Acer Aspire 3003 review? (3003WLCI)

Hey there,
I was just wondering about the speaker volume for the acer 30003wlci. When i play music and dvds on the notebook, i find that even if the speaker volume is put to maximum, the sound transmitted is not very loud. Its loud enough to hear if you're sitting right behind the computer, but if i take a few steps away or if there is any background noise, it is quite difficult to hear. I have gone to the sound settings in the control panel and put everything to maximum volume, but still i find its not very loud.

 

Yeah the speakers aren't very loud. They are decent quality, but nothing great. It's a budget notebook. I was actually surprised they are as good as they are.

 

has anyone got the irda device working anywhere ? windows or linux or whatever os you use there ?

i dont have a clue what kind of irda device is in it .. any suggestions are welcome

 

suspended nicely, resumed the same as you, screen was gone, the rest of the computer was working, made a quick restart from the console (blind typing rules)

and it was all ok again ... i guess i will investigate this later

 

logically to make an irda device work, it must exist ...

but seems like the specifications on some websites are wrong on this one, the 3003 doesnt seem to have an irda at all, the left throu shining thing beside the wifi led is meant for bluetooth devices on some machines from these series ... however 3003 has this spot empty (no bluetooth or irda) ...

so i guess if someone needs irda, they need an external dongle (usb probably)

 

Recently got a 3003LCi. In general, I like it, maybe too heavy for this day & age.

- Yes, the battery is lousy. I'm going to bark up the Acer corporate tree for an 8 cell. We shall see.

- My wireless performance is not what it should be. I've used an older PC, (PII, 266Mhz) w/802.11g card, and got the max from my ISP; 6-7Mbps from Comcast. The built in Broadcom 802.11g wireless adaptor only does about 4Mbps. Signal strength is not the issue, as speed does not change even with the 3003 right next to the router. I've tried adjusting the Advanced Settings with no success. Also used DrTCP & TCPOptimizer with no success. The built in ethernet port gives 6-7Mbps, why not wireless? Ideas, comments?

- Yes, the battery is lousy. I'm going.....

- When using Foxfire, the center button scroll control does not work. Works fine with IE. Ideas, comments?

TIA for reading.

 

some help for linux kiddies, they keyboard is a 'tough' one it seems.

i will include 3 code snippets here, hope they dont get too long

#1 the init_keyboard.sh script, launch this to make kernel aware of your full keyboard,
if it works for you install it somewhere in your /etc/init.d or /etc/rc.d to come up each time

some overridings from default are done to give the keyboards some sensful response values

Code:

export SKC=/usr/bin/setkeycodes 

#If in doubt, overcheck the keycodes and sync them with /usr/include/linux/input.h

if [ -x $SKC ]; then
   echo "Setting up keyboard";
 
   ### STUFF NEAR ARROWS ###

        # Euro key , will select KEY_COPY
   $SKC e033 133 
        # Xtra $ key , will select KEY_PASTE here
   $SKC e034 135 
 # Fn and ARROW UP , increase volume, already mapped, override it
   $SKC e030 114
 # Fn and ARROW DOWN, decrease volume, already mapped, override it
   $SKC e02e 115
 # Fn and ARROW LEFT , screen darker on my laptop, mapped, lets override
   $SKC e06f 224
 # Fn and ARROW RIGHT, screen brighter on my laptop, unmapped
   $SKC e06e 225
        # Fn and Home, play/pause, mapped already, remap KEY_PLAYPAUSE
   $SKC e022 164
        # Fn and PgUp, stop, mapped already , remap KEY_STOPCD
   $SKC e024 166
        # Fn and PgDn, rewind, mapped already, remap KEY_PREVIOUSSONG
   $SKC e010 165
        # Fn and End, forward, mapped already, remap KEY_NEXTSONG
   $SKC e019 163



   ### APPLICATIONS AT TOP RIGHT ###

        # P button, mapping to PROG1
   $SKC e073 148 
        # e button , mapping to PROG2
   $SKC e074 149
 # ufo button, this is already mapped, remap to KEY_WWW
   $SKC e032 150
 # email button, this is already mapped, remap to KEY_EMAIL
   $SKC e06c 215

