ACER 6935G, My Own Complete Review

NEW : ACER 6935G WITH WINDOWS 7 RTM ULTIMATE 64BITS

UPDATE 13/12/2009
NVIDIA 195.62 WHQL DRIVER COMPATIBILITY ISSUE
I've tested the latest WHQL display driver from nVidia 195.62. There's compatibility issue as you can't adjust the brightness of the screen anymore from the Acer ePower Management and with the keyboard with the keys Fn+arrow.

It is better to keep using the 186.81 driver from nVidia as there isn't compatibility issue.


UPDATE 10/11/2009
WINDOWS SEVEN REALTEK AUDIO DRIVER COMPATIBILITY ISSUE

It seems Realtek has removed some options in the latest driver released on 02/11/2009 (2.36). Indeed, in the Sound management (Control Panel of Windows), in the speakers properties LEVELS tab, most of the levels are missing so the Internal Subwoofer level too.

I suggest to get the previous version that I'm using:

Realtek Driver 2.32

After you have installed it, you must be able to see these settings :



You are now able to adjust the level of the subwoofer
P.S: The center level will be useless here as the 6935G doesn't have center speaker like the 89xxG series.


UPDATE 06/11/2009
WINDOWS SEVEN CIR ITE DRIVER COMPATIBILITY ISSUE

I would like to mention that I've met some compatibility issue with the CIR ITE driver for Windows 7. The console media pad didn't respond very well. I've returned to the previous driver (Vista) using the system restore, everything came back to normal.

UPDATE 26/10/2009
For those who may doesn't know yet, ACER website provides official Windows 7 Drivers for The ASPIRE 6935G.
For Empowering Technology, it seems ACER has only released the LaunchManager (Application Tab). I haven't tested it yet, but it must solve the compatibility problem when using the one for Vista.

11/08/2009

As I didn't noticed anything new since with my 6935G and Windows Vista 64Bits, since I get the Windows 7 RTM, I was excited to test this new Windows O.S on my Notebook.

I had tested it already on my desktop and I've been quite satisfied but didn't noticed any real improvement, maybe because my desktop specification is quite powerful

With the 6935G, it's another Story! But in a positive way

It's with a brand new battery that the test will go on. My last battery got faulty some days ago and has been replaced by a brand new one for free in less than 24h, thank you ACER and the 1 year Warranty !

ABOUT THE DRIVERS:

I had to install the following drivers:
- Latest nVidia Geforce 9M for Windows 7
- Latest Audio driver from Realtek for Windows 7 See the update of 10/11/2009 above.

From ACER Vista 64 bits Drivers:
- Card reader (Vista 64bits) for better support
- Touchpad synaptics (Vista 64bits) for better support

- I haven't installed Fingerprint utility as I don't use it, but I'm sure the vista driver will work

EMPOWERING TECHNOLOGY:

Empowering Technology is working very well but I had to activate the Windows Vista SP1 compatibility on the Empowering Framework *.exe in the Program Files Directory.
Don't forget to reboot after all installation of eAudio, ePower and eSettings.

EMPOWERING TECHNOLOGY TOOLS
For the Empowering Technology I've made a RAR folder which contains the following tools :
- Empowering Technology Framework (to install first)
- eAudio Management
- ePower Management
- eSettings Management
The other eTools wasn't really usefull
- LaunchManager_Dritek_Kilimanjaro2_v2.0.0.2 (to configure the eButton) Once installed, launch the program for configuration and target to Empowering Technology ".exe" in the program directory

Click HERE to download the ACER Empowering Technology RAR FOLDER (32Mb)

UPDATE : THERE IS A NEW VERSION OF LAUNCHMANAGER DRITEK FOR WINDOWS 7 : LaunchManager_Dritek_3.0.02_W7x86W7x64_A.zip


ANY IMPROVEMENT ?
I won't say anything about Windows 7 environment, many websites have talked about it already. I will only say what I've noticed.

The first thing that I've been amazed was the memory occupied at startup. I have my Nod32 antivirus running as my previous configuration on vista 64bits.
On Vista 64 bits, I had 850Mb occupied at startup, Windows 7 64 bits occupied 630Mb. About 220MB less This is quite great!

BATTERY LIFE
You can now expect more than 4hours in websurfing (and some Photo retouching with Photoshop) with Balanced power setting. You may get much more battery life if you use the Power Saver mode.
Note: Vista 64bits in Balanced Mode allowed less than 3h30mn

It seems that Windows 7 has a better battery management.

I will release another test result later when running a video to see if we get any improvement too.

