8204 first thoughts... and they ain't good.

[nintariman]

wow ... the screen really IS rubbish. maybe a 1% notch above the 8100, which was horrible. I mean, REALLY. Staring at my 10.6" Fujitsu laptop w/ a run of the mill 10.6" WXGA display off to the side, I notice that it is at least 100% brighter. Insane. also... apply a bit of pressure with your finger to that "carbon fiber" lid, and watch as you see your finger make you think the LCD was a touch screen!!! A lot of good that upgrade did! Acer, get your priorities in order. You produce these massively powerful machines in a great form factor, and then you skimp on the display. Lame, lame, lame.

also, thank you acer, for installing so much RUBBISH at the factory, not providing a driver or Windows XP reinstall CD, and, finally, for partitioning the drive into 3 FAT32 partitions. Ace move, boneheads! Now burning this machine clean with a reinstall will most likely prove to be a royal pain in the A**.

ugh. good thing I just need this machine for the powerful processor and the form factor. a few people need to be fired over on the acer design team.

[TaY]

return your unit. It should not be rippling when u apply back pressure. mine doesn't ripple at all unless i feel like i am about to break the back paneling

And make sure to tweak your settings in CCC to make the screen better (saturation, brightness, gamma, colors). ANd double check that you have BIOS 3312.

Makes a world of difference

[CoolHotCold]

Wow. So much rubbish compared to what? a dell.. or a Packard Bell ? Its the least ammount of bloatware i've seen. Norton and a DVD burner software and DVD watching software... The Acer tools? wireless one is pointless by i like some of them and they actually help.
And i've yet to see any actuall proof that NTFS goes faster then FAT32. And you can convert it anyway. Hell you don't even have access to the first partition. What the hell is wrong with the Design.
And comparing a Fujitsu and Acer screens are just rubbish as Fujitsu have the Nicest screens out there.. No comparasim. and the LCD shouldn't be rippling.

XP Cd.. yes abit dissapointing at the fact it didn't come with one. But i can make my own so it doesn't really matter.

[kohaar]

Or you can do what I did and call Acer. They sent me a DVD with the install, free of charge.

[nintariman]

It's not a matter of NTFS being "faster" than FAT32, which is certainly debatable, but it being a more robust filesystem with more features (like hard and soft links, which i need).

I reinstalled XP and got rid of all of the unnecessary eAnnoyingWare from Acer. No problem.

I did install 3312 - I noticed that the brightness came up a bit once windows booted, which is fishy. makes me wonder if it's tweaking the ATI driver to artificially up the brightness. I tried messing with the catalyst settings. the end result is ... well, much like if you're editing an image in photoshop that was too dark to begin with. sure, you can up the brightness, but you're going to wash out the blacks. sure, you can up the contrast, but you're going to lose detail. sorry guys, just face it ... this LCD sucks. I've owned A LOT of laptops from manufacturers across the board, and, the truth is, Acer is pretty consistant with this problem.

What's wrong with the design? Well, I highlighted the problem of the LCD, but here's another interesting point, based on the machines that are in my room right now.

Idle CPU temperatures of the following machines:

Acer TM8104 (2.0GHz Dothan) : 51.0 celcius
Alienware M7700 (3.8GHz Pentium 4) : 46.0 celcius
Alienware M7700 MJ-12 (Athlon X2 4800+): 39.0 celcius
Acer TM8204 (2.0GHz Core Duo): 63.0 celcius

WOW! I'm glad I got the extended warranty on this guy. It's going to melt in under a year!

[nintariman]

Let me also note that i am not dissing acer on a whole. I bought this machine for a reason - it is A BEAST in an extremely compact form factor, and Acer has got the competition beat hands down as far as features and performance-per-pound go, no doubt. I am really not surprised that it runs so hot, and any hope to the contrary was most likely just a foolish dream on my part.

I'm mainly just sayin... Acer... Get with the times on the LCD, and you'll not only have happier customers, but you will have machines that very few can contend with.

[CoolHotCold]

Idle CPU temperatures of the following machines:

Acer TM8104 (2.0GHz Dothan) : 51.0 celcius
Alienware M7700 (3.8GHz Pentium 4) : 46.0 celcius
Alienware M7700 MJ-12 (Athlon X2 4800+): 39.0 celcius
Acer TM8204 (2.0GHz Core Duo): 63.0 celcius

WOW! I'm glad I got the extended warranty on this guy. It's going to melt in under a year!

Ha hahhaha my ideling temprature for the Acer (after its been on for almost 9 hours doing various tasks, games, internet and word proccessing) is just 38C
And that M7700 with a 4800+ must be doing some serious chilling to get that low.

You can upgrade the LCD if you want. yes Acer don't have the Best screens, i belive that goes to FUjitsu computers as their screens have a universal approval. But for me the brightness is great on my lappy.

[nintariman]

what program are you using to report that temperature? I'm using mobilemeter. Perhaps it's wrong...

[JaivanK]

@ Kohaar so you just called acer and they sent you a winxp copy for free. Not the image disk?

[kohaar]

No. They sent the image dvd.

