Acer Aspire V5-122P Owners' thread

I haven't tried that adapter. I recommend you try out the Acer CP adapter as that will 'give you' your LAN, VGA for video output and an extra USB 2.0 port just incase.

 

Yesterday, I installed Windows 8.1. No problems encountered. My experience in regards to the time it took is similar to irichan's post #192. I installed Windows 8.1 only because Windows was nagging me with a popup about once a week. I guess they want everyone to step up (or down) to 8.1.

In regards to the hardware drivers, my V5-122P-0643 has Realtek audio, Atheros Bluetooth and WiFi, Elantech touchpad, and AMD VGA. The drivers were somewhat difficult to figure out on the Acer website. They list Atheros drivers for both Bluetooth and WiFi yet the setup program is the same for both! You do not need to download both. Also, the Atheros setup program does take awhile to install so be patient. A reboot was needed for all except the AMD VGA driver.

Question: The driver update page lists a Realtek LAN driver yet I am unable to determine if the V5-122P-0643 uses this. I have looked under Network Adapters and System Devices in Device Manager but I do not see a Realtak device listed. Does anyone have any thoughts about this? Should I just install it anyway?

 

davidricardo86
Have you had a chance to try out all three ports yet? Is the Acer Converter Port hot swappable (AKA Hot Plugging) or does one need to power down the computer and peripherals to disconnect the converter cable?

 

anyone know if there is a way to upgrade the screen to a 900p or 1080p screen. Web pages are kinda tough to view with only 768p. Or better yet a way to make it so web browsing is a bit less scroll-tastic.

 

I just got this laptop last week (V5-122P-0468) from Target. It is the slowest computer I have ever used - a few pages back someone mentioned that it takes 20 seconds for webpages to load, for me it can be a minute or more. I am beyond frustrated, and will be returning in the morning. I haven't tried anything beyond uninstalling almost every pre-installed program. The other issue i'm having is that every Windows 8 app that I've tried to use either never loads or will not stay up to date. My calendar, for example, always tells me that it's 2-3 days ago. My email app is stuck on last Wednesday and won't refresh much further. I love the size and feel of this adorable little thing, but mine is completely unusable as it is. Since so many of you are saying that you love it despite it being so slow, is my little Acer an anomaly? Should I exchange and begin anew? I'm not a computer dummy, but I've only ever really opened up machines at work, not my own - so what would be necessary if I wanted to give this another try? I've seen an OS re-install recommended many times in this forum - can someone explain why and what that entails. Sorry to be such a frustrated simpleton! (And thanks!)

 

That's funny, I've also stopped using my fast computers. I guess its because I became more interested in low power, low heat, low noise, and highly portable laptops. AMD's APUs/SoCs interest me because of the price/performance and graphics background and therefore I choose to buy their products. Its a shame that some OEMs are not bringing more designs to market using these chips. That's just business I guess.

Sounds like you got a good deal on yours, nice. Hard to pass that up and I'm glad you're sharing your experience with HP's design choices. What do you think about the 11.6" Lenovo ThinkPad X140E? A4-5000 and 8hr battery life.

How did you get your A6-1450 to stay locked at 1.4 GHz on battery?

Try different video drivers and try detecting the active displays screen resolution. Otherwise I do believe you got a dud. Get a replacement.

Yes, I have tried all three ports at once. I didn't experience any problems or issues while transferring data to and from all the peripherals. I'll try fully saturating all the ports at once and check CPU and RAM usage next time.

Yes, the Acer Converter Port is hot swappable (hot plugging), and you do not have to power down the computer to disconnect and connect peripherals.

I like to perform clean os installs because it ensures I have full control of the os from the beginning to the end. Plus it helps me learn what to do and what to avoid.

Have you used an SSD before? If so, the HDD in the V5-122P can feel very slow. Don't forget the A4-1250 doesn't OC to 1.4 GHz and is locked at 1.0 GHz (from what every source says, I haven't test one myself). It also supports 1333 MHz DDR3(L) RAM but no Turbo on the GPU clock either.

