HUGE IN-DEPTH ACER TM4402 wlmi REVIEW!!! - Page 4

Latest Drivers and Acer Utilities as of xmas 2005

Ok here it is exams, holidays, and travel kept me busy until today I had a
chance to get this list wiped up.

ALL DRIVERS FOR WINDOWS XP 32bit...

Ati video card drivers the tool has been mentioned before but I will link again
for convenience. Here it is, just open the program and click help and follow
instructions.

http://www.driverheaven.net/patje/

Realtek Lan drivers, this enabled some extra speed on gigabit Ethernet
networks also its good to know it is the latest from the actual manufacture.
A note on this one, get the auto installation program, if you want to install it
manually extract it to desktop then in device manager update the realtek lan
card driver using the winxp folder from the extracted archive.

Download page

Touchpad drivers - latest from the website, some useful features added I
recommend going into mouse properties (in control panel) afterwards and
looking at the synaptics tab for more options.

Download Page

GridVista Utility from Acer, newest version 2.29.0728

link

These are the Empowering Utilities which offer powerfull tools for acer laptops
more info here
also I installed and tested on my own system, all of them work, eRecovery
doesn't on my system since im using NTFS file system and that utility
requires FAT32. Other notes on ePresentation, I have not use a projector yet
with my laptop so I cannot say that it works 100% but most likely it will also
you can use ATI's own drivers to assist with using a projector.

Empowering_2.1.20.40(install this first)

Acer eDataSecurity Management 1.00.21

Acer eLock Management 1.7.6.17

Acer ePerformance Management 1.0.7.17

Acer ePower Management 1.6.6.277

Acer ePresentation Management 1.1.3.630

Acer eRecovery Management 1.2.15.1

Acer eSettings Management 1.2.14.27

I have looked throughout the European Ftp site which is the most active one
if anyone else finds newer versions make sure the datestamp is newer than
the date on this post then let us know about it.

Like everything out there I need to give warnings about changing drivers and
installing utilities that the manufacturer has not recommended (yet)
you need to know what you are doing in order for this to be benificial, you
must uninstall old versions properly and install new ones in the right order
(framework before other empowering utilities) also from the acer website
"If your computer came with Acer eManager bundled, please uninstall
Acer eManager and reboot the system. You can then install Acer
Empowering Technology."

Hope this helps a lot of people out there with the one of a kind Acer
4402WLMI "those who like it like it a lot" (from beer company but also fits
for this laptop)

Happy Holidays.

Update:
I have found that the latest audio drivers are 3.80 compared to the factory 3.7 link on website doesn't work but this file is easy to find using google just search for

WDM_A380.exe

New Bios update for TM4402 avaliable on Acer USA's web site, current version 1.18:
http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/for...words=&pupv=pu

Any significant changes to the 1.18? worth changing it for?

How about the newer TM4404 with a faster processor and greater hard disk capacity? Why not get that?

Hmm, extra 20 gig of HD, extra 512 RAM and a faster processor for about $100 more. I'm looking to see if they're going to drop the price of the 4402 significantly now. If yes I'll grab that on a bargain, if no I'll consider the 4404

I just wish they'd improved the memory on the vid card too.

Krista

TM 4404 uses the X200 onboard video card.

Undervolt 4402wlmi

#facts:
I have an ACER TRAVELMATE 4402WLMI (Turion ML30)
It gets too hot leftside of the touchpad
I've found this UNDERVOLT concept and it looks like perfect
I've downloaded RightMark CPU Clock utility

After start just here, reading this thread I tried to research the web to find safety conditions to make it.

#conditions:
system running WindowsXP SP2
RMCLOCK version 2.0

I've been using 0.95v @ 4x200Mhz (800Mhz) and 1.1v @ 8x200Mhz (1600Mhz)
(HARD to find that we should mark "Use P-State..." under specif profiles tab, and then RIGHTCLICK to fill one profile... That's ok, surpassed it)

Processor temps turned from 72.Celsius into 59.Celsius (13 centigrades!!!)

BUT.................

1. Gaming on the notebook, though the undervolt, put processor temps higher to 82.Celsius!! At this point, before the undervolt, the system itself was able to throttle it down to 800Mhz... But not now! I've saw it after finish the game and see Processor Temperature at 84.Celsius with both "AMD Powernow Dashboard" and "PC Wizard 2006" (could happen only under extreme CPU utilization, but how could I know when is it going to happen again? And without this control it would be dangerous and could OverHeat the CPU)
Tested it again with Prime95 & ATITOOL and it happens again.
Then, RMCLOCK disables the Thermal control that was made before??? How could I solve this???

