My second 8204 just went back!

[137]

Hi everybody,

just got back from a distributor. He opened the box in front of me. We got 8204 out of the box, powered it up and installed everything.

The build date: 02/06

The screen actually appeared nice, bright with nice viewing angles. But one stuck pixel Oaky would maybe go through that, but than opened the Catalyst Center with the little car comming into the screen. No sound! Just with my ear very close to the keyboard. But then ran the Tokamak demos and here we go. Not very strong but noticable buzzing.

I decided not to purchase. I might be working with 3D stuff several hours a day and I will not risk a $3000 (yes over here it costs that much) notebooj with stuck pixel and some buzzing going on. The screen was better than on the first one, definitely much better. But, it is a shame for Acer...too bad guys.

I will have to wait. I am thinking of VAIO FE series (but shared Ge7400 sucks in comparison to X1600) or ASUS A8J, which is the same thing as TM8204 specswise, but with one more USB port and nice glossy shiny screen. The only difference is 14" screen, but it is much lighter as well plus it is WXGA. What do you think guys???

cheers

[Falafel]

Well apparently one person got the noise problem fixed.

So don't give up yet.

Check this thread out

[137]

Originally Posted by Falafel

Well apparently one person got the noise problem fixed.

So don't give up yet.

Check this thread out

Yeah, but why to pay the full price for a product that needs to go to the service center? It actually is illegal according to the laws in the Europe. If the producer sells the product and is aware of the issue, it needs to be announced and sold for reasonably lowered price. And what we get from Acer here? Just a stupid game of surprissed behaviour each time I call the service center! They told me twice(!!!!) they have heard for the first time about this issue. Bulshit (pardon my French...) they know about and mess up with their customers.

It is tragical comedy at the end of the day, when I was told by the distributor himself, he would never buy an Acer product, because of SIGNIFICANTLY higher number of complaints and returns plus warranty claims.

Major issues on the recent notebooks /repetitively/:

- HDDs not reliable and burning out
- screen invertors getting wrong pretty often (can confirm-twice on my 8104)
- major screen issues (light leakages, bad pixels, flickering...)
- Build issues and low durability

So good luck ACER, nice job done! Keep your customer care like this and soon somebody will hopefuly take your place over!

[wynand32]

Well, I'm glad I don't live in Europe. I don't mean to get political, but my golly: I guess I just don't need government "protecting" me from such things and, ultimately, driving companies out of business and ultimately limiting my choices. I think there are some issues with the 8204, sure, but Acer seems to be working to resolve them, and--the bigger issue--I for one have chosen to keep mine in spite of them.

[TaY]

asus a8j wont be out for sometime, as late as august possibly.

[BOFH1971]

What I find amusing about a lot of these posts about tech support issues, is that people actually think they will get better service from other providers like Dell/Sony etc.
At the end of the day, these companies do the minimum necessary for customer support, I have had to deal with most companies as sys admin, and tech support is a sore issue with so many companies due to lack of investment in their callcentres.
It is extremely rare that you will start by talking to anyone with technical knowledge.

Today with ACER (as I had to send back an 8204 with a faulty hdd and dvd drive, I was greeted by staff who acknowledged my knowlege with computers, and didnt try to make me do all the usual stuff I had already done to check the system.

acer laptops are pretty reliable, even the cheap ones, which is more than I can say for sony experiences, you only get decent kit if you buy top end stuff.

good luck choosing your laptop

[efalis]

137,

You'll never be happy with an 8204 because it's now tainted goods for you. Move on and find something else you like. Good luck.

- Ed

[scoobedo]

That's correct. Here in Europe, we buy a laptop in "new" condition. That means to use it and have fun, not to debug the lousy problems that the company decided not to worry about. If you pardon my expression, you guys look like suckers to me.

[scoobedo]

To 137,

I would like to add that it is plain stupid a fella pay 2400.00 US and look to spend another 400 or 500 dollars to replace the screen of the new laptop. Why to keep it in the first place? But if you look in this forum there is a thread about it.

[roughtcut]

Originally Posted by scoobedo

To 137,

I would like to add that it is plain stupid a fella pay 2400.00 US and look to spend another 400 or 500 dollars to replace the screen of the new laptop. Why to keep it in the first place? But if you look in this forum there is a thread about it.

Scoobedo, I agree that it is an expensive proposition. But, if you compare specs of all the laptops available now, you will find out that the only thing matching the TM8204 is the PowerBook from Apple. Now, I feel very comfortable around hardware and software, but where I could replace the screen by myself, I wouldn't be able to figure out easily how to run Windows on the Mac. It is apparently possible now to do that as well, but because of other issues (mainly drivers) the performace of this option sucks. I'm absolutely more than happy with the perforamce of the laptop, and where I do agree with EVERYONE here that a $2,400 laptop should have come with a great screen, unfortunately it did not. I decided to keep the laptop for performance, but at the same time I decided to try to replace the screen with something that would be easy on my old eyes. I realise that not everybody can afford the laptop for $2,400 and a replacement screen for $500 , but that's why I asked others that have done the same thing to post which screens they have used in their replacements to give everyone some options. Maybe you might have another laptop that doesn't have the performace of the TM8204, but it has a great screen. If that screen is compatible, the cost to you would by $0, or you can go on the cheap at eBay. Either way it's an OPTION. Again, I agree with you fully. We shouldn't be doing this after paying $2,400 for the top of the line laptop. But the only option ACER gives you is: live with what you got, or return it - and I don't accept either. Ulitimately it is our choice - as the buyers/users - what we decide to do.
Don't you think that it's nice to know that others are risking their investment in the laptop so all of us can benefit in some technical knowledge ? I sure do.

Cheers to all. This is a great forum with great people.

[scoobedo]

I agree with you about freedom of decision. It just sends the wrong message to Acer and any other company that sells junk.

[nocturne_sa]

im basically facing the same dilemma as 137... fell in love with the acer but the screen is a huge dissappointment and so thinking of looking elsewhere. The sony FE is an option but the 7400go is just not good enough... the asus VX1 should be coming out in april... but i recon it will be quite $$$ maybe even top the 8204 mark... so i dunno really...
if anyone could give me some advice id really appreciate it...
cheers