   ### WIRELESS AND BLUETOOTH AT FRONT ###

        # Wireless button on the front, 2 keycodes here (toggle thingy)
   $SKC e055 218 #KEY_CONNECT, bring wifi on
   $SKC e056 206 #KEY_CLOSE, bring wifi down
        # Bluetooth button on the front , KEY_PHONE
   $SKC e058 169

   ### FUNCTION KEYS ###

        # Fn + F1 , KEY_HELP
   $SKC e025 138
        # Fn + F2 , KEY_MENU , cant figure out what its supposed to do anyway 
   $SKC e026 139
        # Fn + F3 , KEY_CALC , see previous
   $SKC e027 140
        # Fn + F4 , snooze, kernel doesnt complain, but showkey -s doesnt show it either
   # $SKC ??? 
        # Fn + F5, switch to second display, KEY_MEDIA
   $SKC e029 226
        # Fn + F6, seems a hardwired button, turns screen semidark, same issue as FnF4
   #$SKC e0?? XXX
        # Fn + F7, turn on/off synaptic touchpad, hardwired again, 2 keycodes here
   $SKC e071 120 # turn it on, F21
   $SKC e072 121 # turn it off, F22
        # Fn + F8, mute button, already mapped
   $SKC e020 113 #KEY_MUTE
 # Fn + F11, NumLock , seems to work out of the box, dont fix what isnt broken
   # $SKC 45 XXX
 # Fn + F12, ScrLock , seems to work out of the box, --- "" --- (alias see above)
   # $SKC 46 XXX
fi

now X doesnt really care what codes are assigned to what, i use hotkeys ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/hotkeys) which is also available as a package in most linux distributions.

to make it work there, i have 2 files, the first defines the acer aspire 3003 keyboard for the hotkeys application, copy that as aceraspire3003.def into the directory where the rest of your hotkeys definitions are (probably /usr/local/share/hotkeys or /usr/share/hotkeys)

Code:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<definition>

 <config model="Acer Aspire 3003 Series Keyboard, only use with according init_keys.sh script">
 
  <!-- audio and multimedia and screen -->
  <!-- 
   XXX I HATE HARDCODERS
    <VolUp        keycode="174" adj="2"/>
   <VolDown      keycode="176" adj="2"/>
   <Mute         keycode="160"/>
  -->
  <userdef comment="VLUP" keycode="174" command="amixer -q set PCM 2+"/>
  <userdef comment="VLDWN" keycode="176" command="amixer -q  set PCM 2-"/>
  <userdef comment="VLMUTE" keycode="160" command="amixer -q  set PCM 0"/>
  
  <PrevTrack    keycode="144"/>
  <NextTrack    keycode="153"/>
  <Play         keycode="162"/>
  <Stop         keycode="164"/>
  <userdef comment="ScreenDarker" keycode="101" command="echo screendarker"/>
  <userdef comment="ScreenBrighter" keycode="212" command="echo screenbrighter"/>
  <userdef comment="ToggleScreens" keycode="237" command="echo togglescreens"/>
  
  
  
  <!-- special applications -->
  <Prog1        keycode="159"/>
  <Prog2        keycode="151"/>
  <WebBrowser   keycode="178"/>
  <Email        keycode="120"/>
  
  <!-- misc -->
  <userdef comment="WifiOn"    keycode="175" command="echo WiFi is ON"/>
  <userdef comment="WifiOff"   keycode="194" command="echo WiFi is OFF"/>
  <userdef comment="BlueTooth"   keycode="190" command="echo BlueTooth doesnt exist"/>

  <Help keycode="245"/>
  <userdef comment="Menu"      keycode="158" command="echo menupressed"/>
  <userdef comment="Calc"      keycode="161" command="kcalc"/>
  <userdef comment="Euro"      keycode="248" command="echo typedeuro"/>
  <userdef comment="Dollar"    keycode="192" command="echo dollar"/>
 
 
 
 </config>
 <contributor>
  <name>Martin Roos</name>
  <email>[email protected]</email>
 </contributor>
</definition>

now if you want to personalize this, create a directory .hotkeys into your home directory and a file hotkeys.conf into it, my hotkeys.conf looks like this :