I also have 10GB of RAM and an HGST Travelstar 2.5-Inch 500GB 7200RPM SATA III 32MB Cache SATA 6Gbps ( HGST HTS725050A7E630) so that's helping me remedy some of those slowdowns.

 

How would I go about doing a clean OS install so there is no bloatware? I have looked around about getting an ISO file, but it seems the only way to do this is not really legal. Any help on this front?

 

I bought an Windows 8.1 key really cheap online and put in a 120GB Samsung EVO SSD and now it boots up in 12 seconds.
Thats really fast and im very happy about my V5-122p bought it here in Sweden for 330 USD.

Just buy a Win 8.1 Key and go to this site: Upgrade Windows with only a product key - Microsoft Windows Help
Then you can download an ISO and make a bootable USB drive, works great and all the drivers for 8.1 can be found on acers website.

The Drivers you gonna need is:
AMD VGA Driver
Atheros Wireless LAN & Bluetooth Driver v10.0.0.263
ELANTECH Touchpad Driver
Realtek Audio Driver
Realtek LAN Driver

 

Has anyone tried a Corsair Neutron SSD in their V5-122p? Just picked up this one off Amazon for $160.
I haven't swapped HDD's in laptops before. Any recommendations on programs to clone the drive or tips on BIOS settings that I should use once its installed would be appreciated. I've read about using AHCI and TRIM mode but wouldn't know where to begin finding these settings.
Cheers,
ed.

 

Just purchased the V5-122P 0600 (chill silver) from Amazon. All I did was run windows update until 8.1 appeared in the store and then I installed 8.1 without any issues. After that ran windows updates again and everything seems to be working good including the BT. Also purchased the extended battery. Have not upgraded to SSD yet. I bought this for my wife with the drop and spills 2 year square trade. Would installing a SSD void square trade warranty?

Things I like is the IPS screen but I wish it would go a little brighter. But for this price point its pretty decent. My main computer is a Samsung Ativ book 9 with i7 with probably the best screen I've ever seen (1080P matte). So pretty much any budget system is going to look like crap compared to the ATB 9 which IMO is the best ultraportable but its expensive.

I have no idea how long the V5 will run with the extended battery since I just put it in. But I highly recommend it. Does not add much bulk to it and raised it up a bit for the intake vent. First day set up with all the updates it ran like crap. But with a spinning hard drive, that is to be expected. Now that everything is settling in and superfetch is doing it thing, its not a bad performer at all. Runs 720P movies very nicely. This is an upgrade from the old HP dm1 E-350 I used to have. Keyboard is much nicer then the dm1 as well.. that one would jump around... had bugs. Touch pad is good and BQ is very good for this price.

With the spinning hard drive one can't call this an ultraportable. The AMD is a bit slow but at least I had sense to buy the A6. Stay away from the A4. I think with a SSD this would be closer to what one expects from a ultraportable. I am overall very impressed with the device. Great Keyboard and display. Strong hinge etc.. Its well made. One could spend hundreds more and get less BQ this this. Only problem is this is really a 500 dollar machine once you add the extended battery. Something this small needs to have at least 5 or 6 hours battery life. The default 3 cell battery does not cut it. They needed to put at minimum a 4 cell but still, at 400 dollars, its worth every penny.

 

Ok, i just joined to discuss about this notebook. How the hell this computer is ok? It is FRUSTRATINGLY SLOW!!! Ok, i understood it has a slow, low voltage cpu. I can accept the loading time of the applications would be slow. I know i cannot expect too much multitasking performance but how the hell i cannot even watch a youtube video without stutters? Webpages loading and moving insanely slow. It is torturing to surf on the internet with this computer. Isn't it same with yours? I want to blame humble Windows 8 for this awful performance and i would try to install Win 7 but i don't have a licenced copy. I want to get rid of this pc as quick as i can. This computer is not suited for Windows application. How the hell Acer engineers thought this is usable? I think this cpu is only good for mobile phone applications. I think amd developed this cpu for mobile phones but somehow acer thought they can use it on a pc. I will never ever buy an Acer pc again!

