Acer Aspire 1810 Tablets Thread

The old Wacoms do just as well.

 

The reason some people are saying the 1820pt will be bad for inking, despite a stylus and palm rejection software, is that there is already another product that has tried to do inking this way. The Asus t91mt approaches inking in pretty much exactly the same way and reviews on Amazon and other feedback say that it's frustrating, slow and even distorts your input. Pretty much saying look elsewhere for inking needs.

Acer's implementation may be different, it may be better, but from Denosha's video it's not looking great and we need more reviews. So only time will. And from the looks of how Acer is managing the tablet, it'll takes lots of time to tell.

One flaw that has already caught up to Acer's delay is that I suspect the SU4100/SU7300 version of this tablet will cost $700-$800; all of a sudden the HP TM2 is going to be sliding in at just under 1k and CES blew up with touchscreens. Stiff competition in an area that Acer expected to be standing alone.

 

HP is the way to go. Look at their past consumer level tablets. They were excellent for their price points.

 

I disagree. I actually despise what they did with their consumer level tablets. They run too hot with those AMD processors. Many of the owners of those tablets report massive system failures due to heat. The battery life they offer is no longer acceptable for mobile use. BUT for at home or light use, it can be managed and many people have settled for the sub quality for that price (only $800 for a wacom enabled tablet).

And I know, you're a big 'you get what you pay for' guy, but if you pay for one of HPs current/past consumer tablets, you're not going to like what you get. Consumer tablets deserve better and its up to consumers to demand better.

Look at the Intel Atom, whole new generation of just came out and offers a whopping 5% performance increase. Consumers have shown they're ok with low Atom performance so Intel is milking them for it. CULV could of easily been the next Atom but instead they're canceling the better performing Core 2 Solo line and keeping a price premium on CULVs to make marginal profits on ultarportables.

Edit: Finally something to say on topic. 1820PTZ on Amazon.co.uk

 

This is good news! Thanks for posting.
Deserves more than a quiet one liner.

Acer Aspire 1820PTZ, 11.6inch HD LED LCD, Notebook, 3GB, 160GB,
Intel Pentium SU4100, Bluetooth, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bt, 8hr battery

At Amazon UK
£529.99
"Temporarily out of stock. Order now and we'll deliver when available."

 

For $800 you can't get better. Which was my point. While they could be better, technology isn't there yet.

That was one of the reasons why I bought the HP in my sig. I thought to myself back then, "What does $800 buy you in a consumer tablet?" Not too shabby honestly. Considering there were exactly zero other alternative back then.

 

True. There's really zero alternatives even now. The CES tablet explosion was pretty much worthless in this form factor outside the TM2.

 

Gawd, tell me about it. I've never been so disappointed with CES as I was with all of this years half assed attempts and misses.

 

Of course I'm a "you get what you pay for" kind of guy. Everyone should be cause if you aren't, you aren't rational. Or you are communist.


If I buy a 30K BMW and complain that it doesn't fly like a Delorean, people will look at me funny. They'll think, "Durrrrr, the technology doesn't exist yet."

But it's ok to demand an $800 tablet that with unbelievable performance, multi-touch, etc etc etc. While there are 2K tablets that perform similarly, they are 2K for a reason.

Sure it can be better, but not yet. Not yet.

So cough up that dough.


On another subject, I think I'm going to skip out on the Acer. Suspect inking is hard to live with. I can deal with weight and lack of HDMI. But when a tablet doesn't excel at being a tablet......

 

On a side note, Lenovo finally have the enhanced multi touch screens up for order(over 4 week wait) on the x200T tablet. Its a pricey 1700. If Apple doesn't pan out thats probably the one I'll pick. That 4 week wait is killer though!

15% off coupon and 5% Bing cash back though makes it not to bad.

 

Well If you can get it that cheap with the 8 cell battery then go ahead. Here in Japan I gotta pay atleast 1000$ extra for an x200t with same specs for reasons beyond me.

 

I agree completely with this, the prices are bull. I am still considering getting the TM2 though, I like the looks of it. Release date here seems to be beginning of March. I just don't understand why they'd make it HEAVIER than earlier models. What were they thinking? Aren't new models supposed to be faster and LIGHTER?

I don't like the x200T look, so I've written that off.

With all the negative comments about the 1820pt inking I've all but written that off too.

What are you guys leaning towards at the moment?

 

Lenovo isn't known for making pretty laptops. They are suppose to be reliable though.

I'm not in a hurry, I've waited this long for one and its so much money, I'm not going to just settle. Right now I'm waiting to see what Apple is actually coming out with on the 27th and then I'll go from there. I'm thinking whatever Fujitsu comes out with next will be lighter and thiner or at least have better battery life. We'll see.

