Your 8204. Happy or Not Happy. That is the question. - Page 3

Did I read somewhere that this is your second HP, you had to get the first one replaced? Man you have bad luck with laptops

Yes, but the first one actually suffered froma cosmetical problem - it had a minor scratch on the glossy finish of the LCD together with one dead pixel. I came back to the store the next day, in literally 20minutes there came a HP representative who took the laptop back and the same day I got brand new replacement together with discount on a bag! Nice, isnt it. That is what I call service

Actually then I bought the PCMCIA Audigy SZ sound card which had the jack output broken, they gave me full refund with no question immediately.

I think the problem is, that they do not pay enough attention on testing when it leaves the factory. Just because it is getting costly on time and money. So...they just produce and sell and that is cheaper to exchange couple of them - or to repair them, They do pay the people in the service centers anyway so... I think it is certainly a portion of a bad luck, but also it just shows what the quality control probably is nowadays, no matter what brand...

To msnealo. Do you have to constantly make jibes at people for posting there opinion. If you disagree, at least write a concise intelligent reply instead of resorting to childish attacks on a persons credibility. I don't care if someone returned a notebook a hundred times, they are still entitled to an opinion. You need to stop being so defensive, it's a notebook, get over it. I actually love the notebook but hate the screen, which sucks, fact!!!!.

Thanks enlighten but if you have a look 137 has already posted 14 responses in this thread already. It's getting too much, everytime a thread starts up about am 8204 he is one of the first to respond. I'm not saying he can't have his opinion but when I started researching this laptop I kept getting bombarded with his reports of how bad the laptop is.

Try here or here or here or here and these are just a couple of the thread's that he's started never mind all the threads he's commented in as well.

Sorry about the quips they are cheap shots but I do help people as well, I'll just have to try harder.

Thanks for the above reply 137 about getting your HP replaced I really do think you have bad luck.

Overall, I am very happy with my 8204. Had it for a few months now. I work on it 10-14 hours a day, 6-7 days a week. I use it to run my business (graphic design consulting, photography and web dev). There were three choices when I bought this machine: The MacbookPro, the Lenovo T60 and the 8204. The Acer has the best specs, the best price and the best overall bang for the buck. Sure, it's a little rough around the edges, and some things took a few tweaks to get right, but I would totally recommend this machine to someone who will use it to work for a living.

If all you're going to do is use it for gaming and running 3DMark specs, you'll likely never be happy with anything.

I suggest you to read this thread again then...
BTW, You say that you use it for graphic design and photography - is the screen quality good enough for this purpose in your opinion? What about "the background noise" - have you ever experienced this problem?

My screen does not have the background noise issue.

However, 80% of the time, I use this machine with an external, calibrated, graphics-quality monitor.

Ok. So brightwhite is happy with his notebook. Take look what he wrote couple of weeks ago:
"...I had the hibernation issue which was easily fixed by installing the Hotfix.
I have the dark corners which I will have fixed when I have time to send it back for a few days.
I do not have grey lines or buzzing when under high graphical load.
My Orbicam doesn't work, but honestly, I couldn't really care less. Someday when I have a chance, I'll sit down and figure that one out..."
Do you think that's normal thing that if you buy so called "high end" notebook, you have to deal with those bugs? Brightwhite says that it's not crucial for him and he is happy. That's ok. But - I'm asking a potential buyer - would YOU be happy with your purchase then? If so, go and buy it! Just be aware of issues that some happy users didn't mention because they aren't crucial in their opinion or they just didn't notice them because they never use this notebook for some purposes...
Let's say that we have 20% of unhappy customers now - it says that every 1 of 5 customers is unhappy and those happy not necessarily have issue-free notebooks - they could have some issues that they don't think are crucial... Would you like to join the game?
And one more thing: a lot of people mentioned that only those with problems write here so we are not a proper sample of users. I think that the most of those unhappy don't write here because they returned or sold their machines and only those with extreme badluck (like 137) or those who still have a hope to be happy with 8204 (like me) are still reading posts and writing here. Think about it.
BTW, brightwhite, I'm trying to figure my webcam out for sometime now and it still doesn't work properly. I'm afraid it's a hardware issue - at least in my case.

Agreed on teh webcam thing. I think mine is a hardware issue too. Before I uninstaleld it permanently, I would get the "This device could perform faster USB 2.0" message, which leads me to believe that it may simply have gotten disconnected somehow.

And no, I don't think it's right to have these issues with a high end notebook, but at the same time, they're not show stoppers. Acer puts too many features into these damn things.

Closer to 1 in 6 at the current time - and that's even when you ignore the fact that people tend to speak out when they dislike something, not when they like it.

