Acer Aspire AS5672WLMi

Anyone know anything about this model? It's at CompUSA. Looks like a great computer by specs but they didn't have any in stock and they didn't have a display model.

 

Oh well, after reading the thread regarding Acer build quality, I think I'll stay away from their products.

 

well, it's the best priced dual core out there and about the only one in retail stores right now so I wouldn't write it off immediately without there being any reviews of this model.

 

I saw one at compusa. It is a nice looking laptop. I was interested in that graphics card the x1300(the lowest end of ati's new line) and wondered if it would run doom 3. I think it can but I am going to stick with the nvidia made ones.

 

It actually has the X1400 for what it's worth.

 

its available at most compusa stores and is a great price...its got almost everything the 8204 has except a slightly slower processor, voip phone and a carbon lid.

nothings wrong with acers build quality..have used it for years now

 

Acer's build quality is fine with me, had no problems with it. But I have an Acer that was $1500.00 when it came out. Not exactly the buget model.

 

I've had an Acer notebook before. I thought the quality was pretty good, I was satisfied.

That's an awesome price, especially with 2GB of RAM and a 120GB Serial ATA hard drive.

 

I am considering buying this laptop. The nearest CompUSA has it in stock. Anyone have any reasons not to? It's just about everything I want, except the slower CPU (until I realized that's why I have the AMD64 machine), and the price with HD and RAM is awesome.

 

I bought this laptop on Friday. It's pretty good. 2GB of RAM is nice. Hard drive is Seagate (not some lesser brand). DVD drive is a DVD-RAM unit. Screen is really nice.

 

check out the tests done by Canadasys, it really impressed me as it blew away every asus models in the lineup he tested even built on systems...pentium m models up till now the only thing that was behind was 3D mark 05 which was on par with 6600go and below X700 but above X600 pretty impressive. It`s gonna be my next laptop.

 

Yeah, I agree. Everything about the performance impressed me too - except the 3dmark05 score. 1600 is on par with an old school Radeon 9700 or an x600. A 6600go should be able to get about the same as the x700 (~2300), which makes the x1400 about 40% slower. If you're thinking about the ASUS z71v with the 6600go, it's known to be clocked rather conservatively by ASUS, thus making it slower than it could/should be.

Despite the weak graphics card, I'd consider it but I think I'll wait until more manufacturers come out with their Core Duo models and then decide.

 

I was going to wait, until I saw the 120GB SATA hard drive and 2GB 667MHz DDR2, along with the complete feature set in general. The video card is a bit weak compared to the X1600, but I don't play games that often (still using a 9600 Pro on the desktop and it works great, for everything I play). I wouldn't have minded a faster CPU, either, but I don't need it.

This laptop has features like HD Audio, video in, slot-loading DVD, ExpressCard/34 and PC Card, Bluetooth 2.0+HDR (even though I only have Bluetooth 1 devices), and DVI-D and VGA. I like the looks better than current Dell models and figured an equally priced HP would cost more, especially with the large HD. I figured many of those models probably wouldn't have all of the features this does.

(A 120GB Serial ATA 2.5" hard drive costs $260 on Newegg as of last week.)

The screen is just how I expected it to be -- better than the dv4000. I got a WXGA screen because I use dual monitors and don't want to increase the DPI because of that.

The speakers aren't bad for a notebook. They're better than the Compaq laptops at work, but not as good as the Inspiron 9300/XPS 17" notebooks' (which have subwoofers.)

 

One more thing i like about the DVI connector, so far i cannot find out any laptop support DVI. If my LCD monitor support DVI, i will use it for a external display.

 

i went to Canadasys to see AS5672WLMI with 100GB HD and 2x512MB DDR2 memory, after taking out the cover and find out that the memory is533Mhz(PC2 4200) not a 667Mhz.

 

hmm is the 2gb/120gb HD version is using 533mhz memory as well?

 

on the acer site says available up to 2G 533/667 and the 2G list 1G/1G of 667mhz so maybe it`s just the 1G version that has 533mhz where its 2X512mb

 

I checked it out myself, and it's a very well spec'ed system for the price! The screen was a tad too mirror-ish but besides that, it was built pretty well(Plastic was pretty firm), was not much flex(Only at sides of keyboard), and the WXGA screen was the only downer. It was pretty zippy fast due to the Dual Core, and the x1400 was no sucker neither.

