Acer Aspire 1410 - My Thoughts

I purchased the Acer Aspire 1410-2920 less than two weeks ago, and I seem to be having some issues with mine. I'd love to know if anyone here has experienced these issues as well. I've been using it and have been enjoying it, but now I'm having second thoughts with it and am considering exchanging it for something else. I'd rather not go the exchanging route, but it's something I'm seriously thinking about.

-- ISSUE #1 / LOOSE HINGES --
As posted in another thread created by me about weak hinges on my1410, I'm currently on my second one since the first one had loose hinges. The hinges on my newer one are better but definitely not as firm/strong as I'd like them. Is this normal? Is there any way I can try tightening them myself?

-- ISSUE #2 / HEAT ISSUES --
It gets freakin' hot after only using it for 20-30 minutes. Is that normal? I have the 1810tray application installed, and even if I have the fan set on the highest setting it gets to about 55-57 degrees Celsius. Why does it get so damn hot? All I have running at most times is Firefox and possibly iTunes, but usually not more than two applications. I do notice, though, that it gets incredibly warm when I'm watching video podcasts or movies (MP4s). Anyone else experiencing heat issues on theirs? I've never used a laptop in my life (which I've been using for 15+ years) that gets as warm/hot as this 1410. Is there something I can do to turn down the heat?

-- ISSUE #3 / DOESN'T SIT FLAT --
When it's sitting on a flat surface, all four rubber points on the bottom don't sit flush. The front fright rubber foot doesn't touch the surface, so when you're typing on it there's a very slight rocking motion. When I type it makes the screen rock/wiggle. It's hard to describe it, but it's quite bothersome. Does this happen with anyone else? I can provide a video clip of it if needed, just have to take video of it.

Thanks for reading, and hope to hear from all the other 1410 owners here.

 

Sorry to hear that you having such bad time with your 1410.

From my personal experience with the 1410 su2300, with 3gb Ram, and Bluetooth. (both after market modification).

Issue 1: Screen travel, yes there is some screen travel, < 1inch, but most of the time not noticeable, and the lid is not as tight as my Macbook pro 13.3, but then again the macbook pro is 4.5 lbs, so it can have a tighter hinge and still open with 1 hand, but even with the more loose hinge on the 1410, i still need 2 hand to open it. So i don't really think the hinge is lose at all for such a small/light netbook/laptop.

Issue 2: CPU heat, I am not sure what you doing that can have such high cpu usage, I usually run about 38C when idel or light web surfing, and about 45-48C when watching flash video, nearing 100% CPU utilization on both cores. Try under-volting your CPU, that might help. FYI, my is under-volted to 0.925v, running rock stable.

Issue 3: I seem to have this issue too, but not all the time, i notice that if the table i put the laptop on is not completely flat then the legs won't sit flat, but if the table is completely flat then all 4 legs touches. I think this is a issue with the 4 legs made up of plastics that is too hard, and the computer being so light.


All in all, i don't think any of the issue is that major. For a $400-$450 dollar Netbook, i am rather impress with it's capabilities. Try out my recommendations, I hope it helps you.

 

My 1410 arrives tomorrow. I'll let you know if I have any of the issues you mention.

Bronsky

 

I got my 1410 last week, and it is my first Acer. I haven't had any of the problems you mentioned. The hinges are tight enough that I have to hold the bottom half of the computer down on the table in order to open it up.

I haven't undervolted, but I've yet to feel the laptop get warm, let alone hot. I've never seen the CPU temperature go over 35C during web surfing/word processing. I haven't tried monitoring the temperature while watching video because it didn't seem to be a problem. However, the fans seem to rev up a lot when the computer is connected to the adapter. On battery, the fans are extremely quiet if they turn on at all. Your heat issue leads me to believe that you have a hardware problem that needs to be addressed, but I'm not an expert on such things.

 

Thanks! Let us know either way if you experience any of those issues or not. Hopefully you don't experience those.

 

When you say there's "<1 inch of screen travel," what exactly do you mean?

The display on my laptop does require two hands to open it up (when it's closed), but once it's open it just doesn't seem to be all the firm/strong. If I grab the top of it while it's open and move it back and forth a little bit, it seems to move fairly easily. Not too easily as if it were flapping around or can't stand up on its own, but it isn't a firm/strong grip.

Has anyone here tried tightening their hinges? If so, is it hard to do? I haven't found any videos of anyone doing this or any documents of people attempting this.

