Should I buy a Travel Mate 8103/4?

I was thinking about buying an Acer Travel Mate at my next trip to the US at the end of May.

However, I saw all the posting regarding the screen problems. II am also not sure I will like the key pad lay out.

Is there anyone who has bought a 8103 or 8104 and is actually fully happy with it? And was the flickering screen only down to the Motorola battery?

Thanks,

Cornel

 

I for one am perfectly happy with my 8103. It seemed too much to pay for the 1gb memory upgrade which I guess you could do yourself for a lot cheaper. The screen flicker thing doesn't seem to happening on all of the laptops. so far i have not experianced any problem (have had it for two weeks) expect that when I disconnect/re-connect to a/c the screen dims/brightens followed by a split second turn off and on again. Nothing too irritating but have never had the flicker problem. by the way the a/c adapater on mine is made by some delta electronics and a motorola battery

 

All those screen problem amounts to the same 2 guy between here and notebookforums.com. On a poll over there, out of 20+ response so far, there are only 2 person having the screen flickering problem and one with a buzzing sound when the battery is being charged. I myself am perfectly happy with my 8104.

 

wiz33,

i think you are probably referring to me as one of those 2 'guys' you so eloquently refer to.

cornel,

in short, i have recently purchased an 8104. it was sent back to acer twice after only 9 hours of use. it took 6 weeks to get it back, countless phone calls and apalling customer service by ACER.

my best mate is a reseller for ACER and he is appalled at their customer service recently and qaulity control. he is even contemplating refusing to sell any more.

If you want top spec, ACER is your product, qaulity adn customer service... seriously go elsewhere!

p

 

FULLY HAPPY,

They all function well (all 8104WLMi Euro standard config with 1Gi Mem).

The only problem that took me a while to solve was that in the beginning i suspected the wireless to have a problem. Finaly it seems that Linksys wireless routers are not written following the specs (say Intel) and therefor the wireless disconnected every 10 minutes for about 15 seconds, while keeping EXCELENT signal!

For the rest I used everything : Burning DVDs, using RAM Disks, 5-in-1 reader with Sony Memory Sticks, internal microphone with Skype (and echo cancelation). No screen flicker!

The system is fast, silent and not to warm (i compare with Compaq Armada and Toshiba Tecra).

No bad pixels on any of the systems!

Finaly, it took me a couple of weeks to get used to the keyboard. I always mi**** PgUp/PgDn. The keys are close to each other but once you get used to it they are light and very easy!

QC

 

Springy:

Yes one of them is you ;-) But to be fair. you do see more negative post on a fourm as people with working units just doesn't post much about it. Although it does seems that Acer service in Europe does leave something to be desire

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Wiz33
All those screen problem amounts to the same 2 guy between here and notebookforums.com...
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>
Er, No actually. There are five people with the same problem in the thread I started. I can't speak for the others but I haven't posted in any other forums. My 8104 was fixed (twice [8)]), and I expect Acer have sorted out the kinks with the early production runs, but if I were to make my decision again, I'd probably go for a new Asus with the better Nvidia graphics card.