Acer TravelMate 4402WLMi

I just found this laptop online...I was very close to purchasing the W3V but this one asks for my attention as well. Can anyone help me? The pro's, con's, and realistic problems....such as (keyboard noise, fan noise, battery life, etc.) Thank you.

 

There are a lot of posts concerning this laptop....

I own one, and I wrote a review and posted it on this site!
Here's the link

 

excellent, this was the review that I read that made me stumble a bit on my choice with the W3V. I really like the performance of it all (Graphics card, DVD dual drive, hd) but I read ur cons about the 4402.
1) How bad is the noise? I'm planning to take notes during class and even maybe web search if the teacher goes off topic about her heroine addiction again...(long story...don't ask).....If i were to type...is the noise too loud? the fan...how loud? Decible wise...if u have access....plus the sound of the mouse u said was too loud as well....decible???
2) Plus I read the heat issue on the 4402...but how hot? degrees wise...
3) Realistically....how bad is the screen?

In early appreciation for you help, here is a gift.
http://cheston.com/pbf/archive.html

 

The Asus will have better build quality than the Acer.

 

Noise isn't bad unless it's running at max.

Doesn't heat up unless it's running at max. And it's not THAT bad, you'll be fine.

Also, the screen is sub-par, and doesn't have a high enough contrast ratio. Needs to be brighter as well.

And the build quality on the Acer TravelMate 4402 is Excellent. No flex, high quality plastic, and it looks great too. :acer:

 

Hmm...sub-par eh?...any problems with the notebook? long-term test wise....I'm sure there are some wear & tear on the item..but anything else? like something broke off or...things u didn't notice till now...etc. etc.

 

Nope, everything that I mentioned in my review remains accurate.

After having the laptop for a while, I really appreciate how thin it is - really fits in my laptop bag well and is easy to hold with one hand.

And the Turion processor works excellent, no problems with that.

The screen isn't that bad - just could be more vibrant. I got used to it after a while.

I definitely recommend this laptop!

 

but u found it to be fast even though the Pi score was 2m 11s?
is Pi not all that reliable?
thanks.

 

ChazMan's review was very helpful. It convinced me to make the jump.

As soon as I received the notebook, I did my own evaluation: tested the performance, stability under heavy load, tested most connectors (etc) to make sure nothing was defective.

My conclusion so far: it's a great machine overall, although I came across some problems (which I'm trying to solve).

I won't repeat all the pros/cons that ChazMan already mentioned in his review.

My complaints (UPDATE: The first three problems have been fixed by upgrading to Media Player 10):
1. Colors are corrupted when playing back WMV video files in Media Player 9 (see this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=26590)

2. Audio stops working when seeking in WMV HD video files (bug in Media Player 9?)

3. Audio & video are out-of-sync in 1080p WMV files but 720p files are ok (bug in Media Player 9?)

4. I encountered a lot of problems trying to *install* WinXP Pro x64. I kept getting "Setup cannot copy file <filename>" errors during installation. <filename> keeps changing randomly.

After numerous attempts at diagnosing the problem, and with Acer's help, I've come to the conclusion that it's either a BIOS or a DVD-drive firmware issue, a hardware problem with my system, or a compatibility issue between the 64-bit OS and the TM4402 in general. For some reason, WinXP Pro x64 does not like this notebook (at least during installation). Stay tuned for a thread on this subject.

5. For *software* problems, Acer's tech support has been utterly useless so far. They sell a 64-bit notebook but provide no support *whatsoever* for WinXP Pro x64 in North America, even though they ship the TM4401 (same series as 4402) with the 64-bit OS in Europe (UK).

My suggestion: If you are planning to use WinXP Pro x64, forget this notebook and go with a manufacturer that officially supports the 64-bit OS in your area. I’m still hoping that Acer will change their policy and eventually support WinXP 64-bit on the TM4402 in North America, but I can’t rely on it. This has been my biggest disappointment so far. I really wanted to dual-boot and have the 64-bit OS for testing/development.

Also, when I reported the color problem with WMV video files, they requested I send in the notebook, just to reproduce the problem. They couldn’t be bothered to try to repro the problem in-house, even when I gave them easy to follow repro steps. I bought this notebook for work, and I can't afford the downtime since I use it for software development 24/7. Makes you wonder if they are doing it on purpose just to discourage customers from calling for support. Can you imagine ATI or Nvidia asking you to ship back your graphics card because you report a problem with colors? Never without having reasonable suspicion that it’s a hardware problem. At this point, all signs point to a software issue.