 

I'd return it. Mine runs cool. So cool I've never even bothered to check temps My hinges are tight, though it's certainly not difficult to move the monitor, and mine sits flat, except for the one time a rubber shoe fell off.

Sounds like you got a lemon.

 

I hope it's not a lemon, but this is the second 1410 I'm running with. The first one had very loose hinges, and even though this second one is better it's still not good enough for me. Maybe I'm being too anal about it, I don't know.

 

I just got my 1410. I'm taking it home to do a clean install tonight but opened it on my desk to see if the hinges were tight. They feel very tight.

I am amazed at the size of this little thing. Seems perfect for a travel netbook (with SU2300's )

I will turn it on tonight and do a fresh install. I'll let you know about the heat then.

Bronsky

 

Does it feel really tight when it's opened and you slightly move it back and forth, or is there a little give to it?

 

It feels really tight. It also sits perfectly on all 4 rubber pads. The only way I cen induce any flex in the lid is to try to move it from one corner without having any pressure on the body of the 1410. There is a hint of a diagonal flex then, but overall I would say that this unit is remarkably tight.

I did turn it on an let the bloatware load. I just tuned it off. It was on for about a half hour during setup and I couldn't even feel any heat coming from the side vent. I'll run some demanding tests tonight to let you know if it heats up under load, but my guess is not.

The keyboard flexes a bit more than I would like, but for a travel lappy, this this is ideal so far.

Bronsky

 

Bronsky, what is the exact model number of your 1410? I cannot believe I'm on my second unit (1410-2920) in two weeks, and the first one had very loose hinges and my current one still isn't as tight as I'd like it to be.

Do I dare see if it's possible to have one more replaced by Newegg?

Thanks for working with me on this.

 

I bought mine from Tiger Direct. I have a 1410-2990 manufactured on 12/22/2009. Happy to help any way I can.

Bronksy

Is anybody out there using one of these little 1410's as a navigation computer on a sailboat? I think this would be perfect for my 26' trimaran.

 

Weird. Maybe it's an entire new batch that's not built as well then. I'm at work... opened up my 1410 to test. The hinges are very tight. It's not easy to move the monitor back and forth at all. My manufacture date is 9/22/2009 though. I bought mine at newegg.

 

That's what I'm thinking too. I wrote their customer service this afternoon stating that this batch may contain defective units, and i provided the build date for them. I also asked if I can have mine replaced and hopefully not with another unit with the same build date.

Thanks for checking out the MFR date on yours Krista. Much appreciated.

 

You're welcome. Good luck! Really, mine is pretty perfect... except for the slight screen flicker that drives me mad at the lowest 4 brightness levels.

 

Played around with the 1410 a bit last night. This unit runs cool. Nothing is really heating up. As soon as I do a fresh install of Win 7, I'll run a benchmark proram that will stress the CPU and let you know if it heats up at all. Hope you get your issue worked out. I like this little portable.

Bronsky

 

Bronsky, glad to hear your notebook is working out so well for you. I got a response back from Newegg customer service...

Should I return this back to them for the refund, and try buying it somewhere else to see if I have any better luck? If someone here could tell me if it's possible to tighten the hinges myself, I would definitely give that a try over returning it.

Anyone?

 

I asked Newegg's customer service if it's possible to try another replacment of this notebook, but to have one shipped to me from a different warehouse to avoid the possibility of that batch having lemons in it. Here's their response:

Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

So, I received a THIRD replacement unit to see if I'd have better luck, and even though it shipped from a totally different location it still had the same issues as the first and second notebook. All three notebooks had the same MFR date of 12/23/2009 on them, which makes me wonder if that MFR date was just a bad run of these 1410s. Instead of keeping the third notebook, I decided to stick with my second notebook as the third one had WORSE hinges (flippity-floppity) and bounced more in the front-right corner (the foot pad didn't touch the table).

So, I've tried three separate 1410s and all experienced about the same problem. And now, I seem to have the dreaded high pitched whine coming from the memory compartment (see this thread).

I still love this computer, but am very disappointed in how these got by Acer's QA (quality assurance) department if one even exists.

 

I got mine Acer Aspire AS1410-2954 (12/27/2009 manufactured) for 5 days now, I don't have the hinge, heat and seating issues, but I have the screen problem. twice I boot up the laptop there's a 1 1/2" wide vertical streak on the right side, reboot and it goes away. Hope I won't see it again, cause I really like this little machine, every work great.

