Acer Aspire 1820 & 1825 touchscreen, help and info

Just bought an 1820 over the 1825 as i prefer the resistive touch-screen to the capacitive one, as i can use any stylus fingernails or tips to ender data , over the 1825 that can only use fingertips and special capacitive styluses which it does not come with, which seems strange.

I am a bit miffed i did not get a slip case with my 1820 as i have seen a few 1825 video and they came with a case, anyway i have ordered one off ebay.

One thing that really upsets me is the glossy screen, when will manufactures realise not everybody wants one, give us an option please.

And the only 1820 and 1825 discussions i can find are in the 1810 thread, so we really need one of our own.

Anyway a quick video off youtube for anybody who does not know what an 1820/25 looks like.

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The Acer update is a waste of time , zero updates on my 1820, so i am using the 1825 software/drivers which are 2010 when the 1820 are only 2009.

I have installed the latest Intel Video and Wifi drivers and all is fine, the new Intel graphic control panel is much better than the old one.

So any other 1820 or 1825 owners report in, I don't think there are many of us

 

Small warning, don't use the gravitation sensor driver from the 1825 for the 1820. After that your screen will not rotate anymore and removal isn't easy.

 

Thanks for that.

I always use auto hide toolbar , which works great , but the default stylus calibration is slightly off , but when i re-calibrate i cannot get the auto hide toolbar to show itself when i move my stylus to the bottom of the screen, but the mouse or touchpad works fine to bring up the toolbar.

I wonder why re-calibrating the touchscreen stops the toolbar from showing?

 

Hi,

I own an Acer 1825ptz and I love it.
I have my taskbar at the right side, also with auto hidding. If I use the autocalibrating icon from the desktop, then I have the same problem, but calibrating with the win7 tool works good.

 

I use the "tablet pc settings" in control panel and that is what gives me the autohide problem, and i have to reset to default to fix the problem.

what autocalibrating icon are you talking about?, remember i have an 1820 with an restive screen, not the 1825 with the capacitive one so it might not work.

 

I meant that setting, that worked form me. Didn't know how it's called in english, sorry. Beside it I have an icon on my desktop, which refers to "C:\OEM\Calibrate\Release AP\Auto Calibration.exe", this gives me bad results for autoshowing. Don't know if the 1820 has also this tool.

 

ah so this is where i should have posted, i used the wrong part of the site to discuss my 1825ptz duuuuur

Anyway, i bought the 1825ptz and although it all works great i find the viewing angle a bit naff when im in tablet portrait mode, i have to tilt the machine to the left and back a bit, anyone else finding this?

Also is it true that this thing can take 8 gigs of ram?

 

hi does anyone have the viewing angle probs with the 1820 as i know it has a different type of touchscreen to mine and ihave a prob or two with my1825 screen

 

When i had my 1820 i did not have any problems with the viewing angle, nor should you with an tablet/notebook as those option need a very wide viewing angle, I would return it if you are having any problems like that.

 

ty tinderbox i think i might put a video on here to show the view angles, i know that when a screen is viewed at an extreme angle either way it will produce the effect of a film negative almost, the problem is that when viewing head on in portrait its ever so slightly off, like its fighting a bit between the two negative angles, it almost gives a stereoscopic like effect, especially on deep blacks or dark images.

 

Heres a link to a vid i made showing my screen probs


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuXmHooSm-s

 

Is it possible to activate pressure sensitivity in Adobe CS5 Photoshop and Illustrator...?
I've 1820pt with the resistive display and pressure sensitivity isn't working in this Apps.

Thanks?

 

I have the 1820PT which I got for a bargain ($680).

My quick review:

Positive:
- Faster than Atom based netbooks, I can open 10 internet tabs with youtube playing and the CPU usage is less than 10%
- Battery life is the best I've had on any netbooks, tablets that I've used before, best I've gotten was 8:15
- As light as my previous Lenovo Minipad 10" netbook, the battery makes it very heavy but when I'm not charging then I take it out making it very light
- touchscreen mode is excellent when I just want to read PDFs, manga or browse the internet
- Fast and quiet 250GB hard drive, had I bought an android tablet I would be limited by SSD which is too expensive for what is available right now (32GB/64GB)
- Keyboard, resistive screen is excellent for annotation when there is a time for it but most of the time when I want to be productive I use the keyboard - much faster

Negative:
- Screen is glossy, not more so than my Dell XPS but is difficult to work on with a lot of surrounding sunlight (ie. outside), remedy is to apply an anti-reflective screen which I've already ordered
- Viewing angle is not too bad, mainly because its plugged in most of the time and I have the brightness up, but it can definitely be better
- Flat keyboard, this is fine when typing upright but when I'm lying down on a couch or in bed with the tablet on my lap (ie. awkward) I can't quite feel the keys as well as the ones on the Lenovo (a bit unfair because Lenovo/Thinkpads have the best keyboards in the business)
- Battery life under stress could be better, this is to do with the software optimisation running in Windows 7 though it is much better than Ubuntu which some users can only get 6.5 hours max. instead of 8
- Can play 1080p MKVs but only in Windows Media Player and not my usual players (KM Player, VLC), will need to find the best drivers/codecs to make this a possibility
- HDMI output is good enough for 720p at this point as 1080p playback will stutter and miss frames, again need to find drivers/software

Overall I am happy with the Acer which I will do a full review of in the next couple of weeks because I want to do a clean install of Windows 7 and test the battery. The aim is to comfortably get 8 hours without having to turn down the screen too much.

