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Since the 8204 is buggy, what would you buy??

post #1 of 30
3/28/06 at 4:32pm
Thread Starter 
I've read all I have to about the build quality of the 8204. No matter how many satisfied users are out there, there are FAR too many complaints and returns for a 2500 dollar laptop.

However, having said that, what else is out there?

What are our choices for a 15.4" screen, 2.0 Dual Core, and X1600 (or its NVidia equal)

Can anyone recommend anything else? Or just simply wait for something new in the next few months?
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post #2 of 30
3/28/06 at 4:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by skypine27
I've read all I have to about the build quality of the 8204. No matter how many satisfied users are out there, there are FAR too many complaints and returns for a 2500 dollar laptop.

However, having said that, what else is out there?

What are our choices for a 15.4" screen, 2.0 Dual Core, and X1600 (or its NVidia equal)

Can anyone recommend anything else? Or just simply wait for something new in the next few months?
I think there is the new ASUS W1J coming out as well as the A8J which are very strong horses. Do not forget though, that once you dig deeper into any other brand, you may find out the same level of dissapointment - simply because all of these are the high end and very new products. I do not have any feeling of defense for ACER whatsoever, but it seems like the 06/03 batch looks like free of the main issues and very well done.

Other words - there is barely a competitor in this class and that is really a shame. I wanted to focus on something else thousands times, but I guess I need to get stick with 8204 since, there is barely the same specs equiped lappy...

or any ideas there???
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post #3 of 30
3/28/06 at 5:18pm
No ideas, and it seems one can't get the Asus (or Benq) notebooks in the USA. But I want the same thing as you! 'Course, the MacBook Pro meets these specs, and they're cracking the last of the Windows drivers as we speak, but I want something that will be a "native" Windows machine.
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post #4 of 30
3/28/06 at 5:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kristoffel
No ideas, and it seems one can't get the Asus (or Benq) notebooks in the USA. But I want the same thing as you! 'Course, the MacBook Pro meets these specs, and they're cracking the last of the Windows drivers as we speak, but I want something that will be a "native" Windows machine.

So I guess, Acer is winning due to the specs. But I am certain if there would be any reasonable competitor, the crapy batches of 05/12 - 06/02 would take much more significant toll than it is now. People just do not belive and go into the purchases hoping their one will be working just fine...
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post #5 of 30
3/28/06 at 5:31pm
I've searched since the beginning of the year for a system with equivalent specs, and haven't found one yet. At least, nothing with either the X1600 or anything that is competitive with it, with a 15.4" screen. And, I'm really sold on the ATI X1000 line, given its performance in video (decoding/encoding/transcoding).
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post #6 of 30
3/28/06 at 6:13pm
The Alienware M5500 now has x1600 available, but you loose out on some of the specs that the 8204 has. Specifically, the dual core...Everything else you can get, but it'll cost more than $2500.

b
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post #7 of 30
3/28/06 at 6:25pm
And you think that the new Asus wont have any problems?
that all companys will hold back releasing their latest products, and only after months of testing and tweaking will they release it?
From what i've heard and its been mentioned in this thread before that the 03/06 are free of bugs.
At the moment the best laptop in the range your looking for is the 8203WLMi
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post #8 of 30
3/28/06 at 6:37pm
I would still buy the 8204 unless ASUS bring out the same spec at the same price

acer were first to market with core duo's firmware updates and patches will sort out many problems over the coming months

and I am one of ASUS' biggest fans, used lots of their mobo's gfx etc
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post #9 of 30
3/28/06 at 7:34pm
Thread Starter 
I am not 100% sure about the 6/3 build date being free of defects. And heres another problem. Most stores in the USA do not carry anything that high end. In fact, I think the only big store in the US that carries Acer Laptops is Comp USA. And they don't even have anything higher end than the 5672 listed on their website. Now, I guess its possible for select stores to carry the 8204 at their own discretion.

So what I'm getting at, is if I order a 8204 on-line today, how do I know I'm getting the new build? Newegg, Tirgerdirect, etc, won't exactly you that. I bet even if you emailed them, they still would not be able to actually go the warehouse, and verify what build they are shipping.

So unless you can see it in person, check the screen, hear the buzz (or no buzz), flip it over and read the build-date, I'd be scared shi t less to buy an 8204 right now.

So what's this new ASUS coming out? Is it going to be a dual core x1600 machine too? And even though it's new, I'd be willing to bet the build quality of their initial run will be alot better than Acer's was.

