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8204 first thoughts... and they ain't good. - Page 2

post #21 of 33
4/22/06 at 2:29am
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.
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post #22 of 33
4/22/06 at 2:59am
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...
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post #23 of 33
4/22/06 at 3:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 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...
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!
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post #24 of 33
4/22/06 at 3:31am
But it shouldn't be a matter of being or not being lucky, right?
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post #25 of 33
4/22/06 at 3:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jaad75
But it shouldn't be a matter of being or not being lucky, right?
absolutely correct! amen
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post #26 of 33
4/22/06 at 5:11am
heh ColinW you oviously haven't checked rockdirect yet. Their CTX xtream is unbeliable... and so is the price..
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post #27 of 33
4/23/06 at 1:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jaad75
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!!
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post #28 of 33
4/23/06 at 2:28pm
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
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post #29 of 33
4/29/06 at 6:12pm
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
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.
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post #30 of 33
4/29/06 at 11:00pm
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
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post #31 of 33
4/30/06 at 12:47am
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.
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post #32 of 33
5/1/06 at 2:16am
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.
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post #33 of 33
5/1/06 at 1:24pm
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.
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