Acer Aspire 1410 and 1810 Timeline 11.6" Thread

Olympic version anyone?
http://www.jr.com/acer-computer/pe/ACE_S1810TZ4008

 

Depends...
If you run setup.exe from the .zip file it will give the same options.
If you use the drivers from the .zip package to manually update the drivers it will not give the same option.

 

Those games might work on the 1410, but not well. X3 might be the only game to work at a decent framerate. I'm not an expert, but that's just what I think.

 

k8t,

You apprently have your issues with CoreAVC. I can tell you that I have tried the Windows decoder, Shark007s decoders, and the MPC-HC decoder all using DXVA on my Nvidia Ion machines and the results were far inferior to CoreAVC. I have no idea why your results were so lame. You appear to have a bit of a bias. I personally have none. I didn't even know who they were until a few months ago. However, most reviews and comparisons I read disagree with your assesment as did my results. As for the illegal stuff, well thanks for pointing that out. I appreciate you looking out for my better good. I would have had no idea.

 

Am I just really unlucky or is the build quality of these models pretty bad? I've just returned my third AS1410.

The first (SU2300) looked like the battery had been through a blender. Acer refused to send a replacement battery ("but you can purchase one, Sir") so that got returned to J&R. The second (SU2300) had a stuck pixel that couldn't be freed with software. The third (SU3500) had a squeaky "R" key...

Am I wasting my time ordering a fourth?

 

Sounds like you just have bad luck. Chances are nothing is going to help you. Sorry.

 

Great choice, I am typing these lines on my newly acquired 1810T. Mine already came with 4GB of DDR2 800MHz RAM. No need to upgrade there!

Also I would be careful to add a 7200rpm HDD since it draws more power than a 5400rpm drive an is not that much faster. Maybe just wait a few months and buy a both fast and power saving SSD like the Postville Refresh? At least that's what I am going to do...

Just my 2 cents...


BTW: No problems with the build quality here. A little keyboard flex but nothing to worry about and a a fan rattling away in standard mode, but it can be easily tamed with the tray tool mentioned in this forum.

 

I posted this a while back but I never got an answer or help.

When I hook up my Acer 1410 to the HDTV using HDMI, whenever I choose to go with the full output (HDMI to TV), I get these weird horizontal noise lines that randomly appear on the screen. Choosing not to go full screen makes the vertical noise lines no longer appear, but its not full screen so I get huge black bars around the TV. Anyone else having the same problems? I still got like a week before I can no longer exchange my netbook.

 

As much as I like the 1410, if I were you (being that you got screwed three times already), I would start to consider exchanging for another brand.

Please keep in mind, if you hop into different forums, practically all of these laptops have quality issues at some point or another.

 

I see you have quite a collection of laptops there-

Does the problem only occur with the 1410? If so, waste no more time and exchange that sucker. It looks like your IGP has some issues.

 

I can somehow relate to your problem, as I too, get strange horizontal interference when I hook up my 1810TZ to my Philips HDTV. I have a desktop computer that I use on my HDTV, and it didn't have this problem, so I guess it's something to do with the laptop itself.

I just got the laptop today, so I haven't had time to look into the problem, but I'll be sure to look back into it by tomorrow.

Cheers, and a merry christmas! =)

 

I think it might have problems scaling to 1920x1080. I set the display to 1366 x 768 after hooking up my netbook to the HDMI cable and it outputs correctly on the TV. I guess its not capable of 1080p, I'm hoping someone else could chime in. I know its not the TV because the DM3z I have has no issues whatsoever when I use the HDMI on that.

 

Hmmm...

I'm sorry I can't help you until at least when my 46" HDTV arrives next week. I have successfully attached my 1810 to an HDTV monitor with a resolution of 1650x1050 (which is the HDTV's native rez).

I currently have a 1410 as media center hooked to an XBOX. The plan is to connect the 1410 directly via HDMI.

 

I came here from Google while looking for comments on the 1810TZ. I bought one today (1810TZ) and I'm going to return it after christmas. The first thing I noticed was the mouse buttons (the ones below the touchpad) having some problems with the "click". The left button was much "lighter" than the right one, which was harder. Dunno how else I should describe it, but it's like the left one had been pushed too much, like it was worn down. Shouldn't they "feel" the same? And secondly, the third USB port is broken. Yes, right out of the brand new box. Either Windows 7 (that comes with the machine) says it doesn't recognize the device, or nothing happens at all. The other two USB-ports work with no problem whatsoever. When I rebooted the computer with my USB-mouse plugged into the faulty USB-port, the computer *halted* at the BIOS screen. The second I removed the mouse, it continued loading Windows. So it appears that it's not just you. The Acer Aspire series seem to have some issues.