 

Hear, hear.

 

Well the next thing from fujitsu is the refresh of the T5010 with a core i7/5 called t900, weighs 4.5 pounds with a 13,3 inch screen.

 

*groans* another refresh.

 

Ok you can order the TM2 from HP's website now. the basic 949 version has the su7300 with 2gb (free upgrade to 3gb) and 160gb hard. 75 extra gets you the ati 4550, or 200 extra and you get the 4550 and the su9600 processor. IMO You should only get the ati card if you can disable it like on the envy series to preserve energy. And instead of spending money on the su9600 a better upgrade would be to install an intel ssd

Edit: Estimated build date of 26 january

 

Not to bad, are you going to order it?

 

I live in Japan, and they don't have it listed there yet. But I will the second i can.

 

What's the deal with the SU7300 vs SU9600?

The only difference I see is the clock multipliers 6.5X and is 8X respectively.

Could one tell the difference in real time usage between the two?

Doesn't look like it's worth and an extra $200

Edit: What about the fingerprint reader?

If I choose to get lojack, doesn't the pc have to be online in order to be found? With fingerprint reader they can't boot up and will have to do clean install.

Fingerprint reader worth it?

Edit2:
I did not pull trigger. With no software it came out to $1,400 w/tax (without SU9600, I don't see the need 4 it based on $200). I may wait for coupon code on ebay on, or slickdeals or hoping some get returned and end up in their outlet dept.

 

yeah, that would be very interesting, whats the difference between su 7300 and su 9600?

Is it worth its money?

I hope that the price is going to fall down after the relaunch date ...

If its getting to expensive I would consider to buy the acer, any news about the acer?

 

SU7300 is 1.3GHz, SU9600 is 1.6GHz.

 

Okay, I admit my question wasnt very precise :-D

So, I mean how much faster is the Su 9600? Is it worth 200 bucks?

 

No, you won't notice a difference in most things.

 

Thanx

What about the RAM they offer? They have a free upgrade to 3Gb but I was thinking for $50 more going up to 4GB.

However, if there is only four slots I have a feeling they will give 4 sticks. Which means if I ever want to upgrade beyond 4gb then I loose one 1gb stick correct?

So, it's counterproductive to up to 4gb for now correct?

 

Asus managed to overclock the su7300 to 1,73 ghz in the ul80vt and ul30vt, and the benchmarks are better than the su9600. Both are Core 2 Duo, it's just that the su9600 was designed to be the most powerfull 10w TDP intel proc replacing the su9400 , and much much l8er in 2009 the culv proc refresh with su2300, su4100, and su7300 happened. All 3 are dual core but only su7300 is Core 2 Duo branded( meaning it's the only one with a SLFM mode for battery conserving, the su9600 has it aswell ) and all 3 are capable with the gma4500 to give full hd video, the procs alone handle 720p video youtube, but all need flash 10.1 beta to handle 1080p youtube.

If you choose to get the ATI 4550 (if you can turn it off for power conserving), I also recommend the the su7300. The only problem with the su7300 is that overclocking is locked and last time I checked ASUS doesn't have an overclocking guide on the internet.

According to benchmarks the SU7300(being one of te newest core 2 duos) overclocked at 1.73 ghz has the same benchmarks score as my t8100 2.1ghz core 2 duo. I also have a slight guess that it's a bit more efficient than the su9600.

PS. I have never needed more than the 3GB on my current rig, but I have a discrete gpu, The gma4500 can use up to 1.7 GB of your ram , but that will never happen i think. So you take the bet, me I would stick with the free 3gb.

Edit: Once i can buy it in Japan this will be my setup. The cheapest one with 3gigs and the 160gb drive + one extra battery+if by the time I order it I know I can disable the ati gpu then add that 2. Take the hard drive out insert intel 80gb x-25m g2. UnderVOLT the cpu( for those that don't know undervolting is safe, it doesn't break warranty and you still get 100% performance). And then start to enjoy transcontinental flights. Never again shall I envy the macbook owners that sit next to me and watch 3 movies in a row.

 

I'm not showing where the HP has both video cards. It looks like you can pick one or the other. With that said, how much will the ATI version kill battery life?

 

the GMA4500 is integrated so it prolly comes with both unless for some crazy reason they decided to go with a different chipset on the ati version.

With the ATI gpu on you kill between 20-45% of the battery.

 

Wow, that is a lot. I can see why you mention to turn it off.

