PC Pro review update: Acer TravelMate 800

By Ben Hardwidge

Posted on 31 Mar 2003 at 11:44

PC Pro review: Acer TravelMate 800

In our recent review of the Acer TravelMate 800 we stated that the price was £1,299, which was based on the information given at the time of going to press. However, it has now emerged that the price was actually for the 1.3GHz version, and the price of the 1.6GHz version is £1,549. David White, the Business Manager for Acer UK, has agreed to take this down to £1,399 to get the price closer to what was printed, and has issued the following statement:

'With regard to the pricing advised for the launch of the Travelmate 800 Centrino product lines. The samples that were sent from Europe were understood to be 1.3Ghz Centrino solution lines as opposed to the 1.6Ghz version. Intended to launch at £1299.00 ex-VAT TM800LCi with 1.3Ghz CPU in fact launched at £1199.00, lower than anticipated. The TM803LCi launched at a much higher price of £1549.00, due only to the CPU delta.

In view of the fact that we do not wish to mislead customers and readers alike, I shall commit to reduce the price of the TM803LCi effective April 1st to £1399.00 ex-VAT in order to minimise the delta between the published price and the launch price.

Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this issue has caused'

The upshot of this is that the TravelMate 800's value for money and overall scores go down from 6 to 5. However, as it's still a great price for what's on offer, the TravelMate 800 retains its Recommended and A List awards for this month. Please call Acer on: 0870 900 2237 to get a supplier for the notebook at £1,399, and don't hesitate to inform us if there are any problems getting the notebook at this price.