The DVI was a sweet addition as well. Yea, Danny told me that the ram was actually 533mhz...

 

Saw this notebook at CompUSA. The price was 1499. Acer makes 3 versions. Two with XP Pro and one with XP Home. One of the notebooks has 2 GB 667MHz RAM, the others have 1 GB. All of the rest of the specs are the same for all 3 units. T2300 processor, ATI X1400, and 120 MB HDD.

But thses are the Aspire series which means that they are consumer oriented products. They don't have shock absorbers for the HDD, and the case is not graphite.

 

I buy that Aspire AS5672WLMi Notebook! that is so Good, I never seen before! :centrino: :centrino: :centrino: :centrino: But no software only base software!

 

Does it have a TV tuner ?

 

No. However, I have seen documents referring to this laptop having a TV tuner, so there may be a TV tuner available in future models/in other markets.

It does, however, have video-in (via a special cable and the S-Video port.)

 

I really like this machine but would like to be able to player newer games. I'm new to video card technology so would appreciate some information/thoughts. Are the 3dmark05 scores calculated with 2gb of system RAM? In addition to the 128mb of onboard video RAM, the card will also utilize an additional 384mb of shared system RAM. I would think the video scores would go up if the card is installed on a machine with 2gb of RAM. Is this correct? I want to be able to play BF2 and similar games, and would think that the x1400 would work well.

In the $1500 price range, I don't think there is a gaming notebook that comes close to this one in specs. Is this correct?

Also, has anyone found this computer for a better price? I would be surprised that the best price would be through CompUSA. Buy.com has the 1gb model in stock for $1419, but not the 2gb.

Thanks,
Brian

 

I believe the X1600 is about 2 times faster, as configured in the Acer TravelMate 8200. If you search this forum extensively enough, you should be able to find some numbers. The X700 in the HP Pavilion dv4000/Compaq V4000T should be faster as well, but I haven't seen any figures for this.

Edit: It's also important to note that the DV4000/V4000T and 5672 have 1280x800 screens, whereas the 8200 has a 1680x1050 (IRC). For games that don't support widescreen resolutions, you'd want to use 1024x768 on the 1280 screens and 1280x960 on the 1050 screens. My 5672 supports black box mode (no stretching on non-native resolutions), so using 1024x768 is fine for me. Keep in mind that the higher resolutions tax a video card more -- this is one of the reasons I went ahead and got an X1400-powered laptop with the 1280x800 instead of waiting for a suitable X1600 model; I figured the X1400 would handle 1024x768 well. Counter-Strike Source runs fine, as does Half-Life 2. I haven't tried anything else yet.

 

The X1600 would definitely be better, but the only 15.4'' machine with the X1600 that I know of is the TravelMate 8200 which is well out of my price range. I'm surprised that the X1400 doesn't get higher marks, given that it is newer and can utilize so much shared memory (in addition to the 128 onboard). Do you think anyone will offer an X1600 notebook In the $16-1700 range?

Thanks,
Brian

 

Thanks for the information. That gives me something to think about. Are you able to run Half-Life 2 with full video settings? What kind of FPS do you get?

Overall, are you happy with the 5672? It will be a little heavy to carry around everyday, but with a backpack it shouldn't be bad...and the specs and price make it very appealing.

Thanks,
Brian

 

Check out the Aspire 5650 and the Asus A6JA-Q001H. Should be a while before you see them in stores, though.

 

Thanks for the information. I had no idea it was going to be so hard to choose a notebook. Any idea how much these machines will cost in the US? If all the x1600 notebooks/Geforce 7400+ were going to be 2K plus, I would have a better idea if I should wait. I need to buy by the end of February.

 

I bet TV Tuner is only for Europe and Asia.. Why does acer gives poor configs to Americas??

 

I have no idea, really. I'm a newbie here . It's just that I'm in similar situation, except I hope to buy a laptop by the end of February in Portugal, not the US Anyway, I don't know much more about those PCs... I found about them here on the forum, and a google search shows some german websites selling them for 1600 euros. I started a thread on the 5650, but there doesn't appear to be much info. The mods recomended the Asus, though, for quality.