UPDATE 09/09/2009 BATTERY LIFE: VIDEO PLAYBACK ON WINDOWS 7

I've been able to make a new test of Battery Life by playing Video under Windows 7. To play the videos, I've used Media Player Homecinema.

Movies played :
- Fast and Furious 2009 (1080P)
- Blood the Last Vampire 2009 (720P)

I've been able to watch these movies without to play the end credits for about 3h10mn.

So if you look back at the Windows Vista video test, Windows 7 offers 30mn more of video playback.
Windows 7 offers definitely better battery management than Windows Vista.


PERFORMANCE
CINEBENCH 10
I ran Cinebench 10 to see if there was also any improvement.
Indeed, it a bit faster than Vista 64Bits.

Cinebench 10 Score : 5571 (Vista 5472)


PERFORMANCES OF 9600M GT

3D MARK 06 Score at native resolution 1366x768 is 5825. A bit more than Vista 64 bits which was 5690



RESIDENT EVIL 5 BENCHMARK ON 6935G WINDOWS 7

I've only ran the Directx 9.0C Test. I thought it was useless to test the Directx 10 Benchmark with this kind of GPU




You can see that you can play with good settings with this 9600M GT, I think this is not bad, and the graphics are still really nice.



UPDATE 13/09/2009 NEW ACER BIOS 1.13, BETTER GRAPHIC SUPPORT?
I've updated the BIOS wich was 1.10 to the new bios 1.13.
Since the update, the Windows 7 Score for the Graphics rating has a little bit increased from 6.3 to 6.4



******************************************************

Previous Review (Windows Vista 64Bits SP1)

I've decided to concentrate here everything I have about this Notebook.
For now I'm quite satisfied with it. It is capable of running everything I need.
Just a bit disappointed for Cuda Performances.

THE PERFORMANCES OF ASPIRE 6935G
Model : 1366x768, CPU Centrino2 P8600 2.4GHz, nVidia 9600MGT 512Mo, DDR3 RAM 2GB, HDD 320GB, Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bits:

PERFORMANCES OF 9600M GT

GPU-Z:



3D MARK 06 Score at native resolution 1366x768 is 5690

3D MARK 06 Score at resolution 1024x768 is 6390

Cinebench 10 score is 5472.




I'm not so much into gaming, but I like games like Left 4 Dead and I was able to play it with this 9600M GT with nice graphics and anti-aliasing (2x).

NEW 12-01-2009 COD 5 Bench
I've made a bench of COD5 and that was quite good. I've let all the default settings but use native resolution (1366x768) Vertical Sync and AA2x. I've used FRAPS to get the frame rate and the average was around 30-35fps, the lower rates was about 18fps during multiple explosions close to 4 tanks. We still can get more fps by lowering the resolution to 1280x720, but I wanted to test with the native resolution.


The Call of Duty 5 is well playable on 9600M GT


ACER 6935G CUDA EXPERIENCE

I was waiting for decent driver to use Cuda on Vista 64 bits with TMPGEnc Xpress. The last nVidia Driver for 9600M GT has been released 2 -3 days ago... finally on nVidia website... none of notebook driver were really available before on nVidia website

Well, I was quite happy to get compatible driver at first. But after some tests, the encoding performance hasn't improved at all. Sometimes it gets much slower ... It makes run hot your GPU for nothing.

Understand that I was quite disappointed with this kind of result. Well, I will only deactivate the CUDA function to use TMPGEnc, as it runs faster without it.

But nVidia recommends to use CUDA requires a 9600 GT at least (much faster card than 9600M GT), so don't expect to get any improvement with the 9600M GT.

I will run a test later with the late version of Badaboom to see if it's worth of it. But I'm not sure we will get any improvement



BATTERY LIFE

The 6935G got a 8 Cell battery, it gives a good battery life value

With common use as Internet Wifi and some Photoshop, I get 3h15mn Battery Life in Balanced Mode.

PLAYING MOVIE

x264 HD720P Movie
I've made a test lately by running an HD720P movie in MKV with VLC Player. The file was played from the HDD. I was able to watch completely the movie : Batman Dark Night, which was about approximatively 160 mn. I don't know if VLC can use nVidia Pure HD.

DVD MOVIE
I've played the Lord The Rings "The Return of The King" (Theatrical Version), with the DVD PLAYER, which was long enough to estimate the battery life.

I've played it with PowerDVD 8 with the nVidia Pure Video acceleration Hardware activated.
I use the "Power Saver" profile to reduce the CPU at its lower speed (enough to play DVD).

I've set the brightness monitor to 30%

The battery wasn't able to run the 200mn of the movie. Anyway, it ran for 165 mn.



