Acer expands notebook line

Acer America expanded its notebook offerings with the introduction of two high-end models featuring large screens and long battery life.

Acer debuted its TravelMate 7100 series to round out the top of its notebook line. Two models incorporate mobile Pentium MMX chips running at 200 and 233 MHz and an intelligent power management scheme that Acer claims allows a single battery to last more than seven hours when running the Windows OS.

In January, Acer purchased the notebook manufacturing and marketing arm of Texas Instruments (TI). Since then, the Taiwan-based company has continued to sell TI notebooks under the TravelMate and Extensa brand names while rolling out several new models.

In August, Acer announced that its lower-cost desktops and notebooks would be available at electronics stores such as Circuit City, Sears, and Wal-Mart, in a bid to tap the consumer market, especially the rampaging sub-$1,000 segment. Nonetheless, Acer's market share has been slumping.

The TravelMate 7130TE features a 233-MHz Pentium chip and a large, 13.3-inch active matrix screen. The 7120 comes with a 200-MHz Pentium and a 12.1-inch active matrix screen.

Both come with 3.2GB hard drives and 32MB of synchronous DRAM. The 7100 models also accommodate interchanging a CD-ROM drive, a second, 2GB hard drive, and a floppy drive.

TravelMate 7100 models will be available from resellers and also through major PC mail-order catalogs, with shipments beginning on December 1. The 7120 will sell for $3,999, while the 7130TE will go for $4,599.