 

First off, what model do you have? Is it the A4 or A6? I just bought the V5-122P 0600 A6 and the first day is brutal with all the windows updates, windows indexing, superfetching etc.. And all that updating takes many hours but after a few days and installing windows 8.1 I don't have any issues playing back YouTube's, mp4's, etc.. Also try using Firefox or chrome web browsers as well. Make sure you update flash. Video playback on the V5 should be good. But like I said, you MUST do ALL the windows updates and allow windows 8 to do its own thing with indexing and superfetching all your applications. The first day I did not even try to do anything before doing that. The CPU is maxed out all the time when you first receive this device. After updating and indexing etc.. it should settle down. SSD upgrades will also help. If after doing this you still have issues you may have some driver issues etc.. Maybe wifi issues with router? At any rate, I noticed a ton of updates from windows update from the factory image this device ships with. Acer should update that image with 8.1 and make it a lot less painful out of the box.

 

Be sure to update all the drivers to the new windows 8.1 ready drivers as well.
I think an ssd would give the biggest speed improvement of any upgrade you could do to this machine, I'm planning on getting one next month..

 

Mine is A4. I regret i didn't choose A6 now. There was only 30 dollars difference. I did all the updates and downloading 8.1 upgrade now (damn, it is 3.5 gb! I think they made a lot of mistake on the first version). I will upgrade the drivers as well after the upgrade. Let's see.

 

For this small difference I would have gone for the A6. But here in France, it's so huge 320€ vs 450€, that I chose the A4 too, without keyboard backlighting but with a 500GB HDD. In my box I've found 2 adaptors: mini displayport-to-VGA and a USB2-to-LAN, will come in handy where a wired router is available. For my use it's perfect: web browsing, photo and full hd video viewing and some small office work, but no gaming at all.
I've just upgraded to Win 8.1 leaving Microsoft take care of the drivers. I don't see any speed difference. I'll try the official Acer drivers next week to feel the difference by myself.

 

This AMD A4 cpu is not good enough to handle Windows 8. Period.

 

For those that just bought this notebook, make sure you upgrade to latest bios! The speed is like night and day. Its a lot faster with bios 2.09. Don't need windows 8.1 or ssd. Boots fast on mechanical drive, but only after you upgrade the bios.

 

Anyone get this battery? Rakuten.com - Battery For Acer Aspire V5-122P-0643 V5-122P-0857 V5-122P-0863 V5-122P-61454G50Nss 2200Mah 4 Cell

Seems like I good deal. So I went ahead and ordered one. Hope it works.

Btw, this is going for $23 usd.

 

Looks awesome. Let us know how well it fits. I think I'll be ordering one of these for my daughter's V5-122p if it fits well.

 

Here's the correct way to do this:
Install the laptop with the original Acer recovery image
Apply all Windows Updates
optional - if you want Windows 8/8.1 Pro, install a Pro Pack license now
Make sure you're on BIOS 2.09, upgrade if needed
Install Windows 8.1 from store
Install updated drivers from Acer site
(if you installed 8 Pro pack earlier, you'll now have 8.1 Pro)

I'm running 8.1 Pro for bitlocker and am hoping to unlock AMD-V support to run Hyper-V later.

 

Thanks for all the updates everyone! I posted the battery, Windows 8.1, and accessory port info back on post #1. Looks like its time for me to order some new accessories!

 

I have a V5-122P-0889 that I received from the eMachines floppy drive class action suit. It cost me nothing, but the only drawback is that it is refurbished, so it only had a 30 day warranty. I shouldn't really complain about something that was free.

I installed a Samsung 840 250GB SSD and it made the notebook jump to life, so to speak. Yes, it's still slow when it comes to processing power, but this isn't the kind of computer you buy for speed. With the installation of the SSD I now get a battery time of just under six hours. For what it is, I think it's a pretty good notebook. It's good enough to sit on the couch and go online, read mail, occasionally shop, etc. I really do like the fact that it is so light. My Inspiron is more powerful and has a lot more going for it, but it also weighs nearly twice as much.

