Acer releases quite familiar TravelMate 3020 series

After unseating Toshiba at the number three spot among world notebook manufacturers, what's there left for Acer to do on their path to world domination? Why, re-releasing a four month old laptop with the exact same specs and a brand new paint job, of course. Acer has announced their TravelMate 3020 series, which copies exactly the specs of January's 1-inch thick 3010 series (1.66-2.16GHz Core Duo processors, 12.1-inch WXGA screens, 802.11a/b/g, external DVD burner), but adds an iBook paint job. The notebooks should be available now, and start at around $1650 in the low-end.

[Via Engadget Chinese]

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2006 12:51AM]

Uh... the iBook is silver?

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2006 1:12AM]

Looks like that leaked Dell, but white/silver.

[Rollins Posted May 5th 2006 1:15AM]

Everyone appears to be copying the built-in webcam idea from Apple. I'm not complaining, I really like it, and I hope my next laptop has one.

That said, this does not resemble an iBook much at all. Sorry.

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2006 1:25AM]

Jake,
Apple wasn't the first to come out with laptop with camera. Sony first came out with Picturebook 4~5 years ago, which had camera on it's laptop.
I am a Mac enthusiast but I gotta admint Apple is not the first innovator of everything. They just happend to have more influence than others. (things that others had failed, Apple made it happen)

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2006 1:36AM]

Nice laptop from acer. The monitor looks nice.

http://laptops-review.blogspot.com/2006/05/asus-leather-laptop-so-your-study.html

[Rollins Posted May 5th 2006 1:37AM]

I knew I'd forgotten something. Mea culpa.

Revised: the other manufacturers are doing it in part because Apple made it popular.

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2006 2:43AM]

I just feel sad for anybody who buys this. It'd be like getting the knock-off version of The Lion King at Christmas from some relative who hardly even knows you. "Thanks. Yeah, it sure is white. No, not crappy in the least. No really. Thank you so much."

[mrmckeb Posted May 5th 2006 3:58AM]

Apple coloring? Come on you engadget fanboy writers... So now Apple owns color too???

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2006 9:09AM]

These Acer goons are quite the marketing geniuses. They offer a decent price, good product, but the key here is that these boys are communicating all the time.

Although I am a little partial towards toshiba because I draw with my tablet pc, I never stop to see what the competition has to offer.

I agree with #7 on the apple fanboy wrtting style, It bothers my eyes.

Alexander Wunderlich

[John Hinds Posted May 5th 2006 9:38AM]

Doesn't this have pretty much the same specs the Macbook is suposed to have?
If so, why does the low-end package cost $650 more than they are suggesting the low-end MacBook will be???

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2006 10:49AM]

Nukes, I don't think all the marketing in the world can save a bad product. Every Acer product we have here at work has problems with it (monitors, laptops, lcd). We have effectively stopped buying Acer.

Good luck to anyone that buys Acer, they aren't getting our money any more.

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2006 1:24PM]

Acers are shoddy build quality. For the same price you can get an Asus W5F which is a much nicer machine. pretty much the same specs maybe better.

[(Unverified) Posted May 6th 2006 3:48PM]

Yeah, white plastic electronics existed long before Apple decided to adopt the look. Just go take a look at vintage electronics from the 50s.