Acer 8943g Owners Lounge

I am a proud owner of an Acer 8943g-6190 and wanted to start a thread for owners of this laptop.
So far have not had any problems and am still configuring the computer to my needs. I have had this machine for a week and like the way it operates. It is replacing a 7 year old HP 17 inch laptop which got me through graduate school.
I upgraded the ram to 12 GB and will soon install a 128 GB SSD to use as my primary drive and use the 500 GB HD for data storage. My WEI numbers as of now:
Processor Intel Core i7 720qm 7.0
RAM (12 GB) 7.3
Graphics ATI 5850 6.8
Gaming Graphics (4083 MB) 6.8
Primary Hard Drive 5.5
Overall Score 5.5
Once the SSD is installed this computer will be good to go for a while at least. I look forward to seeing posts from other 8943g users.

 

The only thing I've done so far to mine is replace the wireless card to fix the issue that many are having with keeping a solid connection. I'm thinking of upgrading to a SSD sometime in the future and I'll probably upgrade the memory from the stock 8 gigs that came with it, but what I think I'll do first is install a Blu-ray burner, since Acer didn't seem fit to include that in the North American market versions (along with some other choice goodies, like dual hard drives and a remote control).

Aside from those omissions though, I'm happy with the machine and it fits what I was looking for as I was replacing a 5 year old Dell desktop that, while I could still use, was seriously showing it's age when it came to playing the newest media (1080p content, for example, was impossible).

 

I would like to hear from owners who have installed SSDs in this computer. Is the original drive easy to remove? Any issues, other than the secondary drive cover, when installing and using original drive as a storage drive?

 

Hello! I have this laptop aswell. I would like to hear from you if you have any problems at all with games like StarCraft II or CS:Source? freeze with sound loops. I get it like every 4-5 minutes. I have also made a post about this.

 

Hello I live here too! I have the i7, 8gb, BD-RE version, 1tb HDD configuration. Bought my Acer 8943G a few weeks ago, had the same wireless problems which caused me to be continually doing hard re-boots. I took it back and got a replacement no questions asked, and I hope this machine doesn't give me trouble otherwise it's bye-bye Acer!

Anyhow, after initial doubts, I'm loving this laptop, I use it for architecture and graphic design- so 3d video editing, rendering, photoshopping and all those goodies. So if there are any similar users out there feel free to PM. Only things that annoy me presently are: the tv-tuner adapter is hard to remove when not in use, the speakers really aren't great and the media touchpad is actually irritating when you're like me and you want use of your trackpad whilst listening to music. I end up using the function keys or the remote!

I'm also interested to hear from users regarding replacing one of their hard drives with a SSD. Not exactly a tech-wiz in that sense, but these hard-drives are pretty clunky to me.

Oh and I'm new to the site

 

jrockette,
I've the same version as you. Did you manage to remove this tv tuner adapter? Mine is really blocked, and i have no idea how i could remove it (other than opening the computer...)

 

yes, you literally have pull it reeeaally hard- takes a bit of strength. I managed to take it out a couple times now and it's just as hard every time. but be careful you don't bend the fitting inside... maybe better to just leave it in unless you really need it out...

 

a SSD is a very good upgrade. you would love it!
anyone of you made the new 1.06 Bios update? Any significant changes?

@stoffey: the WD HDDs are the reason for this problem. you change edit their work tables or simply replace them with an ssd and an other drive.

 

I have this laptop and I love it so much. The screen is amazing and large and the specs are brilliant for a laptop. The fingerprint scanner is a neat feature and the overall look of the laptop is stunning. Touchpad is a little annoying sometimes though. My wireless has been fine and I have had it for 6 days.

 

I just use a large book and have the laptop on top. The good thing about this laptop though is that the fan is on the left side, meaning you can have it on your lap and the hot air will still be able to escape. The laptop is amazing and I agree with the look if it... it's stunning.

 

I purchased mine, AS8943G-6782, last Wednesday to replace a stolen Gateway C140x tablet pc. While I miss the ability to use the pen, this thing is just plain fast. Can't wait for an SSD. That's the only thing it's missing.

I realize that this is the anit-Macbook. It has tons of ports, and is quite literally double everything that the $1500 Macbook Pro is. Including weight, probably the closest negative, but it's worth it for me. The only portability I'm looking for is from my home office to my couch.