Personally, I can see this for what it is. A small minority of people who mostly had minor problems or ludicrously high expectations, a very small minority of people who had really significant problems, and a happy majority. I've done my homework, I've found nothing comparable at the same price point, and I'm now only waiting to find out what the spec of the next Acer Ferrari will be (because I'd prefer to have a 64-bit dual core, if performance is reasonably close to Core Duo).

I've not bought yet, but I'll be buying Acer once I've seen the new Ferrari notebook and made my final decision.


I had exactly the same issue on my Gateway laptop, and it was down to a driver issue (which I'm pretty sure arose after installing a Logitech QuickCam Orbit webcam for the first time). I recently deleted the USB drivers and reinstalled them from scratch, and USB 2.0 has been fine ever since.

If you had something disconnected, USB wouldn't be working at all. If it is working as USB 1.1, you almost certainly have a driver problem (with only a slight chance of failing hardware).

Right now we have 9:32, so it's even more than 20% of unhappy customers. I don't know where did you get those 1 of 6 from...
As I said those unhappy have some issues for sure and those happy could have issues that are minor in THEIR opinion (eg. brightwhite). Don't get me wrong - I believe that there is a lot of customers with issue-free notebooks also (especially those who have the latest builds), so if you decide to buy it go ahead... I hope you'll get perfect machine.

Yah my 8204 is a friggin' powerhouse, the screen sucks but I'm used to it. I'm getting a larger 20 inch acer ferrari screen for my home office.

The laptop is light and great to work with at client locations. My biggest gripe with it is basically Windows XP, you know, all the quirks and wierd shit that happens with Windows.

But otherwise the laptop itself is pretty solid and is making me money! (self employed).

Only now I'm happy

Hi,
I had three 8204s before this one.
All the three pcs had buzz noise and a bad lcd.

I haven't ever paid for them... no I have three new 8204 (substitution from Acer) and the build date is 06/04.
NO BUZZING noise, GOOD LCD..., 667MHZ DDR2 ram! Wonderful.
They are working like a charm...

Now I'm happy with my 8204.

Ciao

So it looks like 137 is not the only one with his multiple replacements...

Hi,
yes the only difference is that I had three 8204s and I sent them to Acer only once. After 1 month Acer sent me three new pcs with 06/04 build date.
I think that the real difference is in this build date... I'm in Italy

That's what I'm tryin' to say for quite long time... and that's why I hope to be happy with 8204 in the end...

Interesting reading. My 8204 has the 0603 build and seems to have no rattles, no dark or light corners, etc. There are some frustrations with eEmpowerment. I can't seem to keep a battery icon in the tray, and I get an ATI memory error msg on boot. I'm willing to give Acer e-mail tech support a couple days to respond. Don't flame--yes I'm a newbe.

8204 is worth a buy even there´s not THE perfect Notebook around...

Hi All,

I own the 8204 since Feb this year, I bought it when they released it because still today, there aren´t that many notebooks around equipped with all the stuff Acer built in the 8204.

Nice display (maybe I was lucky), no dead Pixels, enough brightness, fast CPU, enough RAM (even if my notebook is equipped with 533Mhz RAM instead of the promised 667), fast and big harddrive and a solid graphics card.

To be honest, the issue with the 8204 (and all of the other 15,4") notebooks in the market is the graphics. Sure it depends how you will use your notebook, but if you like to play some games sometimes and would like to get games with ALL details, high or native (1680x1050) - Forget about the built in X1600.

Until I got replies like "But you can´t build any faster graphics in a 15,4 because of thermal issues" - I know - which doesn´t help me at all.

Therefore I decided a couple of days ago, that I will switch to a 17" notebook, checked around alot and came to: DELL !!! I know they´re big, I know that the Power-Supply probably weighs the same like me whole 8204 - But like I said - If you need or want more power in graphics, there´s no way around.

I decided to buy the M90 Workstation instead of the "consumer" version XPS M1710 - Main reason because you´re getting tons of rebates buying this thing as a company. For 2.100.- Euros (equivalent in US$) you´ll get more or less the same equipment the 8204 has but with a 512 MB Nvidia Quadro FX 2500, which is he workstation equivalent to a 7900 GTX.

Like I said in the topic - Unfortunately there´s NO perfect notebook available in the market.

All the best Michael

I ordered my 8204 last week (should get here around thursday) ill report back on if im happy
But i bought it knowing all of the "problems".. and i guess im just hoping i dont get them. Bust most dont sound like a big deal to me so i placed my order.
As for why I bought it (even knowing it had its share of problems) is mainly because of its specs, style, features, and.. i just like carbon fiber :P (i am such a sucker for acers gimicks ). plus i thought the laptop would suit my needs (gaming, 3d modeling, programming.. etc.). I just wish i didnt place my order yet, as i could have saved around 300 dollars and bought an equal spec barebone custom built asus... (I found out that the place i bought my laptop custom built the asus by accident)..but really i dont mind too much. thats how life works out i guess

VPrime, where did you order your 8204 from?