Acer Aspire 1710 Review - Page 19

bios

My BIOS version is T3a20...
I've seen the Jansport Thinker backpack. It nearly fits in there and you have little or no protection on the sides.

I am running the WD 200 GB SE also and have no problems. I also upgraded the memory to 2GB 400DDR and have no problems there either. My next upgrade is in the mail the 3.4 Ghz Intel Prescott (I wanted to upgrade to the 3.4 Ghz EE but was scared to spend that kind of money without being absolutely positive it worked). Right now my benchmarks are better than what are posted on the first post so I guess the memory and hard drive helped alot. They did go down when I went to the latest version of the detonator drivers so I am thinking of going back to the original drivers until the Omega drivers come out.

I just wanted to say Hi. I've been reading through this forum and some others on this site, and finally ordered on of these computers. The thing is that it's for college in the fall, so I really would like to find a backpack that will hold this notebook. I saw the Jansport Thinker on the website that was posted by Renac, but I was wondering if there were any more backpacks out there that are big enough to hold this notebook. Thanks for the help.

I got the STM Large loop backpack for mine. It doesn't fit into the prime computer compartment but it does fit in the bag.

Since some of you already get their new 171x's with the T3a20 bios, this must be a new release not yet available for download. Any chance (or someone has connections ... ) to get that version from somewhere?

I have doublechecked the connector issue. It was definitely plugged in correctly.

THX!

S.

What about this HDD pausing?

Hi all, I'm new here. Glad I found this forum, learnt alot allready.
I have just a few days ago got an RMA from my dealer for a 1714smi, cause I didn't like the harddrive pauses and assumed it was breaking down. Just today I found this thread. I understand the problem is to be solved by a biosflash, or a change of HDD(there was some talk about acpi incompatibility of the seagate drive?) To me it is very confusing. Is Acer responsible and should I force them to do this flashing themselves or is it better just to swap harddrives? I have had the Acer only for a few days and am sure I want it, it's just such a beautifull machine, but this pausing makes it a a source of irritation. This flashing of bios scares the hell out of me, I know you could ruin the machine if something goes amiss. I need some advice here. BTW I'm from Holland and the thing was bought there as well.

Link to BIOS

From an earlier quote, here is a modified BIOS that is supposed to fix the pausing HD issue. My notebook came with the new BIOS and have not hand any HD problems. Although I have not flashed the 1712, I have done it to other notebooks, cameras, modems, & GPS units and the key is to make sure you do not interrupt the FLASH process, and all should go well. Most flash processes take only a few minutes, so make sure your battery is fully charged and have at it.

Thanks for the link, but that bios is allready available on Acer ftp. Brings me back to my original ramble: should I do a potentially dangerous flash operation on a machine if Acer should do it themselves? I understand this issue should be known now with all distributors for over a month now. Acer should issue directives to all distributors to perform the flash before letting the 1710 go to the dealers. Mine was not bought from dealer stock, but ordered from Acer-Benelux.
Oh well, let's just wait what my trade-in has for a biosversion. Should be in this week.

TO: flight_guy747

Apologies, this may have already been referred to in this thread. I have a modified 1714Msi. I've added Maxtor Diamond Plus 9 (ATA133) 200Gb, and have had no problems with the upgrade... Can't particularly see why yours shouldn't work.

While I am here, a quick message for DW Strickland - Is your laptop a 1714, or have you modified a previous 171X model? If so, how did you manage to upgrade the Video card to 128MB? Did you order from Acer spares?

I used to have an Advent PC laptop (a make owned by PC World in the UK), and this used to use desktop memory and processor. 2 years ago I had a 64 Mb graphics card, 512Mb RAM and a PIII 1.4Ghz processor. This is the perfect upgrade for me. I've never owned a desktop machine, as I've never been one for games. For those who do not just want this as a gaming machine The 1714 is also very capable for severe video editing, and re-encoding...

PS: Someone mentioned a problem with booting when a mass storage device or external drive is connected to the USB ports (ignore me if I misread this somewhere). I have never had this problem - using either a USB Key or an Archos AV300 (80Gb) on & plugged into the ports while booting up.

To those who may find them useful, here is a link to drivers/manuals/bios etc:
ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_1710/

Wraith,

What bios version do you have?

