Acer 3820TG North America Purchase Options

amazon uk doesn't ship to us

 

Oh come on Bronsky, have hope!

This 460M is really intriguing as it's such a new processor... the suspense is killing me.

 

Item is on delivery for me!

i called canadapost

and they said

NO CUSTOMS OR DUTY!!

i wonder if china and canada have some some agreement in import exports

 

I'm jealous, mine is still processing.... I think it's because I put the wrong postal code, lol.

1042 CAD without taxes is equivalent to buying it for $922 CAD here... not bad at all.

Did our members in California get charged duty?

 

Earlier, whisperer (who had his shipped to somewhere near LA in California) said this:

Mine is currently (as far as I know) in customs as of 3:22am, but USPS Track & Confirm is rarely real time, so it might have already cleared.

 

First time poster, long long time lurker....

Just purchased my 3820TG from PCHOME. Like PeterDLai, I also live in San Diego, so hopefully it'll be shipped and through customs as promptly as his...

I CANNOT WAIT!!!

 

I'm wondering what payment methods did you guys select? I don't see a Paypal option, but I do see Credit Card options, and direct bank withdrawals (???) options. Any help is appreciated.




EDIT - I'm also having trouble inputting my cellphone - it won't take non-Taiwanese numbers. Added to the fact they are saying shipping only goes to island of Taiwan (!?). My Chinese is horrible >_<

 

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I would guess that you are on the Taiwan only version on their website and not the global version. There is a link to the global version on page 26 on this thread. I used Google Chrome which automatically translated the Chinese to English and made this pretty easy. Good luck!

 

LOLs indeed I am. Thanks.

 

Can someone who understands mandarin tell me please if this special is still running?

I have the i5-450m in my checkout screen but it won't let me process the checkout.

I keep getting thrown back to the home page of PCHome.

Thanks.

 

You missed the sale by like an hour - if not less. When did you add it into your cart? I managed to get to the check out processing page with it before, but now I see that this configuration and price has disappeared from the main page. Also PeterLai's link no longer works. Meaning the deal is over.

I think it's rather cruel twist of fate the deal ends right before Staple's (alleged) sale of their unit... No time for regrets now

 

I added it in my cart 5 hrs ago! I got distracted by an emergency, came back, and found it wouldn't process my order. I was literally at the screen where you had to input your paypal information before I had to go.

Thanks for confirming what I'd suspected. Talk about a short sale! The let you order days before the event and then end it after only 24 hrs!

Does anyone know if another sale is coming anytime soon?

Well, at least it's not a total loss. The other "deal" for 33,900 NT$ at least throws in the 2 GB RAM stick. That'll save me from having to order from another place.

 

So I ended up getting a Staples model to try out. Just a question. I hear a noise from time to time coming from the right side of the keyboard, kinda sounds like what a cd-rom would sound like. Wondering if this is normal. Too lazy to investigate but what's located on the right side of the unit? CPU? HD? Anyone else hearing this "processing" noise?

 

Yep, staples flyer just came out. It is 100 off at 699.99 now.

 

hmm 699 @ staples dam i was just there today and they were still trying to sell it to me for 799 even though i told the sales rep its gonna be 699 tomorrow ......

 

how long is the sale supposed to last? does the flyer say?

 

Ahaaaaa! Told ya the staples sale would be on! Now just gotta go get my 100.00 bucks back..... Without worrying if it would be sold out. Good luck guys.

Put my crucial ssd in, getting 215mb/s sequential red and 163 write. Not too shabby. One thing I noticed is when transferring a movie file (750mb) from my ssd to a 16gb usb stick..... it only writes to it at like 12 mb/s. Is that normal? Would it be the usb stick slowing things down? I think USB 2.0 is good to like 400mb/s

any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Thanks to Capn-Daft for the 4 day lead on this upcoming sale at Staples which starts tomorrow.

Here is the 3820TG with 5470 GPU for $699.00 at Staples.

It's on Page 10 of Staples "In-Store flyer - August 11 to August 17"

STAPLES | BUREAU EN GROS

 

yeh its normal. no usb stick is gonna get up to the max transfer speed. i nromally get 16mb/s on my ty kingston, and i wonder what allocation unit size u got on there 12mb/s is alright

 

..........

 

What do you mean by unit size? Its a 16gb Data Traveler. It would be nice for a USB to get 100 mb/s....darn. So there is no way to take advantage of the high data speed of the SSD over a usb 2.0?

