Acer 3820TG North America Purchase Options

anyone know if lucomputers was shipping orders today? I realize yesterday was a holiday but my order status has been "processing" all day today.

 

"I bought from Cendirect, and while they have not written back to me yet, their website seems pretty clear that they want people to deal with the manufacturers for defects and will not take back defective merchandise." http://forum.notebookreview.com/6789452-post28.html

It's probably worth reading the manufacturer's site in full to see what the return policy is ... and it couldn't hurt to talk to someone about it.

Bronsky

 

I'm in California...And I'm certain that retailers (BB/Frys/etc) don't slash their prices on the good lappies. What I meant to ask was, if any of the online retailers/resellers every slash prices /offer good deals during BF or Xmas season?

This hilarious, cuz that smiley is called "rolleyes" haha.

 

Mine has been "processing" since I ordered it over a week ago. I may shoot them another email today since it has said "Stock Available" since Saturday.

 

I just got the laptop. I'm in New York and it took a total of 6 days from the day I got the tracking number.

I'm gonna have to replace the keyboard, the bilingual is a bit different towards my liking.

 

yeah - started the process with both acer and Cendirect last night. Acer ran me through a lot of hoops but agreed to arrange to have it shipped back and fixed - all arranged before start of business this am.

Wrote Cendirect last nigth requesting RMA, they said will check with Acer and Acer, which refused to ship me a new unit to replace this one, agreed to the RMA. So I am sending it back to Cendirect (they are picking up the tab) and when they get more in stock they will ship me another unit. I figure if this laptop is already wonky, there will probably be a lot more that goes wrong, so I'd be better off with a new unit.

I have to say, Cendirect has been great. While not as open-ended as NCIX with their guaranteed RMA insurance, they have called me directly in response to emails on a number of ocassions to make sure everything with the order and now this issue/return has gone smoothly. Not sure how big they are (as they seem to have a lot of different warehouses), but they provide customer service like a small, focussed organization. Very happy with them.

Separately, on comparing the 2 38290s - the i5 430m/ati 5470 and the i3/370m/ati 5650 (I had both out last night), while the 5650 was on for a bit longer and I was doing a bit more installation/web transfer (but was also pulling stuff wirelessly off the 5470), the 5650 did feel noticably hotter underneath, particularly on the front right side where the video card is, but also on the top of the left palmrest (this was very slight - it was cool on the 5470 and slightly warm on the 5650).

PCWizard was showing 46 degree temperature on the video card instead of 44 degrees on the 5470, but the 5650, but the difference on the underside seemed more than a few degrees . Didn't feel extremely hot or anything, but definitely would be less comfortable on your lap.

 

Thanks for the update. I got my tracking number 10/7 (5 days ago), but I'm on the west coast, so I expect it tomorrow or Friday at the earliest. Tracking still says stuck in New York since the 8th, which is annoying.

 

Just called LUcomputers a minute ago and was told they received the laptops today and will be sending them out later this evening. I was told to expect an email with the tracking number by today. I guess I will not be expecting my laptop until next week.

 

Yeah, I just go the call too. UPS delivers on Saturdays so if there are no delays I will be expecting to use it this weekend.

 

Good to hear about the decent customer support. Acer has been great so far as well with warranties and the like.

That heat on the bottom has been reported before and I think it is related to poor thermal paste application at the factory. The heat passes throught the motherboard into the chassis instead of through the heat sink as it should. When I replaced my paste, I had about 25% contact on the CPU and a bit more on the GPU. Good luck with the replacement.

Bronsky

 

I thought Saturday deliveries cost more?

Anyways, I received an email with the UPS tracking info and the scheduled delivery date is 10/18/2010, this upcoming Monday so it does not seem like I will get this week.

 

You might be surprised. Unless you get stuck in customs. I didn't think they delivered on Saturdays. At least it's not 15 days.

Bronsky

 

Just adding my info to the mix:
Ordered from Cendirect 9/27/10, received it yesterday in NYC (10/12/10).

GPU can only take 660/1020 OC- getting 8800 3DMark06, so not really too mad.

SetFSB (get FSB button) works using shareware version with Asus G73 clockgen, but you need to donate to get it to actually set the FSB, so I'm waiting on my donation key to try it out.

Mine has an LG panel.

Canadian keyboard layout is annoying (why the tall, narrow enter key, seriously???), so I ordered a US Keyboard

I think that's it.

Cheers,
McRaft

 

It's amazing how much variability there is between two models from the same distributer in a relatively short period of time.

How do you like the LG panel?

Congratulations on the 3820TG.

Bronsky

 

I have an Asus UL30VT next to it (these laptops are like brothers- so similar!), and the Acer has a nicer screen, but only slightly. Similar brightness, but the Asus' whites are a little cooler/bluer. They have similar vertical viewability (i.e. crap on both ), but the Acer is way better horizontally. Blacks are a little darker on the Acer, but they both have plenty of glow coming from the bottom.