There are two things that I wish this had, but if it did, it would weigh more. Those would be more USB ports, preferably USB 3.0, and a built in LAN card. I had to buy the D-Link DUB-E100 USB LAN. It works, but it's a pain. I did eventually buy a Netgear wireless router, so I now don't have to use the USB LAN. I also purchased a Samsung external USB DVD drive to use with this when necessary.

The recovery partition on the original HDD was corrupted so I could not make a USB recovery drive with the recovery contents. I tried creating the recovery contents using the method Microsoft spells out, but it would not copy the created recovery folder onto the drive. I couldn't use a system image because the new drive was half the size, so it kept saying it could not find a drive that would work. I also could not clone the drive as I could not shrink the system partition enough to fit onto the new drive. What I ended up doing was using the USB DVD drive and the recovery media that came with my Dell Inspiron. It is a universal Windows 8 recovery DVD, meaning that it can install any version of 64 bit Windows 8, whether it's regular or Pro. The embedded product key tells it what version to install. It worked perfectly and activated automatically. I then upgraded to Windows 8.1, extended the recovery partition (the 350MB one) size to 400MB because of the problem with creating a system image after upgrading to Windows 8.1 from 8, and I now have a backed up system image on an external HDD. Because this is a fresh install and the corrupt recovery partition is gone, I am going to try to use the Microsoft method of creating a recovery drive with the Windows created recovery partition included. Create a USB recovery drive - Microsoft Windows Help

Overall I like this notebook. I most assuredly would have never purchased something like this, but I am completely happy with it and use it quite often.

 

How'd you do that? Will it be possible on my A4 version too? I'd like to run a Maverick or Lion VM with Vmware Workstation 10 , just for fun, even though I'm aware it'll be too slow on this processor.

 

It won't work with OSX VMs - you'll need Intel VMX, not AMD SVM (different virtualization technology) - as for unlocking the SVM?

Acer Aspire V5-122p Enable SVM How-To

Should work with a Linux Boot CD like pmagic.

 

This looks awesome. Something I'd like. Convertible tablet. Anything else in that price range uses an Atom CPU or slower AMD.

 

Thanks a lot for the link. I've managed to toggle SVM to Enable(0x0f4), and also expose the hidden tabs(0x21b and 0x21c) after updating the UEFI to 2.09 (tools used: gparted-live-0.16.2-11-amd64.iso on a USB key and Frhed 1.6.0 for hex editing under Windows)

 

It's Black!
I have had mine for two months now. I like it very much though the Windows 8 is taking a bit to learn and get used to. Problem is that the screen flashed early on and at the moment, when I pushed the button to turn it on, the screen is blank/dead? I did a control/alt/delete and then started again but nothing. Isn't there a reset button? I did not buy the insurance when I bought it from Staples. The small blue light on the top left part of the frame is lit (next to a lightbulb symbol) Any advice?

 

New AMD Graphics Driver and Software!

I've been waiting for the Windows 8.1 Embedded G-Series SOC AMD Catalyst Display Driver and it appears AMD released it a few days back. I plan on using it and will report back my findings.


Embedded Graphics
Radeon Embedded
G-Series SOC
Windows 7/8/8.1 - 32/64 Bit

File Size:
405 MB

Revision Number:
13.25

Release Date:
12/4/2013

Download Link:
13.25-131116a-165069c-edg_direct.2.zip

Description:
Catalyst 13.12

Products Supported:
E6760
E6460
R-Series
G-Series SOC
G-Series
Radeon HD 6970M
Radeon HD5770

I was looking into this and I'm having a difficult time understanding the procedure and process. Could you break it down for me in a few short steps? We could use your guidance, experience and knowledge. Anything to make the v5-122p even better. Thank you!