6. Internal microphone (next to power-on button) is either defective or I haven't figured how to get it to work.

Hmm, maybe I should write my own review…?

 

I ordered a TM 4402WLMi tonight and am giddy over it. Replacing a very nearly four years old Compaq 705US (AMD Athlon 1GHz) the hinges of which froze, and broke through the case about 18 months ago. I've been propping it up against the carrying bag, which is a great conversation starter, but a very poor technical configuration.

ChazMan421's great review may have cinched the deal for me (you won't mind if I blame you, if something goes wrong, right?). In the picture of the keyboard he posted, the keys over the left and right arrow keys seem to be, respectively, an EU sign, and a dollar sign. Is that a U.S. version keyboard? Do they do anything other than insert those symbols? I'm as big a fan of money as anybody, but isn't that fairly prime real estate for a third teir function? Also, what's 'Alt Gr' (to the immediate right of the spacebar)?

I (stupidly) chose the ground ship option, so I won't have it till this weekend. Can't hardly wait!

 

Congratulations on your purchase!

I bought mine in Canada and it has the same keys. Probably the same keyboard for all of North America. AFAIK, the euro and dollar sign keys do nothing besides the obvious. The 'Alt Gr' key behaves just like a regular 'Alt' key.

If you get a chance, I would appreciate if you could try to repro a color problem when playing back WMV files in Windows Media Player 9 right out of the box (see http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=26590). I'm looking for feedback from new owners...

 

BitMaker- I’d be happy to help you. I’ve read your complaint and I’m worried it may be a bit over my head. I’m not confidant I could tell 1080i video from a cheese sandwich. *edited out; I followed your link and found the instructions* I’ll see what I can do.

Still don’t have a tracking number (I’m supposed to be getting a call from the retailer’s Customer Service twenty minutes ago; not sure why they can’t just email it), so if it doesn’t get picked up by the UPS folk till tomorrow, I won’t get it till Saturday. Although, if I started driving now, I could probably meet the truck in Iowa. . .

 

Chazmans review is great, and one of the reasons I bought the laptop.

For the price, I couldn't go wrong... the specs are great and future proof, and mine came with 1x512mb so it was a nice cheap upgrade to 1gb.

When I play World of Warcraft, the proc and the gfx are being taxed enough the have the fan on pretty much the whole time... its a bit noisy, but its easily ignored with some music playing or the audio from the game etc. When using it off of AC, to surf the web or work on docs etc, the fan noise is minimal. I'll admit, the laptop gets kinda warm overall, even with the fan at full. I bought a Targus notebook cooler (thanks again for the advice Chazman), and it helps keep it cooler than it was.

I don't have the video playback problem that Bitmaker has... I was able to install Windows x64 without a problem... but since I have no 64 bit software or anything, I went back to WinXP Pro SP2.

The biggest problem I seem to have with the screen is getting the right angle to view it at. If i sit back, then I have to move the screen so I get the proper colors and brightness/contrast levels. Then If I move forward, I have to move it again. Its just me being fidgety, and this is my first LCD, so that doesn't help.

tI got mine for 1499 cdn. I threw in the extra ram for around 70 cdn. For that price, there was nothing else I could find that had the specs... pretty much everything else had weaker video, and small slower hds. The only ones closer to the specs were larger HP and Toshiba ones with desktop cpu's in them, and they weighed a tonne.

If I were to revisit my purchase now, after owning this for about a month or so, the only other laptop I'd be thinking about buying is a the Aspire 1694... Pentium M750, 1 gb ram, same hd and dvd and screen and other specs. Its 200 more cdn... so I'd probally get the 4402 over it anyways.

 

Thanks Bokonon. Looking forward to your results.

In case you're wondering, 720p or 1080i refers to the number of lines in the video: either 720 or 1080. If you take a look here ( http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/content_provider/film/ContentShowcase.aspx) you'll find video footage in both formats. The 'p' or 'i' after the number means that the video is 'progressive' or 'interlaced' (it describes how the video will be displayed). Actually, the 1080 files available from Microsoft appear to be in 1080p format (not 1080i) so I'll go back and correct this in my original post. Sorry for the mistake.

These details are not important, but basically, 1080p WMV files will require more CPU power to play back than 720p WMV (since there are more lines). On my system, even though the colors are corrupted in both cases, 720p files play smoothly, but the 1080p files play slower. For example, both the Robotica 720p and 1080p have a duration of 20 seconds. However, when I play back the 1080p file, it takes approx 27 seconds to play the complete video instead of 20 seconds. This is why the audio and video are not synchronized in 1080p WMV files.

