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Hi czm2000!

Absoultely fantastic review. Thank you so much!!!

I am just thinking of bying one of these batuies here in the Europe

Just would want to know, what the build is like - especially in the upper corners of the keyboard where these two thin "separating lines" are (comming from keyboard to the sides). Doesnt it flex there???

And also - I have been experiencing a lot of strange buzzing noise on one of 8104WLMi, and even four motherboard exchanges did not help. Is there any strange sound there?

And finally - do you think it is worth waiting like motnh or so and then get one, or now? I am not buying online. I mean, did anybody from Europe implied any problems discussed here so far??

Many many thanks so far!!!

cheers

137
Apparently its just a update to the ROM to fix the buzzing noise. And there is no flex at the seperating lines. It is a VERY good build. And also Some people get buzzing some dont. And if your going to be waiting for afew months just wait till Intel brings out the Centrino Duo 64bit. And for those 8204 owners (like me) apparently you can sway the CPU for the new Merlon chip comming 2nd half of 2006/first half of 2007. So its a very versitile Laptop and future proof.

Well,

to be honest, I cant wait for few motnhs. I could be waiting just for a maximum of a month or so. But I have a bussines trip of two weaks in front of me and I just do not know should I buy it now or after...cause I am kinda impatient

I am glad the build is good. I am only hoping for not having the buzz and death pixels, resp. NIC issues. But was this (except from pixels of course) just a domain of noneuropean stuff???

cheers

Well I live in the EU can couldnt find anywhere that sold them in shops. Ordered online. But I've never heard of the Acer 8204 comming with any dead pixels. I belive they are very resonable if you do get any. I think they way they work it is divide the screen into 9. If the center has a dead pixel you can ship it back and get a new one. Mine does have the buzz and i dont think it matters where you buy it from. However it does appear to be a simple ROM update according to people who have it fixed. Also the NIC can be fix with a old driver and Acer should be releasing a update to it. With the buzz and the missing Ram(dam 677) I am still Extreamly happy about this laptop. It is fast and responsive and fills my needs. You can only hear the buzz when running 3D applications however it seems to dissapear while running games which is extreamly strange... Overall it is just a beautiful design and is a excellent build.

Yep,

well, I might just be too picky, but I have had experienced a very strange noise at 8104s and that was a nightmare. How long ago did you get yours? I can go and get one in a store (kind of IT wholesale) where I have the registration and they have this shipment from like 10 days ago. I just believe it will be free of the probs. Anyway, i do not know if waiting will result into getting a definitely fixed shipment... The pixels are always a lottery, but as czm2000 has written if it is one ore so, you can use the Q-tip to masage it out or there is some funny blinking software that "wakes it up" - but appearently it works!!!

cheers

Well if the Buzzing noise can be fixed with a update then i suppose notebooks shipped later should have this fix implimated.

Yeah, I just dunno if thi is already a later shipment or how quick they will get short of this stuff and are getting the new one. Did you get yours in early Jan?

Thank you. I'm gald you enjoyed my review.

It's a very solid build. No flex and the corners of the keyboard are very stiff. All the seams including the ones you made reference to are very tight. That was one of my concerns originally as well. In my research I had seen some very up close pictures of the TravelMate 5672 and the seams did not appear to be very tight and it seamed very plastic. So when our local CompUSA got one I went to check it our and it had a bit too much of a plastic feel and the keyboard did have a bit of bounce and was kind of soft and there were some gaps in the seams. So I was nervous but convinced myself that the 8200 was at the higher end of the laptop chain. Sure enough it is. Much better build quality. Not that the 5672 is bad and that's a great value for the money, it's just that the 8200 is definitly a lot more solid.

The only noise I had was a horrible chirping. It started happening about a week ago for a couple of days. Come to find out one of the programs I installed turned my mic on and very high too. So it was feed back. Once I turned the mic down a bit, it went away and hasn't come back.

I'm still extremely satisfied and happy with my purchase decision. I don't know that I would wait to buy one only because IMO it will be May probably closer to June before any major updates could come. But the one known acknowledged problem which is the LAN is driver problem and from the sounds of it is being worked on. Other than that, I can't think of any other major things they could be looking to update, and the RAM contraversy doesn't count since that seams to be more of a mistake.

Good Luck.

Hi czm2000

thanks for the reply man! You are doing awesome job I would say, you just replied to all the things that were extreamly important to me! I am just htinking if to buy the laptop before my trip which is dated for the last day of Feburary for two weeks, or just to wait and get one after. I mean, I am definitely buying it here at home, cause it is the warranty of 2 years native and it is a wholesale store, so the price/value cant be beaten at this time. I just need absolutely fantastic and reliable machine, cause I am gonna pay my almost everythign for it.... . But maybe I could even test it on my trip...