Code:

Kbd=aceraspire3003

WebBrowser=firefox
Email=mozilla-thunderbird
Prog1=konsole
Prog2=kate

notice that the kbd has the same value as the hotkeys config file, so if you change the of the one, also change the other ...

if you have all files in place (without the rc.d file)
run the init_keyboard.sh as root (either sudo ./init_keyboard.sh in it's directory or by any meaningful means from somewhere else) and after that start hotkeys ...

should work pretty much out of the box ...

ps. wifi power seems automatic, so dont hack on that, you can just use it as some kind of notice to yourself. other than that, all the userdef entries in your xml file ofcourse can be changed to whatever you like

have fun

 

Hi all...

New to this forum, and I just bought an Acer Aspire 3003. It seems great except for one thing that I don't understand about these wide screens.

I'm hoping someone here can clear this up, probably a brain-fart dumbass question on my end, but....

I use my computers for viewing a lot of images, I can't seem to get images to display without being stretched out of proportion because of the odd shape of this monitor. Can't imagine I'm just not missing some setting or something but if this is simply how these displays are, then I'm not sure why they did this.

There must be some simple way to change the aspect ratio that I am just missing?!?!

Thanks for any help...

Eric

 

Are you asking about the desktop background pictures or all pictures viewed through Windows Picture Viewer or any other picture viewer???

If it is the desktop background, then change the image position(Disply Properties | Desktop) from "stretch" to "centre". This will display the picture in its native resolution with black bars on either side.

 

Hi:

Thanks for the reply. The computer is already boxed for return unless someone has a quick answer for this.

I was referring to viewing images in general such as when using explorer, etc.

I have gone through the manual and everything else I can find and one other thing that doesn't impress me is I've sent an email to support at Acer and so far nothing... not even an automated acknowledgement of my request.

Thanks
Eric

 

Hmm, That's interesting.... I thought the speakers were very loud (Atleast sitting infront of it), but the quality SUCKS.

I had a Gateway Solo 2150 before this Acer Aspier 3003WLCi, and the Solo's speaker quality was Much better, but they were very quiet, and hard to hear...

-TheChad

 

I found a way around the widescreen problem, but it isn't really ideal but works for now. It's a screen resolution of 1280X800. The icons and stuff are smaller than I like but the pictures display Ok.

Another problem though is that the "Acer Arcade" software will not recognize my cd/dvd drive for some reason. Other software does such as the included NTI CD/DVD maker and the Cyberlink Power Producer.

Strange...

Eric

 

I think 1280X800 is the standard screen resolution for the laptop. What resolution did you have before?

Try reinstalling the Arcade software. You can download it from Acer's website.
http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/fo...ite=acerpanam.com&pupv=pu&formid=3394#results

 

Hmmm... Ok thanks a lot for the info, I appreciate it, I was back at the store with this thing packed up for return but looked at some others and figured it was probably as good as most of those and I was destined to have a wide screen, so I gave it another try.

Thanks for the softweare link too, I will try that.

Seems like if you change the screen res to 800X600 or something it would be better if you had black areas at the sides instead of trying to stretch everything to fit.

I tried just about every screen res available.

Eric

 

LCD's have a native resolution & changing it results in poor image quality. So you are kinda stuck with the native resolution.

This article should help in understanding why....
http://www.neoseeker.com/Hardware/faqs/kb/21,50.html

 

Go grab the latest Synaptics drivers and the scroll button will work in Firefox.

 

The new drivers fix the scrolling issue, but the centre button(in between the left/righ click mouse buttons) do not work. I use that a lot instead of the scroll, but still have not been able to get it to work with FF.

 

I'm not sure if we're on the same page or not. There's only one thing between my left and right-click "mouse" buttons. It's the 4-way scroll thing. It did not work in Firefox until I updated the Synaptics drivers.

What other scrolling issue was/is there?

I have a 3003LCI btw if that makes any difference.

 

Yeah that is what I am also taking about, but on mine it does not work even with the new drivers.

 

Hello all, I first want to thank everyone for leaving their feedback on this laptop, it has helped me greatly decide which laptop I would like.