 

Thats pretty weird. I have an USB mouse hooked up on mine whenever it boots, never had that issue.

Back to the issue I had with the HDMI, I think it might be faulty Intel drivers. I'm currently at 1600x1200 (full screen, no weird black bars around the screen) on HDMI to the TV with no graphical glitches using the standard Windows VGA stuff with no GMA drivers installed. I couldn't do that on the original or the ver 1986 drivers without the screen shaking and graphical glitches popping up. I'm installing the drivers previous to the 1986 ones. (1986 seems really buggy, it made my laptop screen pitch dark after disconnecting from the HDMI).

EDIT: I updated to 1986, tried reverting back. I went to uninstall the drivers though add/remove program, that didn't work so I did it through device manager. Went to install 1892 after the reboot, except it didn't work and Windows still detected 1986 and I couldn't access Intel's Graphics options. Ended up doing a system restore to an earlier point. I'm back at 1855 now, it still won't do anything greater than 1360x768 on the TV, but its fullscreen now at least. Guess I'll just settle with it not being able to do 1920x1080 on a TV.

 

As for the build quality and reliability issues you could take a look at SquareTrade's findings about this here, http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/laptop-reliability-1109/.

According to them, notebook reliability by manufacturer in order of most reliable to least reliable is:
Asus
Toshiba
Sony
Apple
Dell
Lenovo
Acer
Gateway
HP

Too bad Acer is near the bottom in terms of reliability. If only Asus had a notebook I wanted, oh well. If/when my Acer dies I'll just see it as time to upgrade.

 

Interesting list. Since Acer and Gateway are the same company that means that the four largest computer manufacturers have the worst quality. Asus keeps threatening to come out with something decent. Maybe soon. I wonder if the numbers are based on total complaints and not a % of total units sold.

I really want to see Asus come out with something like the Timeline but in a tablet.

 

The SSD will come further down the road in a few months, when I have the money for one of a larger capacity. The 320GB drive is already sitting here doing nothing, so I might as well throw it in for a quick speed boost anyway.

 

32 bit Geekbench Results:

Ram Speed 667Ghz 800Ghz
Memory Memory performance 1217 1600 +31%
Stream Memory bandwidth performance 1343 1620 +21%
Geekbench Summary 1218 1326 +9%

I upgraded my memory from 2GB 667Ghz to 4 Gb 800Ghz memory.

I ran Geekbench with the new memory and since 800Ghz is approx. 20% faster than 667 Ghz the results are as expected.

Geekbench only recognized 2.9 Gb of Ram since I'm still waiting for my Win 7 upgrade disk.

I did this upgrade since I was able to get $40 of rebates and discounts on the 4GB 800 Ghz ram through Amazon. Net cost for the 4Gb of ram was $45.95 too good a deal to ignore.

I hope to do a clean upgrade to 64 bit HP Win 7 which should be able to recognize and utilize all 4 GB.

 

Hi folks,

My 1810Z has started to rattle slightly when the fan goes. It's minor but annoying when it's quiet at night and I'm using my PC in bed.

I saw a link a week or 2 ago somewhere on this forum, where someone showed with photos, how to to fix this with some tape. Anyone know what I mean? Can you please help me find that? Thanks.

 

I've seen similar comments before on the mouse buttons.
And my new 1810TZ was the same as yours.
So I think it is common, if not universal.

I decided it was a small issue, and forgot about it.
But funny, your post reminded me.
And I can say now, after a couple weeks of use,
the left and right buttons click identically.
They both click slightly easier toward the center.

 

I bought a 1410 SU2300 about 2 weeks ago. I originally had a 1810T but returned it because the 1410 was a better deal. I noticed that I had quite a bit of keyboard flex with the 1810T and absolutely none with the 1410T. I love the laptop so far.

Only thing that bothers me is the fan noise. Any programs out there that control fan speed? Any modifications that can be done to quiet the fan?

 

Yes of course 1810tray:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=421850

 

Hi everyone,

Just joined these forums because of all the great information I've been reading the past couple of days. I'm looking to get my first notebook. I want something more powerful than a netbook (and larger), but portable enough for travel with enough power to watch HD content.

The 1810T-8968 (SU7300) Olympic Edition has really caught my eye and from what I've read, it's the one of best bang-for-your-buck laptops. I really like the 11.6" form factor, the features, the styling, etc. It's going for about $650CAD.

I finally got to play with it the other day and everything was great until I started typing on the keyboard. As I've mentioned before, I haven't had a laptop before, so maybe I'm just not used to them, but it was really hard to type. The keys were matte and I just couldn't get used to it. Also, it had an international/bilingual keyboard from what I'm guessing. From the images I've seen online, I was very surprised at this. They have moved the backslash key ('\') to beside the left shift and shrunk the left shift key (which is the one I always use) and they've duplicated this key beside the Enter key.

