Acer 3935

Ok, this is starting to interest me. Anyone order one yet? Was holding off for the new timeline series, but this appears to be just about the same but with potentially faster processor, built-in DVD and fingerprint reader. A little heavier than what the timeline series is suppose to be but I assume that's due to included DVD player. Negative I see with this is the 4 cell battery. Curious as to how long this would last. If they managed to tweak 4 hours out of it I would be happy but I am thinking it's more likely like 2 hrs. Anyway, figured I'd start a thread and hopefully someone has ordered and can share their experience.

 

4 hours of a 4-cell battery? I wouldn't count on it..your 2 hour guess sound about right IMO.

 

Just found what appears to be the first official review of this model.

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/acer-aspire-3935.aspx?page=1

Got good review and Editor's choice. Hard to believe but they are claiming 4 hours with the 4 cell battery. Finding it tough to hold back. Now to decide this or continue waiting for timeline series.

 

Does it have a backlit keyboard? On the amazon and J&R preorders it states it does but on all the media releases from Acer they dont mention it. But they do mention the 18.4" having one. It seems odd to me they would leave that info out.

 

No, I am pretty sure it does not. I found a quick flyer on it and it doesn't mention it. Think that is only on the 18" model. I am kind of losing interest in this as I also learned it uses a 1.8" hard drive vs. 2.5" in most laptops. This stinks as those can't be easily found. Manual mentions model with 2.5" drive, but that's in lieu of the DVD drive. Think I may be waiting for the Timeline series. Hopefully they use the standard 2.5 " drive in those.

 

If it doesnt have a backlit keyboard then why would J&R and Amazon both mention it? They were both misinformed? Yeah I'd like a 2.5" too but I'll probably get the SSD version anyway if I'm going to pick this Acer.

 

Probably a misprint. Based on flyer I have and review over at laptopmag, there is no mention of the backlit keyboard. If you do pick it up, please share your experience here. The non standard hard drive is the only thing holding me back on this one.

 

Where are you guys seeing that the 3935 uses a 1.8" harddrive?

Edit: I ask because I've never heard of a 250gb 5400rpm 1.8" drive.... and if there were such a thing it would be prohibitively expensive and they wouldn't be able to sell this little guy for $900. None of the reviews I've read mention what size the hdd is, but since the standard is 2.5", I'm guessing their silence assumes the standard.

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/acer-aspire-3935.aspx
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2345733,00.asp
http://computershopper.com/laptops/reviews/acer-aspire-3935-6504

 

I've been looking around the Acer site for specs and came across this flyer:
http://www.acer.com.my/acer/wr-resource/3381298521/upload/E0Entity3/1/SM30-brochure-0327.pdf

Granted this was not for the US version, but there is still no reference / documentation at all on the US site. In this brochure it mentions 1.8" drive. I was also able to confirm that Toshiba makes a 250 GB, 5400 rpm 1.8" Drive, which matches the specs mentioned in the article. Not 100% certain the US model is the same; this is exactly what I am trying to confirm. I actually find it weird that none of the articles mention drive type or specs. They typically do on several reviews.

 

Well that blows. If it is indeed a 1.8" drive, then its pretty pathetic of those reviews to make no mention of it. And it also pisses me off that the Acer America site doesn't even acknowledge the existence of the 3935.

That would be a deal-breaker for me.

 

Looks like it's confirmed, it's a 1.8" drive. I posted the question to the reviewer over at PCMAG.com and they confirmed. You can read for yourself here

http://discuss.pcmag.com/forums/1004420497/ShowPost.aspx

A shame, it seems like a nice machine. I'm thinking now the Timeline series may also follow the same suit. Probably how they can keep such a low profile on these machines. Too bad.

 

Drat, the thinness of this model was what caught my eye in the first place. But I don't wanna deal with 1.8" hdds.

 

does anyone know the specifications of the 1.8inch hard drive? I'd like to compare speeds with 2.5inch drives and see if they are comparable. I'm not totally against the 1.8 drive, but if it's much slower, then I should look elsewhere for a laptop.

 

It's a 5400 rpm drive. According to reviews, performance is on par with other 5400 drives.

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/acer-aspire-3935.aspx

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2345722,00.asp

http://computershopper.com/laptops/reviews/acer-aspire-3935-6504

 

I recently got this laptop from Taiwan. It is probably one of the best laptop I have ever seen from Acer. It comes with a 1.8' hard drive, but I can't really tell the difference between this and a 2.5' hard drive.

 

That Laptop magazine review says 15.6 MBps of HDD transfer rate which is an average for many 1.8" 5400rpm SATA HDD.
Therefore other laptops with 1.8" HDD such as HP dv2, Sony TZ, Macbook Air or Toshiba Portege R600 have the similar transfer rate.

Average transfer rate of 2.5" HDD 5400rpm is around 20 MBps.
So it is about 25% slower.
This is much better than 1.8" 4200rpm PATA HDD.
1.8" SSD might be a desirable upgrade option in the future when SSD prices come down.

I just ordered this from J&R on June 17th ans am waiting for the package.
With the special sale, it was USD$829.

 

This review says it is a Toshiba HDD.
http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/reviews/article.php/3823906

And Toshiba has only one 1.8" 250GB 5400rpm HDD (MK2529GSG).
http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=StorageSolutions/1.8-inchHardDiskDrives/MKxx29GSGSeries

So this should be the one in the Acer 3935.
The spec says SATA 3.0 Gb/s, 8Mb buffer, 5.55 average latency, 3ms average seek time, micro-SATA connector.

 

Hi Everyone,

Proud owner of a UK 3935! I imagine all us 3935ers are asking the same questions:

1. Can i put in an SSD if i dont have a DVD drive?
2. I want Windows7 64bit! not vista 32!

These are my tentative, hopeful answers and i very much emplore ye good folk of this forum to correct and update them as neccessary:

1. I have no DVD drive on the side, i have a 250GB HDD.
I THINK its 1.8". Therefore i can take off the back panel underneath and get at the 2.5" SATA bay. The actual size of the gap is around 3x2", and the connector has 7 pins, a gap, 7 pins, a gap, and 2 pins.
According to the excellent anandtech articles on SSD, u want to get the Intel X25m, or the OCZ Agility or Vortex.

2. Laughably, i have to send off for a Win7 upgrade... but only to 32bit ad only on DVD... and i dont have a drive... Still, the point is i want Win7 64bit. I will try downloading Win7 64 from the newsgroups and installing it with the 32bit product key i have. I'll let you know how it goes once i recieve my upgrade in the post.

Please correct any misplaced assumptions

 

You might like to look at my posts in http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=390929.

It depends whether yours is a 1.8" HDD under the small panel in the base or a 2.5" HDD inside. If the latter, it is not easy to get at but then the 1.8" bay is available for you to put in an SSD. I did and it works fine although you will probably have to change the BIOS settings to boot from it.

Enjoy your 3935!

 

hello norm2002,

I've just bought the acer 3935 and its a great machine

Is it possible if you could write a short guide on detailing how you removed the 2.5" hard drive from the bay as i also want to put a bigger one in as i have one lying around.

Also are there any warranty stickers on the laptop so that if you opened it up and replaced the HDD the warranty wouold become void? As if that is the case i might wait until the warranty actually runs out.

Any information is good thanks.