Product Reviews

The Acer TravelMate C102T was one of the first Tablet PCs to emerge, because Microsoft chose to lend the device to journalists at the reviewers' workshop in Seattle in summer 2002. I brought one back to the UK and worked with it for a month or so, before it had to go back to its rightful owner.

So here we are, with Acer releasing it to market. Is my wallet twitching desperately to order one for my ongoing personal use? Unfortunately not. Despite some strengths, this is a device that had many little annoyances as well as strong points, and I would certainly want to check out the alternatives before buying.

First, the screen hinge is adequately strong but never gave the impression that it was going to last very long. It's a great piece of engineering, but the end locks came open too easily. The screen works well, and I loved the full-sized pen complete with the expected pressure sensitivity, right button click and eraser function on the top. Less impressive was the lack of any storage space for the pen, and I knew it would be something I'd lose on a monthly basis. The built-in emergency pen was almost admittance to this problem, but is too small and fiddly for real use.

Holding it on your arm is a tiring experience - there are awkward bulges, and the the way the PC Card slot fits to the base means your add-on cards either dig into your ribcage, or you have to remember to rotate the screen the other way round in the configuration software. Surely it would be possible to have a rubber grip, which securely clipped onto the front of the keyboard? When using the tablet in vertical orientation, resting it on your left arm dramatically reduces the likelihood of you dropping the device. Acer would have to make

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the grip clip onto the other side too for left-handed users, or get them to rotate the desktop through 180 degrees.

As is typical of the breed, you get little built into the device. An 800MHz processor with 256MB of RAM won't set the world alight, and the 20GB hard disk is on the small side too. However, the 8MB graphics chip is adequate for an Office or vertical application-orientated device, as is the built-in sound. There's no USB 2 connectivity, but it does have FireWire. It also has 10/100BaseTX Ethernet, and you could instead opt for a version with 802.11b Wireless LAN and an extra 10GB of hard disk space for an extra £200. The lack of built-in Bluetooth is annoying, though, especially as this is exactly the sort of device you'd want to connect to a GPRS mobile phone.

It would have been nice for there to be some sort of memory expansion port for standard PDA-style memory, especially as the competing Toshiba Portege 3500 (see p133) comes with both CompactFlash and SD slots. Plus, with its fairly thick casing, there would surely be room for a built-in slimline DVD-ROM or CD-RW too, but again this has fallen by the wayside with an external USB 24x CD-ROM instead.

With regard to the built-in software, it's standard Windows XP for Tablet PC. In other words, a fabulous development platform for pen-focused vertical applications, and a mixed success running more run-of-the-mill Office applications. The number-crunching performance is adequate considering the relatively low-rent speed, but a power-user will want more - the overall benchmark score of 0.46 is a long way behind today's notebook standards.

And will the battery life be enough to get you through a working day? With an intensive rundown of 78 minutes, and 184 minutes under light use, it will certainly last a couple of hours away from the mains, but you're going to need more for longer meetings.

Overall, I would like Tablet PC to succeed, but the Acer is a little too old-fashioned and backward thinking in its hardware implementation to make me reach for my cheque book. Especially when £1,599 is at stake - you could get a fantastic notebook for a lot less, although you do get a three-year collect-and-return warranty. I expect Acer has learnt a lot from this device, though, and its next product could be a cracker.