Thinking about Acer 5672, have some ?'s

I will primarily use it for programming. Is the glossy screen ok for programming for 4-5 hours? I don't game that much, occasionally.

I will want to connect it to my 24" dell using dvi.

Does the x1400 run cooler than the x1600? Or are they about the same? Both support 1920x1200 via dvi?

Also will both the x1400 and x1600 support smooth quicktime playback of 264 1920p videos.

 

Yes, I've a friend that spends about 15-17 hrs on his glossy screen with no problems. Since you're connecting it to your dell 24" via dvi and don't intend on playing much games, than I would go for the x1400 to save a few $$. I believe both will support your desired display settings and should have no problems with playback via quicktime as well.

 

I also would like to run Vista on it and know the x1600 will be more future proof.

How about heat -- seems like most of the posts I read both the x1400 & x1600 get hot? If they are about the same maybe I should go for the x1600?

 

Go check it out in the store this pc gets very hot around the palm pad and the pointer pad.

 

I absolutely do NOT recommend this laptop.

DOn't buy it!

I bought it 3 months ago from CompUSA.

Things that I did not like :

1) The headphone / speaker jack is in the front : STUPID.

2) The fan of the computer is on the side. When you are using an external mouse, it blows to your hand.

3) As soon as I bought it and brought it home, I started configuring Windows and got the error "Automatic Updates encountered an error and needs to close". I had to restart the computer. WHen I did, it gave me a lot of errors.

From that day on, I had nothing but problems with this laptop.

I would use it and put it to standby (by simply closing the lid)

and when it came back up, it would display errors all over the place.

"Postmortem Debugger encountered an error and needs to close", or when I opened up any application (i.e. Internet Explorer), "Internet Explorer encountered an error and needs to close".

I would have to restart the computer every time.


4) I installed True Crime NYC on the laptop, and it started giving me a blue screen and restarting the computer every time I loaded a game.
It said "FATAL ERROR".


I tried to use it like that for a few weeks. Finally, I gave up and went to CompUSA. I had purchased it under the CompUSA extended warranty.
I left it for a repair on June 7th. Today is August 6th and after 2 months, I still have not received it back!!!!!!


Acer says they could not duplicate the problem. THis is the 3rd time CompUSA sent it back to Acer. ---> The Acer Warranty sucks.

Did I mention you had to pay for shipping to Acer (if you don't purchase a $250 extended warranty from the retailer) if something is wrong with the laptop?

 

HEARTBREAKER, it seems like your concerns could have been avoided had you researched the product you were buying before doing so (or returned the product within the 14/21 day period).

You could have checked those before you purchased it.

I don't use an external mouse to the right of my laptop. There's enough room to have the mouse on the right side and not be hit by the fan.

Sounds like you may have broken your Windows installation. Did you try to recover the operating system? After the laptop was returned, did you personally verify that it was not working? Did you do anything that could have possibly caused this? It seems like you're not telling us something.

Sounds like it could be a problem with this game or the graphics drivers, not the fault of Acer.

This is typical with the warranty service on _any_ product.

 

If you are not a heavy gamer then this laptop would be ideal for you, I've had it only for 4 days and have no problems till now. Sure it does get warm around the touch pad and wristpad.. but at least for me after a while it doesn't feel hot just mildly warm.
Anyways I opted for this computer over the Asus Z96J (Shocker right? due to graininess Issues). Since I do not play too many game and the only games I play I can play in this with medium settings. The LCD is great. But I guess all the LCD's are great for all the new and upcoming laptops.As far as s/w goes I didn't even do a full format of the harddisk, which I ususally do once I get a computer. The reason being It loaded up quite fast and the utilities were, well not causing too much problems thanks to the 2gb RAM. Haven't had any problems till now.. Bought it in COMPUSA and didn't get the 2 year protection warrnaty.. I would recommend this laptop for the tasks that you said you wanted, I'm not quite sure on the secondary Monitor res. though, since I have'nt tried it till now and also the max res. for this laptop is 1280x800.. If you want higher end graphics and I would recommend the ASUS z96J or the S96J - be sure to read their reviews before making any decision..

Hope this helps..

 

purell, do you mean 1080p? (1920x1080)

This shows that the inferior (for HD video) ATI graphics chips simply will not be very helpful for decoding 1080p content.

However, I believe the CPU should be able to handle 1080p H264. It handles 720p H264 without a problem. (I don't have any 1080p content)

 

which country are you buying in?

 

Yup I meant 1080p. I will go check it out later on today. Since I do use an external mouse. I will buy it in USA.

k3l0 - that link doesn't show the x1400. It shows x1600 as 720p.

 

the X1400 is an X1300 with a slightly faster clock made for mobile only

 

I use mine for writing java code, and I will be on mine for aseveral hours at a time. Compiles fast and always does its job. No matter if your gaming or not Ill recomend the x1600. As you can always upgrade to xp pro and 2gb of ram.

I use dual monitor when writing code, 19in lcd and the standard lcd.

I dont know about cooler, I would suspect(dont quote me on that) that it is slightly cooler with its lower clocks. But then again the core is different and that does affect things.

Cant answer this one.

 

well if some one wants to trash acer support i will support it, i sent my acer aspire 3503 in on July 28 2006 approximatly 2 weeks before the warrenty expires. there repair was 2 cracks in the chassis(minor, but it should still be fixed). i got an email from acer on friday the August 4 2006, and it said it had just been shipped out of the acer repair center it was on a 2 busniss day dilivery... meaning that is is supposed to arive some time today... well that took 1 week to return... acer also arranges for the damaged computer to be picked up at your door, all expensise paid buy acer.

i have not got the computer yet, so i can't say how good the fix was or really even if they fixed it but as far as i can tell, any one who traches acer support should at least add the they are one in MANY MANY MANY acer costomrs, 1 persons experiance should not be a detruent...

when i phoned in to acer the was talking with a really person in about 10 minutes and they really wanted to help.

not acer does not support the software the comes with the computer, just the hardware. in other words the don't support you screwing you OS up or anything like that...

i would recommed acer to any one any day for the fast and so far excellent service