 

This is not a tutorial. Consider this as a dirty step-by-step how-to, instead. For the complete tutorial for understanding what you're doing, go here :
Acer Aspire V5-122p Enable SVM How-To
There are many ways to get there. This one is tested and approved by me

HOW-TO ENABLE SVM AND EXPOSE HIDDEN PAGES in Acer Aspire V5-122P's 2.09 UEFI(BIOS)
Preparation
-Get 2 USB keys of 200 MB capacity at least
-Download these 3 open source tools:
gparted-live-0.16.2-11-amd64.iso
tuxboot-0.6.exe
Frhed 1.6.0
-Insert a fat32 formatted USB key, launch tuxboot and point to your "Pre- Downloaded ISO" --> gparted-live-0.16.2-11-amd64.iso
Instructions
-Reboot and get into Bios by pressing F2:
*Enable "F12 Boot Menu"
*"Set Supervisor Password" to your liking and don't forget it
*Disable "Secure Boot" in order to boot Linux from a Live-USB key.
*Press F10 to save and exit
-Press F12 and choose your USB from Boot option menu
-Accept all the defaults and close the GPE application (you could use it to alter your partitions some other day for installing Linux ) . Double-click on "Terminal" button and type these commands:

Code:

sudo modprobe efivars
sudo mount none /sys/firmware/efi/efivars -t efivarfs

-Now the hard part is to edit the required file(/sys/firmware/efi/efivars/ Setup-a04a27f4-df00-4d42-b552-39411302113d) with a hex editor. I didn't manage to install one.
So I copied that file onto the second fat32 formatted usb key:

Code:

sudo mkdir /mnt/usb
sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdc1 /mnt/usb
sudo cp /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/Setup-a04a27f4-df00-4d42-b552-39411302113d /mnt/usb/
sudo umount /dev/sdc1
exit

-Double-click "Exit" button
Reboot into Windows, backup and edit that file with Frhed. Change the "Number of bytes to display per line" to 16 (Options -->View Settings) and uncheck the box underneath. Double check to edit only these exact 3 bytes: ( 0x0f4 0x21b and 0x21c), turning 00 into 01 (these are zeros 0, not the letter O).
.
.
.
0f0 | 00 01 01 00 | 01 00 00 00 | 00 00 00 00 | 00 00 00 01 |................|
.
.
.
210 | 00 00 00 00 | 00 00 00 00 | 00 00 00 01 | 01 00 00 00 |................|
.
.
.
-Be sure you didn't add extra bytes by checking the size of the file on the lower-right corner: Size:639
-Reboot, press F12 and choose your USB from Boot option menu
-Accept all the defaults and close the GPE application. Double-click on "Terminal" button and type these commands:

Code:

sudo modprobe efivars
sudo mount none /sys/firmware/efi/efivars -t efivarfs
sudo mkdir /mnt/usb
sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdc1 /mnt/usb
sudo cp /mnt/usb/Setup-a04a27f4-df00-4d42-b552-39411302113d /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/
sudo umount /dev/sdc1
exit

-Double-click "Exit" button
-Shut down and reboot. Now you can press F2 to verify you have exposed the hidden pages. You can re-enable "Secure Boot" again now, unless you installed a Linux distribution on a second partition > (next year project)

 

Hi there,

link doesn't work and when I try to get it by my own, I get a Website with the "AMD Catalyst...." Header but no link.

AMD Catalyst

 

I got it from here, the first one:
AMD Catalyst™ Display Driver
Not yet tried.

 

Hi everybody!
I'm thinking of buying the v5-122p and after reading 25 of the yet 29 pages of this thread I'd like to ask you some questions.
Should I buy the 42154G50NSS with the dual core processor for 360€ or should I buy the 61454G50NSS with the quad core but for 460€?
I've read a lot about the ram upgrade, it says that the maximum is 6gb (4gb+2gb on board). Even thou some of you has upgraded to 10gb, I think I would buy a 4gb module but I want to clearly understand if it should be 1066 or 1600mhz. It looks like it should be 1066mhz but the specs say that it is ddr3L low voltage: those apper to be only 1600mhz or maybe I cannot find the 1066 ones. So which memory should I bu to be sure they will fit and be recognized and used by the laptop?
I hope my questions are clear and thank you very much

 

