WARNING re: Acer Ferrari 4006

I just wanted to make sure that you are aware that this system comes with the x64 (64-bit) version of Windows XP Professional...NOT the standard 32-bit XP professional. There are many programs that are not compatible with x64 Windows XP....none of the commercially available Norton antivirus programs will work...I have a new HP printer, one month old, and there are no drivers available. SpySweeper runs slowly, with error messages and great difficulty...even the "preinstalled" Acer software hung several times before finally loading a program called "CA Antivirus". I just sent back the Ferrari 4006, and ordered the 4005 Ferrari instead, which comes with standard 32-bit Windows XP professional...it would have been nice to have the faster 2.2 gig Turion chip, rather than the 2.0 gig Turion found in the 4005, and the slightly larger hard drive (120 versus 100MB, still 5400 rpm, though), but the 64-bit Windows XP was a deal breaker for me. I thought about keeping the 4006, and restoring the hard drive with a friend's back-up software from the 4005...but ACER told me that would void the warranty. I suspect they will have many returns of the 4006...great machine, bad software. Many sites you might buy from will tell you that the 4006 comes with Win XP professional, but will leave out the fact that it is 64 bit...but ACER told me that is the only way they are configuring it for now...too bad!

 

When I bought my 4005, I wanted XP64... and Acer couldn't make it available...
When I received my 4005, I tested to make sure all ran with the current install of XP, and then formatted it, installed XP64, and have had no problems running anything... antivirus, firewall, new printer, etc... works great!

 

I've spoken with a number of people running 64 bit windows on thier 4005's. Maybe your notebook was defective?

 

No, it wasn't defective...The Symantec site states that none of the commercially available products work with a 64 bit operating system (although some of the very expensive business apps do). I have an HP 7210 printer, and drivers are under development, but not currently available. My current Quicken version is not compatible. I doubt that my current version of Office (3 years old) will work. It is true that given enough time and money, and new peripheral devices that I could probably have a nicely functioning system...but I want to use and enjoy the laptop...not obsess over drivers and support websites...to say nothing of the cost of obtaining new versions of programs with little new functionality. At some point, most major suppliers will have 64 bit support...but it just isn't there yet, and I don't think that the average notebook user...or even the average power user...is going to want to deal with this.

 

I just bought the Ferrari 4006. For the moment, I'll be using it principally for software development using software tools that are created for both 64 and 32 bit operating systems. I'm hoping that I'll get better performance from these tools than I would if I installed them on the 32 bit XP Pro OS.

However, I'm concerned about my other 32 bit only software. The writeups on this machine seem to suggest that I should be able to install and run my 32 bit apps with no problem but your comments give me the impression that this isn't necessarily the case. For example, I'm wondering if I'll have trouble with programs such as MS Office 2003. Also, the 4006 supposedly ships with Norton Antivirus--is this a 64 bit version? Does it work OK?

I really don't need to connect to any printers or peripherals so I'm not concerning with the current availability of drivers.

Bill E.

 

i don't have an Acer laptop but i am running windows xp x64 on my Emachines m6805 laptop, and i'm having a problem with the system clock being wrong and progressively losing time. is anyone else having this problem? i put a post about this in the emachines seciton but nobody is responding so i thoght i might try here. the original post looks like this. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=43301

any help with this would be appreciated. thanks

 

You're not alone. Take a look at this posting in the newsgroup microsoft.public.windows.64bit.general

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...f9b2a0?q=system+clock&rnum=1#bca180a178f9b2a0

Bill

 

hm..how does installing a backup of winxp 32 bit from a 4005 void the warranty of the 4006? its just software...
if it screws up, do a eRecovery, and its back to original. acer wouldnt know you tried to install winxp 32 bit would they?

 

I received my Ferrari 4006 last week and have had no problems so far. The software designed for x64 is working fine as is MS Office 2003 and other software designed for 32 bit systems. I was also able to get a 64 bit driver for the one HP printer that I have--it was available on the HP website.

Bill

 

If you want a great antivirus program for Windows XP x64, try Avast.
I've also found that Ad-Aware runs without any problems under x64, same with SpywareBlaster.