I'll be upgrading the RAM to 4GB, any more and I'll need Windows 7 64bit and more RAM will use more power.

I'm getting an anti-reflective screen to combat the glossy display, will make it look a bit duller but I think the trade-off will be worth it.

Currently trying to decide on a soft pouch, one is $17 with a vinyl-looking outer the other is $6 and is just a regular spongy pouch.

I'm not too concerned with not being able to playback 1080p smoothly at this point, you'll be hardpress to tell a big difference between 720p and 1080p on these 11.6" screens, its only HDMI output to a larger resolution that matters. Waiting for a better driver to support this.

At the price that I got it for, I have to say I can't complain especially when upcoming intel based tablets are selling for more and still running ATOM processors!

Jon.c - try taking the tablet back and comparing with another sample. The viewing angle isn't fantastic but still good enough for one person using it (people beside you will have problems).

Tinderbox, I've calibrated my screen about 2 weeks after I got my tablet mainly because it was already working well enough by default. But now that you've mentioned it, touching the screen isn't always pin point sharp. Is there a way to do a positive/negative offset on the calibrating? Haven't looked into this yet as I don't use the stylus much as I use my fingers mostly for touch operation (and I don't write onscreen).

 

Finally, I found this forum to ask some questions/ comments to those using 1825PTZ just like me...

1) My battery takes longer time than my expectation to be fully charged. It will take at least 4 hours! My guess this is something wrong and I will definitely go to Acer support centre to double confirm if it is a hardware related problem. By the way, I am curious as well how long will your battery charged from 0 to 100%?

2) I found that the USB ports are pretty hard to be plugged in and out. Anyone epxeriencing the same issue with your 1825PTZ? I find that I have to pull the USB harder than other normal USB ports in other machines. I could not find the comments related to USB ports at all in every review. Probably the reviews skip the USB ports and thought it suppose to be well designed without any matching problem.

3) Capacitive stylus. Where can get 1 of it and roughly cost how much? I hardly find the source to get one. Also not sure if I order from Internet, will it work well with 1825PTZ or not.

Well, hope someone will advice and share the experience. Appreciate that this forum (and this thread/ post) allow me to share here.

Thanks much!

 

On my 1820PTZ , it had the hardest to plug/un-plug usb ports of any notebook i have ever had, my usb leads and memory sticks had quite deep gouges cut into the metal by the usb ports

"2) I found that the USB ports are pretty hard to be plugged in and out. Anyone experiencing the same issue with your 1825PTZ? I find that I have to pull the USB harder than other normal USB ports in other machines. I could not find the comments related to USB ports at all in every review. Probably the reviews skip the USB ports and thought it suppose to be well designed without any matching problem."

opopkip

 

On the battery charge front, my 1820PTZ only came with an 30 Watt power supply, and the battery is a good capacity to get 8+ hours runtime, so i think my 1820PTZ would have take 4 hours to charge as well.

xxx

 

smoothwalker:

1) My battery takes longer time than my expectation to be fully charged. It will take at least 4 hours! My guess this is something wrong and I will definitely go to Acer support centre to double confirm if it is a hardware related problem. By the way, I am curious as well how long will your battery charged from 0 to 100%?

Yeah mine takes a while to charge as well. I think its the slow adapter though it's not a problem for me yet. I don't run the battery all the way down as it will reduce the life of the battery if repeatedly discharged to 0%. It's worth buying a second battery for 16 hours of usage


2) I found that the USB ports are pretty hard to be plugged in and out. Anyone epxeriencing the same issue with your 1825PTZ? I find that I have to pull the USB harder than other normal USB ports in other machines. I could not find the comments related to USB ports at all in every review. Probably the reviews skip the USB ports and thought it suppose to be well designed without any matching problem.

I had the same issues too, just use them a bit more and it'll get easier. I think it's down to the very tight fitting of the case as I've been using the USB ports for connecting my phone and external hard drive and I have no problems now. The common problems that I've found in reviews regarding our tablets were the hinges loosening over time. I do find that if my screen is tilted back at about 150 degrees it will eventually fall back to 180 degrees.



3) Capacitive stylus. Where can get 1 of it and roughly cost how much? I hardly find the source to get one. Also not sure if I order from Internet, will it work well with 1825PTZ or not.

Ebay or Amazon? Mine has the stylus that is stored into the screen which is really convenient.