HEAT OF ASPIRE 6935G

I've made the test in my room which is about 27°C environment temperature. With Notpad Cooler and without it.

HARD DRIVE TEST
Idle : 46°C (50°C without cooler)
Hard Drive intensive run with virus scan.
Full : 52°C (58°C without cooler)


CPU TEST
IDLE : 39°C (43°C without cooler)

Test with TMPGEnc Xpress, Full : 55°C (58°C without cooler)

The Notebook cooler is very cheap over here (200 bahts = ~4 Euros), good value I think.



ABOUT THE SCREEN QUALITY
It's a TN 8ms monitor, the view angle are ok but not the best. But who cares, generally, when you use a notebook, you are always in front of it

The screen quality is quite good for a notebook, it's still far from a graphic monitor but the colors seem correct when I compare with my Graphic Monitor.
The gloss screen is nice but can become a mirror . The screen is quite bright too, so I recommend to low the brightness to 60-70% for a comfortable and natural use

ACER 6935G DRIVERS & EMPOWERING TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FOR VISTA 64 BITS

Most of Entry Model 6935G are with pre-installed Widows Vista 32Bits.

I've installed the Ultimate 64Bits but to getting the drivers is often difficult.

DRIVERS WINDOWS VISTA 64 BITS
The common drivers can be found HERE on ACER website.

EMPOWERING TECHNOLOGY TOOLS
For the Empowering Technology I've made a RAR folder which contains the following tools :
- Empowering Technology Framework (to install first)
- eAudio Management
- ePower Management
- eSettings Management
The other eTools wasn't really usefull
- LaunchManager_Dritek_Kilimanjaro2_v2.0.0.2 (to configure the eButton) Once installed, launch the program for configuration and target to Empowering Technology ".exe" in the program directory

Click HERE to download the ACER Empowering Technology RAR FOLDER (32Mb)



The top model of 6935G got Higher Resolution (1920x1080) higher CPU (T9400 2.5GHz) and more memory (4GB), if anyone owns this model, thanks to communicate us your bench and thoughts.

UPDATE 25/01/2009 NEW ACER BIOS 1.10 FIXES MEMORY SPEED
I've updated the BIOS wich was 1.04 to the new bios 1.10.
The new bios fixes the memory speed wich was ~433MHz (866MHz) to 533MHz (1066MHz)
My Vista Memory rating score has increased from 5.3 to 5.9

UPDATE 26/02/2009 ACER WIRELESS DRIVER x64 UNSTABLE - GET THE LAST DRIVER ON INTEL WEBSITE
I would like to say that I used to have some problems with the Wifi with Vista 64Bits.

It was like there was a malfunction and unable to make it work after some time of use, the light of the wifi button wouldn't work, so wifi too, even when I pushed the button.
The problem was the driver provided on ACER website way too old!
I've been to the INTEL website to get the last version of the 64Bits driver ( Intel® PROSet/Wireless WiFi Connection Utility for Windows Vista* 64-Bit) for my Intel Wireless 5300, and guess what ? Everything is working much better, no problem issue anymore.

I've waited about almost 2 weeks of test before submitting this problem. Hope it will be useful for 6935G owners who have met or will meet this problem.

Note : You must uninstall completely your old driver until your wireless network hardware is shown as unknown hardware before installing the new driver.


UPDATE 15/03/2009 CONSOLE MEDIA PAD MALFUNCTION BUG

The problem is about the console media pad. You can't interact with it by touching, looks like it's blocked, but stll be animated by windows itself.

WHAT TO DO?
Unplug the power supply and remove the battery for about 5mn.

This bug exist since the 6920G model. Not a really big problem, but I was almost ready to bring my notebook to the service support. If you meet this bug, you know now you won't need to bring your notebook to the service support.

I hope this will be useful for all 6935G owners or those who were thinking to get one.

 

I think. there is a guide or information out their regarding review for better format and layout.

Anyway thats the other story, this is your own review, so no need to worry about, you did nice job and keep it up in future. Goodluck to you techgurl.

 

Very good review

The format is different but it is in depth either way Great Review.

Do you have any regrets buying this notebook? Or do you think you made the right choice? Thanks

 

Yes, it is another story I could have made some post with bench with Sandra, PC MARK, but I think it doesn't really represent a common use for a Notebook, unless if you look for a desktop replacement.

I should have made a test to play DVD from the DVD player to see what is the battery life, different than playing a video from the HDD , I will update it soon

 

Nice review & pics you did on the Acer. The format is a bit different, but if it works, that's a good thing!

