Happy new owner of a 8204!!!

puchased this bad boy yesterday from ncix.com in vancouver, Canada.

Some questions:

how can I tell the build date? The ship date on the box is march 2006.
EDIT: I called Acer to ask some questions, and while talking, asked about build date. They said my laptop was shipped from Tai-wan on March 26th. So it seems I have a fairly new version/update/model...

I havn't had much time to use it yet, but i did the initial setup and then later last night, I downloaded/installed and ran 3dmark 2005.

My score was 3350. this sounds a little low compared to what i've seen in reviews and such, but I was running ALL of the acer utilities, which no doubt bog the system down a bit.

Not a big deal... i have a amd dual-core rig with a 7800GT for my gaming needs

But i'm loving this laptop so far!! And everyone in my office has been drooling over it

I'm planning on running more tests on it this week but i won't have alot of time to play with it until this weekend

I also just ordered a killer sleeve from WaterField for it Can't wait! I figured i wanted something nice to keep this baby safe!!

Also, have many of you re-formatted the machine and started over? I'm going to end up doing this as I hate having utils/apps I don't need/want... I like a clean/bare-bones running system with only the apps/utils I actually need.

Another note, has anyone had any luck getting a real XP Pro CD from acer? Or has anyone tried to use the code supplied with a normal XP Pro CD? I ahve a cd from my other machine, perhaps I could just use this along with the key from the laptop.

And yet another note... I'm about to burn the restore disk it keeps bugging me about... I'm assuming this is a system restore to 100% factory condition? Does it partition the drive, etc...?

If I burn this... and then blow everything away, can I just use the disk to go back to pure factory condition (including drive partitions, etc...)?

thanks guys!!!

btw: if there are any tests anyone would like me to run, by all means lemme know!

jeff

 

It sounds like you don't have the buzzing problem or any major light leakage on the lcd. Please let us know about these. Also, what is your impression of the lcd in general? I just ordered mine yesterday from ZipZoomFly.com, and my only real concern is the quality of the monitor. I hope it's not washed out like some have suggested. But after reading your post, I'm very hopeful.

 

this is my first real laptop, so i can only say that it doesn't seem washed out to me...

However, yesterday when I first got it, the owner of our company was around, and hes quite the videophile (into film making, etc...) and he took it and happened to sit under a skylight here at office and he commented on how even in almost direct sunlight the screen was great.

He did continue to say that its not like some of the other high end screens like sony and such, with their fancy brightness, but still a very very nice screen.

I'll test for light leakage and try to listen for buzzing sounds later tonight. But if the buzzing was loud, i'm guessing i would of heard it already, and so far, the only annoying thing about the laptop is lack of time to play

 

Hope you enjoy it as much as I'm enjoying mine.

You're a lucky devil getting this kind of laptop for your first.

- Ed

 

I got mine (TM 8204WLMi, build date 06/03) 2 weeks ago. No buzzes, but after updating WinXP and installing various apps (SVS by Altiris) I have annoying buzzing every time I press a key on the keyboard, or use the touchpad to move the cursor. It's most noticeable with headphones on. When watching a DVD, I get a quick clicking noise.
Light leakage at the bottom of the screen is noticeable on a dark or blank screen that reaches up about 10-15mm. This I can live with.
Thing is, I'm now on a second TM 8204, and this new one is doing exactly the same thing. Could any installed app. cause this problem?

GG

 

Nothing sweeter then owning a top of the range Laptop. Ohh and Fujitsu Siemens make the best laptop screens, shame about their build...

 

I just returned this computer to the dealer. It sucks, the screen resolution is too high and the buzzing is horrible

 

i noticed your thread about the screen res. mazda... Its too bad it doesn't work for you But you can't say the laptop sucks cause the screen res is too high... Its clearly stated, so you should of known what you were getting into before purchasing...

Personally, i love that resolution! I have a Dell FPW2005 (20" widescreen) LCD that runs the exact same res. so its perfect

but the buzzing, that I can understand... thankfully i've yet to experience it, so I can't really comment on it but if i had a loud annoying buzzing i wouldn't be too happy either!