Any clue how this is done? Could it be disabled in the bios? You may have mentioned it but I must have missed it.

Well, I pulled the trigger. I have 21 days from time of arrival to make up my mind if its a keeper. Thanx to BBHowell, I registered as student and got an additional $100 off. All said, just under $1,300.

I wont bother with reviews cause I suck at them and won't even bother embarrassing myself in trying to do one either.

I'm sure others though will enlighten us, like the good Denosha did with the 1810.

 

Well on the Envy 13 it works while windows is active.

Just checked that some Acer notebooks had the same hardware as the envy 13( gma4500+ati 4330) and they had a bios switch that worked wrong and they applied a lenovo driver and got it to work
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/435906

 

MacBook Pro 13 vs HP tm2

LCD: 13.3'' VS 12.1''

Weight: 2,04 kg (4.51 lbs) VS 2,15 kg (4.74 lbs)

Height: 2,41 cm (0.95 inch) VS 2,63-3,96 cm (0.93-1,56 inches)

Price: $1,199.00 VS $1,224.00


I seems the tm2 does well in the comparison, I just feel it's too heavy for a tablet.


To compare prices I used the HP configurator: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...ies_name=tm2t_series&jumpid=re_r362_newfromhp

 

Laptops do not come with more than 2 ram slots (at least that I know of, would be in the extreme minority), the configuration states this, "2 dimms". So 3gb's will come with one 2gb stick and one 1gb stick. Most chipsets don't support over 4gb's so there is no 'future proofing' option for most. Those laptops that do go up to 8gb's require two 4gb sticks, not four 2gb sticks (desktops).

I agree, but hey, if you need a tablet you need a tablet =P. Also your link wasn't a perma-link, just sends me back to TM2 product page.

Also looking at the configuration process, I would not bet it has switchable graphics. You add the discrete graphics on the processor page, seems to indicate that means your whole motherboard needs to be different, probably eliminating Intel graphics.

Although the weight may point to switchable, the lbs gotta come from somewhere.

 

I went to store to hold the tx2 in my hands and it was alot lighter than I expected granted they took out the battery. Weight it may be heavy but the weight mostly comes from the battery part if you ask me.

 

That is a good observation.

 

Your comparing apples and oranges.

You forgot to mention the price it cost to convert the MacBook into a ModBook (tablet friendly) or purchase it already converted.

No thanx, i'll pass on that. But, I will take a look at the iSlate in near future.
I'm sure they will do somethings that will blow the tm2 away.

But at the end of the day I prefer to do Win/Ubuntu and leave apple for my phone/iPod...till further notice.

 

By the way, for the people that ordered, you did make sure to select the digitizer pen ? When I once tried to order the hp tx2 I did the mistake of not including it.

 

Ya, it was like $25 extra. I thought it would have come with one automatically. I got it just in case.

Also, went with 4gb ram. Though, 3gb may seem like enough. Just in web surfing now with Firefox or Chrome it tends to use almost 1gb just in open pages. Granted thats when I have a lot open. But, still that's not including all the multi-tasking that I can put a pc through, to the point of exhaustion.

I'm known to bring a pc to it's knees. Lets see how this tm2 will react to my multitasking. And, no it's not a desktop replacement for me.

 

Are you planning on putting an SSD in?

 

Ya, I got the X25-m 160GB on Cyber Monday for $365. I would have got the 80gb but it was not available.

At first, I was going to clone the hdd that comes with the tm2 but since its only Win Premium, i'm going to just do a clean install on the ssd with Win Ultimate and dual boot ubuntu and XP in virtualization mode.

Months ago, I went to a Win developers pre launch and got two 32/64 interchangeable Ultimate keys.

My thing is when I do clean install, how do I get that HP multi-touch software that in the stock drive?

Could I simply download it from HP site or perhaps it's not even worth it?

 

Honestly I don't know, but my guess is yes.

 

You are right, the HP Tx2 was a lot lighter without the battery but removing it sort of defeats my purpose for it. It was also to thick. If Apple turns into a mistake I might order the new one if HP has a good return policy. Hopefully Best Buy gets it in. With silver Premier status I can keep it for 45 days with no restocking fees.

 

Which configuration page did you find the digitizer pen ? I went through twice, couldn't find it.

Thanks

 

It's under these choices:
Mobile Stereo Earbud Headphones (1 pair)
+$6.99

HP Digitizer Pen for tm2t
+$24.99

HP Pavilion additional 65W AC Adapter
+$69.00

Somewhere in the middle.

 

Of course, I was replying to the quoted phrase.

 

This thread remains a very useful source of information. Thanks, guys!