 

So are the hinges extremely firm on your 1410? Sucks to hear you're dealing with the display problem, and I pray I don't have that problem (or any others) with mine.

I may complain about the hinges on mine, the new whining issue with the RAM, and the slight curvature going on with the body of the unit (bottom part)...

...but this notebook has done everything I've thrown at it (e.g. Office 2007, Adobe Photoshop, iTunes, YouTube HD, FrontPage 2003, etc). I love my new notebook.

 

I really like my 1410T-2920. So far I have added BT, taken most of the crapware off, upgraded the Ram to 4GB and Tomorrow will be installing a 40GB Intel X25M SSD. I was having some issues with the keyboard flex but added double sided tape under the keyboard. This has taken most of the flex out of the typing. I am truly impressed with this little wonder. I am very happy with my Acer.

Bronsky

 

my 1410, manufactured 12.22.09 doesn't have the problems yours has. Purchased from TD.

 

I ordered a 1410-2990 from Amazon.com on Mar. 26. It's been on backorder and hasn't shipped yet.

I hope Acer is now taking the time to do some QA on these before sending them out.


In the meantime, I've already received the new Intel 5300 wifi card, the bluetooth module, third antenna for the Intel 5300, keyboard cover, body films and ZeroShock IV. All I need now is the 1410.

 

With the experience I've had with this particular notebook, I may sell it to a friend and go with the Alienware M11X instead. Yes, that notebook is twice the cost of the Aspire 1410, but it's one of the highest reviewed/rated notebooks as of late and is a beast. My Aspire does just about everything I throw at it well, except it doesn't do too well when I'm doing any photo/video editing on it. I'm hoping that the Alienware M11X would work better since it has the 1 GB video card, but since those apps are CPU intensive I'm not 100% that the M11X is exactly what I need. What I need, though, is a very small notebook with great performance and I believe the M11X may be just that.

Decisions, decisions. Ugh.

Thanks.

 

I just saw one of these at Best Buy. It is an interesting device but not for me. If you haven't messed around with it, I would go to best buy and check it out.

 

My manager just got one and I think it's a great machine. I'm just not sure if it would be logical for me to get rid of my 1410 and go with the M11x. Sure, the M11x is a beast but that ULV processor is making me think twice about it. The only thing I wasn't fond of with the M11x are the mouse buttons, as they're flush and you have to push down kind of far to get the response from them.

Then again, getting three 1410s from Newegg all experiencing the same issues mentioned in this thread makes me question Acer build quality. I'm just glad others here haven't experienced that pain like I have.

 

It's funny. You've had such a bad experience with your Acer that you are looking at other options. I have loved my 1410T but the experience has been so good that I am convinved that the sub-notebook class is perfect for my business needs, at least when I am not in the office. So postiive has the experience been that I am considering more high powered options in the same size, like the I5-520M Lenovo X210. I do a lot of typing and the Acer's main weakness IMO is the keyboard. Lenovo keyboards are second to none (my wife's S12 has a great keyboard).

My plan was just to use this ultralight until I could buy a new 3829TG but the delays in getting the TG to market has made this 1410T my main computer for a month longer than I had hoped. While I have fallen in love with the size, I am neither in love with the keyboard nor the CULV processors. I would love more power. So, I have been toying with the idea of giving my daughter my 1410T. You know the rest.

Bronsky

 

Bronsky, please don't get me wrong in that I really do love this notebook, but it sucks that I've had this type of bad luck with this model. You say you don't like the keyboard that much, and I actually think it's one of the nicest keyboards I've used on a laptop. The only thing I don't like is that it's hard to determine what keys you're typing on when you're in a dark room.

So, this morning I was turning off my WiFi switch (located underneath and in the front-left side of the notebook) when I noticed that it was completely loose. It didn't have that snug feeling, and definitely wasn't working anymore because it couldn't turn the WiFi on or off anymore. My guess it that it's broken, and I'm not sure what I want to do with that now (attempt to fix it myself, call Acer for repair or just don't use it). Has anyone else's WiFi switch break on them?

 

What in the world are you doing to those laptops to have such bad luck with them?

 

I haven't done anything to these laptops. I am extremely careful with my laptops, and wouldn't do anything to cause damage to them. It amazes me at how much bad luck I've had with this particular model, where the majority of 1410 owners have had NO issues whatsoever with there's.