So a couple questions:

1. Anyone know how to disable the IR sensor? I have a HTPC and sometimes the laptop catches the IR signals to my HTPC and launches Media Center. I can see using this feature some, but for the majority of the time, I won't use it. It wouldn't let me disable it in device manager, didn't even give the option.

2. Where can I get more information about the built in TV tuner? I didn't realize that some even came with them, and this was the only model Microcenter carried. Is it mini-pci? Is the antenna internal?

 

Has anyone tried to hook up 2 external monitors? I would like to run three montiors at once. Two external monitors and 1 laptop monitor. Like this with hp envy 17?

YouTube - HP Envy 17 Eyefinity with laptop screen + 2 x 4:3 monitors

or this

YouTube - HP Envy 17 EyeFinity Demo

or this

YouTube - HP Envy 17 Eyefinity in action with 3 24" Monitors 5760x1080

Thanks!

 

My advice to you: Do not buy any of current acer product lineup.

Laptop screen consists of multiple valued information, such as color gamut, contrast ratio and Maximum/Average Brightness.

Go to notebookcheck.com and you will find more in-depth analysis.
You must do your own research and unravel the truth behind the promotion of advertising.

Please note that 8935G/8940G/8943G are in same position in terms of screen quality. CMO1807 is notorious for its below average quality upon overpriced laptop. This kind of configurations does not make sense. However, Asus's NX90/N90 also have same screen configuration.( CMO1807-N184H6).

 

I'm doing a fresh install on this and made a driver and application disk. I was just wondering if anyone knows what the ODM MIR driver listed on the disk is for? I've done a little searching but so far no luck.

 

Hey all.

I'm about to upgrade from an 8920g to the 8943g. Does anybody have one with the weaker graphics card in it? I think I mean the 5650 instead of the 5850. Am interested in the performance with games etc...

I can always upgrade to a better card later. Good thing about these laptops is there easy to upgrade and not to tight inside.

 

FLASH......Newegg has $500 Instant Rebate on the 8943G-6190 and free shipping for a total of $1049.99 delivered.
Thinking seriously about dumping my old Travelmate 4670 for one of these. I would also like to add 4GB to the RAM. I know some have done this already and I would like to use the exact same modules as already installed. Anyone know what I need to get?

 

Well, just took the plunge, should be here by next Wednesday or Friday. Didn't order the extra RAM since I could not verify the module specifics. Any help regarding this would be greatly appreciated. Worst case, I have to wait until it arrives and check for myself, then order the other two modules.

 

Just purchased mine to replace a 8930 with a faulty power jack...got sick of having to send it for repairs. I love every bit of it, except the touchpad, which gets smudged pretty easily.

The 5650 is alright, and to be honest I don't think you'll get too much more out of a 5850 if you're not trying to squeeze every little bit of juice out of your game. Been playing the new Need For Speed on this thing, and is starting to stutter when I put it on 1920 x 1080.

Here's a question though; the 8943 is suppose to have configurable quick-launch buttons, but either I'm looking at the wrong configs or the launch manager is not running properly, I can't for the life of me find the interface to change those buttons. Has anyone else run into this problem?

 

The 5850 will dominate the 5650, it has twice of everything. IIRC the 5850 in the 8943g has GDDR5?

 

It doesn't have GDDR5 unfortunately which makes it quite a bit slower- 26% in 3DMark Vantage and 35% in 3DMark06 compared to MSI GX640 with GDDR5. Real life difference seems to be even bigger- up to 50% ( source)

 

I've had mine a few days now with the 5650 card in it. Playing COD Black Ops, Need for Speed hot pursuit and I-War 2 Edge of Chaos, all with great performance on high settings

Think I'll wait until I notice a difference before I upgrade the card.

 

I have a new 8943g and it will not play the blu-ray demo disc that came with the computer. I have already had trouble with the media console not working but this was resolved by reinstalling the touchpad driver. I also had the same problem with the wireless connection dropping out but again this was resolved by installing the updated driver from Acer. I haven't solved the blu-ray disc not playing problem yet. Anyone have ideas? I have tried out powerdvd and arcsoft theatre but both crash so have proved useless.I like realplayer but it does not offer blu-ray playback.
In general the 8943g is a great machine and I'm glad I bought it as it does most of what I want very well. I just wish they would produce more x64 software to take adavantage of this great machine.
jeninsdjj

 

Have you tried drivers and codecs?

