Acer Rolls Out Business Notebooks

Acer's new TravelMate 6493 and TravelMate 6593 aim at the mobile business crowed, with a hot-swappable media bay for extra storage...or an extra battery.

Acer America—now the parent company of Gateway—has taken the wraps off the TravelMate 6493 and TravelMate 6593 notebook computers, aiming at the mobile business crowd with a mix of performance and flexibility. Both units are built on Intel’s Centrino 2 platfor, and feature 1,280 by 800-pixel LCD displays and Acer’s MediaBay hot-swapping technology that enables users to swap in an optical drive, additional hard drive storage, or an extra battery, depengin on their needs. Both units also come with Acer’s Crystal Eye Web cam and video conferencing software for communications needs, and feature integrated fingerprint readers (which can be tied to application launches) for improved security.

The TravelMate 6493 features a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8400 processor, a 14.1-inch LCD display, 3 GB of RAM, Intel GMA 4500 MHD graphics, a 250 GB 7,200 rpm hard drive, and a 5-in-1 digital media card reader. The 6493 also touts 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, a double-layer DVD burner, and comes with Windows Vista Business pre-installed. The TravelMate 6593 ups the screen size to 15.4 inches, packs a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 processor, and comes with 4 GB of RAM.

Both systems are available now through Acer’s authorized resellers; the TravelMate 6493 is available in configurations with suggested prices ranging from $1,099 to $1,299; the TravelMate 6593 stars at $1,499.