As for a general comparison of the Asus UL30VT vs Acer 3820TG:

1. Look and Feel: The Acer feels higher quality. Both of them have the same brushed aluminum cover, so that's identical, but the Asus has the terrible all-gloss plastic palmrest and trackpad. Size-wise, they're almost identical, and I think the Acer might actually be a little lighter (though the power brick is bit bigger).

2. Keyboard: The Acer's keyboard is way way better, even if it has the bizarre space under the keys, which will make it harder to clean. Overall I love the pressure/action/sound and feel way more in the Acer 3820TG. My Asus UL30VT has problems registering some key presses when I type too fast sometimes, which makes this new keyboard all the sweeter.

3. Performance: Day and Night!! I could get MAYBE 3500 3DMark06 out of the Asus vs near 9k on the 3820TG... I love to game, so being able to turn on things like shadows and AA in video games (not to mention DX11 tesselation) with no loss of performance- it's unbelievable.

Overall, it's pretty amazing how similar the laptops are on the outside- you could swap them on someone and I doubt they'd even notice Underneath they're completely different- the Acer feels 2 generations ahead.

Incidentally, I have a 2-year-old dedicated gaming laptop, the DELL XPS M1730- a giant beast of a machine (17" screen, Core 2 Extreme 2.8Ghz, Dual 8800M GTX video cards, dual Hard drives, etc.). It weighs nearly 20lbs with its giant power adapter, and gets just slightly higher 3DMark06 performance (may 10k), than the 3820TG. Think about that.

The fact that you get the same performance out of a 13" ultralight $750 laptop blows my mind. I'm dumbfounded that Acer doesn't sell this in the USA and market it as the ultimate gaming laptop, since it destroys the Alienware M11X and is MORE portable. They'd be rolling in sales.

Okay, that's enough slobbering.

 

Where are you getting your US keyboard from?

I wish there were more accessible laptops with nice monitors. The only thing this laptop and most other laptops are missing is a nice screen. However, this laptop hits all other aspects that I'm looking for in a laptop.

 

There is an extra charge for FedEx but not UPS. I would expect your delivery on Monday but don't be surprised if it shows up on Saturday. It happens all the time for me.

 

I ordered it from batterystyle.com... I have never shopped there, and I only received their order confirmation (not shipped yet), so I don't know if it's good or not yet.

As for the screens, yeah, it's tough, but man, these are desktop-level performance laptops with 6 hour batteries for $750. You can get a Sony VAIO Z with an incredible screen, but you're paying over $2k AND sacrificing performance.

So it would be nice to have the option of a better screen, but of all the sacrifices/compromises, this is the one I can live with.

`McRaft

 

I run dual S-IPS monitors for my desktop and am spoiled by nice monitors. However, I definitely cannot justify spending over $2k for a nicer screen or sacrificing performance/weight/battery life.

Checked the UPS tracking info again today and the package actually got into Louisville, Kentucky last night at midnight. No departure information yet but the ETA has also been removed. I've gotten items from Kentucky next day before so hopefully I will get the laptop by Friday or Saturday. I've gotten packages before on Saturday but I thought I remembered these being delivered by Fedex and not UPS. I don't think extra was paid for this but I could be wrong.

 

I have an upgraded staples.ca version for sale here in the NBR exchange...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...09-fs-acer-3820tg-3022-modified-upgraded.html

 

USPS tracking has my unit still in New York as of 10/8. I'm apparently in customs hell.

 

Is it with ISC? Mine was held there for 5 days including the weekend.

 

Mine apparently made it through customs yesterday. It is bizarre that it went from Toronto to Louisville, KY considering its final destination is Massachusetts! There is no way I'm getting it before Monday now.

 

This is the 5th day for me if you don't count the weekend and the holiday. I'm hoping it gets released soon. :| That's not even factoring shipping from NY.

 

I'm not too sure, but I think that international shipments get shipped with priority mail status. With all the packages I ship, priority mail works its magic with only 2-3 days (usually 2) transit time.

Hey, you might get it tomorrow! /high hopes/

 

Well I may get it tomorrow if they do deliver the laptop on Saturday. My laptop has taken an interesting trip into my area.

LOUISVILLE, KY -> SOUTH CHARLESTON, WV -> NEW STANTON, PA -> PHILADELPHIA, PA (departed 3:53pm today).

I've never had a package make so many small stops before. But, the laptop should be in my area as it is about a 1.5 hour drive from Philly unless it goes somewhere else first.

 

Nice, Mined departed Louisville yesterday at 7:50 PM but the tracking info has been updated since. I guess mine must not be on the same route as yours. Hopefully you'll get yours tomorrow so you can tell me what type of screen I should expect!

 

for those who haven't purchased yet, I've decided to sell my week old 3820TG-7360 in the marketplace. It is in immaculate condition. I just don't need a machine this powerful as I do all my gaming on the desktop.