The availability in The Netherlands of the here discussed models has only slightly changed compared to 2 weeks ago.

Acer Aspire 1820PTZ-413G32N (link to metasearch pricewatch page)
- Still no concrete delivery dates
- Now listed by 9 shops
- Prices range from EUR 569,= to EUR 605,= , so quite stable and low

Specifics:
- Acer equips the TimeLine models here in NL with a nice US-layout keyboard (as opposed to sometimes funky UK-layout in UK, qwertz in DE, azerty in BE/FR).
- 320GB HDD
- 3GB memory
- Not yet spotted with built-in 3G modem
- Not yet offered in combination with 3G subscriptions
- No results on the 1820PT yet :-(

Fujitsu LIFEBOOK T4310 MF012 (link to another pricewatch search engine)
- Available for shipment now (a change since 2 weeks ago!)
- Listed at 6 shops
- Price ranges from EUR 1230,= to EUR 1439,=

Specifics
- 320GB HDD
- 4GB memory
- Not spotted with 3G modem (but has 2 3G antennas)
- Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.2 GHz

What I like about the T4310, compared to 1820PTZ
+ ExpressCard slot (I would use that for a high speed CF adapter to copy photos from my DSLR when on a photo gig)
+ Wacom dualtouch technology (already discussed here)
+ Modular Bay for extra HDD or battery (already discussed here)
+ Very reasonable weight, considering it has DVD-RW drive (already discussed here)

What I don't like about the T4310, compared to 1820PTZ
- The price difference (although the difference in build quality and digitizer usefullness may be worth it)
- Battery life
- Poor availability (also accessories) here in The Netherlands
- I care about HDD space for my use. I want a 500GB HDD (like the TM2 optionally has) or bigger.

The extra battery ( article number S26391-F777-L200 ) costs EUR 107,= and was not in stock in in the linked store.

The HP TM2 is not listed anywhere here yet, unfortunately. I also wish we could configure our HP's here (Dell-style), like in the US.

 

Hello, just wanted to say I have a confirmed shipingdate of 20th January for my 1820pt:

ACER ASPIRE 1820PT C2D/ SU7300 500GB 2X2GB 11.6IN/ W7P64

Unfortunately im out of the country(Norway) for the rest of this week, but I really hope Acer delivers this time, but I don't believe it before its here.

If the touchscreen performs well I will keep it, if not Ill probably wait for the HP TM2.

 

I think the Fujitsu Review is on TabletReview.com.

 

That Norwegian 1820PT could be intesting (for me), the combination of:
- SU7300
- 500GB HDD
- 4GB internal memory

By comparison, on a Swedish pricewatch site there are now 2 shops that also list a delivery date of Jan 20 for a similarly configured 1820PT, the 1820PT-734G50n . Lowest price there is SEK 9814 = EUR 968 = USD 1390 so quite high (but note that Sweden has a high VAT of 25%)

The Norwegian 1820PT (listed with all specs here for NOK 6114 = EUR 750 = USD 1075 ) is priced more reasonable, but Norway is a non-EU country (so I may run into additional costs when I want to import into the Netherlands)

@runemail:
If you have time next week, could you check:
- The keyboard. US-layout or Norwegian?
- Upon initial install of Windows, can you select English too? Or Norwegian language only?

Also it appears that the Norwegian 1820PT could have a built-in 3G modem:

That would certainly justify the price difference with the 1820PTZ in the Netherlands. (models with built-in 3G modems often have EUR 100,= premium)
- Could you confirm that 3G is included? (if not, that's OK, just curious)

Probably not what you meant, but I stumbled upon this US-review of the Fujitsu Siemens T4410 in laptopmag.com. (The T4410 has a faster CPU and Windows 7 Professional)

 

I can already help you out a little:

Keyboard has the same keys, just with different print on some of the keys outside the standard English letters. So you can just change to English layout in windows, and either buy new keys from acer or make stickers and put on if you need that.

The bad news:
Yes some etailers have a ETA date of 2010.01.20. But that is only for the first small batch, and very likely to be sold out already to preorders(i ordered mine over a month ago), next batch is expected a month later (info I was given when I asked my etailer).

The price you found was without VAT of 25%. Good news is you can find it cheaper, I paid around 5400 excluding VAT when I ordered. I think you dont have to pay Norwegian VAT when exporting, but probably something when you import to your country, you should check this yourself to be sure. Remember also that consumer rights and warranty is a lot better in Norway than in the states, and that adds to the price as well.

Swedish price is insane/wrong.

Norwegian version have Win 7 Professional.

 

http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=1364