Hi everyone,
Well it's here - a brand spanking new Acer 8003LMI. I like the slimness of this machine and its design, but the screen is just very poor. The viewing angles seems about 5 years behind other laptops, making it extremely uncomfortable viewing for dvds and photoshop work.
Mine's going back this week...so now the search begins for a decent laptop (centrino) with a decent screen SXGA+ 15 or a wide screen with a high viewing area, but with all the goodies that the Acer had to offer.
I really didn't want to be disapointed with this, really! But I just can't live with that screen and heat.
Here's a brief review of the Acer 8003LMI. Bye bye.
Build.
Well this certainly is a tough nut! The dark gray plastic appears very strong and tight - the keyboard is complimented by a lighter gray plactic inlay, making it appear very sculptured and modern. The trackpad is black and the buttons and trackpad housing are a lovely satin steel (possibly aluminium). All of the buttons feel solid, with no shake or loosness.
The laptop itself is a welcome change to the heaviness of my old Vaio GRT716s - It's very slim and light. The lid shuts and completes the exterior smoothness. Nice.
The Screen.Amendment!!!
Actually the screen is perfectly adequate for desktop software like CAD, work etc. But having played around with a few DVDs,its very frustrating the achieve the perfect viewing angle, especially vertically! The SXGA+ screen is either too light or too dark, resulting in high and low spots whilst viewing. Now although I didn't buy this primarily for DVD watching, it is a big negative. Just a thought, are all SXGA+ 15" LCD screens like this? Can anyone recommend a decent centrino with a good viewing angle, but not a widescreen?
Heat.
Slightly warm on the lap, but not enough to lift it off.
Heat update.
Having the latop on my lap for an hour it does become quite warm on the underside towards the left. Possibly the same heat you get from a cup of tea left standing for 5 minutes. Actually this laptop gets very warm, almost uncomfortably.
Sound.
Well this is a little surprising. Loads better than most laptop speakers. Not tinny, but not bassy either - Possubly just right. I downloaded the lasted driver to hear a much improved sound over the default ones. By the way, for some strange reason the default was set to mono, wierd, so I changed it to stereo. There are two stereo speakers located on the front. The volume is very reasonable. Acer have included a heap of sound settings to improve the 'feel' - a nice feature.
CD DVD Drive.
Well this is a cool toy. It's a super multidrive unit, able to play and record all formats of DVD recordable media. I haven't burnt anything yet, but the tray loaded mechanism feels tight and sturdy. It's removable too! The noise level is pretty good, but only after the intial spin up and spin down..much quieter than the Acer 2012 I had. It's plays DVD's with no jerkiness at all. Nice.
Bluetooth.
Wow. Not experienced in bluetoothing before, this feature could proove very handy. It found my Motarola V600 without a problem - Up popped a screen asking if I wished to sync my phone data, and use and to my computer to recieve and make phone calls! (this Acer has a built in mic to use on your phone). Other than this I don't know too much about it. Still cool though.
Wifi.
Expect to be testing that soon.
Gaming.
Not sure yet. Will try that soon too. The Acer 8003lmi is equipted with a Radeon 9700 64mb (Which I think doubles to 128mb somehow?), so handling the latest game should be a breeze.
Battery.
I am still 'breaking' the battery in so will update you soon. Getting about 3 hours hard surfing time.
Fan.
A weird one this. Only just heard it - sounds very low, almost distant. Kind of like a very distant air conditioning unit humming (make sense?). Seems to kind it about every 5 minutes after long use and plus it has been on my hot lap!
Well it's here - a brand spanking new Acer 8003LMI. I like the slimness of this machine and its design, but the screen is just very poor. The viewing angles seems about 5 years behind other laptops, making it extremely uncomfortable viewing for dvds and photoshop work.
Mine's going back this week...so now the search begins for a decent laptop (centrino) with a decent screen SXGA+ 15 or a wide screen with a high viewing area, but with all the goodies that the Acer had to offer.
I really didn't want to be disapointed with this, really! But I just can't live with that screen and heat.
Here's a brief review of the Acer 8003LMI. Bye bye.
Build.
Well this certainly is a tough nut! The dark gray plastic appears very strong and tight - the keyboard is complimented by a lighter gray plactic inlay, making it appear very sculptured and modern. The trackpad is black and the buttons and trackpad housing are a lovely satin steel (possibly aluminium). All of the buttons feel solid, with no shake or loosness.
The laptop itself is a welcome change to the heaviness of my old Vaio GRT716s - It's very slim and light. The lid shuts and completes the exterior smoothness. Nice.
The Screen.Amendment!!!
Actually the screen is perfectly adequate for desktop software like CAD, work etc. But having played around with a few DVDs,its very frustrating the achieve the perfect viewing angle, especially vertically! The SXGA+ screen is either too light or too dark, resulting in high and low spots whilst viewing. Now although I didn't buy this primarily for DVD watching, it is a big negative. Just a thought, are all SXGA+ 15" LCD screens like this? Can anyone recommend a decent centrino with a good viewing angle, but not a widescreen?
Heat.
Slightly warm on the lap, but not enough to lift it off.
Heat update.
Having the latop on my lap for an hour it does become quite warm on the underside towards the left. Possibly the same heat you get from a cup of tea left standing for 5 minutes. Actually this laptop gets very warm, almost uncomfortably.
Sound.
Well this is a little surprising. Loads better than most laptop speakers. Not tinny, but not bassy either - Possubly just right. I downloaded the lasted driver to hear a much improved sound over the default ones. By the way, for some strange reason the default was set to mono, wierd, so I changed it to stereo. There are two stereo speakers located on the front. The volume is very reasonable. Acer have included a heap of sound settings to improve the 'feel' - a nice feature.
CD DVD Drive.
Well this is a cool toy. It's a super multidrive unit, able to play and record all formats of DVD recordable media. I haven't burnt anything yet, but the tray loaded mechanism feels tight and sturdy. It's removable too! The noise level is pretty good, but only after the intial spin up and spin down..much quieter than the Acer 2012 I had. It's plays DVD's with no jerkiness at all. Nice.
Bluetooth.
Wow. Not experienced in bluetoothing before, this feature could proove very handy. It found my Motarola V600 without a problem - Up popped a screen asking if I wished to sync my phone data, and use and to my computer to recieve and make phone calls! (this Acer has a built in mic to use on your phone). Other than this I don't know too much about it. Still cool though.
Wifi.
Expect to be testing that soon.
Gaming.
Not sure yet. Will try that soon too. The Acer 8003lmi is equipted with a Radeon 9700 64mb (Which I think doubles to 128mb somehow?), so handling the latest game should be a breeze.
Battery.
I am still 'breaking' the battery in so will update you soon. Getting about 3 hours hard surfing time.
Fan.
A weird one this. Only just heard it - sounds very low, almost distant. Kind of like a very distant air conditioning unit humming (make sense?). Seems to kind it about every 5 minutes after long use and plus it has been on my hot lap!
However, it's got only ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 64 MB, and I don't like that some connectors are in the middle of the right side, where they can get in the way of the mouse. Other than that, it seems like a very good computer.
