable.

 

[hans007]

i guess the celeron version is basically the chromebook with windows 7 and .3 ghz more speed.

 

[Vincent]

No gigabit ethernet for the one on Adorama.

 

[jlin101]

Assuming it has a standard 2.5" SATA drive, I like the Mushkin brand of SSD's. The 120GB is $85:

I know Aspire One's, and probably the Travelmates too, will only accept 7mm HD/SSD--so choose your drive carefully (7mm SSD's include Intel 520, Samsung 830, Crucial M4 and Kingston V200, to name a few).

If you want to save some money, you can also get a refurbished AO756 with Celeron 877/4gb RAM and 500gb HD for $235 from Secondpity.com (you can but it directly from them, or through Amazon or Buy.com).

 

[ghost recon88]

Anyone know if you can upgrade the CPU in this to an i3 or i5 mobile chip?

 

[xSauronx]

No gigabit ethernet for the one on Adorama.

if it performs anything like the 1.3ghz core i3 aspire x i have, that is not where you are going to notice a speed loss. i paid $600 for that thing a couple of years ago, and while "painfully slow" is something i reserve for even recent atom netbooks i have used, my i3 model is only "adequate" for a combination of web browsing and maybe one other low-performance task at a time before you want to throw it at something.

i gave it to my daughter, and had to crank down the settings on minecraft pretty damn low to get it playable on the thing.

for $300 though...thats tolerable for web browsing, netflix, email, that sort of thing
--oddly enough, that slow ass laptop had intel hd video and could pump out 1080 hd to my tv without any real issue, as i recall.

 

[Zap]

So what's the difference between a modern Celeron and Pentium then? They seem like pretty much the same chip based on the data/measurements.

"change" confuses me!

Fixed!

(7mm SSD's include Intel 520, Samsung 830, Crucial M4 and Kingston V200, to name a few).

Be careful when shopping for even these, because some like the Crucial M4 are sold in both sizes. For instance look at these following two Crucial M4 part numbers.

CT128M4SSD1
CT128M4SSD2

Crucial * Technology * 128GB * M4 * SSD

1 = 7mm
2 = 9.5mm

Any characters after that is for additional bundles past the bare drive (desktop kit, data transfer kit, etc.).

Anyone know if you can upgrade the CPU in this to an i3 or i5 mobile chip?

AFAIK ULV CPUs are always soldered on.

if it performs anything like the 1.3ghz core i3 aspire x i have... my i3 model is only "adequate" for a combination of web browsing and maybe one other low-performance task at a time before you want to throw it at something.

Yeah, I have a Samsung Series 3 with 11.6" LCD and a 1.3GHz Core i3. Used to have a Dell Vostro V131 with a Core i5 that turbo'd (I think) up to 2.5GHz. It felt a lot faster in just daily tasks. The Core i3 does feel faster than a single core Atom, however.

 

[Kaido]

Be careful when shopping for even these, because some like the Crucial M4 are sold in both sizes. For instance look at these following two Crucial M4 part numbers.

CT128M4SSD1
CT128M4SSD2

Crucial * Technology * 128GB * M4 * SSD

1 = 7mm
2 = 9.5mm

Any characters after that is for additional bundles past the bare drive (desktop kit, data transfer kit, etc.).

Still haven't been able to dig up a service manual, but the best info I've found is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LObYs4JRDdY

if you can find an SSD that is 7mm that is 750 sure. I did a lil research, this netbook can go up to 8GB RAM and take any hard drive that is 7mm thick no 9.5mm sorry.

 

[Kaido]

Yeah, I have a Samsung Series 3 with 11.6" LCD and a 1.3GHz Core i3. Used to have a Dell Vostro V131 with a Core i5 that turbo'd (I think) up to 2.5GHz. It felt a lot faster in just daily tasks. The Core i3 does feel faster than a single core Atom, however.

Any word if the Pentium/Celeron model supports stuff like 1080p Youtube? The netbooks always seem to struggle with the normal type of browsing stuff.

 

[Zap]

Any word if the Pentium/Celeron model supports stuff like 1080p Youtube?

Good question. I don't know. D: 720p works fine, and I haven't tried higher because the screen doesn't support higher resolutions. (talking about my Samsung Series 3 with 1.3GHz Core i3)

 

[AkumaX]

The Adorama version also doesn't have Bluetooth (along w/ gigabit mentioned earlier)

Aside from VT and 100MHz difference, they appear to be virtually identical

http://ark.intel.com/compare/67192,59802