Acer 2012, 2025 or 8006?

Ok, I've been doing pre-purchase research on PCs, and especially laptops for nearly 5 months now. I used to not know anything about the current market, now I have a better idea.

I currently have a Sony Vaio PIII 600 Mhz with 9 gigs of HD and 196 MB ram...and a 2d graphics card. It was 2500 bucks when I had gotten it, and second best form Vaio, but now it's worth the price of a graphics card.

Anyways, currently, I've decided Acer offers the best laptops for the price. One of my biggest requirements was the best graphics card...and currently that means either ATI 9700, ATI 9800 or Nvidia FX go5700. The 9800 is only offered in Dells Prescott P4 monster machine...and it costs like an arm and a leg, and I've recently decided that Pentium M is the way to go. So that leaves only Acer which is one of the few who offers the Radeon 9700.

Anyways, getting to the point. I've narrowed down my choice of laptops to 3. The Aspire 2012, the 2025 and the Travelmate 8006.

Now there are quite significant price gaps between these, but what I'm trying to figure out which is the best performance for the money. I.e is there a tremendous gap in performance between 2012 and 2025, or 2025 and 8006.

For those of you who own, have owned or will own one of these, I would appreciate your input on the matter.

At the end of the day, these would be my minimum requirements:

Pentium M 745
1 GB ram
60 or 80 GB 7200 rpm HD
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (preferably 128 mb) and with DVI out
DVD multi drive

I read in several threads that the ram and HD are not impossible to change, so that's less of a concern.

Question about the HD changing...where is it located? is it a module you can easily swap? or do you have to delve into the laptop and take it apart?

Well anyways, I'll summarize my questions:

1)Is the 2012 much behind the 2025 in features and performance?
2)What's the difference in performance between 2025 and 8006. Is 8006 worth the 400 bucks more?
3)How easy is it to upgrade ram and HD?

thanx

 

I'm assuming you're comparing the MI series...

1)
"Way Behind" is such a harsh word to treat the 2012wlMI, not to mention the 2012 wlMI now featured 60GB hard drives(almost all retailers have updated to this version).

The only real difference between the 2025 and 2012 are the following:
-1.8GHZ for the 2025, 1.5GHZ for the 2012
-20GB more HD space(80 instead of 60)
-Better Software
-128 MB video memory
-slightly different opitcal drive
-Aluminum casing for the 2025.

In terms of general performance, the 1.8ghz isn't that much greater than the 1.5ghz. There are even instances where the 1.5 beat the 1.8 in 3D marks test. However, if you do intend to use the machine for a lot of gaming, then the 128MB Radeon 9700 for the 2025 is definitly a plus

In terms of looks and placment the two are nearly the same, since they both belong to the Acer 2000 line anyway

is the 2025 woth the $1000 plus more?...not really. The 2012 can be purchased much cheaper now due to the various price drops on the laptop. There isn't any real price drop on the 2025 yet. For less than $2000, you can easily get a same spec laptop as the 2025 by customizing it at www.ibuypower.com (E-turbo series I or 2) or the ABSpc Zenstation Z4.

--------------------------------------------
I Would say the same to the 8006, which only difference to the 2025 is it's 2GB 2MB cache Centrino Pentium M and SXGA+ monitor. You can get the exact same specs with the Ibuypower battalion series for the price of the 2025(with additional 1GB upgrade!)

wait till the price to drop some more on the 2025 or 8006

--------------------------------------------------------
is HD and memory hard to change?
Generally, for these large mainstream notebooks, all you need to know is how to read a manual, and how to use a screw driver. I believer the 2012, and 2025's second memory slot might require to lift out the keyborad though (which isn't hard at all, unless you're violent)

I got a life, but it's currently up for auction.

 

That's what I thought, and I finally decided to go for the 2012, which is something I wasn't even considering a couple days ago. I was decidign between the 2025 and the 8006...but finally thought the 2012 will do just fine.

Now that I got that, I would like to upgrade ram and HD to 1GB and 7200 rpm. I've seen people do it on this forum.

I would like to know what type of interface/type of HD the Acer 2012 has, how easy/hard it is to replace the HD and the ram, and advice, guides etc.

thanx

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Dreamgazer
In terms of general performance, the 1.8ghz isn't that much greater than the 1.5ghz. There are even instances where the 1.5 beat the 1.8 in 3D marks test. However, if you do intend to use the machine for a lot of gaming, then the 128MB Radeon 9700 for the 2025 is definitly a plus
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Dreamgazer,
I must disagree with your above comment. A Pentium M 1.8Ghz Dothan will out-perform a Pentium M 1.5Ghz Banias. Not only is it 300Mhz faster, it has 2MB of L2 Cache compared to 1MB on the Banias. With that additional cache, you're looking at a 5-10% increase in performance if comparing similarly clocked CPU's.

The 3DMark tests, I believe, only test the GPU, not CPU. So you can't compare the 2 CPU's in this type of test. For example, if you have an ATI 9700 GPU in the 1.5Ghz system and an ATI 9200 GPU in the 1.8Ghz, your obviously gonna get better performance on the 1.5 system.