By the way, how did you work out the bad pixel with the Q-tip? Just pressed slightly and massaged out??? Or ... caus ewith my luck I am getting worried...just in case. But I am glad the build is excellent, that is more important than whatever else in notebooks nowadays I guess...

So do you thing there are no reasonable obstacles when seeking for ful desktop replacement with high level output?

By the way, what is the output leve of the speakers? On my TM8104 it was quite low by default, and even the highest setting could not bother any body even in the next room

cheers! and again thaaaanks!!!

Glad I can help.

I'm impatient too, so once I decided that this was it, I opted to order it right away. I figure if I have to pay that much and the price isn't going to go down, I might as well start enjoying it as soon as possible.

The Q-Tip thing is wierd. I read it somewhere a long time ago and never tried it. The last few laptops I've had were dead pixel free. So when I fired this baby up and there was a glaring bright spot I panicked. Then I remembered what I had read. For a "stuck" pixel you down load this software that can over time fix it, and with a dead pixel you can massage it out with a Q-Tip. I laughed it off at the time, but man seeing is believing. I figured I had nothing to lose to I tried it. It worked. I was amazed. I had always thought maybe it was a myth or something. But it did the trick. Hasn't come back either. Makes me think of all those times I did have a notebook with a dead pixel and I could have fixed it. Oh well, live and learn right.

This is a killer desktop replacement but it goes one further and is really protable. Desktop replacements tend to be not so travel friendly. I've had many of them. This truly is the best of both worlds.

The speakers are dull. They do get loud but in my opinion they sound worse loud because there's not much base. Their great for listening to the news or talk radio or I guess a little music. I was able to get them to sound a lot better than when I first took it out of the box by adjusting the RealTek settings. But honestly, if you are a music fan or just want really good sound, a set of head phones or some desktop stereo speakers will be in order to fit the bill.

Good luck.

Ok,

so what kind of software do you use? Is this the flashing weird video that should wake up the dead pixels?? Or something else?? And also, how much do you press on the LCD when massaging it out? Maybe it sounds funny, but isnt it the way then, that the surface od the LCD gets more glossy on the spot you do massage?

I am really curious, as I have a dead pixel on my old 803LCi and would like to try it!

Other than that, the speakers are just built ins, so what the heck... but the other question is, how about the frame of the LCD? Especially on my 803LCi there was quite a gap between the LCD and the construction frame on the bottom line. Is this tight?

Sorry for maybe dum questions, but...I am cinsidering everything before buying. You are really superkind answering all this stuff!

cheers

I don't know what the software is because I have never used it. I only read about it a long time ago. I didn't need it because I didn't have a "stuck" pixel, I had a dead pixel. I started off gentle and then put enough pressure on it to see ripples in the screen and as I rubbed it started flickering (the dead pixel). Then it went away so I was like yah! Then it came immediately back. So then I started again and just kept going for a minute or so. It was then gone. About 5 minutes later after restarting the laptop after installing some software it came back again, only it wasn't so bright. I massaged it again and it was gone and it hasn't come back since. It's been a couple of weeks not. If it comes back again, I'll just massage it again. Hell I'm getting good at this massage thing, I figure I'll get a license and open a practice

The frame around the LCD is definitely solid. It's especially sturdy at the bottom and near the hinges. It seams like the roundish design to the bottom portion gives it even more strength.

All great questions.

Good luck.

Hi CZM2000!

one more question if possible!

well, I have a question about the LCD, cause on the TM8104 a friend of mine has 4 LCD changed at repair service and three of them had a response of like 2s in the corners. Other words - if you would set completely blacj background, and go with the white mouse pointer to the corner, after moving the mouse pointer, a feedback in darkish red would sustain on the place where the pointer was before... is this still present there at 8204??

many thanks!

Just tried it. No problems at all.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

I actually do

first of all, many thanks for such service provided again, man it is incredible

I would love to know what the type of the DVD burner is together with the speeds. Also if I got it right: the memory modules are not connected straight to the weird sounds produced and the NIC stuff. I mean these are all independent problems and are not common for all the notebooks, right? just to be sure... I just cant wait, it is really temptating to get one! I think I will hop for mine tomorrow.

Also if it comes to gaming, the only thing I am hoping for improvement is Microsoft flight simulator...but I am not sure if you have any experience or ideas about. Cause on the 8104 with X700 it was nothing great - like 12 frames per sec...

cheers