I took a photo using my iPhone.


Maybe this is why I found it so difficult to type on the keyboard, but it almost seems like a deal breaker for me. Am I over blowing things? I guess I will get used to it. At least the multi-touch track pad and mouse buttons were nice, but I could only get web-scrolling to work by touching the right side of the track pad (maybe they latest drivers weren't installed). I thought it came with two finger scrolling out of the box.

Thanks!

 

Looking at the photo you took, the hard part for me would be having the enter/carriage return key in that position (to the right of the QWERY row rather than to the right of the ASDFG row). Since I will always use other (more standard) keyboards and "enter" is a pretty important key, that might be a tough one to get used to.

On my 1410, I am a slower typist than on a full-sized, full-motion keyboard but I think that is more a matter of getting used to the feel and touch. Over the years, I've managed to do that with other keyboards/computers. But, if I had that key position you so aptly photographed, I'd be looking for another keyboard or 'puter, I do believe.

I guess we can get used to anything, but I wouldn't like to drive a car with the brake and gas pedals reversed--even though I could get used to it. I'd have to get them switched or sell the car, I believe.

Cheers,

 

That's a French-English Bilingual keyboard you've got there. And that's the kind of keyboard you will get if you buy from a Canadian dealer. And that's exactly why I bought mine from a US dealer, to get a US-English keyboard. I can't stand that bilingual keyboard myself neither.

When it comes to notebook keyboards, no one beats the ones used on IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads.

 

My test of Perfect World International (free to play mmorpg) on the Acer AS1410-2936 SU2300 netbook.

<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AlGALNQ8PZo&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AlGALNQ8PZo&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='425' height="344"></embed></object>

 

Yeah, the ENTER key is a bit odd as well. I don't understand why they just didn't leave the backslash where it's usually supposed to be (on the QWERTY row), extend the ENTER key to normal size, and leave the left shift key alone.

Why are there duplicate backslash keys? I realize that there are different characters on the keys displayed on those two backslash keys.

 

Where did you buy yours from? I would like a US-English keyboard as well if possible. It's a pretty substantial investment, so I just want it to be perfect!

 

Yea... I can agree on the keyboard layout,
but keyboards are easy to change if you can't become
accustom to using the French/Canadian version.

BTW, living in Canada, you have the unique opportunity to acquire
the latest and greatest ~1810T with Intel's SU9400 CPU.
List of Canadian vendors here.

Weird how Acer decides upon their products and territories.
Here in Taiwan, Acer's home country and base of operations,
only the 1410 with the slower 723, 743 & SU2300 CPUs are offered for sale.
Just cost me an extra $50 US to ship my new 1810TZ from the USA.

 

OK, found the post about fan rattling. See the post by lepton...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5254807#post5254807

Anyone else have a rattling fan? Mine started doing this a day or two ago, after about 2 weeks of ownership. Or maybe I just started noticing it. It's not a huge issue, but can be annoying when I'm alone in a quiet place.

To fix it apparently I'd have to disassemble the 1810TZ and apply some black tape per the photo, to better separate the fan and the heatsink. Maybe I should've just bought a better brand computer, Acer is known to be cheaply made. For $550, I shouldn't have to do surgery like this IMO.

Fix it myself, or just return (bought from Amazon) it for a refund? I wonder if Amazon will refund the entire amount since the computer has been used? I didn't check, but Amazon has a good customer service record, right?

EDIT: Looked it up, and Amazon will only refund 85%. Meh, not good. I'll have to fix it myself I guess. Next time I probably won't buy an Acer. My Asus EeePC has never had any operational or build issues in over 1.5 years.

 

I got mine from J&R when they had it. Total cost was about CAD$720 (exchange and import duty included). I don't think J&R has the 1810T in stock anymore.

 

I haven't heard of J&R before, but a quick Google search cleared that up. You're right as they don't have any 1810T's in stock. I would probably pay extra to get a US-English keyboard.

 

Trying to decide if I want to send in my 1410 for repair... My screen has this very very slight flicker. enough that I notice it and it bugs me, but maybe not enough for a bored repair person to notice and fix properly. I suspect it needs a new inverter, or maybe something with the backlight...
Or maybe... because one review mentioned the lcd has a slight 'flicker' this is normal...

anyone else noticing this flicker? It's not like the entire screen blinks... it's a lot more subtle than that.

Don't know if I should just wait until it gets a lot worse before sending it... I think it's getting worse, or, maybe I'm just noticing it more now that I know it's there...

