Acer Aspire One 522 Owners Lounge [AMD Fusion Netbook]

Thanks for all the help guys. It's been awesome being able to get direct answers. Hopefully this is my last question:

Does it matter if I go with a PC3-10600 (DDR3 1333 mHz) or a PC3-8500 (DDR3 1066 mHZ) RAM?

 

Im pretty sure the cpu will clock it down to 1066 so honestly which ever is cheaper/value go with that

 

Does anyone see any imperfections in the finish of the netbook?
For example beside my sticker on the right side I can see some discoloration (almost like the kind of discoloration you see on touchpads after you use them a lot, it looks like it's been worn down). I saw this a few days after I bought the netbook, and it was sealed, not a refurb unit.

Is it possible to just remove the sticker altogther?

 

Thanks. I went with a Corsair 4gb:
NCIX.com - Buy Corsair CMSO4GX3M1A1333C9 4GB 1X4GB DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9-24 204PIN SODIMM Memory - Corsair - CMSO4GX3M1A1333C9 - in Canada

 

I've got the 4gb of RAM now. Should I be able to play this full screen on 1080p:
YouTube - Fast Car - Tracy Chapman (Kina Grannis & Boyce Avenue acoustic cover) on iTunes & Amazon

I could play in full screen on 720p even when I had the 1gb of RAM but now that I have 4gb it's still very choppy.

 

update your flash player to 10.2 or beta 10.3 and update to latest ati driver.... i have no issues playing 1080p youtube on 2gb with ati 11.4 and flash 10.3

 

Upgraded to flash 10.3 and ati 11.4 with 4gb (2gb useable) but still a bit choppy. It's better than before but still not smooth. Any other ideas?

 

try a different browser? Not sure why its having issues for you... is this a new install or the same acer install?

 

I'm using Chrome. Do you mean is my OS the same Acer install? If so, yes, it's still the same install. Haven't had time to get to the fresh install.

Edit: I don't know why but it's fine now on 1080p.

 

ok where did you guys who bought another keyboard got it from cause i ordered from agile electronics over 6 weeks ago and still didnt received it yet, they dont even know when i will get it

part # is KB.I100A.088

thks

 

Just got this netbook, upgraded to 2 gig and W7 Home Premium, seems to be working great. Except for my WinTV HVR 950Q USB Stick, all installs fine but when i play the TV, it's speeds up slows down, distorts. Can these netbooks handle TV USB devices?

 

I just nearly lost my mind trying to find out which part number (LU.XXXXX.XX) of acer aspire 522 is 3g cappable (has working free mini pci-e slot and sim card connecter).
So please if you have such model(you can check sim card connector under battery) provide me with it's part number so I can buy correct one. Thanks !

 

This really sucks, I love this netbook but unfortunately USB TV Tuners do not like to work on it. I've tried the Hauppauge USBTV 950Q, Hauppauge WinTV USB2 (which says it's for Netbooks) and the Avermedia AVERTV Hybrid Volar Max and none of them work. I thought maybe it was a defective netbook so I went and bought a new one, same problem. The funny thing is, I still have my old Acer Aspire One ZG5 and the Hauppauge WinTV USB2 works fine on it....*sigh, not impressed.

 

when I have some free time Ill try my 950q... maybe yours just randomly might be defective

 

Hi guys,

Just bought this netbook and I'm wondering whether or not it's worth upgrading to Windows 7 Home Premium and get that 4gb ram. Or, should I stick with Windows 7 Starter and just upgrade the ram to 2gb.

I will be using this netbook for some light photoshop work, but I will also be watching 720p + 1080p youtube videos.

Lastly, I'm trying to upgrade the display driver for the HD 6250 graphics, but I'm not sure which driver to download from the AMD website. There is no Radeon HD 6250 under notebook graphics, but should I be downloading the driver for the Desktop graphics?

Thanks!!!

