All Acer Aspire 2012 WLMi owners - Page 3

odetola, a 4 cell battery is pitiful now matter what you're doing. the entire point of centrino/LV cpus's like the p-m is so that you can get 3-4+ hours on battery while doing menial tasks, and about 2-3 hours doing more intensive stuff. besides, its not too smart to play on battery because the fans/components may clock down therefore reducing performance and posing a heat risk.

Okle: Then I'll buy the 8-Cell from Acer and get optimal battery performance--if it matters that much. IT'S THAT SIMPLE!! I too thought it was ridiculous that acer will actualy use a 4-cell, but considering that not everyone is a biz. pro who's life depends heavily on excel, portability & killer battery life.

Poor battery performace should not keep you from buying this incredibly SOLID notebook, if it matters that much, get the 8 cell avaliable--like i will when the time is right. Instead of imediately upgrading to 1 Gig Ram, get the optimal battery or wait for a model under the series to boast one...I can't wait.

Media reader issue above???

Just wanted to throw this bit of info out there about the 2012WLMi battery life (I've now had the laptop for 2 months)

Today I managed to get about 3 hours of battery life out of it (with 22% battery power still left at the end) while watching divx encoded videos (movies and tv shows). This was with the power profile on portable/laptop (speed switching), wifi on while downloading in the background and a screen brightness setting of 7/10 (more than bright enough for most uses)

Needless to say that's pretty darn good

- Odie

Odie: do you find any issues w/ the keyboard placement & quality--i've read your review, but i said nothing about placement...After 2 months of ownership, is it a minor issue that's pretty much adaptive--or does it attimes still gets uncomfortable feel??

Looking at the specs. the 1681 looks pretty much the same as the 2012 (with the Dothan as standard). I am very close to buying the 1681 but until now I havent been able to find a decent review on it. As the specs. are the same can I trust that the 1681 will perform like 2012? Will it be as silent? Will the screen be as good? In other words, is the battery-performace the only big difference (besides the folio design, which I am also exciting to hear peoples views on).

Chris
p.s. any price estimate on a 8-cell battery for the 1681??

odetola: I don't have any issues at all with the keyboard placement or overall quality. The keys do rattle a little bit (as do most other laptop keyboards I have encountered), however the overall quality is fine.

The 1681 does look a little bit nicer than the 2012WLMi in terms of styling, but if you want decent battery life, prospective buyers should factor in the cost of the bigger battery.

- Odie

Chris:

For reviews: nothing detailed or comprehensive will come out right now, simply minor accounts/excerpts from new owners (i think--i might be wrong), b/c its a fairly new notebook. Do the google thing and see what you find.

<As the specs. are the same can I trust that the 1681 will perform like 2012? Will it be as silent?>

This new redesigned (Folio) chasis took at least a year and half to two years to implement--according to acer. It not only improves aesthetics dramtically but also positively addresses/improves ergonomic, build-quality, and upgrading flaws that are issues on their previous models--2012 included. This I suppose should also include better thermal/ventilation (not that their aspire series gets hot at all) design to enable much quieter performance--yet to be confirmed though! All in all, the new design not just looks good but addresses a ton of minor annoyances that plague notebooks, from upgradability and heat to sound and build--1.5 Yrs in the making is no quick fix!

<Will the screen be as good?>
Check out (bitbillyt) post on page 2, this should be helpfull--it lists positives and negs. and screen quality is one.

<In other words, is the battery-performace the only big difference (besides the folio design, which I am also exciting to hear peoples views on).>

YES, battery life is the only tradeoff--if you're confortable w/ that (1.5-2.5hrs) then it's no biggy. The new Folio concept provides killer looks: YOU WILL GET MORE HEAD TURNS ON THIS ONE!!! As far as 8-cell price and its avaliability, i can only guess it'll be somewhere between $70 to $100+, soon to be if not already avaliable from Acer (the 4500 & 4000 series use the same battery but theirs has more cells)--am sure, but don't quote me on this.

Hope that helps...

Thanks (the thumbs-up reply i was hoping for) .
I have discovered one more thing re. the folio design. It looks like the Travelmate 3200 is the only one of the two new folio-notebooks that got the new latch-less design (at least it looks that way from the Folio showcase pictures on acer.com).
Maybe bitbillyt could confrim this?

Chris

Acers w/ Folio:

Aspire 1660, 1680, 1800 Series
Travel Mate 2600, 3200, 4000, 4500 Series

Can someone confirm the 3--1 Media reader???, UK model has it listed but not the US model. Both (including the US models TM4500 & TM4000 "curved keyboard" series) use the same chasis and most media readers are built INTO the chasis! Except if Acer actually chose to block the reader port entryway on the chasis of all US models--that'll be SAD!!!

I checked for detailed pics on newegg and acers site, but the reader port/entry (above the PCI slot & after the Firewire begining from the left) doesn't look blocked or vamped from the chasis!?? If this is the case, then it should have media reader support, just not listed as a spec by Acer on their site--or may be am just getting paraniod!

Acer here: http://www.acer.com/app/akc/internet.../as1680-03.jpg

Newegg here: http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage....115-139-09.jpg

Thanks...

Ah, i see. Well, thank you!

Regarding the battery on the 1681. It's listed in the Acer accessories pdf as having the same replacement battery as the 4000 and 4500. So for those who have this computer and are concerned about it, there is help on the way. On the way because it is not available at any of the sites which have it listed. It is supposed to be available the 2nd week of September.

'Paint' wearing off on front leading edge

I got my new 2012WLMi on Aug 5. Since then it has spent two and a half weeks (two trips) at the Acer service center in Texas having minor but annoying things corrected (touchpad and speaker connectors dislodged). Their TS is not particularly customer responsive. I do like the notebook though, the performance and display are great and I think the touchpad features make it easy to use for just about anything. One thing though really gets me peeved. The aluminium colored 'paint' on the front leading edge of the notebook, just below the black strip, has worn away on the areas where my hands rest when I type or use the touch pad, revealing the black plastic underneath. I don't feel happy seeing this in a machine hardly six weeks old. My notebook is family! Has anyone else had this problem?

Yes. I had the same problem with the wear of the paint. I've had the notebook since the middle of June. Another problem I've had is that when I'm using the notebook for word processing, the keyboard isn't very responsive. I'll be typing along and find that the spacebar didn't work and that some of the keys didn't respond, then I have to go back and make corrections. Very annoying. Since I got it mainly for video editing, it's not such a big deal. But if I had gotten it for word processing, I would be unhappy with it. I was wondering if nayone else had this problem? And, by the way, it works great as a video editing machine!

My nephew has a different model Acer, and he has the same keyboard problem, so it may be an Acer keyboard problem. It's disappointing, because I like it otherwise.