Acer TravelMate 8204WLMI Anybody own this?

Wow! I just game across this while searching the web.
I noticed a short review here too. http://www.notebookreview.com/defaul...GHz+-+15.4

Acer TravelMate 8204WLMI. Is this a perfect laptop or what?

Does anyone know how well this performs? Is it a sturdy build? I have never owned an Acer before.

- The X1600 256 dedicated/ 256 share would be great for gaming
- The Dual Core is great for speed, lower power consumption, everyday
business use.

Am I wrong on this? This seems like an excellant choice for a business / gaming machine.

The specs are:
Processor - T2500, Intel Core Duo, 2 GHz
Networking - Wireless NIC Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG, 802.11a/b/g,
Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
Hard Drive - 120 GB, 5400 rpm Serial ATA-150
OS - Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Built-in Devices - (AB) Bluetooth antenna, Stereo speakers, Wireless LAN
antenna, 1.3 Megapixel camera
Graphics - ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 512mb hyper, 15.4" WSXGA+
Max Resolution 1680 x 1050




PC Mag "Editors Choice" 2006 Laptop
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1907007,00.asp

Is this a good laptop?

Nitehood

 

Um, can I suggest reading slightly more of this forum, there are pages and pages of messages discussing the pros and cons of this laptop, what is good and what is bad.

I love mine, others hate it, others are just okay. It all depends what you are looking for, and what you can live with (or without).

 

Read this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=42371

 

Lol.......

 

Yes i own this laptop and well, what can i say... it OWNS. Seriously, people are just messed up complaining about the vent on the right side of the notebook. BIG DEAL, the air barely blows out and it's not even hot. Also, my screen is magnificent. There is ONE dead pixel that you can barely even tell when its starting up, then never again.
Dont get me wrong,I'm a picky person, and the ONLY gripe I have about this notebook is that, hmm i cant think of any! I did pi to 2M in 1minute 11 seconds, which is **** good! Also, everything about it is awesome. Compared to the HP I was just using, it is 100x better.

 

Great to hear! I want one!..

I have been pouring over notebook reviews for the last 2 weeks, I have an extreme headache. lol I dont how I have missed this one. I have been considering a Dell, but the x1400 has been holding me back. Even tho the
x1400 can handle my favorite game, World of Warcraft, I may want to play something mor graphics intensive in a year or so.

I have looked at X1600 machines, what few there are, but none had the duo-core. Then I found this one!

I appologize for asking about it before reading the hundreds of complaints about them in this forum. Excitement got the best of me.

It seems the the early run of these had some problems, but it looks like the ones out now have the bugs fixed.

Is this one a sturdy build machine? No doubt that it should perform well.
I have never even seen an Acer laptop, in the flesh, before.

Buy.com lists it as Mfg Part#: LX.TAX06.034 is this the good one?

Nitehood

 

Nitehood,

Just got the laptop and other than a few minor screen issues (one stuck pixel and a very slight darkening in the bottom left and right corners) it is a very nice laptop. If the screen resolution is not critical I do recommend the ASUS W3J it is not out yet but will be a couple of weeks. ASUS at least in these forums gets high marks for build quality and everyone expects it to be so.

I do like my 8204 and screen resolution is one reason I picked it. Buy.com seems to have versions that have 667 Mhz memory , mine has the 533Mhz , that said the performance difference is neglible so choose the vendor you like.

 

I just got mine 2 days ago and I loved it. I bought it from buy.com and they have the new version, build date was 03/06 and I got the 667mhz ram. I also got the 1 year onsite warranty, I'd recommend it, just in case. All in all, the only gripe I have with the laptop is the screen, I came from using a sony Xbrite so my expectations are a little higher. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the screen, mine is perfect, no dead pixels, or other issues, I just prefer a little brighter. I am actually thinking about adding a high-gloss to my screen, not sure though yet.

Hope this helps.

 

I bought one of these in March and promptly returned it for an Dell I6400... it's a bad machine... great idea, but poorly executed! Besides the constant power drain the USB camera delivers to the battery (and I know this is Microsofts Issue, not Acer's) and the hit and miss issues with the screen, and the loose place holder in the card slot on the side and the poor placement of the vent/fans... Acer support is TERRIBLE! If you rely on your machine on a daily basis you do NOT want this computer... Take a look at the I1705/I9400 if you want future gaming options, it has the go7800 available again!!

 

I use mine daily for work. No issues worth noting. I'd buy it again. 1/06 build. Obviously, if you read the various threads YMMV.

- Ed

 

To clairfy this statement, I was refering to the fact that if (when!?) you have problems with it the turn around time with Acer Support is terrible. By the time you ship and back and they look at it and get it back to you the turnaround is easily 2 weeks! They don't seem to have on site warranty service here in Canada, and from what I have read from people who do have it and have used it is problematic (e.g. - not showing up the day or even week they said, needing 2 or 3 people to come to resolve the issue(s), etc...)

 

Yeah, it's true, they kind of suck in terms of timely support.

- Ed

 

G-Mo were you aware that Acer ship the laptops with the fix implimented (reg fix) so the drain on the battery is tiny. I mean i get 4 and ahalf hours doing word proccessing on 44% screen brightness. Hell the proccessor can keep up with the FX-60 (abet slightly lower), with half the heat and lasts for longer then those huge DTR's.
and the support (in the UK) seems excellent. and no doubt better then alienware and Dell.
Lossing the card on the right hand side... Comon surly you can't blame them for loosing something which you lost?
The fan's barly even make a noise and i've yet to see it blow hot air out. Warm yes but never hot.
I lug mine on a four mile journey everyday in a backpack and the build quality is super.

 

I didn't LOSE the card I said it was LOOSE!? (read) It rattles... I could have LOST it at any time if I was not always being aware of it!

"were you aware that Acer ship the laptops with the fix implimented (reg fix) so the drain on the battery is tiny" - Never even booted the preinstalled OS... FDISK!

What you fail to miss is that if the laptop had any 1 of the problems listed above - and more in many other posts - I (/you/everyone) could overlook it, but it is not... it's a series of problems that you are having to justify to live with this machine... If you can justify it to yourself that's your decision! I could not... I didn't feel I should have to comprimise that much... not for $3000 worth of machine!!!!

 

Ugh... you should really cheer up and look at the positive sides. I mean those are countless. An excellent-spec machine for $2500 is a miracle. Seriously... the issues u are describing are miniscule when compared to issues which AlienWare (for example) users face (overheating, ZERO battery life, etc). Use ducktape on the loose card LOL

 

^-^ lol.. Ducktape.. Can just imagin what people would say
"Why do you have ducktape on your new laptop?"
"I'm trying to keep it from falling appart"
It is a series of problems with the first couple of monthly batches. Funnly enough every manufactor has them.
Apple.. Gets too hot to touch it. Actually catches on fire. Whining noise.
Alienware... Too many problems to describe.
Dell... Tech support and its a dell.. Nuf said.
Sony, HP, Asus and every other manufactor is just bringing out their Core Duo machines. Acer has had them since Intel released it. Oviously its going to have afew problems. Most of them arn't even Acer's fault.. ATI GPU makes the buzzing. Microsoft with the power bug. To me Acer seem to actually care about their customers...

 

Since i constantly live in an environment with 650+ computers travelling back and forth all the time (private high school... ) i have an excellent opportunity to see what happens after a while. I can think fo at least 10 kids right now who have somehow made use of ducktape to keep their Macs together. The screws fall right out and the back of the screen falls off ha ha ha... lots of people have that problem if they bought their G4 back in fall of 2003. So for them ducktape is the way to go. Its ridiculous.