 

go to amd and pick notebook drivers... then c series.... c-50... then version of windows


If your using cs5 photoshop then you will see a difference in speed if you use the x64 version with your 4gb of ram

 

Chances of 2 brand new 522's and new AverMedia and Hauppauge USB tV sticks not working is near impossible. I have a funny feeling it has to do with the new AMD CPU, as I said, I installed both of those USB TV sticks in my old Acer Aspire One ZG5 and it worked perfectly. If you can get your 950Q working on the 522 Acer, I would love to hear how you did it.

 

Where are you seeing this driver, I've been on the amd site doing searches and haven't been able to find the c-50 driver.

 

I also noticed something else. Today when I came home and plugged in my netbook to charge, both the battery light (orange) and lightbulb light (blue) were both flashing on and off simultaneously. What does that mean?

 

I'm also trying to upgrade the ram and I'm wondering if this netbook will work well with DD3 1333 Corsair ram. The stock ram that came with this thing is only 1066.

And is there a good guide somewhere that will teach me how to do this properly?

Thank you guys!

 

ati driver there you go

 

Ah, I thought you were talking about a separate cpu driver, I have the latest video driver already, thanks though.

Ya, this is strange, first 522 netbook i got had some generic 1066mhz ram in it and when I got the second one, it had a Kingston 1333mhz stick installed. I went out and picked up a Kingston 2gb 1333mhz stick and it's working so far, no issues. I did however picked up a Muskin 2gb 1066mhz ram for the first 522 and it worked but had some weird issues ie. not waking from hibernation or the odd time, booting stuck on Acer screen. I just installed the kingston 1333mhz ram so i'm doing some tests on it, will keep you guys/gals posted.

 

OK, so I bought a stick of Corsair 1333 DDR3 4GB ram and will install it today after I figure out how to pop out the keyboard without damaging the plastic. I'm going to hold off upgrading Windows 7 for a while, or at least until I decide whether I should just use Windows Anytime Upgrade (and upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium) or buy a 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium and do a fresh install.

 

I tried my tv tuner last night... the driver install went ok but when I went to install win tv (do not have media center installed due to stipped down os) it wouldnt let me install 7 unless I had a disk...looks like I will not be buying from them ever again.... after "obtaining" a working disk win tv would not see the tuner.... yet let me configure it

The video driver does contain the drivers for the chipset/cpu its just not obvious

 

Hi.

My friend just bought an SSD drive and a 4Gb DDR3 SO-DIMM for his 522. It was a KVR1066D3S7/4G module which is PC3-8500 1066Mhz CL7. The original memory is 1333Mhz. A bit worried it won't work as good if at all. How did your 1333Mhz work for you ? No HW limitations for you ?

 

its going to clock down to 1066...not any way around this... but it looks like pretty much all ram is compatible with this sexy little beast

 

So far so good, this new Kingston 1333 mhz 2 gb stick seems to be working better, not getting the hibernation problem like I did with the 1066mhz stick. That's strange, the original 1 gb i pulled out of my 522 netbook is a kingston 1333mhz stick, so why are they using that if it's a 1066mhz system. Anyways, the 1333mhz is working better then my Muskin 1066mhz, at least it solved the hibernation problem which I was having. I thought maybe that had to do with the USB TV Tuner, so I reinstalled it back, still the same problem, this 522 does not like USB TV Tuners that's for sure.
-------------------------------
Ok, update, with the new 2GB Kingston 1333MHz I can now confirm no more hibernation wake problems. Before with Muskin 2GB 1066MHz, I had intermitten boot problems and also waking from hibernation wouldn't work if hibernation state was more then 1/2 hr or longer. This is good news, one down, now if I can only figure out why USB TV Tuners won't work on these things that would make this the perfect netbook. Please see photo of original 1 GB RAM that came with my 522...