 

i know you havent had it for long, but could u give us a quick review or picutres? acer canada website is useless. i'm really thinking about getting this one. my friend can get it super cheap for me.

thanks

 

i can't take pictures right now because my friend is borrowing my camera.

if there's a demand, I will make a more thorough/formal review with pictures.

quick review:
Screen -- excellent. Compare to othe 15.4" 1280x800 glossy Acer screens. There is a small bit of ghosting evident, as expected with a 16ms LCD. It's not a problem for me; I haven't noticed it while playing games, but it is noticeable when scrolling text (in situations where I don't on the 19" SyncMaster 930B, which is 8ms.)
Keyboard -- average for a notebook. I use a Bluetooth keyboard (Apple) most of the time anyway. The keys on the right aren't very good.
Touchpad -- standard Synaptics. Works fine. Haven't accidentally hit it while typing yet. Regular buttons are okay, but the scroll button is sort of hard to press correctly. I use a Logitech V270 bluetooth wireless mouse.
Audio -- builtin speakers are better than the Compaq laptops at work with "JBL" audio. Music sounds fine through headphone port. All 3 audio ports are conveniently located on the front (great when I want to use headphones, not so great when I want to hook it up to the 5.1). I have yet to be able to get spdif output working; I will be contacting Acer support soon enough.
Memory card reader -- Works just as you'd expect it to. It doesn't make a ton of drives like some memory card readers (mostly USB ones) do; no drive letter is shown until a card is inserted.
Wireless -- better reception than my Dell Axim X30 Pocket PC. fairly stable; even when the connection is lost due to interference etc, connections don't actually drop.
Speed -- no problems. I have the 2GB version. Multitasking is excellent. Even with 1.66GHz, everything I do is the same or noticably faster than the AMD Athlon 64 3000 (Venice) with 1GB of RAM ...
Software -- Installed XP Pro. Had trouble finding the proper drivers; drivers were available from the chipset manufacturers' sites for just about everything besides the graphics, mem card reader, and the camera. Acer's America site does not have drivers as of a couple days ago; I got the drivers and software for the laptop from Acer's Taiwan support site instead.
Bundled software included NTI cd burning software and PowerDVD (I believe), along with Acer's Empowering Technology CD. I already have (better) cd burning software and PowerDVD
Camera -- Barely used it.
Bluetooth -- works like any other BT device. I am using the MS drivers, not the included Widcomm drivers, because of difficulties using the Widcomm drivers with my Bluetooth keyboard/mouse.
Graphics -- Counter-Strike Source gets 51.5 fps with default settings on the performance test, at 1280x800 widescreen. (This is with another monitor enabled and background tasks running.) I haven't tested the tv in or out yet, but I do use dual monitors. The system works fine with VGA and DVI displays. The only issue is that these drivers do not work with my preferred resolution on the 19" CRT at work, 1280x960. I am currently typing this on the Acer laptop and my SyncMaster 930B over DVI.
Battery life -- exactly as Acer claims it is, I suspect, if you assume the 3h30 figure is based on low brightness, low CPU, and wifi/lan/bluetooth/cardbus/firewire turned off. The laptop should have lasted for slightly over 3h at medium brightness, low CPU, and using lan/wlan (I stopped using it after a little more than 2h, estimate said 50 minutes remaning), running MS Word and Firefox.

i'm extremely tired so if anyone has any other questions, I can respond in the morning.

 

That's precious information k3l0! Have you run any benchmark programs, such as Super Pi or 3dmark?

 

Excellent review K310...extremely useful. What do you think of the weight and ergonomics? Would you consider it if you had to travel with it everyday? I'd better better off with a smaller machine, but I want to play games, and don't want to go much over $1500. This notebook really seems ideal in many ways. Thanks again.