[matt310]

Nintariman, do you have dark corners at the bottom left and right parts of your screen? I just got mine today (06/03 build) and have dark corners.

Thanks

[soulsaver_8229]

Or you can do what I did and call Acer. They sent me a DVD with the install, free of charge.
remember who you talked to/ cause i was told 30 dollars

soulsaver

[Deathwish238]

Any idea if you can upgrade the LCD within it to a better one?

[MSNealo]

Any idea if you can upgrade the LCD within it to a better one?

Not sure if you mean upgrade as in from Acer or upgrade as in replace.

If replace look here
http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=140247&highlight=screen

[Wiz33]

I really don't understand all these people bitching about the screen. Here's a few thing I have to say:

Yes, it's not the best screen around but I would say it's about average. It's not as bright or virbrant as some fo the premium screen but it's definately comparable to most other laptop in the same price range.

It is brighter than the 8104 screen (not by much) but I found the 8104 screen perfectly workable even in bright office envoirment. The only problem I have is using it under direct sunlight.

No, it does not have a wide viewing angle. but why would you need one? It's a laptop, it's not like you be seating to side of it while typing on it. It's perfectly good enough even if you have to sit a bit to the side and show someone else something.

One more thing. Those better looking premium screen usually only come in a laptop that's over $3000 ( I would spend the price difference on a Dell 2005 20.1" wide for home use) and most can't even come close to the Acer's performance.

[jaad75]

It's not a matter of poor horizontal viewing. The real problem are poor vertical angles. As far as i can see from pictures, vertical angles are much better in QD screens... Are all new 8204 equipped with QD?

[matt310]

I really don't understand all these people bitching about the screen. Here's a few thing I have to say:

Yes, it's not the best screen around but I would say it's about average. It's not as bright or virbrant as some fo the premium screen but it's definately comparable to most other laptop in the same price range.

It is brighter than the 8104 screen (not by much) but I found the 8104 screen perfectly workable even in bright office envoirment. The only problem I have is using it under direct sunlight.

No, it does not have a wide viewing angle. but why would you need one? It's a laptop, it's not like you be seating to side of it while typing on it. It's perfectly good enough even if you have to sit a bit to the side and show someone else something.

One more thing. Those better looking premium screen usually only come in a laptop that's over $3000 ( I would spend the price difference on a Dell 2005 20.1" wide for home use) and most can't even come close to the Acer's performance.



I agree with what you say, but mine has dark(er) lower left and right corners. Does yours?

[137]

It's not a matter of poor horizontal viewing. The real problem are poor vertical angles. As far as i can see from pictures, vertical angles are much better in QD screens... Are all new 8204 equipped with QD?

Well, still the QD screens appear to have issues:reallymad

[jaad75]

Do you think that LTs are better? I suspect that poor vertical viewing angles in my LT are related to light leakage somehow. I need to check LT screen without that issue. I don't care too much about grey lines, but it would be nicer not to have them. And I don't think that noise problem was related to LCD screen model at all, so I would prefere QD screen anyway...

[Michaelx]

Hi All,

I´m from Germany and I own my 8204 since the beginning of Feb. Maybe I was pure lucky, but I have NONE of the issues I can read here in this forum. Production date of my 8204 is the 5th of December (so most probably one of the first shipped) and my display is clear, crisp and bright.

In overall, when I decided to buy a new notebook (And I had some before like a Apple Powerbook G4, a Dell 5150, an Acer Aspire 1693WlmI) my choice at the end of the day was the 8204.

Why? Pretty Easy - There were NO other choices, equipped with a T2500 Dual Core, 2GB Memory, SATA-Disc and the brandnew ATI X1600 (YES, Sometimes I play Games ;) ).

After nearly 3 months using the 8204, I´m still satisfied and happy with the performance and everything. I often read in here, questions like "8100 vs. 8204" but is that comparison really worth a discussion? If someone wants to buy a notebook, he/she should always compare Apples to Apples. If you DO this excercise, there are (still today, more than 4 months after the introduction of the core duo at CES) not that much notebooks with this performance and the installed components. Check it out, it IS still true.

I really don´t want to bother anyone, but also discussions about pricing is not worth the discussion. Compare Apples to Apples and you would recognize, that the current pricing of the 8204 is still great. I did this in the last days and was looking for an Apple MacBook Pro (where it is possible now also to install Windows). I´ve chosen the same CPU, I checked 2GB RAM, I checked the 100GB harddisc (120 is not available) and guess what? I ended at nearly 2.900 Euros (I got my 8204 for 2499.- Euros). You can always discuss about design, but what about the bluetooth phone (if you need it or not is another discussion) or the Smartcards or the additional 20GB of space?

Check for a dell. T2500 Core Duo at 2Ghz o.k. but not availably with the X1600 . Even if you can live with a slower harddrive and configure this notebook with more or less the same components you´ll end up with a HIGHER price.

Final Comment:

I´m not married with Acer but the true DATA proves that Acer has with the installed components by far the BEST offer.

Is this a guarantee that you will buy a notebook with no failures? Of course not, but this can always happen also with a 5000 Euro Plasma Panel or a new car or with everything you can imagine.

I for myself can only recommend the 8204.

