Acer barges in at the bottom end of Tablet PCs

 

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By Matt Whipp

Posted on 8 Oct 2003 at 15:06

Forget ultra-lightweight, long battery life, mobile processor, premium-priced Tablet PCs. Acer's new TravelMate will do little travelling if you have to carry it by hand, but at £999 ex VAT and packed with power, it has its sights firmly set on the classroom.

In particular, the Acer TravelMate 250PXCi introduces a new range of desktop replacement Tablet PCs with an eye on getting in the catalogue of the Government's Laptops For Teachers campaign, (and their students).

Rather than a slate design, the 250PXCi is a traditional notebook hinged affair, with a pull out strut behind the screen to give stability.

Instead of a touch-sensitive screen, the 14.1in digitised matrix display recognises the positioning of the supplied stylus whether or not it is actually touching the screen. The screen itself is tested for resistance to the type of pressure applied by unruly school children, as is the keyboard which can be lock so that little elbows don't create problems when leaning on it.

Weighing in at more than 3kg, you might expect some heavy duty circuitry, and you wouldn't be disappointed. A desktop Pentium 4 chip clocked at 2.6GHz, 512MB memory, a 40GB hard disk, CD-RW/DVD optical drive and even a floppy sit alongside a host of I/O ports including four USBs, 10/100 Base-T Lan, two Type II Cardbus and VGA, plus there are WLAN or Bluetooth options.

A two-and-a-half hour battery life should get you through double maths, although it might be a little shy for extensive business travellers.

Still, £999 ex VAT means Tablet PCs no longer have to be a premium mobile device, and can actually offer, at least on paper, pretty good value to boot.