 

=> Tinderbox (UK):
Yes, agree. I forgot to mention that the SD card slot is a bit deeper than my expectation as well. (Thanks for mentioning this). It is quite hard to eject the SD card out sometimes with my thick finger.

Under what circustances your tablet run with 8 hours? I set the brightness <50% but I always cannot get it run >6 hours even. My tablet is <6 months old.

=> Informer:
Since my tablet is quite new (<6 months) and takes longer time than any other machines to fully charged, I tried to do so to double confirm the overall charge time.

I will observe about the hinges issue. Sometimes the reviews won't tell the whole story (actual problems) of the new toys. I guess some of them are get paid to write the reviews so they cannot complain too much.

C. Stylus... I didn't know 1820PT came with a c. stylus! Will it work well like digitizer when your palm rests on the screen? I learned that HP tablets are smart enough to ignore your palm contact when it senses an active digitazer approaches it. I need to do more survey from you all before I can really order one.

Thanks much,
Hearing from you all.

 

My 1820PTZ was advertised as having 8hr + battery life , I dont run on battery a lot but i am sure i could get that runtime with the brightness as low as possible and running in power saver mode, with no wifi or bluetooth and only using the touchpad not a mouse.

Yeah, my 1820PTZ came with a stylus, it has an resistive touchscreen, so i can use any stylus with it, the 1825PTZ comes with an capacitive touchscreen and only works with your fingertips or a special stylus, I did think it was shocking that the 1820 did not come with on.

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I think it is usual for these batteries to charge longer than other notebooks, could be due to the low power usage of the charger/adapter.

My 1820PT has a resistive screen which means that it uses a normal stylus, your model uses a capacitive screen which uses a very different type of stylus as they are not all the same. A resistive screen works better for writing because it support palm rejection. I've been using Onenote etc for this and it works fairly well.

Writing on a capacitive screen is not impossible, just harder and less natural because you have to lift your hand while writing and only make contact with the screen using the capacitive stylus. I believe a cap. screen is more beneficial on tablets for couch surfing and onscreen typing rather than writing.

My hinge issue is doing well, I bought my Acer on my birthday (22/10), used it every day with no problems.

Battery update: so far my battery has a battery wear of 6.1% of 62,160 mWh using batterybar pro. Battery wear is normal, if its 40% or more then you'd probably need to get another one. I think the fact that I place the battery inside a case that sits under the laptop and in the sun doesn't help! Would be better to place unused batteries inside somewhere cool and dry.

Tinderbox : I try to avoid using battery as much as I can at home mainly because I don't like to dim my screen too much or compromise the performance. I find that 60-70% brightness is perfect when connected as the screen is quite bright, however when the room is bright I need to turn the brightness to 90% just to combat the reflecting light. Hopefully the anti-reflective screen protector will help.

Update: Tried playing 1080p video using VGA output and is marginally better. Windows Media Player is still the better option for 1080p MKV playback though my CPU is running at 90-98% when playing Avatar.

 

Can anyone advice on a suitable anti-glare screen protector for these 11.6" tablets? I order one from ebay and was less than impressed with the quality, not to mention that their screen protectors were not suitable for tablets!

 

sorry, can't help to advice right now... I have no demand to use that screen protector yet... in future may help to check for you.

Follow up on my battery case... I sent the battery to the service centre last Friday. Today I called and they told me the battery was find faulty. They ordered 1 for me and probably by tomorrow can collect from them. Therefore, those who has to charge the battery for >4 hours, please send yours for them to check! As long as the battery is still under warranty, it is no harm to test it for free! Otherwise, the electricity bill is not cheap (at least I want to save the bill and save the world, ;P )!

So far, I am quite satisfied with the service they provided. This is the minimum they should provide: If the products are not good enough, then the customer service must good enough.

Will share more after I get my replacement battery.

 

~4 hrs charging time (with 62Wh battery) is pretty normal for 1810 series and their siblings. If it takes significantly longer, then there is something wrong.

Michael

 

Hi informer ive not had chance to compare with another sample yet but i think it just may be the limits of the technology, reading manga in particular, in portrait mode is the main bug bear, in landscape all seems much better, im also a notoriously fussy git lol.

 

I read mine at night so not sure about the screen angle results, though I do feel that it's horizontal visibility in landscape mode is better than its vertical visibility, which should imply that reading in portrait mode should be good. I just fitted an anti-glare screen protector though not a good one as it's not anti scratch.

Just tried it in portrait mode in daylight and it's fine for me. For portrait mode and viewing images, PDFs and ebooks I think the iPad would be better.

 

Does anyone have a quick reference to the size of the screen itself? I'm going to have an anti-scratch screen protector custom made but I'm not sure of the screen dimension.

 

Has anyone got problems playing downloaded films or dvd's? my 1825 plays blu ray fine but everything else looks all strange and fisheye warped, any suggestions at all please?

 

how is the writing experience on the tablet?