 

Well, I can't stand high-DPI displays on my computers (anything higher than ~100 dpi or so). I am a huge fan of dual monitors, so changing to Large Fonts in Windows is out of the question. I'm used to 80-90dpi displays, and anything over 95-105 dpi (CRT) or 105-115dpi (LCD) is difficult to read with my desk setup. The 5672's 1280x800 screen is 15.4" and therefore 98 dpi; it's easy enough to read for me. Anything smaller or anything with a higher resolution on the same size would cause me to squint and get headaches (without a large fonts setting.)

So, more or less, the only choices that I could live with were 1024x768 (at 13", 14", or 15"), 1280x800 (at 15.4"), or 1440x900 (at 17").

Weight is OK. It doesn't bother me to pick up the notebook while open (for example, to show someone something.) When in the notebook bag, it's comfortable to carry (when loaded with the AC adapter and Bluetooth mouse). The laptop is pretty comfortabe to use.

I might have time to run benchmarks later.

 

how's the noise level of this machine? Is it pretty quiet. There aren't any annoying high pitched noises are there? cause i just returned a dell cause of that and i'm thinking of getting this now.

thanks

 

I took a look at this model yesterday while at CompUSA. While I like the specs the one thing I didn't care for was the heat felt through the keyboard. It was noticeably hotter than any of the other notebooks in the store. Unfortunately I couldn't tell how loud the fans were. Can anyone with this model or others with core duos comment on the heat? I find palm rest and keyboard heat very annoying.

Thanks

Paul

 

Ok. New member here, but I've been wandering this board and using it to size up this system for about two weeks now...

I just got it two days ago, and let me note some things you need to know:

- The unit DOES create heat. Lots of it. It seems ot be able to handle the heat, and does not get to a level capable of causing burns, but it can get WARM, if not hot. This heat only really seems to show up when running heavy applications like 3d games.

- There are NO Video input ports in the Comp-USA version, but there IS an audio input. The system manule notes that 'some models' have this feature, so that's probably where the mistake comes from. I advised CompUSA of the error.

- The video card does only bench at 1600 or so, but this seems to be pleanty with games like FEAR, Doom3, and Half-life 2. I was able to turn most features in FEAR up to medium, and a few to high without getting below 20 FPS. Doom 3 looks good with almost everything turned to 'high'...

- All of the software I loaded worked PREFECTLY, but the preloaded ACER support software for the Sound and Power management systems seems unstable. Very unstable. It's not a computer problem, it's a software issue with lackluster support software. Perhaps they will fix it with a patch or three-hundred?

- This thing can play Doom 3 and FEAR for hours without dieing from the heat, and I've seen no failings playing Second-Life either (another 3d program). The Core Duo works like dual CPU, and seems to allow designating a core for a programto run on.

- The plastic does not seem flimsy, but it's not aluminum either. I advised a hard case to protect it.

I'll add more later, as questions are asked i have answers to...

Have a happy-happy, Joy-Joy day!

<goes back to tinkering on it>

 

You're wrong. The video input is in the video ouput port. You need a special cable to support it.

 

Funny, the manule shows the ports for input to be on the REAR of the device, and no mention of a cable.

Please point to this information so that I can be happy with an additional feature? :hardfind:

 

Oh, and where can you get this special cable? I'm not finding anything...

 

Does the keys make a "clicking" sound when you pit your hands on them? Might be getting a 5672WLMi soon so it'll be nice to know.

edit: And also, what justifies the higher price (+$200 Canadian) of the 120GB model? A gigabyte of RAM and 20GB extra storage shouldn't cost quite that much.

 

thanks to both our reviewers for giving us your much needed thoughts and opinion.

i'm so close to putting in an order for this. just 2 things i would like to clear up.

1. i know the screen is supposed to be quite good, for colour and everything. but is it easy on the eyes even after an hour or so(glossy reflections).

2. im wondering about that dual-core/USB2.0 battery drain issue. i was considering a usb mouse..but of course this can be fixed with a bluetooth.

im gonna go check it out in store, and if i like what i see...chances are im gonna get one...the 1 gig model. Turions or P-Ms have more computing power than my desktop!

 

Well, the cheaper one has an intel vid card. That's worth it right there is you need to do 3d at all.

And Aye. They click when you touch them. just brushing them causes it.