Looks like a usb 3.0 flash drive will get max 33-35 mb/s with a ssd. pretty good. Lovin the laptop regardless.

 

With only a 128GB Crucial SSD, I have to do a lot of data transfer onto an external HD. This notebook could seriously use an ESata port or USB 3.0. It's really my only complaint. Hopefully it will get refreshed at some point.

Bronsky

 

Ok, I am SERIOUSLY bummed out! I have been casually laptop shopping for a long time (partly on hold due to money issues) and recently been looking very seriously. I have scoured these forums, read reviews, watched reviews on YouTube, etc, etc, etc. Everything kept bringing me to the 3820TG (w/ 5650). It is a size I love, a GPU I can be excited about, etc, etc.

So my conclusion....I HAVE FOUND MY LAPTOP!

And it is not for sale in the U.S. Buying internationally scares me and having to 'convert' it (OS, keyboard, etc) scares me. Come on Acer....what is the deal?

-Gary

 

Ordered my two Staples' 3820TGs, should arrive tomorrow. Thanks to all who replied for the help and I'll post my impressions later.

 

Gary99, quite a few US residents have ordered and received their 3820TGs. If you're super-apprehensive, expc in Vancouver can bring it over for you, but it'll cost about $250CDN more and come with 2gb less RAM. I went that route.

 

Capn-daft, Kingston Data Travelers are notorious for a few things... Super super super slow transfer speeds, and sudden cataclysmic failure.

If you're willing to pay out the ears for top performance out of a USB 2.0 flash drive, see if you can get a Buffalo drive imported - To my knowledge, they're one of the only mfg's to still use SLC NAND chips. To this day, i'm still kicking myself for not picking up a few when I was in Japan this year... Anyhoo, I digress.

 

$699 for these units is such a great price. That is the same as you would pay for an UL30VT which has the SU7300 CPU and the 210M GPU. I wonder why Staples in the US doesn't carry them?

Bronsky

 

But the dedicated GPU is anemic.

Granted, it's still better than the UL30VT.

 

Heads up for the guys looking to buy from Taiwan.... it looks like a previously Taiwan exclusive special has hit the global stores.

PChome¥þ²yÁʪ«¡m¡½ACER Aspire 3820TG-5452G50nss.(i5-450/1G ¿WÅã).³æ«~¡n

For 30900 you get the i5 450/5650, along with an extra 2 Gb ram and the other usual gifts. This seems like the best deal so far - better than the 29900 which ended yesterday (you're only paying 30CAD more for 2Gb ram!).

If my Ideapad Y460 didn't just get fixed I'd be ordering that right now

 

Thank you Nemein.

+rep for you

Just placed an order and also bought the transparent Yadi keyboard protective cover as well.

Got stiffed by PayPal and the FX rate it used to the tune of $25 increased cost.

Now, I need to look into the no-glare mod that Hendrickson did.

Don't have the courage to install a backlit keyboard. I suck at soldering.

 

Considering that Staples market is typically small businesses, the 5470 is a step up from the IGPU units that are typically sold as "business computers". An IGPU unit may have been sufficient back-in-the-day when all offices used their computers for was word processing, email, accounting and spread sheets. These days, if you are not incorporating graphics, visual media, or video into your presentations, marketing or, in some cases, product, you're falling seiously behind the times. This is nearly a perfect business machine for those kind of uses IMO (Of course, I would still buy the 5650 if it was available ).

Bronsky

 

I don't know why some had said earlier that PCHome didn't accept credit cards.

You can actually use your credit card. You just have to use it via PayPal.

Instead of selecting your bank account to fund the laptop purchase via PayPal, just change it to your credit card.

That way, you can use your credit card to buy the laptop AND get additional warranty protection if your credit card offers it.

Win/win.

 

Excellent point. Forgot about the Staples customer demographic.

I got confused for a sec when students like Capn took advantage of that deal at Staples.

 

If you suck at soldering, you are smart to stay away. The next time I do it, I'm going to try using conductive wire glue instead of solder. If it works, I'll write it up.

Bronsky

 

Definitely do tell me how that works out please.

Conductive wire glue could be the answer to soldering clutzes like me.

And I just repped you and Hendrickson for all the stuff you've done for the Acer 3820TG and are continuing to do.

More power to you gentlemen.

 

Looks like around $970 US + shipping of ???.

Pictures show what looks like a typical US keyboard.
In another post, I read that some distributors shipped with US keyboard.
Is the pchome photo correct, and will this be one with a US keyboard?