 

ok ok, i give up!! Stop bugging me!! I'll burn your **** backup DVD!!

hehe

So, finally spending a little more time with the laptop tonight, first things first, lets burn that backup DVD, which i'm assuming will restore the system to factory settings.

Then i'm gonna set the background to the same as I have on my dell FPW2005 and give the screen a good going over...

Will report back with some pictures of my rogue about to take out 2 large earth elementals (a screen shot i took in DDO a few weeks ago, hehe)

(btw: i'm going to continue to reply to my post with my thoughts on the laptop as times goes on... hope no one minds me rambling on here!)

 

Ok, impressions on the Acer eRecovery Management program:

Step 1: Preparing data
This scared me in how slow it started... and how much ram it was eating up! I seen it climb to close 900 megs used... wow! It slowly creeped up to 25% or so done (wasn't really paying attention as it was going so slow) but then kicked in and finished... Maybe 5 minutes?

Step 2: Burning DVD
This is SLOW!! It started off saying Estimate Time: 4 minutes and 30 seconds... Its now been burning for 6 minutes and has changed its mind and says 27 minutes now.

Oh wait!! My disc's are only 4x... maybe thats why?

Also, it says that it'll lock the keyboard/mouse for system stability, hehehe. and while it did sort of lock things, I can still move with the touch pad, and alt-tab works fine... *shrug*

 

Here are 2 pics I took showing my laptop next to my dell screen. Both are using the exact same background.

Note that the laptop is plugged in, and brightness cranked all the way up via the fn-arrow key method.

Background Image: 1680x1050 in-game screen shot from DDO
(can be viewed seperately here: Background Image)

First pic taken from 2-3 feet away - Mid Distance pic

Next pic taken from 4-5 feet away - Far Distance pic

New pics during the day time (sorry, not much better)
Daylight Far Distance pic
Daylight Far Distance pic2
Daylight mid Distance pic

Video (please save-as rather then streaming to not kill my server, and i'd love to hear feedback on download speeds)
Right Click/Save-as to download avi video

As you can see, the color is definately much brighter and just over-all more colorful on my dell screen.

I think the laptop is fine, but its definately washed out a little... not sure if it'll be too much for some or not. Not sure if there is any method for additional fine tuning, but i may not even look into it. I don't think its that bad

jeff

(lemme know if the pics don't work... webserver may or may not die )

 

The pics are not posting.

I can't wait to see them though. My Acer arrives tomorrow. And somehow, the dell I thought I had cancelled, is arriving tomorrow too. Unfortunately, I can only open one box if I want the slightest chance of returning the other. If the screen on the Acer is decent in your pictures, then the Dell is going back. What type of screen in on your Dell? Glossy, matte, ultrasharp...?

 

sorry about that... **** internal dns making everything look right

they should work now!

My Dell is an UltraSharp LCD monitor shown here:
http://accessories.dell.com/sna/pro...=en&cs=CABSDT1&category_id=2999&page=external

note that the pictures arn't the greatest, but you can get an idea of how the screens are different.

 

I think you pictures look great. And the Acer display looks very nice compared to the Dell in that light. It looks like the Dell monitor is matte like the Acer's LCD. Would you mind taking another comparison shot during the day or with the lights on?

 

I can take some more pictures, for sure. The light in my den is pretty dim, so it'll have to be during the day... rather overcast here in rainy vancouver, so perhaps tomorrow...

But i'll see what its like when I get home. May be able to get some better light!

jeff

 

Hi Jeff,

THanks for the pics. I actually own the same dell monitor, and I am VERY STRONGLY considering buying the 8204 (as in, I have been watching the price fluctating online for weeks now). Please tell me - were you able to burn the backup image, covert to ntfs, and restore with no problems? This may be the deciding factor for me.

Thanks

 

Hey linshiwen,

I have burnt the restore cd, but thats as far as i've gone so far...

My next step will be to blow away both fat partitions (leaving the 5 gig restore) and recreate...

More then likely i'll do a 10 gig OS partition and the rest will be for VM's and other data.

However, I don't plan on doing a normal restore. I'll load windows on its own and then just mix and match the acer util's that I want.