 

Great Info here thanx. I have pondered about this one for a week. Is it worth to spend the extra $ on the Travelmate 8204WLMi? I do a fair amount of AutoCAD 2D and CorelDraw10 besides the usual stuff.
Up here in Canada I found these 2 prices the best so far. However, nobody seems to have stock.

http://www.digitalspyders.com/canada/acer-aspire-as5672wlmi120gbxpp-notebook-p-18883.html for CDN $ 1749.00

and
http://www.digitalspyders.com/canada/acer-travelmate-8204wlmi-notebook-p-18877.html CDN $ 2,429.99

Does anybody know if any stores carry these in Canada already?

 

Well, I'm going to take it that the above was incorrect. I have found no information on this cable for allowing TV input, nor are there drivers installed for video in the system beyond what the camera uses (USB connection for that, by-the-way).

So, no. This system cannot record video as is.

Then again, they do make PCMCIA cards for this feature, as well as USB systems now.

 

Have you come across the USB2.0 issue that has been talked about so much with Core Duo? The one where the battery level goes down by 1 hour if you connect a USB2.0 device?!

Please provide some info on this!

And yeah, amazing amount of information! I was wondering on this system for a long long time! I think I finally know that I might as well go for it!

Thanks a ton!

 

Hi to everyone; I am a newbie on this forum. I'm from Italy and I'm going to buy a notebook to use for my studies.
I need a versatile notebook, so I was waiting for the new platform Centrino Duo. Now I'm looking at this ACER model, with 2GB of RAM, Core Duo processor, a good monitor and a lot of other features; it looks very fine for my works.

But, of course, I want to play latest games on it; do you think that the X1400 will be not strong enough? I have seen an ASUS notebook with only 1GB of RAM and a monitor not as good as the ACER one, but it has an ATI mobility Radeon X1600 and it costs 100 euros less. What do you think about it?

Talking about the USB 2.0 problem: it is caused by the OS Windows XP.
The specific piece responsible for the power drain is Windows' Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface (ACPI) driver, which is a software component provided through the operating system. This is the component responsible for instructing a device to power down when it is not in use. Under ACPI, there is a series of sleep states that the operating system's ACPI driver recognizes and supports.

The issue, according to Microsoft, concerns the asynchronous scheduler component - a part of the USB 2.0 driver that determines when devices can access local memory. With the revision to that driver implemented in Windows XP Service Pack 2, the scheduler can inadvertently be left running. As a result, Windows' internal task scheduler (a separate item) treats the asynchronous scheduler as a running process involving the attached device, and thus stops itself from ever giving the processor the signal to power down, or power lower - to slip into one of its ACPI sleep states. Because the scheduler is running, Windows thinks the system is continually busy. As a result, the computer can use more battery power.

It seems that the solution could be very simple: a simple addition of a single key to the Windows System Registry.

So, this is the question: Microsoft knew about this problem since 12 July 2005 (as Knowledge Base article KB899179), why does they don't fix this bug yet?

Intel has asked Microsoft "to fix the registry to make the problem go away." In the meantime Intel is working to fix the issue by itself: "We are doing additional work on our end to see if there is anything we can do to overcome the same challenge Microsoft is having".

I hope the problem will be fix as soon as possible.

Thanks to everyone

 

Hello, i'm wondering if anyone has any recomendations on where to purchase this notebook seems every compusa in my area is sold out.Seems to be a very well equipped notebook for my needs the only concern I have is heat as the palm rest was considerably warmer than any of the other laptops on display.
Thanx in advance !

 

Oh, yes! This thing is like a portable heater when playing a 3d games and such, but it's fine for everything I'm playing right now.

And no, the system seems to have no problems with the heat it produces, but for god's sake, don't cover the fan! THAT could cause who knows HOW much trouble.

Anyway, Now that I've killed most of the Acer software, it's running alot better. As to the USB issue, I have not noticed a problem, but the trick is, I unplug all usb devices when not in use. They reconnect in less that a couple of seconds, so it works better that way anyway.

One thing: The built in camera IS a USB device. So I can say that I have gotten plenty of battery life even with that 'plugged in'...

Anything else? Fine then. Now go buy it while you can still find one. Stores seem to all be out of it now...