The MACHINE - A YEAR LATER!! Who Mislead Whom?
It's about a week short of a year since I wrote the initial review starting this string. It's hard to believe.
Well, nothing much has changed. I had one video problem which Acer fixed in a week. Some regulator went, creating a horizontal line across the screen. Acer's service was great.
Last night I unintentionally did a "stress test" on the MACHINE, all because my BellSouth DSP/wireless went down. At that point, I didn't know what the cause of my Internet problem was so I started wailing away/pounding on the keyboard and palm rest. My wife, who hates the MACHINE because I give it too much attention (she is jealous), woke up screaming at me. If she didn't I think the MACHINE would have learned how to fly. (I guess that would have been a different write-up).
Well that's my version of a stress test. No damage done. I rebooted it just in case and everything runs perfect.
Well, that's my one year update. I can't see increasing the memory based upon other's tests. My hard drive is plenty big and seems to run fine at 5,400 rpm. Doesn't seem to be much I can do to update the MACHINE. So other than dream about a Core 2, this MACHINE does everything for me without a missed step.
Travel used to be a big issue for me. I used to lug a 10 pounder around the airports with dual 3 1/2 inch drives. Doesn't sound like much, but it was a beauty. Zenith 181. But I haven't done much travel in the last few years. When I think about travel, however, I do a little dreaming about the F-1000.
So other than a few dreams, I am very happy with this MACHINE. Oh, one new thing. Go to movielink.com or cinemanow.com and download a movie and watch it using BOSE-quality earphones. Just about as good as watching on my 52" Toshiba DLP. The MACHINE's screen and sound was unbelievable. (Would it be better using the headphones with an Audilogy PC card, or does that only improve speakers? If so, why?) To those of you who haven't tried these downloaded movies, give it a try. You can begin to watch the movies within a few minutes of beginning the download. You don't have to wait for the full download. It just keeps streaming behind you and with good bandwidth, it keeps up. I use wireless g and it did fine. Once it interrupted and asked me to wait. 15 seconds later the movie was ready to go and completed the two hour show. Oh, and if you are going to watch them in bed, as I do, put a towel or pillow on your lap! I have always contended that heat was no problem with the MACHINE but a two hour movie will heat up your groin a little too much. Maybe I got a taste of the gamer's point of view on this.
I wish I had more for you. Kinda boring. I love my MACHINE and due to some circumstances beyond your control, and mine, it is used most of every day. It probably has 5 years of use compared to most - except you gamers. Interestingly to me, that includes the keyboard. Except for some shininess of a few keys and the space bar, there is no wear and tear.
Since I may have used this MACHINE more than most, if you have any qustions, feel free to ask. I have the time.
A Final Thought: I just hope the F-5000 and F-1000 are not lost in the shuffle of Core 2. Acer missed a good 2 month period of sales following the announcement without inventory. I wonder if they will change the CPU in view of the AMD price cut, although I don't know how it affects the Turion. (They should delay production, if possible, and upgrde the units. Acer knew what was coming from Intel; I wonder why they committted to AMD and, on top of that delayed shipping). Us Ferrari owners paid top, top dollar but we knew we were getting top performance to go along with the good looks. If it only had medicore performance, we would not have paid the premium. I am even thinking of going to the E6600 for a desktop.
My best ramblings to all of you,