Sigh. I just gave my Mom my old 8.9" netbook for Christmas. Not looking forward to being without my 1410, or dealing with potential service 'issues'... bah

 

Actually, if the machine is defective (and I would certainly class a rattling fan as that), they will give a full refund and also pay for the return shipping.

 

So, I bit the bullet and the fourth AS1410 arrived today (SU2300, mfg date 2009/11/03). Everything looks good with this one aside from some uneven back lighting at the bottom of the display. I hadn't noticed this on the others, but it's pretty minor and I suspect I can live with it.

 

Not true I'm afraid... Here's the policy:

Computers purchased from Amazon.com, which have not been opened, may be returned for a refund within 30 days of receipt of shipment via our online Returns Center. Computers purchased from Amazon.com which have been opened are subject to a partial refund of 85% of the sale price.

From: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=901900

A pretty crappy policy - I probably won't buy computers from Amazon again for this reason.

Anyway, I emailed them.

EDIT: I shut down 1810tray and oddly... my fan isn't rattling now. Not sure 1810tray is necessarily to blame, but at least the fan rattle is apparently intermittent. I do like this computer aside from that rattle, so ehh...

 

Is anyone else not getting ANY control with their webcam via the software? My dell z11 allowed zoom and directional movement. For this acer 1410...the software does not let me do any of that...

 

Same for the 1810TZ - the controls are not usable. Perhaps those options are meant for another model webcam that uses the same software.

Doesn't bother me though, since this is just like my Eeepc 1000H webcam, so I'm used to not having those controls.

 

Your "rattle" could easily be associated with a certain RPM that 1810Tray dials in but ACERs app does not...

Btw, "lifting" the keyboard up is quite easy (see 1810 Timeline tweaks) and I did it while the Notebook was active... you could have a closer look at the fan that way, maybe manually rocking the fan a bit, what do I know. It's worth a try...

 

NewEgg has the as1810t in stock as of right now. J&R has the as1810TZ Olympic Edition for pre order.

 

For US folks...
Acer Aspire AS1410-2285 Diamond Black Notebook, DualCore SU2300.
$349.99 + shipping @ Frys.com
Ground shipping to Boston is $7.48, for example.

Now Out of Stock.
Took about 6 hours.

 

Man, too bad I already have one---

Grab it, folks-- This great deal may already be gone!!!

 

Windows 7 HP, 160 GB drive. It would make a nice New Years gift for someone special. Or me...if I didn't already have one (slower).

 

Hi again

I am now sitting here with my second 1810TZ which I got today. On this one, all three USB ports work. But ofcourse (OFCOURSE) there are other problems instead. First of all, the entire netbook vibrates. I did NOT notice that on the previous one. And secondly, most annoying, is that the built-in speakers are giving off random clicking/popping noises, mostly when a sound effect is queued and sometimes just random. Plug in headphones and you don't hear it, but who uses headphones all the time?

I give up now. I will return this one tomorrow and then I will probably give up on the 1810TZ. Two faulty computers in two days is not a very good sign.

 

Check out the Asus 1201N or the UL20a. Both are considered of higher quality. Google the info or go to the Asus forum. Then there are HP and Lenovo. There are many options, you're definitely not limited to the Acer.

 

thanks for the info. I am looking to order today. my problem is I can not figure out which processor to get. I will use it for web surfing and utube stuff, no gaming. mostly as a carry along computer for my motorcycle trips. skype and stuff like that. I had thought I wanted a blue one but this post of yours shows the black for 50 bucks less. do not think the blue is worth 50 bucks. I just can not decide about the processor. SU2300 ULV743 SU3500
I do not really care about the different size of HD that comes with these.
thanks for the help

 

Just my opinion, but if you read the posts above, you'll find that the SU2300 is the fastest of the bunch (and the ULV743 which I have is the slowest). I would grab the model with the SU2300 in a heartbeat if I didn't already have the model I have. My opinion is that color is pretty irrelevant as long as it isn't obnoxious.

I choose the ULV743 model based on the 250 gig drive and Windows 7 HP. At the time, the SU2300 models all had Vista...at least that is my rationalization for my less than optimal purchase.

I say go for the SU2300!

 

Mike
thanks for the reply. I have been reading this thread all the way through and could not make up my mind, but you have convinced me and I am going to place the order right now. then start the waiting period, dang
merry Christmas to all out there and thanks to everyone for all the great info here


ta da
it is ordered 357 shipped

 

Yes, I think you may be right.

And I will look into lifting the keyboard. I actually replaced my Asus 1000H keyboard (due to water damage that ruined it) so I'm not afraid of notebook surgery.