 

Anyone found out where to buy the US version keyboard to replace the bilingual keyboard? I dont need backlights.

Do these 3810 keyboards on ebay work?:

"http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Acer-Aspire-3810-3810T-4810T-4810-Keyboard-US-Black-/170523690623?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item27b401067f"

would they be a perfect fit?

 

Go to the first post of the Owner's lounge and there is a detailed post on the keyboard replacement.

And yes the 3810 fits the 3820tg but with small adjustments.

 

Anyone in the US get theirs yet?

 

For Canadians, Canada Computers has dropped the price to $729.99

Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3820TG-7360, Notebook - Intel Core i3-370M, 13.3" HD, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, ATI RADEON HD 5650, Wireless N, Webcam, HDMI, Windows 7 Home Premium | Canada Computers

 

But in North America, there's still no option for an i5-450/460m yet, right?

Bummer...

 

How come on atic's website it says it comes with the 9 cell battery, is that the one that sticks out a lot from the bottom of the computer? I want the one that doesnt stick out hm

 

I had the LG pannel on the 5650 too (might be they all come with one), but actually liked the other one on the 5470 better (had them side by side, and quickly noticed the screen didn't look as good on ther 5650. Might have just received an all-around lemon, but the 5650 was not as sharp, the whites were less vibrant, and it just seemed like the entire image could have used a bit of photoshop sharpening compared to the non-LG one on the 5470 (forget the name AUO or something).

Even adjusting brightness (seemed I could do only limited tweaking on the monitor by adjusting brightness only and not colour as the windows program said to adjust other stuff on the monitor itself) it never got to the level of the other brand of monitor. Hope it was just an all-around lemon of a computer.

 

You're not the first to like the AOU better than the LG. Strange because LG normally makes decent dsiplays.

Bronsky

 

Meee! Actually, it came on Friday, but I was out of town and couldn't play with it 'til last night. For some reason, it just shipped it straight through without updating the USPS website, so I thought it was in New York for the longest time.

So far, I'm super pleased. The keyboard isn't as bad as I'd been anticipating from all the comments, and I swapped it out with a 3810 US model to get rid of those weirdo Shift and Enter keys.

The battery life is subpar at the moment, but I'm redownloading my entire Steam library on a university connection (and pulling down 18w doing so) so I know it's not typical.

I'm still waiting on my keyboard protector, matte screen protector and ZeroShock III to round off the goodies. Later on down the line I'll worry about putting in an i5 or an SSD.

 

I got an LG panel. :| Truth be told, though, I don't find it to be terrible. I can't imagine doing something intensive enough on this 13.3" screen to be annoyed that it wasn't perfect. I'll eventually get a shnazzy monitor to do graphics work/gaming on anyway.

 

As far as I can tell, all of the Canadian Retailers are out of stock but Agile. Amazing how fast these units sell.

Bronsky

 

Damn it get these to the US already!!!

 

Has anyone had any success OC'ing the CPU on one of these canadian units?

Bronsky

 

Ummm...yes? In the other thread, a few people have gotten them from Canada and overclocked and I'm sure you've read those peoples' posts also. The one I'm picking up from someone secondhand did 2.9Ghz on the i3, just over 750/1000 on the HD5650.

 

Anyone in Vancouver area interested in purchasing one of the cpu i5, gpu 5650 units? I'll be in Hong Kong in a few days and will be returning to Vancouver on the 27th.
I'm picking one up for myself and was thinking of buying two more units if anyone is interested.... let me know ASAP to make arrangements. I'll find out the exact specs and price once i'm in Hong Kong.

email would be the best [email protected]

Cheers

 

Just put an order in for a Canadian 3820TG from Agile Electronics. Haven't gotten confirmation yet. Called and got an answering machine. Hmmmmm. Anybody ever deal with these guys?

Ordered on my American Express to get an Extra year warranty.

Bronsky

 

Got my 3820tg-7360 delivered yesterday in FL from LU computers, unpacking it now.

 

Who has these units in-stock in Canada. I want to order from someone who will confirm today if possible.

Bronsky

 

canada computers!!!

 

Even they list the 3820TG on back order. As far as I can tell, there are no 3820TG/HD 5650 units for sale in Canada. Amazing! Imagine if Acer had gotten some decent stock in North America. By the time they do, SandyBridge will be out and I think we'll be seeing a lot of new machines, including AMD 6000 GPUs.

I guess I'll have to wait to see who gets them in-stock or try to figure out what's wrong with Paypal and PCHome.

Bronsky

 

Think I figured out my problem with PCHome. It was my bank. The declined the transaction. Probably for the same reason that Amex did on my first computer purchase (fraud prevention). Unfortunately, unlike Amex, they did not email me when they did.

Bronsky

 

Unbelievable. The idiots over at EXPC have not lowered the price of the 2gb ram 3820TG.

Acer Timeline X3820TG-5452G50nsse