I've been thinking about picking up the factory 2nd battery but before I did, I stumbled across a few battery banks capable of providing 19V in the 20,000 MaH range for the same price or a little cheaper. Can someone tell me why I wouldn't want to spend ~ $ 89 on a battery bank that's roughly 6 times the capacity of the 2nd battery . . . not to mention with a little added cross-platform use/advantage benefit? Sure, there's efficiency considerations with a battery bank but still, based on capacity alone, it seems like a no-brainer. Aside from the asthetics and all-in-one integration of the 2nd battery, What am I missing?

http://www.amazon.com/Intocircuit-1...attery/dp/B00H3CDMPS/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

I'm going to preface this reply with saying I know exactly nothing of how well these things are supposed to work but I do own the one you linked to from amazon and have tested it with my V5-122p. I ran the fully charged laptop off the battery bank and did what I usually do with my laptop - web, movies, apps, etc. About 2 hours in the laptop was still fully charged but the battery bank had gone from full charge down to one light on the charge meter. I felt like it should have lasted way longer given how much larger the capacity is over the standard battery, but that is all I got out of it. Maybe someone who knows more about them can give some insight on why that happened or if I got a bad one or something.
For what its worth, I was using it as a 19v DC output.

 

I've been reading a lot on this thread since I bought my V5-122p (4 core, 6gp ram) about 10 days ago.

The first two days were horrible, as I had to uninstall a lot of crap, (eventually did a full system reset) struggle with the windows update, installed the software i need etc.
Installing Windows 8.1, installing start8 and setting it all up in a way that it feels like a Windows 7 PC not like an Android mobile phone.

It took me about a week to figure out how this locking the CPU speed at 1,4 ghz works.

I had been struggling around with the Linux bootable usb to unlock the bios options, but wasn't able to get the right distro working.

Yesterday I've received my Samsung 840 SSD (250GB) and had to find out that this crappy Nero BackItUP (with ImageTool bootable USB stick) refuses to write my old HDD image on the new SSD because they haven't got the same size.

Now I've got to go through the whole process again with the new SSD. But I think it is going to be worth it, I am quite happy with this laptop.

Btw. When locking the CPU to 1.38 Ghz (through putting it to sleep and waking it up again - simple as that but took me a week to figure out) my PassMark Preformance test score improved from 599 to 748 (If I remember correctly).

 

Don't buy the 2 core!!!

But look for a better deal on the Quad core (I think even the dual core price you've mentioned is overpriced).
The quad core has already 6GB installed (2GB integrated and 4GB as a memory bar). The 4GB could possibly be taken out and replaced by a 8GB of the same spec. (I haven't done that myself, but heard that it is possible). I personally think there is no need to increase the RAM, 6GB is more than sufficient for my usage. As suggested above, you should rather invest in a SSD.

 

Did you create the USB recovery stick per Microsoft's instructions? I used that recovery (and not Nero) to get my OS onto the Samsung 840. I didn't need to buy anything extra to make it work.

Windows and the Acer machine are both aware of the 2nd battery, and will discharge it first. Using a 19v battery pack makes it look like an AC adapter to Windows & Acer's BIOS, which would drain it faster. If your battery pack is bigger, it may not be an issue.

I've had the battery pack a few days and will post pics shortly. It does stick out past the back of the laptop similar to a Lenovo Thinkpad T-series laptop. It's easy to install, and was offered with free shipping on black Friday when I ordered it. Overall I'm glad I have an extra small battery that I can keep in my laptop bag for flights.

 

Looks like this aftermarket battery is out of stock. Rakuten.com - Battery For Acer Aspire V5-122P-0643 V5-122P-0857 V5-122P-0863 V5-122P-61454G50Nss 2200Mah 4 Cell Did anyone get one of these and try it?

BTW, the notebook is back from Acer service. They replaced the audio board and the jack is fixed. I think they reseated the display because almost all the light bleed is gone. There is no more than a hint of light from the lower left hand corner. Much improved. It was worth bringing it to their attention.