 

Hi guys,

Can get some suggestions for upgrading Windows 7 on this machine? I'm not sure whether I should,

1) Use the built-in Windows Anytime Upgrade and upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit) or,
2) Purchase a new retail Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) and reformat the computer

The things that will factor into my decision are,

1) I have a fairly powerful desktop computer that I do the majority of my photoshop work and gaming on,
2) I only need this netbook to play youtube videos and watch the occasional 1080p movies
3) I want to spend the least amount of time doing this upgrade


Given these considerations, what would you guys do?

And lastly, is it true that I should charge this thing 6 hours before even turning it on for the first time? Or just until the battery light turns from orange to blue?

Thanks so much!

 

Sakage.shinga,

The least amount of effort would be to apply the Anytime upgrade.

You mentioned you may occasionally use Photoshop which would run faster in the 64 bit operating system. "Faster" is not quantified without the requisite testing. Is it worth the effort to re-format the hard drive, re-install drivers and applications?

Hardly anything other than Photoshop will benefit from 64 bit Windows. In fact you might experience a slower machine. Your other applications being 32 bit the 64 bit operating system must run them inside a 32 bit "sandbox". It's the translation in and out of this sandbox which makes things slower than running 32 bit apps on a 32 bit operating system.

My preferred optimal combination of memory and operating system is 4 GB of RAM and 32 bit Windows. Windows uses 3-1/2 GB of that memory and the AMD 6250 video uses 256 MB of the remaining memory without taking memory away from Windows.

Regarding your battery concern, so long as you plug in the power adapter first it won't hurt the Li-Ion battery to turn on the AO522 without waiting for it to be fully charged. Li-Ion batteries are typically shipped from the manufacturer with more than borderline minimal charge. It is when the battery dips below borderline minimal charge that damage may result. Batteries shipped with just borderline minimal charge would result in increased returns to the manufacturer, so Li-Ion batteries are shipped with at least some additional charge.

Harry

 

I upgraded via Anytime Upgrade, much easier, the first 522 I had I updated using a copy of Windows 7 Home Professional and it was tedious installing all the drivers and such, if you look on Acer's site, there's like 3 different drivers for the Lan, Touch pad etc and I noticed that it doesn't even have drivers for the Acer Webcam. With Anytime Upgrade, all the files and apps and drivers are retained which is nice. Second 522 network, I did the anytime upgrade and it was much nicer.

As for Photoshop, I'm actually quite surprised this little netbook runs CS5 Suite pretty smoothly. Not as fast as my desktop but it will do for when I travel and have to do work.

As for gaming, well, I installed Crysis 2 on it and ouch, took it off pretty quick, not powerful enough for that. I think it's probably good for older games, gotta have my Serious Sam on there

Good luck!

 

Well I've popped in the 4GB ram I bought and overall the netbook is noticeably faster. Since I'm still running Windows 7 Starter, however, only 2GB is being used. Will upgrading to Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit and thus unlocking 4GB memory usage produce noticeable results? It'll cost me ~$100 so I'll only do it if 4GB memory is noticeably better than 2GB. Keep in mind that I'll only be using this netbook for some light photoshop work & a lot of youtube 1080p.

Thanks!

 

starter is a max of 2gb... any other versions will use all the ram you install... if your a student you can get a copy of hp or pro for less then 75 i think...if your useing it for photoshop then i would atleast get hp so you can use all 3.75ish gb for it (some goes to gpu)

 

Here's something I need help with. I uninstalled the version of Adobe Flash player that came with the netbook since I had downloaded the newest version from the Adobe website. During uninstall I also uninstalled something called Adobe Flash player activex. But after installing the latest version of flash player, the activex listing hasn't returned and now whenever the netbook tries to go into screensaver a window pops up saying "please install flash player".

 

Actually, with 4 GB RAM, 32 bit Windows will use up to its limit - about 3.5 GB. The bonus is the AMD 6250 video won't steal RAM from Windows: it'll take what it needs - 256 MB - from the unused remainder.

Harry

Did you use FireFox or Chrome to download Flash player? There's two versions of Flash player: one for Windows Internet Explorer (uses active X), the other for other browsers.