Cin

 

Nice, now we have both the refreshed Gemstone Blue reviews.

My 8930G thermal sensing thing stuffed up, so my idle temps were read as -7 degrees celsius

Woah Red_Dragon, slow down with those capital letters. One at a time now.

 

I've just made the run test of a DVD MOVIE with the DVD PLAYER. I've played the Lord The Rings "The Return of The King" (Theatrical Version) which was long enough to estimate the battery life.

I've played it with PowerDVD 8 with the nVidia Pure Video acceleration Hardware activated.
I use the "Power Saver" profile to reduce the CPU at its lower speed, enough to play DVD.
I've set the brightness monitor to 30%

The battery wasn't able to run the 200mn of the movie. Anyway, it ran for 165 mn.

I've now updated the BATTERY LIFE of my review

I will continue to update my review if I find new useful test to do

 

Why is you Emangement software GUI different then mine? I got the Acer 5315-2713 anyway I like the look of the new Acer software. My laptop is like 6 months old my friend had it for awhile before giving me it.

 

This is the version 3.0

 

Anyway, you can get the complete tools of ACER empowering tool from 6920G driver. Don't know if it will be compatible with your ACER, but it is compatible with mine with Vista 64Bits

 

One more joke about my grammar and you get a pimp slap

 

I've updated my review and included some Bench by playing Call of Duty 5

 

I'll do some bench marks for my 2.53Ghz dual core model when i get home

Oblivion 1280x720
All max settings with HDR on no AA.






Halo 2 1366 x 768
Max settings with 4xAA


Also get 35 fps 1920 x 1080 on Max settings and 2xAA.


Mass effect.

1280 x 720 All maxed with dynamic shadows on. No AA







Left 4 Dead:
All maxed 1280 x 720 2xAA 8xAF






For some reason my 3D mark seems low.



=\

 

Got any ideas why my 3D marks 06 score is so much less than yours?

Im using nvidia laptop beta drivers.

 

Maybe you are using a higher resolution than me. I'm limited to 1366x768. Your notebook can go up to 1920x1080, you may have done your bench at this resolution...

Anyway, I'm running on Windows Vista 64Bits and you are running on 32 Bits, maybe the 64Bits gives better results for the CPU?

 

I've updated the BIOS wich was 1.04 to the new bios 1.10.
The new bios fixes the memory speed wich was ~433MHz (866MHz) to 533MHz (1066MHz)
My Vista Memory rating score has increased from 5.3 to 5.9
It's now updated in my review.
The update is safe

 

Nice pics ratchet its shocking how terrible Halo 2 looks lol and to think that only came out the other day..hah

 

No it's because of the resolution.

 

Darika, does your RAM still report as DDR2 in CPU-Z like mine on my 8930 with the new Bios version for it.

Thanks

Steve

 

Yes, it's still showing DDR2, but when you click on the SPD TAB it says DDR3... so who's the fault? CPU-Z or ACER? I would think about CPU-Z which is not up to date...

 

Is the new bios on acer website?

 

Yes, right here

 

Awesome.

Will be my first bios update... scary stuff xD.

I've overclock my graphics card now so i'll have to do some more benches.

 

I've updated the bios, and I was quite a newbie with this, but it was in fact quite easy to do

 

Well i have the same model as ratchetnclank and set the mark06 resolution to 1280x1024 and get around the same as him :/

 

The resolution I use are

native resolution 1366x 768

and resolution 1024x 768

You are using a higher resolution

 

Uhh wow im not even using a 16:9 resolution. I kinda saw the 1280 and ignored the other one

 

The aspect must have been weird :tongue:

 

may i know what current driver are you using right now darika?? i also wondering with high end Acer aspire 6935G i only able to get 5025 points on my 3d mark 06 with 1024 x 768 resolution

 

I was using the driver available on nVidia's Website.

Now I'm using the 182.05 beta for Notebook.

 

Do you have BIOS backup of 1.04 ver? I'm trying to find anyone who has it. I have problems with system stability after update to ver 1.10.

 

Very weird... You may be able to get the previous bios by asking to ACER support I think.
For me, the new bios works perfectly.
Don't forget to say to the support what kind of problem you meet.

 

I've took a look and you can get back the previous bios right HERE
But you will hae to register HERE first

 

hmm actually when i just bought it and run it with 3dmark06 i able to reach 6k points with 1204x768 and after i switch the driver to DOX forceware 181.22 driver in hoping to get a higher points instead it's lowering it to 5.3kpts. so i revert it back to original factory drivers from the Emanagement recovery settings but somehow it's stuck on 5035 points now. any idea where the problem lies? oh and i also updated my bios which is previously 1.09 to 1.10 but it seem doesnt do any significant changes and may i know what application that u using to monitor your heat?