 

To those who purchase an aftermarket external battery, please share some pictures. Thanks!

Sent from my XT1049 using Tapatalk

 

I have just bought this laptop, and I have a weird problem.

The wifi adapter does not locate 1 of my 2 broadcasted wifi IDs.
One is a 2.4 ghz 802.11n broadcast, which I can connect to
The other is a 5 ghz 802.11n broadcast, which I can't even locate.

I also tried to manually add the second one, but no dice. Any ideas?

 

Same here - Atheros wifi adapter in this model doesn't support 5ghz spectrum.

 

Hi again. This PC is noticably faster when you uninstall the pre-installed McAfee antivirus program. I think Windows Defender should be enough. Try and see the difference.

 

This is absolutely not true. Windows Defender isn't good. It's way better than nothing with a detection rate of some 90% but it's so far behind proper AV products that you can't find any AV that is worse than Windows Defender.

Take a look at those interactive charts where Windows Defender is the baseline. There are only few cases where any other AV in the whole comparison is worse than Windows Defender. Even MS admits it.

 

Okay, total noob here but I'd like to try to OC the GPU like discussed in the quote above from Post 119 and check for a performance improvement. I've installed the MSI's Afterburner and tried adjusting the sliders but mine won't go above 400 MHz. Somewhere I could look to get smarter on trying to OC the GPU?

 

Did you forget to edit the config file?

Oldie
HOW TO: Enable UNOFFICIAL overclocking mode in MSI AfterBurner - Guru3D.com Forums

 

Ok, i turned it off and will be installing avast now. I hope it doesn't start crawling again.

 

Hi,

I'm thinking of buying this little machine very soon. I read some have disassembled the device, at least partially and I was wondering if it would be possible to get a 3G / wifi card from example from ebay, and install it, and also another antenna cable somewhere for the 3g? That would really make this device even more portable. I've already got some extra samsung ssd drives to put in it for some extra speed.

 

Where would you put the SIM card? I don't think what you're thinking will work. It would be easier/less costly to buy a USB 3G/4G modem and internet service than what you're thinking.

The only 3G + SIM Mini PCIe cards I've see are Full-Sized cards, not the mini half-height ones our v5-122p uses so that's out of the question too.

 

Thanks for the reply! Ordered my acer yesterday, feels nice. But yeah, I was able to find half height cards with 3G and wifi but looking at the pictures there's no place for the SIM card. Would have been a nice upgrade, and I'm gonna keep it in mind for the future.

Anyway I have unrestricted connection on my phone to share for laptop, but even the Wifi hotspot feels too much of a hassle and that's why I'd like to have it integrated. But it's still less complicated than using a separate USB modem.

More questions, I believe i'ts not possible to do a clean Windows 8/8.1 installation using the recovery usb-stick made with the laptop itself? I really like clean installs, but would like to avoid unofficial sources to get the install image. I have Windows 8 N and Windows 8.1 N images I got from school when i still was a student, could it be possible to install from them using the product key in the bios/uefi? The N just means there's no media player. The 8.1 N image says multiple editions so there could be the same version as came with the laptop (as in a Home version or something).

 

I wholeheartedly agree. Having an integrated 3G/4G modem would've been the ideal solution. Acer even skimped out on the WLAN antennas and only provided us with a card with one antenna. I'm not thrilled about this. I like to use Bluetooth mice with my laptops and sometimes my v5-122p and Microsoft Sculpt mouse simply do not get along. At times it feels like my mouse suffers terrible input lag. I don't know if its the mouse or my computer or interference from other 2.4 GHz devices.

I haven't been able to figure out how to clean install UEFI/Secure Boot Windows 8.1 on my v5-122p using the OEM Windows 8 Product Key in the UEFI. However, I have successfully performed a clean install UEFI/Secure Boot Windows 8 using the OEM Windows 8 Product Key in the UEFI. I've been using ISOs downloaded directly from Microsoft. So far the only way to install 8.1 is to first install 8, then upgrade through the Windows Store. I'm working on finding a solution to this, I'll let you guys know if I figure it out.