I have on 'tiny' problem, I can't seem to find the laptop(3003WLCI) on sale anywhere. I have done plenty of searches and keep getting a 3002wlci laptop showing up.?.?

Can someone please post a link as to where to buy this laptop for a good price? I think I may have seen it for sale on one website but it was nearing $900( ) which does not seem to be a price that even matches what some of you posted that you payed!

Thank you all in advance!

 

Seems like the 3003wlci has moved on to Canada, all the websites I searched who listed it for sale were based in Canada, the closest match that I could find was the 3002wlci at newegg. It is virtually the same as the 3003 but with the Sempron 2800+(1.6GHz & 256KB cache) for around $790...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834115193

If you still want a 3003 but can live without the widescreen, circuit city has the 3003LCi for $650...
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Acer...sem/rpsm/oid/127596/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

 

Staples has the 3003WLCi as a technology special this week. Price is $799. This has XP Pro

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/s...=42769&splCatType=5&catalogId=10052&langId=-1

 

That's actually the 3003WLMi-XPP

Seams to be basically the same thing.. Except it comes with Windows XP Professional, and it is actually suppose to come with the Dual Layer DVD Burner.

Where as the 3003WLCi, comes with Windows XP Home, and is only suppose to have a CD-RW/DVD-Reader, But most people who got the 300WLCi also got a nice prize when they opened the package and it came with the Dual-Layer DVD Burner....

That is one of many reasons the 3003WLCi was/is such a great deal... After rebates (Which i have recieved all of), I only paid $499.99 for my 3003WLCi.

I have YET to be able to find another laptop with equal specs for under $800, and even than, the 3003WLCi usually has an additional feature that isn't on the $800 competition..

-ThaChad

 

Yea, I noticed it was becoming more and more difficult to find.

Well, I talked with a buddy of mine that works at Circuit City and that seems to know what he is talking about and he is telling me to stay away from the 'Sempron' processer. He is trying to get my to buy the Compaq 2312us with a AMD Tuiron(sp?) 64 or something.

I will be using whatever laptop I get for graphics and the small 14" screen that is the compaq isn't doing it for me because it seems like it would be one big headache!

I don't want to undermine any of you buy saying my friend said stay away from the Sempron, I was just saying this is what he said. He seems to think that is why the battery isn't running long is because it isn't built to handle that processor.

Companies are making it TO **** difficult to pick a LapTop for a decent price.

 

I wouldn't say to stay away from a Sempron, they are not the worst. From my experience, they are much better than Celerons. But if you could afford it, I would recommend a Turion. They consume less power (they're more of a true mobile chip than a Sempron) and they are 64-bit. I almost wish I had spent a little extra money and gotten something with a Turion chip. But with the price I paid for the 3003wlci, I won't mind using it to get me through my final semester of school, and then getting something nicer a little bit down the road.

 

I just bought this machine today. So far so good. one thing though when I play DVD's on the machine there is a lot of shadowing or blacking out of screen at times. Anyone know how to get around this. It especially happens in darker scenes on screen or fast camera movement.

Otherwise a great machine.

 

The mobile Sempron actually consumes less power at max speed than the Turion ML(25W for the Sempron vs 35W For the ML Turion). So in effect they are more of a mobile chip than the Turion ML, but are equivalent to the Turion MT. But due to the power saving features(PowerNow) battery life will be quite similar. Ofcourse the Turion as you mentioned has other advantages of performing better & being 64bit.

 

hi simon,
im interested in getting the 3023wlmi in the uk but cant find anyone that sells it. Also all the specs say its x600. Could you tell me where you've bought yours from?

thanks

 

That's interesting. I remember reading an article when they announced the Turion's, and it said that the mobile Sempron and mobile Athlon were not true mobile chips, just regular desktop chips that were underclocked to consume less power. I guess I should have looked at the actual specs myself. I am surprised that I haven't seen more of the MT's in laptops yet, mostly MLs.

 

my shadowing problem appears to have gone away. This is one amazing machine.

 

Well, it appears I missed the really great deal on the 3003WLCI. But I did get the 3003LCI a couple weeks ago from CircuitCity for $550.00 U.S. (after $200.00 U.S. rebate). Still not a bad deal though.