2. Even after made my personal configuration, when the Windows restarts they are all set back again to default values!!! How to solve this??? BOTH "Restore CPU defaults..." are NOT marked! How could I solve this?

*Sorry the mistakes since my native language is Portuguese!

No it doesn't. On the acer site, and every other site that I've viewed it on for purchase the 4404WLMi specs are: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional; AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile Technology ML-34 (1MB L2 cache, 1.8GHz); 1GB (512/512) DDR333 SDRAM; 120GB hard drive; integrated DVD-Dual drive (DVD+/-RW); 6-in-1 card reader; 15.4" WXGA (1280 x 800) TFT display; ATI® MOBILITY™ RADEON® X700 graphics; 802.11b/g WLAN, gigabit LAN, V.92 modem

Krista

Krista, just in case you didn't catch my reply on your other thread about the 4404, I just received mine today. Very nice machine, and I can say with certainty that this thing is DEFINITELY not using the builtin x200. Hehe....the x700 is rocking on WoW and BF2.

Oh, and hello to everyone. I've been a lurker the past few weeks while I decided on a laptop to buy, and I just joined today.

Great to know! Oh it has built in graphics if you wanted to use them too? (like anyone would )

I just recommended this laptop to a co-worker, though I don't have it yet myself. I'm waiting for after tax season

How is it with the heat problems that people reported on the 4402?

Krista

Man this review is awesome (haven't read the replies though). While I personally don't have money to buy a laptop I recommended this one from CompUSA to my girlfriend so she is gonna pick it up for her brother.

wow im damm glad i saw a link to this forum on tomshardware and lucky that this was the first thread i saw since i've been lookin for info on this laptop and whether to get it. thanks alot L7frost i read ur whole review and based on it i'll be buying this laptop when my tax refund comes in. I'll jus add another 512 stick to make sure ^^ hopefully i'll be on this forum more often as well. btw im ordering it from newegg.com $1,099.00 anyone know a reliable site that may have cheaper price? jus wondering

i just got my 4402 from newegg. its an amazing laptop. i added a crucial 1gb pc 2700 stick which was 102 bucks from newegg also... www.techonweb.com had the same laptop for about 50 bucks cheaper last time i checked.

Congrats frost, best review i´ve found about the 4402. Im wiliin to buy one soon, still don know between the 4402 or the 4404. The extra 64mb memory on the X700 makes a lot of difference? These models dvd burner have the lightscribe tech? And some1 know a good place to buy acer´s notes here in brazil? dammit here they r expensive! thanks

Yeah, zipzoomfly.com has the 4402 for $999. I would buy it if it wasn't for the 64mb x700.

I just registered to say I got a 4404. I love this machine. Even though it's plenty fast I went ahead and ordered an MT-40 along with a GB of OCZ PC-3200. It should make it faster and should get better battery-life with the MT-40 in it.

Hints on the battery.
Set the Powerplay to maximum on battery power.
Go into the wireless driver properties, and set it to powersave. You'll loose some of the incredible range, but gain a good amount of battery life.

I only have 2 minor gripes about this machine.
No bluetooth
PC-2700 Ram. Although this seems to be standard with all Turion laptops it irks me a little since faster memory is a good place to squeeze out more performance.


It has an X700 just like the specs say.
It does use the Radeon® Xpress 200M Chipset. I think that's where the confusion is.


jaybyte: zipzoomfly has the 4404 for $1099

Zipzoomfly is still showing 5400 for the rpm of the hard drive in the 4404. Did you get a 5400 or 4200 drive?

Krista

It's a 4200 RPM drive.
It's plenty fast with the 60GB platters though. I don't really notice too much when loadig UT2K4. I run a raid0 setup on my desktop, so I'm used to quick load times. I don't hit that irritation point of slow-loading with this laptop though.

ok coo thanks for the link to zipzoomfly i dont really mind the hd speed unless it'll kill my movie conversions >.< though i do have a 5400 rpm 60 gb hd in my closet jus in case. Anyway my tax refund still hasnt come in so i still gotta wait

the acer bios doesnt support PC3200's speed yet... And I also read somewhere that the MT processors will not work on the Acers...