Interestingly, when I disable Hardware acceleration to fix the color problem, it also seems to fix the audio/video sync problem with the 1080p file (it plays in 20 seconds as expected). However, this causes a new problem: both 720p and 1080p WMV files now skip frames (playback is not smooth), although this is to be expected with hardware acceleration disabled.

What is *not* normal is the color problem when Hardware acceleration is enabled...

 

I am so glad that you guys enjoyed my review!!

Thanks for all the nice comments guys!

Yeah, as for the keyboard - it does have a dollar and a euro sign around the arrow keys - normally, those spaces are taken up by fillers. I like them - saves me the time of pressing Shift + 4 when I want to insert a $ sign. Man, I love the keyboard on this thing...feels so nice, plus the curve makes it more natural to type on.

Anyways, I really hope you enjoy the TM4402 - I know you will!

 

So it finally came, a week later than I'd anticipated. Couldn't repeat Bit Maker's complaint, sorry; the colors look fine on WinMP out of the box, no updates, no new drivers.

My only complaint: the ATI sticker left a sticky mess when I pulled it off. All the rest came off without complaint.

 

Thanks for posting your results, and sorry for the very late reply (I've been away for the last two months).

I finally solved the first three problems I posted earlier by upgrading to Media Player 10.

 

this laptop is ok, and i think some ppl might not like the high sound of the fan and it does heat up... but i found the solution with undervolting, which dropped for me about 10-15C i havent done any battery tests to see just how much battery life im saving at the full speed as im running mine stable at 1.05v and low of .9v vs the 1v-1.45 (1.5) that is by default

whats so nice is the fan hardly turns on now even at full load, which is quite the difference from before. (of course every cpu will vary in the undervolt)

i do have a stuck key, well its not stuck but it can get stuck, its very sensitive, so its not like i cant type with it its the opposite the key will trigger off by near key or by just a slight horizontal movement on the key and not a full press...

that was the only issue that i got when it shipped, or maybe i did get some dust or something in that key...

also because of the price of this thing i auto upgraded it to +1gb for total of1.5gb ram

 

hi all!

i want to but TODAY a 4402, so need information fast, as possible
what type of optical drive it has? maybe Slimtype DVDRW SOSW-833S ?
because i read many problems about this drive

thanx
kuf

 

somebody try to use spdif out? a toslink sdpif optical adapter needed really?

 

A new bios available for this note, which is not linked (yet) on the website,only can download from ftp.support.acer-euro.com
Version number 1.20, changelog :

<Bios v1.20>
1. update M26 VBIOS to 0010000P.
2. Add CF to IDE card Boot.
3. Reduce M26-64 VRAM clock from 330MHz to 300MHz
4. M24/UMA modify the version to sync.

I think, the VRAM clock reduce because of overheating.. but i'm not happy for this.

 

The optical drive is a TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-L632B (in device manager).

Thanks for the heads up on the new BIOS version.

 

Battery life improvement since you undervolt?

 

bitmaker,

you tried the new bios?

 

Actually, I don't think I'll install it unless there is some compelling reason to do so. The ~10% VRAM clock reduction might negatively affect video performance and that's no good for me.

I'd like to do some quick video/graphics benchmarks between BIOS versions 1.18 and 1.20, but I don't have time to spare right now... if/when I ever try it, I'll post back my results here!

 

i've have a strange problem, but before a question.. how long is your charging time at your 4402??

When my battery is on ~10% and starting to charge, it's about 8-10 hours long! charge period Or, from 60% to 100% about 3-4 hours..

The shop (when i bought 2 month ago) said, maybe the charger is wrong, maybe the charger circuit in the notebook.. I bougt an universal note charger, and tried it, but it's still a long charging period ;(

Have somebody the same problem??

 

That sounds like something's wrong. My charge time is very much shorter. It's right on par with Acer's claims, or perhaps even a bit faster. I can go from drained to about 80% in ~1 hour, the rest will be done in about 1/2 hour. That's with the laptop on usually, though I may not be doing anything strenuous with it.

 

thanks..today i will go to the official hungarian service, called Rikvest Ltd.. The problem is, they have big "fame" in Hungary, i mean long repair period (2-3 weeks, or months (

 

That doesn't sound normal. I don't know exactly how long mine takes (never really paid attention), but I have noticed that a full charge takes at most 2-3 hours, while in use.

 

yes i gave my 4402 to the service.. on the online service website, my 4402's state is "waiting for part"..