Romulus,
1. The differences Dreamgazer listed between the 2012 & 2025 are correct

2. You're getting a Pentium M 2.0Ghz Dothan CPU (Fastest Pentium M in the market), you will see a performance difference, maybe approx 10% difference in speed. You also get a 15" SXGA+ LCD. The 8006 is the Pentium M version of the Ferrari 3200 without all the flashy red paint. Plus, the unit is slightly lighter that the 2025. Overall, i would say with the faster CPU & better LCD, I say it's worth the $400.

3. Again, as Dreamgazer indicated, chaning the HDD & memory are fairly easy. Just unscrew a few screws and the HDD pops out. The memory is a bit more tricky, but still easy. One is under the unit, the other is hidden under the keyboard. Again, a couple screws and the keyboard lifts out

Overall, I'd say the cheapest route would be the 2012WLMi, you can then buy yourself a Dothan CPU (after the price drops) and replace the CPU. Otherwise, the price difference is not justified. Also, there are not a lot of notebooks in the market that have DVI out, maybe just a few.

-Vb-

 

Congrats on the 2012 order. I'm sure you're gonna be happy with it. It provides the best bang for the buck. In a year or so when Pentium M Dothan CPU's become cheaper, you can get a 745 and pop it in.

The HDD used in the unit should be a 4200rpm 60GB drive (unless they upped their specs). If you're talking about brand, I guess it doesn't really matter if you're gonna upgrade the HDD.

Putting a 60GB HDD in a 4 year old system may cause you some compatibility problems. Older BIOS's have limitations on the capacity of the HDD's. You can give it a try and see what happens, but I personally would not go over 30GB in that system. I myself put a 40GB HDD in my 3 year old Toshiba, but my stock HDD was 12GB and it's working fine.

You could buy an external 2.5" USB 2.0 drive enclosure and put your old HDD into that. This will give you portable data storage when/if you need it. You can put your music, movies and backup data on the drive and not have to worry about cluttering your system drive.

-vb-

 

well, too late now. I ordered the 2012.

Now I'm just trying to figure out what kind of HD it has exactly, and what I can replace it with. I would like to get the Hitachi 60 GB 7200 rpm.

Then I would like to take the old HD and place it in a PIII Sony Vaio that is 4 years old. It has a 9 GB HD.

Could I do that? what are the different types of HDs?

thanx again

 

thanks Venombite, I just want to add that some acer2012wlmi models now come with the Dothan CPUs (although the chance of getting one is like playing the lottery). So when you get your laptop, check before you upgrade it.

I got a life, but it's currently up for auction.

 

Romulus,

Where the heck did you find a 2012 WLMi? I have my heart pretty well set on this one, but the WLMi is nowhere to be found! I can find the WLCi everywhere, but I don't want the downgraded specs.

The only comparable thing I can find is the 1681WLMi. It looks like the 2012 with Dothan, the new case, and a crappy 1 hour battery. I know a lot of people ordering from Newegg a few weeks ago were recieving the 2012 with Dothan. It was hit or miss. Could Acer have discontinued the 2012 WLMi in favor of the 1681, and the new parts were getting shipped in the old case for a few weeks?

What the heck is going on???

 

i am also trying to find 2012 wlmi. i called several web stores but none of them heve it in stock. i got to know that they might get it in aproximately 2 or 4 weeks. does anyone know whats going on or where to buy this 2012 wlmi laptop.

 

well, I have been fooled by MPsuperstore.com

they send me a WLCI instead, which I will send right back at them and get a full refund.

I'm currently searching for another store...many seem very inconpetent, some not even getting the specs right! Agents that don't know all the differences between the WLMI and WLCI..

very frustrating...we should let each other know which store has them/will get them.

I'm still searching...

 

i keep checking web stores. none of them have it right now. only found it for 1500$ and more. even contacted acer and was told that they still have it in /even though it was discontinued/ but i have to contact reseller to help me get one. all the resellers are just getting it in four weeks or so /they are not sure, might be longer/, thats just too long for me since i am leavin usa in the begining of october. if you guys find one somewhere pls let me know.

 

Hi Dreamgazer,

Would you mind sending me some info about a 1.5MHZ Pentum-M beating a 1.8MHZ Pentium-M? I would really like to see this to better understand what configurations work best. I am by no means doubting you at all. I am asking only out of curiosity as I only know two other people with the Dothan processor and both outperform my Banias processor.

One of my friends owns a TM8006 with the Pentium-M 725, and I have another friend that has a Dell Inspiron with the 735. I own a 705, have more RAM than both of them (1Gig as opposed to 512MB) yet both of them beat me at the 3DMark and the PI benchmark programs.

As for memory upgrades, the TM8006 also has the other RAM slot under the keyboard. As said before in many of the previous posts, watch out for CAS latency. The hard drive for the TM8006 is on the left side just under the wrist. It is very easy to remove. Both the Aspire and the Travelmate use ATA-6 hard drives. They must be no taller than 9.5mm, my older 11mm drive does not fit. So make sure check before you buy!

 

Acer has most probably stopped production of the 2012 in preperation for a new pci-e model, other forums have reported more information on pci-e will be available in september.