Specifying Intel wireless in addition to the usual Intel CPU/ chipset combo is what allows makers to call their notebooks Centrino. For Acer, the closeness to Intel has paid off handsomely but not completely: The Acer TravelMate 803LCi delivers stellar performance and battery life, but its wireless performance was dead last in our testing.

Big yet thin, the 803LCi is a 15-inch-display notebook designed for business but nicely suited to multimedia diversions. The gray-and-silver 803LCi measures 1.2 by 13 by 10.7 inches (HWD) and weighs 5.9 pounds as tested; travel weight with the AC adapter is 7.0 pounds. It has an integrated SmartCard reader, four USB 2.0 ports (the most among the units we reviewed), Bluetooth wireless, and FireWire. Buttons on the front lip control Bluetooth and wireless Ethernet; such an exposed location might cause the buttons to be toggled inadvertently, however.

Despite the big screen, the 803LCi's large battery and Centrino underpinnings kept the unit running for 5 hours 15 minutes on our BatteryMark test. (A second battery, priced at $160, adds 3 hours to this time.) The 803LCi turned in the best score on our mainstream Business Winstone test but could not complete the Multimedia Content Creation Winstone test (not unusual in systems that have just begun production). On our wireless tests, the Acer system lost the signal at 110 feet. The other five notebooks tested here managed 150 to 210 feet.