I feel its too bloated as it comes from the factory

 

What is the advantage of setting aside a 10 gig partition for the OS? Why would you want to do that? Is there something wrong with just having a C: drive on which you install Windows and keep all your data? Anyway, let us know how it goes.

thx

 

if you ever had a need to format again, this way you only format your OS partition and you data stays safe on its own partition.

otherwise, if you only have 1 partition for OS and data, if you format, you lose everything and are forced to restore your data from burnt backup disks, or from a network share.

always good practice to have a small partition for OS and app's and keep all data on a seperate partition.

I may even set aside another 20 gigs for a gaming install... have a dual boot if possible, and keep a super bare bones OS install without any other software like virus/office/etc... and use it for gaming

this weekend will be the first time I get to spend some quality time with the laptop, so we'll see how it goes!!

 

When you do it, could you please have a simple step by step? Ive reformatted my own machine and reinstalled windows, but that was easy because it was going to be a clean install on a drive that was already ntfs, but Ive never setup multiple partitions (or done something like leaving 5 gig restore partition), Ive only nuked the whole thing! Plus, in order to do the command /format c ntfs whatever it was, I had to use the recovery tool thingy on the win xp disc itself. Since I will be using a backup image I create from my out-of-box laptop, and not a windows disc, will I still be able to do that same thing? Sorry, confused.

Thx

 

updated my above post with several new pictures and a short video in hopes that it can help show the screen on the acer laptop.

Also linshiwen,

Your going to need another copy of windows w/ legal license key to do what i'm going. You can't use the copy that is supplied by Acer sadly. That copy is some funky Acer only gig, and won't allow you to *just* install windows. It will only restore to the full on (what i feel is bloated) Acer configured system.

But I am writing a short guide that i'll post up here for anyone thats interested.

(hurray for easter holidays and a new laptop to play with!!!!)

jeff

 

You would think it would be harder hu?

 

yeaaa!!!!!

thx man, you rock!!!

I havn't even read it yet, but I have little doubt it'll work I had only searched on google... and the only things I could find were people saying you couldn't use it

gonna go read now!

thx again!

jeff

 

Just curiously, is 3350 a normal score for the benchmark? The review for this laptop gave 4000+..

 

nope... its quite low from what i've seen...

I just finished my re-install of the OS and i'm running some benchmarks now... mostly Sandra burn-in stress tests. Seems to handle it fine on everything but the file system checks... its just finishing them. Just sits there with little activity

i'm gonna download 3dmark 05 again and give it another go.

 

I just finished running 3dmark 05 again after my clean install.

Old numbers basiclly right out of the box:
roughly 3300

New numbers with fresh xp pro with ALL MS priority updates and the following acer apps:
4358 (a full 1,000 points higher, and right in line with what its supposed to be running!)

Chipset: 7.2.1.1006
Video: ATI_8.231.zip (on Acer FTP site 4/12/2006)
Lan: lan.zip (on Acer FTP site 1/18/2006)
Sound: Audio 5.10.0.5223.zip (on Acer FTP Site 4/10/2006)
Modem: windows update found this driver for me.
Wireless lan: 802abg.zip (on Acer FTP site 1/18/2006)
02 Micro Smartcard: smartcard.zip (on Acer FTP Site 1/18/2006)
Camera Driver: ccd.zip (on Acer FTP site 1/18/2006)
Card Reader: cardrdr.zip (on Acer FTP site 1/18/2006)

 

Some numbers from Everest:
( http://www.lavalys.com/products/download.php?pid=3&lang=en)
----------------------------------------------------

CPU:
CPU Clock - 2000.2 mhz
CPU Multiplier - 12.0x
CPU FSB - 166.7 mhz
Memory Bus - 333.4 mhz
DRAM:FSB Ratio - 10:5
Temp - mid 50's (i've seen it climb as high as 62 so far)

SPD Memory Modules:
DIMM1: Nanya 1 GB DD2-667 DDR2 SDRAM
DIMM2: (Trial version, i don't think it'll display both)

Graphics Processor Properties:
GPU Clock - 472
Memory Clock - 468

Monitor Properties:
Monitor ID - SEC3146
Manufracturer - LTN154P1-L02 (this is the samsung screen - yes, i see grey lines but I doubt they will bother me)
Manufacture Date - 2005