So far I haven't anything I can really complain about. I'm running dual boot Windows XP Home Edition and SimplyMepis Linux 3.1.1-1 (a Debian distro).

I run my laptop for hours on end, and I haven't noticed any of the heat problems around the touchpad that have been mentioned re the 3003WLCI model. Nor does the machine seem to overheat with normal use (fan doesn't kick in too often).

The 60gb hard drive is really a 55gb hard drive, and it runs at 4500 rpm instead of 5400 rpm. But it is a Seagate drive and one can usually count on Seagate for reliability. And even 55gb is enough to comfortably run both WinXP and Linux and use a common data partition.

If you plan on re-partitioning the hard drive you'll see that Windows is installed on the 2nd partition. Acer uses the 1st partition for its management of the computer and recovery processes. Leave that 1st partition alone. If its removed, you will not be able to re-install your Windows XP Home Edition from the disks that came with the machine (or at least not without great pain and agony - see other posts here regarding re-installation). You can try, but you'll find that none of the registration codes that came with your machine will work if you try to install straight from the disks and that 1st partition is gone or inaccessible. This appears to have BIG potential for a serious problem should your hard disk ever die on you and have to be replaced. I'd seriously consider developing a back up procedure for this machine that is independent from that provided by Acer, and backup both the 1st and 2nd partitions. Personally, I back up to a 2 1/2" USB hard drive that I carry with me.

Usual Acer laptop battery life, i.e. sucks big time. If you really need "normal" laptop battery life (2-3 hours), you'll have to cough up $100.00 U.S. to a vendor for a battery with more cells.

Couple issues with Linux, and I'm not sure if they're Mepis issues, Debian issues or just a configuration problem:

[1] Had to use ndiswrapper to get the BCM4318 wireless chipset working in Linux, but it wasn't difficult. Will not connect to a router with Open security mode if you use WEP though. Make sure the router security is set for Shared Key.

[2] When typing with the keyboard in Linux the cursor sporadically jumps to another position further up the screen, such that you end up typing into the middle of text that you've already typed. Since I use Linux almost exclusively I haven't tested that in Windows XP Home yet.

[3] Do NOT press the clear plastic wireless button on the front of the laptop. It freezes Mepis linux if you do, and you'll have to do a hard reboot. And when you reboot your system you may well have hard disk errors that it will need to try to recover from. My system recovered, but I wonder if I wasn't just lucky.

[4] Special keys on the keyboard don't work. But I see someone already posted some code on how to address that issue. Thanks!

All in all, this is a good work horse laptop. Won't win any derby though - so serious gamers beware :>)

 

1 - I'm running Ubuntu (also based on Debian), and my home router uses WEP with open authentication, and I have no troubles at all.

2 - I've noticed that too, but the reason it happens is that the palm of my hand hits the touchpad. It happens in Windows too, but I disabled the touch to click, I haven't been able to do that for Ubuntu though.

3 - In Ubuntu, the wlan button kills the wireless, and it generally won't come back without a reboot. No system freeze luckily.

Just curious, how is suspend/hibernation with Mepis? For me, hibernation works great, but with suspend to ram the screen stays blank and never returns until I reboot.

 

I gotta problem guys, I got Acer Aspire 3003WL Mi (probably very similar to the WL Ci in this topic)

I think my integrated SiS 3d card isn't working well. I just ran a test with 3dmark03 free version and i only got 178 points! You hear well: only 178!!! I don't think it's right, is it?

 

Yeah, thats abt what I got. Its a SiS its meant to be a cheap!!! nothing else. Its just a card for the bare minimum, forget any sort of gaming.

 

But the seller told me that he has the same model and he can confirm that you can run Need for Speed Underground 2 with 800x600 almost on max details! Isn't that wierd?

 

I am able to play nfsu2 on my laptop without any problems... I didnt bother to run 3dmark03, the laptop has integrated graphics, what more could you expect...

 

after doing much research (dell, gateway, hp, compaq) looks like the acer just can't be beat. CC has the 3003LCI (not widescreen) for $499 after $250 MIR. Definitely not bad, and from what I've read on here--most of you, if not all of you are happy with your purchase.