 

oops and i missed my computer Spec :
Acer Aspire 6935G-8745G50Bn

Intel core 8700 (2.53GHZ, 1066MHZ, 3MB L2 Cache)
Vista Home Premium 32 bit
Interl PM45 Express Chipset
Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT (1 GB dedicated GDDR III VRAM)
500 GB sata
16 Full HD 1920 x 1080 , 16:9 aspect ratio
4 GB DDR III RAM

 

Thanks for your help. This page I find, but I have any probles with registration.

 

Great Review, very very well written. *claps*

 

Is anybody overclock the CPU (P8400) on 6935???

 

Why don't you try to use Vista 64Bits, you will be able to use your 4GB ram fully and not only 3GB...

 

I would like to say that I used to have some problems with the Wifi with Vista 64Bits.

It was like there was a malfunction and unable to make it work after some time of use, the light of the wifi button wouldn't work, so wifi too, even when I pushed the button.
The problem was the driver provided on ACER website way too old!
I've been to the INTEL website to get the last version of the 64Bits driver ( Intel® PROSet/Wireless WiFi Connection Utility for Windows Vista* 64-Bit) for my Intel Wireless 5300, and guess what ? Everything is working much better, no problem issue anymore.

I've waited about almost 2 weeks of test before submitting this problem. Hope it will be useful for 6935G owners who have met or will meet this problem.

This tip has been now added to my review

 

I'm more than happy with my 6935G no real issues with the actual computer. Just a few with vista (which i do like but its been alot of trouble recently.) :\

 

AHhh i have the same problem! but with ethernet and Wifi! the ethernet just random freezes, and same with Wifi too. Can happen quickly or take a week or two. I tried new drivers but no luck, seems to take a little longer before it happens though.
Also have random problem of webpages not loading first tires when someone is on other computer even though my download/upload speed is the same and other computer isnt doing anything ¬_¬

 

You must uninstall completely your old driver until your wireless network hardware is shown as unknown hardware before installing the new driver.

It seems there's a bug on the website, it duplicate the last message when clicking on QUOTE to answer. We write our answer but it's the last message that is posted. I could be able to write this because I've used "Quick Reply" method. Don't know who is the "modo" to contact to report this bug...

 

Darika, thank you so much for posting this GREAT Review !
You have really taken the time to actually post screenshots and better yet you actually sum up problems and solutions with URL's
I don't care for a 'sterile' prefixed format, this is a more down to earth review that points out the issues that matter to most that buy such a notebook.

Today i will be receiving my 6935-844G32BN (P8400/4GBDDR3/9600MGT/320GB)
and this review gave me the much needed information so thank you from the otherside of this lonely planet.

My Acer will come with the 32bit Vista and to be honest i'm a newby when it comes to Vista.
I build my desktop almost 2 years ago with a serious and expensive configuration at that time and installed Vista 32bit Ultimate and at first it worked fine but after more and more nagging and bluescreens i transfered back to the good ol' XP which has proven Rock Solid.
Hence, i have not returned to Vista since so i assume a lot has been done to improve it ?

I'm also looking into Vista 64 bit otherwise my 4GB total memory hardly makes sense. On the otherhand i keep reading that the performance gains are very slim and do not outweigh the driver issues and other problems that come with Vista 64.

Also i'm planning to run Win7 Beta on a seperate boot partition since that has impressed me a lot when i installed it on my 'old' Clevo D47V.
So far it has been a blessing as far as driver installed is concerned (all goes automaticly) however the Clevo is kinda old and less sophisticated than the Acer so i'm expecting issues.

Any experience with Win7 beta ont he 6935 ?

Thanks again and keep up the good work !

 

I too have the same model as wyald.. with the P8700 CPU. my GPU-Z is showing my 9600M GT as having 1024 MB DDR2 and not GDDR3.. further clocks are at 500 (core)/ 400 (Mem) like the DDR2 version.. is mine actually DDR2 or is GPU-Z incorrect? BTW Riva Tuner and Everest also show it as DDR2.. though the acer spec sheet mentions it as 1 GB GDDR3...

 

Seeing that there are so many difference Cpu models i assume that replacing the CPU (for instance P8400 swapped by P9600) is a possibility ?

 

Yeah u can.. the cpu is not soldered.. but u may end up voiding ur warranty

 

can someone pls reply to this?

 

does it have turbo memory?

 

I havent seen any model with Intel turbo memory till now