(again, I have a TM 8104 so I'm not just dumping on Acer because I'm a Dell guy or anything)
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post #10 of 30
3/28/06 at 8:00pm
I was considering the 8204 at one time but the as yet unreleased MSI-1039 has caught my eye. Now if the resellers can come through with the possible WSXGA+ screen upgrade.
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post #11 of 30
3/28/06 at 8:20pm
the way you will make sure you get a newer build, would be to order now or soon, imho unless they try to sell you a refurb all the stock has been sold.
the machines were out of stock as many thread posters noted.
now that other manufacturers have released their core duo's the prices seem to be levelling out a bit too
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post #12 of 30
3/28/06 at 8:21pm
Thread Starter 
Says on the XMELD website:

Quote:
Best paired with AMD Sempron (25W) or Turion 64 processors (MT 25W)
Are those AMD's answer to the Intel Dual Core chips? I don't know much about AMD, so what I'm asking is, are those AMD Sempron or Turion CPU's Dual Core?

Thanks
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post #13 of 30
3/28/06 at 9:49pm
No, AMD is releasing Turion X2's on May 9th. That's AMD's answer to Intel's Dual Core chips. Of course, other AMD dual chips exist, such as the Athlon 64 X2, but those are only found in big, heavy, and pricey desktop replacement bricks lol.
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post #14 of 30
3/29/06 at 1:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by skypine27
Says on the XMELD website:



Are those AMD's answer to the Intel Dual Core chips? I don't know much about AMD, so what I'm asking is, are those AMD Sempron or Turion CPU's Dual Core?

Thanks
That is just the standard AMD 64Turion which is not compatible with the new socket type that the Turion dual cores will be utilizing. You still get a 64bit processor which intel isn't even offering in the mobile market yet.
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post #15 of 30
3/29/06 at 8:09am
But to take advantage of a 64 bit processor you need software specifically written for it, otherwise it defaults to 32bit emulation negating any advantage...
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post #16 of 30
3/29/06 at 10:47am
Thread Starter 
I really like those AMD 64 chips. I had an Aspire 5003 with the 1.8ghz Turion 64 in it. As far as running multiple small apps in a Windows XP environment (ie, two Bit Torrents running in background, two Filezilla FTP's running, one SoulSeek P2P running) and then still being able to quickly browse the net, open video files, etc my Aspire 5003 was definitely quicker than my new TM8104.

I'd love to have a dual core AMD machine with an X1600 or GeForce card in it. I think that would be a really winner, and able to support Vistas 64 Bit features when it comes out.

I think I'm going to screw the idea of getting a 8204 and wait until these new AMD Dual Cores come out.
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post #17 of 30
3/29/06 at 12:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by skypine27
I really like those AMD 64 chips. I had an Aspire 5003 with the 1.8ghz Turion 64 in it. As far as running multiple small apps in a Windows XP environment (ie, two Bit Torrents running in background, two Filezilla FTP's running, one SoulSeek P2P running) and then still being able to quickly browse the net, open video files, etc my Aspire 5003 was definitely quicker than my new TM8104.

I'd love to have a dual core AMD machine with an X1600 or GeForce card in it. I think that would be a really winner, and able to support Vistas 64 Bit features when it comes out.

I think I'm going to screw the idea of getting a 8204 and wait until these new AMD Dual Cores come out.
You ar elucky you can wait. I am waiting on my reseller to get back to me with the info of 06/03 batch and its availability, cause in my case, even yesterday it was too too late for getting me a computer..... but hey, this way we could wait on and on and on, cause once you have the dual core 64 bit chip, the quad will be announced fo to come in few months etc... it is a constant evolution...which means I do not want M740 anymore fo rsure)))))
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post #18 of 30
3/29/06 at 12:42pm
The Asus W7V looks nice:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/29/a...re-duo-laptop/
"This 4.2-pound, 1.45-inch thick lappie packs in a battery-friendly 13.3-inch "Color Shine" LCD, Intel Core Duo T2600 (2.16 GHz) processor, up to 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 120GB of disk and even a DVD Super Multi drive and 1.3 megapixel rotating cam. Rounding out the specs are a new NVidea GeForce Go 7400 mobile graphic processor and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR for up to 3Mbps of throughput."

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post #19 of 30
3/29/06 at 1:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by indiekiduk
The Asus W7V looks nice:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/29/a...re-duo-laptop/
"This 4.2-pound, 1.45-inch thick lappie packs in a battery-friendly 13.3-inch "Color Shine" LCD, Intel Core Duo T2600 (2.16 GHz) processor, up to 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 120GB of disk and even a DVD Super Multi drive and 1.3 megapixel rotating cam. Rounding out the specs are a new NVidea GeForce Go 7400 mobile graphic processor and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR for up to 3Mbps of throughput."

Yeah, but GeForce 7400 is nothing but crap compared to the X1600 unfortunatelly....
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post #20 of 30
3/30/06 at 2:16am
I'd have to say that I'm really happy with the 8204 now. Mostly because it's light, powerful, able to multitask a ton of programs, pretty good with games and it's my only computer since i'm self employed. I look to getting a new screen sometime in the next four months, from screen tek. Otherwise this computer completely rocks.
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