All the best,

Michael:cool2:

[colinw]

I'm with Michael on this. I'm still happy with the 8204, and there is currently no other laptop available in the UK that is comparable in all areas, so, if I was in the market today, I would still be chosing the Acer.

[jaad75]

It looks like the first batch had slightly better quality control (to build 8204's reputation?) or maybe there weren't so many notbooks sold? 0601 and 0602 are the worst so far - the most of complaining users have those build dates...

[iBorg]

It looks like the first batch had slightly better quality control (to build 8204's reputation?) or maybe there weren't so many notbooks sold? 0601 and 0602 are the worst so far - the most of complaining users have those build dates...

Mine's an 0602, and as with Michael, mine is flawless. My screen is clear, crisp and bright, no light leakage, no buzzing, no "dark splotches," no stuck/dead pixels, etc. The "gray lines" issue appears to be present in most LCD's (except for my G4 PowerBook, surprisingly!), and is not visible in any of my use, including Photoshop and video editing.

Some individuals have had problems, some serious, and some repeated, without a solution by Acer repair, and that's unfortunate, but "lemons" happen in all laptop manufacturers - the only other comparable laptop available is the MacBook Pro, and look at the issues they've had! In Apple forums, it's generally advised to NEVER buy until "revision B," to avoid the snafus of a new design. I just couldn't wait to buy this puppy, and I feel lucky that my 8204 had none of these issues. I wouldn't trade it for anything on the market!

[jaad75]

But it shouldn't be a matter of being or not being lucky, right?

[137]

But it shouldn't be a matter of being or not being lucky, right?

absolutely correct! amen

[CoolHotCold]

heh ColinW you oviously haven't checked rockdirect yet. Their CTX xtream is unbeliable... and so is the price..

[iBorg]

But it shouldn't be a matter of being or not being lucky, right?

"Lucky" may not be the right word, since we don't have a percentage of "satisfied" users (they don't generally flood the forums, since they're not having issues - except for obsessive users like myself!). "Lucky" would insinuate that I had a better than even chance of getting a defective unit, and I don't think that's the case.

No product manufacturer is going to have a 100% flawless rate. Prior to this laptop, I've been all Apple for the past 18+ years, and their production quality is generally thought to be as good, or better, than anyone elses - but reading Mac forums would make you think they have a 0% rate of flawless units!

Perhaps I should have said I was fortunate to have not been "unlucky" as some other forum posters!

And I STILL wouldn't trade this puppy for anything else available!!

[efalis]

I have a 0601 and no problems of substance (my BT mouse drops now and then). Yes, I think I have grey lines - but I don't notice them except on that quadrant test, and my other LCDs have some variant of it anyway. Since 3312 I have no buzz that is noticable, even on Tokamak. The machine performs what I bought it for: crisp performance while building a lot of software and doing other work. The minor (IMO) flaws I mentioned above aren't worth any attention in my case, and I'd have to be looking for them to notice them.

- Ed

[cdd543]

I will say a few words about my new 8204. It came from buy.com...great service by the way. I got ddr667:) and have no buzz from the gpu:dance2:
Of course I have the same screen as everyone else and it could be better, but after tweaking I can live with it. I don't have any stuck pixels, but do have darkness in the bottom rt corner. It isn't very noticeable though and seems to have something with the viewing angle. If I look at it straight on it looks normal.

There are no perfect laptops out there that I know of and I have tried many of them and they all have one issue or another. I paid $2164 for a laptop that still doesn't have much competition(smaller than 17 and powerful) yet. That may change when the w3j and others are readily available, but that remains to be seen.
I feel like I got a pretty kick a** machine for the money.

[ben1000]

I had almost the exact experience as ccd, having just received my 8204 from buy.com. I also have the dark corner, but can live with it...

1 reformat later, and I'm a happy camper.

Best,

Ben

[iamapato01]

Well I got my 0603 build 8204 and what can I say? There is one stuck pixel in the upper right of the screen-its blue. BIG DEAL. Everything else with the laptop is flawless and I have NONE of the reported issues. My quicklaunch buttons wont work right at the moment but that should be fixed shortly. Either way, I'm 150% happy with the laptop.

[jaad75]

Could you all do some screen tests? I need to know if your LCDs can display colors correctly. The problem was mentioned before as "background noise" and is clearly visible if you check grey levels in 1% steps. It is very easy to notice with any screen test: some colors/shades of grey are not displayed as solid (blocks are filled with grain/noise) and it looks like GPU uses combination of two shades to get estimate color. It makes 8204 USELESS in anything related to photography/graphics. I need to know if you all have this issue. Check the driver and bios version + screen type, manufacture date etc. Thank you.

[FastLaneJB]

Well the RockDirect you mention is a 17inch laptop so it's bound to be able to fit higher spec, hotter hardware in it. You cannot compare a 17inch laptop to a 15inch in terms of hardware.

Same as comparing a 15inch to a 13-12inch laptop. The bigger the laptop, the more hot hardware they can fit in and cool correctly. The downside is they become hotter and less portable. Hence with the slower components the smaller laptops are light and generally have better battery life. So it depends how much you plan on moving the laptop and what you want it for.