 

no +10char

 

My shipping came out to NT$ 1780, which at a USD/NT FX rate of 31.0218 from PayPal (ripoff!), equals $57.38. Shipping is from Taiwan to the East Coast of the US.

Orders from PCHome (in Taiwan) will have the keyboard with English and Chinese characters. It looks cool in my opinion.

Of course, should I pursue implementing the backlit keyboard mod that Bronsky and Hendrickson have done/are doing, then it will be a moot point.

 

Just ordered the anti-glare screen protector from Hong Kong. Thanks again Hendrickson for doing this already.

 

Awesome i just got mine!!!


NO CUSTOMS wow!!!!!

i love the silver lid , not a finger print magnent.

i haven't powered it on yet , no free ram, just the acer bag and mouse.

nice packageing, outside had a white pchome box , not beat up at all

 

Man what an adventure with this laptop search...

So I originally purchased the Staples model with the 5470 since I don't plan on gaming at the price of 802.74 (799.99 + enviro fee) applied $60 in coupons, found a better combination of coupons for $80 off, cancelled the first one, ordered another. This cancelling and reordering ended up with the delivery guy cancelling the wrong order so it did not come the next day so I ended up getting another 5% off my order. Now the price adjustment I just called in for another 100 + tax off my order.

Total? I think 816.70 - 41.96 - 113 = 661.74 ALL IN... whee!

 

nice dawes!

now thats worth it

 

Acer 13.3" Laptop, 2.26GHz Intel Core i5-430M, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, HD5470 699.99$ CAD

Think it's too late to buy on the 17th? lol my finals finish on the 17th ~

 

Why don't you buy online, and have it delivered to you. You can keep studying and let staples do all the legwork.

I just bought this, at 799, I was on the fence about justifying taking the risk for the pchome 5650 version. But at 699, I couldn't justify the added cost, added waiting time, risk of having customs seize it, risk of added taxes and levies, risk of shipping damage, and the risk of no warranty.

 

That's a bit over-exaggerated. You may be steering some people away from purchasing the 3820TG with 5650 for the wrong reasons.

For the record, for all the people who ordered from PCHome:

-No one has had customs seize it
-No one has had to pay any extra taxes, duties, or levies when they received it, in Canada or the US
-No one has had their shipment damaged
-Shipping seems to take an average of 3-4 days

But yes there is the added cost (+$250?) and risk of warranty issues, but if you game more than occasionally the 5470 just won't cut it.

 

Would somebody outline the issues with buying from PCHome, what it takes to covert things to English, etc...?

I am pretty scared of attempting this but I really want a 3820TG w/ the 5650.

 

1. Download Google Chrome (it allows you to translate sites that you are browsing, on-the-fly)

2. Go to PChome¥þ²yÁʪ«¡m¡½ACER Aspire 3820TG-5452G50nss.(i5-450/1G ¿WÅã).³æ«~¡n (note: this model comes with an extra 2gb of ram so no need to go out and buy more)

3. Click the orange button (I think it means "add to cart")

4. Click the checkout link on the shopping cart that pops up on the bottom right

5. You'll be taken to the order screen. Select your country at the bottom and click on the yellowish button.

6. Type in your email and click on the "No password, please click here first to set a password>> GO" and type in a password and enter the numbers and click determine

7. Type in your address and pay using Paypal (needs to be a verified account). Paypal can be linked to a credit card... not sure if this gives you extra warranty or not. Be sure to check with your credit card company.

Potential issues:
-Warranty
-Keyboard will have some Chinese characters, it's going to look like this: http://ec1img.pchome.com.tw/pic/v1/data/item/201004/D/C/A/D/4/J/DCAD4J-A46941662000_4bc6e6e33dd5f
-Comes with Chinese Windows 7. You will probably want to reinstall windows. You can, however, use the OEM key at the bottom of your laptop... no extra costs there. More info can be found on Bronsky's guide... especially step 7 & 10.

 

Using a credit card to get additional warranty protection is dependent on your credit card's features.

I would also recommend doing a fresh OS install upon buying any new laptop. It ensures that no bloatware gets left behind.

 

Even if your credit card has additional warranty protection features, it may not apply since you're paying Paypal with your credit card and not the seller directly. Unless someone can confirm you would be getting extra warranty with any credit card, I would advise against thinking you're getting extra protection just because you paid via credit card by Paypal.

 

When using my credit card (via PayPal) with PCHome, PayPal stated that my card would be billed by an Asian name, not PayPal itself.

As such, I believe a laptop would get protection.