ACER TravelMate 8104 "Sonoma" Review - Page 4

Could you do me a favor MrM? Can you measure the front and back dimensions? I like the concept of a slight angle but I'm hoping it's not to the degree where it's aesthetiically unpleasing. My old Toshiba 5205-S119 (first line of "glossy" laptops in the states) had a pretty bad angle and looked horrendous imo.

Acer Reliability?

I've been with Toshiba for 2 laptops and Dell for 2 laptops and have been reading with interest the Sonoma reviews. It appears that the ACER 8104 is the best of the bunch with its video card, ram, and overall components. I'd like to know anyone's experience of reliability with ACER. Is it worth the jump from Dell?

Nice that's not bad at all. I also saw a side angle shot of this book and it looks great. This thing is definitely under consideration.

Acer 8104 buy

Great forum... really useful stats.

Where is the best place (cheapest) to buy this laptop from in Ontario, Canada?

I am looking for one ASAP.

Thanks.

u should call this place up www.directdial.com they got a few coming in on, the 15 i think they told me.. that is where i going mine coming from

One of your links go to About:Blank adware

MrMsyvc, thanks for all the good info. However, I did want to let you know that on Feb 3rd (4:53 am?) you posted a list of links to reviews of the x700. In that post there is a link to a site with the About:Blank virus/adware on it. I thought you would want to know that and edit your post delete the link. I'm not sure which site had the virus, and I'm not about to go back through, clicking on links while trying to find it.


Regards,

Maiison

Can't compare to Dell - never owned one. But then every laptop I owned (Fujitsu, Sony, Acer, Compaq) was reliable. Sony were excellent machines until they decided to abandon powerful slim and light line and continue only ultraportable and DTR (17" monsters). The last Sony I had (and loved) was their XG200 series. Funny that I've heard so much badmouthing of Sony laptops while laptops themselves were fine. The cutomer service was non-existant, yes. But laptops were (past tense since I have not looked at Sony ever since I got my first Travelmate) excellent.

It's a matter of luck to a degree that you receive a good laptop. And then it's a matter of care you take of it. Take care of your laptop and it'll work for you. Acer laptops are reliable to me. Not gonna spill coffee on keyboard just to check it's reliability

Maybe I can help you here. I've owned the 803lc (the predessor to the 8000 line that uses the exact same chassis...just a few minor upgrades) and own a 2012wlmi. These Acer books are definitely both topnotch. The 800 series had a much better build quality but that was due to the fact that the 2012wlmi was on the lower end of the Acer line-up. If the 8104 is built like it's 800/8000 brethren I imagine it's built like an absolute tank. For reference, I currently have an Toshiba M200 tablet and a cheapie 600m I bought on a whim. The build quality on the Dell is by far the cheapest of the bunch. Toshiba makes some crappy laptops recently as well (in terms of durability/form/aesthetics) but their high end line like the M200 is on par with the Acers. The bottom line I've realized is that there is no blanket statement that could be made about manufacturers in this day and age. Every manufacturer seems to have low end crappy notebooks along with the high end gems. From everything I've read this Acer appears to be a winner. Mwave is going to have one in stock later on today. I may swing by to pick one up and throw a review up here as well.

kev

mrv - One more question. What sort of materials is this badboy made of? Specifcally the back of hte LCD and the handrest area. Is it some sort of metallic/aluminum or is it plastic (ugh...praying it's not).

Wow, that battery time isn't good at all. Or is this the time while you were playing games.

Isn't the battery time supposed to be 4 hrs?

Okey, thanks.. Still having trouble deciding, think this is the right computer for me if I will have to carry it around alot in school and also play games on it?

Processor upgrade

Any body can tell if like the Ferrari model, is possible to upgrade the processor when available in the 8104? Thanks.

Why would you say that MrMsyvc; It has more weight. And also (as far as I can tell) only 1.6ghz and 256mb memory, but sure that can be upgraded.

What other laptops are there simular to Acer 8104? Good for gaming @ school => Battery life, looks, graphic card, memory, screen ( 15" ), weight, and noise, must be rather quiet.

Cant seem to find the right one!

"Help I need somebody, help, not just anybody, heeeeeelp" So I may quote the Beatles

Technically yes. CPU is socketed and upgradeable. Practically, 8104 already has top of the line current processor inside and it gets hot when run full-speed. I would never put anything more powerful in this laptop. If Intel comes up with higher clock version that still dissipates same amount of power though, then you should be able to put it in. It will probably require a BIOS update designed for recognize new processor, and there is some stuff in BIOS dealing with CPU microcode (judging from update notes on other Travelmate BIOSes). But Acer usually does this in timely matter. For instance, they issued BIOS with Dothan CPU support for Travelmate 80x series (originally Banias). So people could put Dothans in those laptops.

Replacing CPU yourself will void warranty (I guess). I know how to open TM80x and TM800x and to upgrade CPU there. From the looks of TM810x, it should be even easier to open. But I have not done it yet and am not planning for at least a year.