Just wanted to ask, if any of you purchased the Extended Service plan? I know its already cheap, but heck its just something i usually get. this will be my desktop replacement, but i will be travelling bout twice a week to another office, and not to libraries/hotspots/etc. thanks guys! i read all of the post, yup all 14 pages. without this thread i would have never considered this laptop. thanks again!

 

Does anyone who got the 3003Lci have the "mistake DVD Burner"? I went to Circuit City, and they RAN OUT! , but they were nice enough to let me pickup the NB wednesday, and I can recieve the rebate too. ^_^

 

my acer aspire 3003 did not show a bluetooth device in control panel. i've try to install it back from drive manager but an error occur. it show error 10. so how?? what must i do to make my bluetooth device apear in control panel.

 

Would anyone know a cheap retailer selling the acer aspire 3023wlmi with 128mb graphics and 80 gig hd. It would have to be a uk retailer (I cant find one)

I know its slightly off topic..

 

Is this battery for the 3003CLi ? I doube checked with Global-Batteries.com via email and got this response. If their wrong, I'd like to order it!

I would like to know if the LCBTP03003 battery will work on an Acer Aspire notebook model 3003LCi
http://www.global-batteries.com/product_info.php/cPath/1_11/products_id/1788

Reply:
Welcome to our on-line shop. I am sorry to say that we do not have the item you need. We will inform you if we get it.

Please feel free to contact me again if you have any further questions or concerns. We look forward to providing you with the most effective service available.

Regards,

Eddie
Customer Service Dept.
www.Global-Batteries.com


Thanks

 

It should work since 3003LCi & 3003WLCi belong to the same series - the Aspire 3000, so the battery will most probably be the same for both the laptops, since the only difference between them is the specification. So any battery stated to work with the 3000 series should work in your laptop.

Also you can check with Acer whether the LCBTP03003 battery would work with your 3003.

 

Thanks for the reply. I've emailed Acer a few days ago and haven't received a reply yet.

 

I followed up with acer and got this reply:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I apologize for the delay in
responding to your email. There is another battery which is an 8 cell
battery; the part number for the 8-cell battery is LC.BTP03.003. For
price
and availability please contact the Acer voice line at 1-800-816-2237.
Hours of operation for live technical support are 7am-9pm CST, Mon-Fri,
and
8am-5pm CST, Saturday and Sunday, excluding holidays.

 

Thank you so very much !!!

 

BTW, the I emailed Kensington Technology Group that I would like to know if 33195 will work on an Acer Aspire 3003CLi notebook PC?
And I got....

I appreciate your immense interest in Kensington product, but I am sorry to inform you that unfortunately this power adapter 33195 is not compatible with your Acer Aspire 3003CLi notebook.

Hence I suggest to go back to the dealer from where it was purchased and get it replaced.

Thank you for contacting Kensington Technical Support.

Regards,
Srikanth
Kensington Technical Support.

BUT...I bought it and I replied....

Well I have to inform you that in fact the 33195 IS compatible with the Laptop mentioned below. I know because I bought it and it works. Thanks for your highly technical support !

Here it is if your interested Click me

 

Hello...im from norway and here this laptop is called
WLMI for som reason.

Sempron 3000
60gb toshiba 4200
512 ram

Like all other stuff, laptops are expensive.
So i payed 1100 dollars for mine. THEY USUALLY COSTS 1300

So this was a good deal for me.

Ans its the same here with poor batteri life. 1 hour.
But i complained to acer.no, and they are sending me a 8 cell batteri for free. So thats nice

But anyway.......doesnt anyone think that this toshiba hard drive is really noisy?? It make all kinds of klink klonk sounds even if its not in use??
Anyone else have this problem??

Espen from norway!

 

Mine came with the Western Digital drive and is very quite. Can't help. Good luck.

 

I'll be purchasing a 3003LCi
from circuit city soon;myself.I loooked at one today!When,my wife & I where in the store buying a new 36"JVC T.V.

It's a very nice laptop;for the money indeed!
I'am planning to add 1GB memory to mine

 

any one buy the extended battery?