 

hey guys, i've read reviews that say the screen is absolutely horrible and too reflective, and i've read others that say it's a gorgeous display. Screen brightness is really important to me so I was wondering if you guys could give me the scoop.

thanks

 

The only issue I have with the screen is that the viewing angles aren't that great. Other than that though, I've been more than satisfied with the display.

 

Thanks Geese. It's tough ordering a computer without getting to see it in person first. I'm gonna go for it though.

 

Quick ? I'm going to upgrade my HDD to a SSD, but i'm not sure if It's sata III, or sata II?

 

Purchased the the 8943g-9319, I Love it so far, no dead pixels, no wifi problems...I maxed out the ram with 16gb of Crucial memory and I have a 128 GB Crucial SSD that I will install once I receive my recovery disks. I want to do a clean install of windows 7.

The screen is beautiful, the design of the computer is very modern, the weight is not a problem, feels notably lighter than my 8920g.

Second HD slot cover does not accommodate HD. Bulges toward the side facing the front of the laptop. Ordered this part to remedy this problem: Acer original cover (2nd HDD present) - AC36400 - $29.95 US : Notebook Solutions, Parts, Service & Support

 

I have the 6190 model. I put in:
> SSDNow 128GB drive,
> increased memory to 8GB,
> Intel Ultimate N 633ANHMW IEEE 802.11n Wi-Fi Adapter
> WWAN/EVDO/HSDPA Broadband Internal Antenna

Here are my issues so far:
- Was having the well-known wireless dropping issue. I put in the Centrino wireless 6300 card and they stopped occurring
- The 2nd HDD cover, which I see is a common problem. Need to order it for a 500GB 2nd drive. Just want to keep the SSD for reading OS stuff, and write my email and data out to a separate disk.
- Had issues with a Kensington Display-Link device; getting BSOD when I closed the lid. I say "had" because I stopped using the device and got a simple USB hub.
- Occasionally when I do a shutdown, I have to reboot in Safe Mode to bring the system back. This is the single most disturbing problem.

Beyond those issues this machine draws a crowd. It is large and "techy" and simply has a presence. When people see thats its an Acer, you can tell Acer has really cleaned up their act...

 

Just joined the club and got a KILLER deal on a 2 month old unit. Ordered 16gb of memory (I know overkill) owner had no wifi issues so I should be good. With savings (got it for under $750) I was able to add a 1 year squaretrade warranty.

Any updates I need to know about that are vital !!

 

one other question: DO any of the new 1tb drives fit in the 8943? I they are 12mm in height and some fit in certain notebooks.

anyone try?

 

I have recently purchased the 8943G and loving it so far, i have had a few instances where the Wifi connection drops and then system locks up and requires reset. Apart from that it is running great and performance is also great.

I have purchased a set of Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speakers and trying to connect them to my laptop, im trying to make use of the digital SPDIF output however have had no success so far, whenever i use a RCA-RCA with a 3.5mm converter plug on the end and open up Realtek HD audio manager it shows that it is connected the analog headphone, i am unable to get it to connect to a digital signal.

Can anyone help me out here, does this laptop support optical audio out, one menu suggests that it does. When you open up the Realtek digital output properties it says "jack information: left panel optical jack".

Any help would be much appreciated

 

Optical port is usually a shared jack with the headpone out port. It only turns on when you put an optical cable in though.

 

Those Logitech 5500 THX certified speakers must sound awesome. I have the down-level 540 model. I run them attached to my 8943G using a Creative usb sound card , which outputs the sub-woofer and has an optical connection. If I had those THX Logitechs I would use something like that, IMHO..

 

Awesome ill get a toslink 3.5mm adapter and give that a go, hopefully it works.

Yea the z-5500 sound awesome, hopefully once I get this connected even better. For the price they are now they are definitely up there in performance and sound

 

Does anyone have the core i3 model? I'm looking to buy this one as it's the cheapest 8943g model, and I don't really have a use for the i7/ati5860/bluray model.