If you do the download through Internet Explorer, you'll get the active x version. The versions won't interfere with each other.

Harry

 

Thanks, that solved my problem!

A few more questions:
1. A friend told me to partition my netbook and put all my documents/videos/files and whatever on the separate partition and only have my OS and programs on the old one. Will this actually improve performance?
2. I bought the MS Explorer Mini mouse and installed the drivers, but this message from MS asking me join their customer experience program keeps poping up and won't go away even after I've said yes. I also tried setting Windows 7 to stop informing me of this notification but it keeps coming back.
3. This may be a bit silly, but the pouch that came with the mouse has two small magnets sealed up inside so the pouch can be closed tighter, leaving this pouch next to my ipod and netbook isn't going to corrupt my data, right? lol

 

1. you can partition it however you want it will not effect anything on these harddrives atleast....

2. sounds like a M$ issue with their software

3. computer it shouldn't...ipod it shouldnt but im not 100% of that but its flash based so it should be ok

 

@ sakage.shinga

By right clicking on your personal folders and dragging them to a new partition and choosing "move" you will be able to move photos, documents, desktop etc. and Windows will automatically change corresponding registry entries so Start Menu shortcuts and so on will still work.
While it won't improve your performance it will improve your dada safety.
In case Windows dies on you, you can safely restore/reinstall (or format C: partition) while your data is still safe on another partition.

 

Corporate IT departments often partition hdd's this way to preserve the data should there be a need to re-install the operating system and applications. It's not done for performance, but rather to shorten turn-around time should re-installation of the OS and apps be required, for example, to eradicate corruption from virus.

Try removing the MS intellimouse software, re-boot, then re-install the intellimouse software. That may solve the problem.

Since MS delivers the mouse pouch with magnets, I'd presume they did the due diligence to ensure the magnets would not harm your hardware.

Harry

 

Thanks guys for the replies!

And I've tried playing a 720p mkv file last night using SMPlayer but it's very choppy and sometimes the image will freeze. I haven't downloaded any codec packs yet so which one should I get? Could the choppiness also be due to the fact that the mkv file is on that separate partition (but ultimately same hard drive)?

 

I just use MPC with the ati codecs added...everything works fine

 

choppiness is from the cpu.

you need a stronger dual core to pull that off.

luckily you have an alternative (using the ati codecs/hardware gpu decoding like texanman said)

 

I used to play 720p on single core Turion 64 1.8GHz- also single core Atoms can do it so it's not the CPU.
Good codec pack should help a lot.

 

Recommendations? I downloaded this player called SPlayer and allowed it to install its own codec pack and it helped quite a bit. But seeing how the player is pretty much unknown, I'd be open to more popular suggestions.

Thanks!

 

I tend to use the k-lite codec pack (I know, I know. Kazaa is old and gone but that name stuck. It's from one of the old k-lite developers or something).

though it's really interchangeable with the CCCP codec pack.

only difference is that the k-lite one is updated more often I think (but if stuff works, there's no real reason to update it til something doesn't work and you rule out the video being bad)

 

I would use Shark's pack.

 

I use K-lite as well.
BTW Media Player classic tends to use less CPU when playing 720p MKVs than WMP.

 

Strange thing, I installed the new ATI drivers from AMD's site 8.13 I believe, I'm getting scan line artifacts, on the very top of the screen and sometimes about half way down depending on the software i'm running, seems to happen with browsers but the top scan line artifact stays on, installed back the original driver and all is fine, anyone having these issues?

 

8.13 is a Old driver from like 2007.... do you mean 11.3?

 

Yes 8.13 has to be old. Cats 11.2 were 8.821 so there is a gap between what you have and what is the current set of drivers.

 

Media Player Classic HC works well! My only complaints about it are the lack of ability to load the last subtitle file I chose and preview thumbnails for the mkv files. Say, is there someway of keeping my codecs organized? Like a program that uninstalls redundant/obsolete codecs?