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Whereas the Acer Aspire range of laptops has a home/entertainment feel to it, the company's TravelMate models are aimed more at the mobile/office worker who is looking for a desktop replacement or a combination of power and portability to take on their travels. Positioned somewhere in the middle of the TravelMate range is the 4650 model.

Based on the Intel "Sonoma" platform, the TravelMate 4650 has the standard Acer folio, silver case appearance with a front-mounted release clip. Providing the power for this model is an Intel Pentium M processor with 2MB of L2 cache and 53MHz FSB with Intel 915GM/PM Express chipset depending on the exact model. Memory starts at 512MB of dual-channel DDR II which can be increased to 2GB utilising the dual soDIMM sockets. Hard disk sizes start at 60GB. You also get a 6-in-1 card reader covering MultiMedia Card, Secure Digital, Smart Media, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro and xD-Picture card formats.

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Slightly smaller than the 4600 model, the 4650 has a 15 inch SXGA+ TFT display with a maximum resolution of 1400 x 1050 resolution and 16.7 million colours. There is a choice of Intel 915GM integrated 3D PCI-Express graphics with Intel Graphics Accelerator Media 900 technology and up to 64MB shared VRAM or NVIDIA GeForce Go 6600 graphics with 64MB of external DDR VRAM. The unit I have been looking at had the latter option and produced excellent results in a variety of situations. DualView comes as standard with both graphics options as does support for Microsoft DirectX 9.0, S-Video/TV-out and MPEG-2/DVD hardware.

As with any mobile device, two features tend to be paramount with most users - those of dimensions/weight and battery life. The 4650's dimensions are 336.4 x 284.5 x 34.5mm (W x D x H) and its weight is a reasonable 2.84Kg. While Acer is claiming that battery life of up to 4 hours is possible with the NVIDIA graphics (up to 5.5 hours using the integrated Intel chipset), I was unable to duplicate this figure in some of my tests.

I manage 2.25 hours when playing DVDs using the supplied DVD Multi recorder drive and just under three hours when listening to MP3 tracks with the visualiser option switched on using the two built-n speakers. Admittedly these timings were for continuous use. A lighter, intermittent work load resulted in around 3.5 hours of power. An optional additional Li-ion battery pack is available for those who can not manage without unconnected day-long access.

There is a full range of connectivity options with the 4650. As you would expect with the Intel "Sonoma" platform, you get 802.11b/g wireless connectivity. There is also wired connectivity through the integrated 10/100/1000 Fast Ethernet card, a V.92 656Kbit/sec fax/modem and not forgetting Bluetooth. Dotted around the perimeter of the unit are numerous I/O ports. These include infrared, four USB 2.0 ports and Firewire IEEE 1394 port. You also get a VGA connector for an external monitor, S-Video/TV-out port and a type II PC card slot. As mentioned earlier there is a DVD burner.

Ample wrist-rest space is provided on either side of the touchpad which is positioned slightly to the left of centre and is topped by the Acer keyboard that has a 5 degree curve. I could detect no benefit, or conversely no downside, to the curved aspect of the keyboard. An additional four buttons in the top tight corner allow for quick access to certain functions. Unfortunately I had been sent a pre-production model and this did not have the required software required to activate these buttons.

The TravelMate 4650 comes with Windows XP Pro. Acer also includes Norton Anti-Virus, Cyberlink Power DVD, NTI CD Maker and a number of Acer utilities.

If I had one criticism of this laptop it would concern the positioning of the various ports. These are either on the left side or back of the unit. A right side or front location would have been more convenient. However I could live with this minor annoyance. Pricing starts at £759 for the TravelMate 4650.

http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/Acer_Laptops/cat.asp?PT_MasterCategory=y