NCIX.com - Buy Acer Aspire AS8943G-5636 Intel Core i3 350 4GB 500GB 18.4IN Screen Radeon 5650 WIN7 Prem Notebook - LX.PUJ02.065 In Canada.

It does still come with a radeon 5650 so it's not gonna be thaaat bad, and I do plan on putting an Intel x25 120gb SSD to speed things up. Out of curiosity, are these machines upgradeable in the cpu department? I may just wait to see what acer does with the sandy bridge cpu's, and buy the 8950g or whatever they end up making.

Merry xmas!

 

CPUs are replacable in the 8943g accross the core iX range.

 

well 16gb of memory are in. 500gb hybrid drive ordered so my lappy is gonna be a screamer. One surprise... why did they only go with a two wire solution for wifi? would much prefer to be able to access N on the 5ghz. Might have to swap that out as well and route a third wire. Anyone have a manual for taking the laptop completely apart?

thanks

 

Finally installed my Crucial 128 GB SSD!! I had been waiting for the Recovery Disks to arrive. WE score now 7.7 from 5.8. I also have 16 GB of crucial memory. From OFF to Log-on in @24secs...shuts down in @8secs.

WE scores of 7.1, 7.3, 6.8, 6.8, 7.7

Using 500 GB Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive for storage...No problems with anything so far...Loving this laptop, loving the performance!!!

 

Thanks for the help, that's good to know. I'm gonna go for that i3 system then.

In the future, would I be able to swap this in? As long as it's a core ix xxxM unit?

SLBLY A000066230 Intel Core i7 i7-720QM Mobile CPU 720M on eBay.ca (item 110627035252 end time 20-Jan-11 00:09:07 EST)

 

Third antenna is not needed for 5GHz range it's needed for 3rd spatial stream that is needed for 450mbps Wi-Fi speeds. Since there are only two routers available that can achieve 450mbps neither very good and neither particularly good there's no point. If you want 5GHz all you need to do is to buy a Wi-Fi card that supports it (assuming your router/AP does as well)

 

I appreciate the comments and good to know. I have a dual band router and lots of traffic on the 2.4ghz range. Anyone have suggestions for a wifi card? Intel 5300? Does Acer restrict or whiteboard like HP does?

hey all need a little help. Did a complete wipe and installed win 7 ultimate on its own. Two needs: Dobly 5.1 sound is gone. What is the acer app I need to install to get it back. Also touch controls are also gone and would like to restore those

thanks for the help

 

No blacklisting from Acer. Either 5300 or 6200 is a very good choice however I'd go for 5300 myself. It's also easier to buy a genuine 5300 than 6200- the latter seems to be fake of the year.

 

cool. I actually found a genuine 6200 from Amazon shipped with prime that will be here Tuesday

Amazon.com: Intel 6200 IEEE 802.11n (draft) Wi-Fi Adapter - Mini PCI Express - 300Mbps: Electronics

 

Hey guys,

Got this 8943G on Friday and it is randomly rebooting.
Every now and again it will just reboot for no apparent reason. Not doing anything demanding, and for the specification and price, it's not really something I was expecting.

It's really frustrating. Back in Uni in a week so have to decide whether to keep my old XPS and return this to Amazon (out of stock btw) if this is a hardware fault.

I have tried reinstallation from partition, and reinstalled the atheros WLAN driver from Acer's site but just now it rebooted.

The lady did slip when she was deliverying my laptop (though still carrying it), I'm hoping, given the WLAN issues people have had that it's an Acer fault and not something due to the delivery person.

Thanks for any help guys.

 

ok so I got the 6200 from amazon today.

installed and it sees both my 2.4 and 5.0 ghz bands. I can connect to the 2.4 no problem but not to my 5.0ghz.

any ideas?

 

any ideas on the wireless issue?

router is a linksys E3000

 

Set different SSID and different password for each band and try again.

 

hey all need a little help. Did a complete wipe and installed win 7 ultimate on its own. Two needs: Dobly 5.1 sound is gone. What is the acer app I need to install to get it back. Also touch controls are also gone and would like to restore those

 

anybody here openen his 8943g so he could see the cpu?
i would like to switch my cpu, but i dont want to damage the book