To Wraith:

I have the Acer Aspire 1712SMi model from the US. I have upgraded the processor to the 3.4GHz Northwood, hard disk to Western Digital 250GB 8MB, and memory to Kingston HyperX 2GB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7-1. As far as the video card, my system came standard with the 128MB GeForce FX Go 5700. However, if yours did not, you can easily upgrade to it by ordering the particular spare part.

Yeah, the USA 1712SMI comes with nvidiia 5700go 128meg video card as standard.

You may be thinking of the 1711's which come only with the integrated Intel graphics.

Renac - The Bios I am running (as of yesterday) is 3A19. Until I know what the benefits are of the 3A20 release, I think I'm more thank happy. (The HDD spin down is all I was worried about). I'll wait to see if anyone experiences problems with the newer release. Prior to yesterday I think (from memory) it was the 3A17 release. Aside from the HDD, the functionality of my systems remains the same.

DW Strickland - I was wondering because in the UK, it's only the 1714Smi which has the 128MB graphics card. I guess the global models must vary from country to counrty... odd. The 1712Smi only has a 64Mb graphics card here.
At present, encoding a DVD is using minimal portions of my resources, so I don't think I'll be upgrading the memory just yet (2x512Mb as standard). I'll wait until a more attractive price comes along for memory in the UK.

Thanks to the UK government and it's wonderfully optimistic take on the economy the pound to Euro/Dollar is extremely inflated, consequently things are significantly more expensive compared to buying abroad. Saying that, the prices in the UK for this notebook seem comparatively cheap! But I digress.

With regards to the Prescott (3.4E) upgrade, I'll speak to my friend tonight, but he could see very marginal speed upgrades with the change from the Northwood. My neophytes understanding is that it's only at the later clock speeds that the processors’ smaller architecture will be more apparent & cost effective.

A good comparison is:
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardwar...le.php/3329681

Uhh… was going to say something else, but can’t remember what the hell it is. That’s the problem with writing at work and getting interrupted. This has taken 20 minutes to write. I’ll reply back tomorrow.

Oh... Yes, the graphics card should be fairly easy to upgrade, but Acer are additionally cautious to advertise this because of how awkward it is to get to and change (at least I feel it is). The amount of upgradable hardware there is on this laptop, I think they are worried their extended warranties may run them out of business. I had a problem with getting things fixed under my last extended warranty (be it with another company) who also offered a highly upgradable machine.

Yes, the Prescott and Northwood will have similar performance, give or take small amount depending on the application. However, both of these processors will be recognized and supported in the Aspire 1710.

However, Acer has not added a simple BIOS addition to recognize Intel's Extreme Edition processors. I guess since they do not sell the model pre-built with that processor, they did not think to add its support to the BIOS. Hopefully, for those interested, this will be added in a future BIOS update.

I don't think that's accurate anymore:
Acer Notebook Aspire AS1711SCi-V64MB Pentium4 2.8G, 17.0" SXGA TFT, GeForce FX Go5700, 512MB, 80GB, DVD/CD-RW, WLAN, WinXP Pro,

Check Acers US website.

Thanks for the correction. That's a good step up from the integrated graphics.

HI there,

Another question for the wise and happy owners of a 1710.

How easy do you think it is (since some of you already have upgraded the CPU) to apply a quality thermal grease like Silver Arctic or similar ...and do you think it would have any effect?

And one more, would it be possible to install the radeon 9700 as an upgrade, or is it that the the geforce 5700 cards (as seen in the first pictures of adam@pctorque) are made by acer in a propriety design (unlike the desktop AGP ones for example) so we should keep our fingers crossed for an official Acer video upgrade option in the future...but wouldnt it be nice though?? . I think its not possible but wanted to check with you guys..

FIY my cashflow just had an increase ..so Im just waiting for the sales to start tomorrow (1st July) and see what kind of bargains I can get on a 1714.

Any other Europeans care to compare prices on the 1712 and 1714?

any laptops bags for this thing? i know its been brought up many times...

If you want to use thermal grease for the CPU or any other conductive element, you'd best remove the existing thermal pad that's attached on the heatsinks. From what I've heard, using both pad and grease is a no-no.

As for the video card, I'm not so sure. Someone's going to have to tear open their Sager 8790 or any other lappy packing a 9700 and see if the interfaces are the same. Alienware is selling an upgrade 5700 on their site and I'm wondering if it's the same as the one in the Acer...

maybe not alienware, but i would like too see another acer like the Ferrari 3200. I think that might have a little better chance.