It also gave me the chance to benchmark some graphics drivers on a relatively vanilla system, which I'll post some point soon.
In the meantime, while I'm waiting for Steam and Windows Update to finish their respective downloads, I might as well post about my experience.
The Upgrade Itself
After removing the backplate and the fan (which I had already done once, when I cleaned them both out), I had the enviable task of removing the heatsink. For those of you that don't know, the CPU and GPU heatsinks are conjoined by a common pipe of copper. This pipe makes it INCREDIBLY difficult to shoehorn the thing out of the notebook - it took some effort and a little bit of noise that didn't sound good. But, it was removed.
In terms of thermal cooling, give Acer some credit. The thermal pads attached to the graphics card's memory chips are squished under a screwed-on plate that is separate from the heatsink - you can remove it and only the GPU core will be exposed! Thus, the main worry I had about the upgrade was for naught.......................
All tests were run on a vanilla installation of Vista Ultimate 32-bit SP1 with only RMClock and 3DMark06 installed on the system, and HWMonitor included to keep an eye on temperatures.
All tests run at 1366x768 (native res) with default options.
Only drivers with WHQL certificates for this series were included; which means two that supposedly had them, 174.74 and 174.93, aren't shown.
SUMMARY - The 174 series of drivers is officially obsolete - they clearly benchmark lower than the newer 175 or 176 drivers. Upgrade if you want to. - 175.61 continues to be an anomaly, with higher-than-average HDR/SM3.0 scores, both in my previous benchmarking before this comparison, and during it. - The 176 series is probably your best bet overall. - Temperatures never really were an issue - 73 Celsius was the highest I saw.
Here's the chart - focus on the GPU score instead of the overall 3DMark to remove the variance provided by skewy CPU tests.
by chance, my wife, with the 500 dollar limit i gave her, bought me an acer aspire 5315-2698 from qvc. i think after send it over to me here in iraq she spent 575. it was 525 on easy pay.
after all this reading, i went out and bought a few things:
MICRON/SAMSUNG 2GB DDR2 2GB667SO 1 55.00 System/Device = Acer Aspire PC2-5300 667MHZ SODIMM (from one of those ram websites...)
and
1 Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1GHz Socket P 35W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80577T8100 - Retail
Thought I'd put my experience with the Window 7 Beta on my Acer Aspire 6920G, for those considering it but not sure whether it works etc.
Installation: Installation went smooth, picked up alot of things out of the box, but for the things it doesn't, you can use the backup feature on the vista partition to create a disc with all the drivers etc. on
Drivers: Well there are some you'll have to get yourself, e.g. Graphics Card drivers, I've got the HD3650 flavour of machine and my drivers are found here: [url]
Another driver that didn't work, and the one from the drivers disc doesn't either is the SD Card reader, however you can get the drivers direct from JMicron here: http://www.jmicron.com/Driver.htm go into the ftp ( there's a link towards the end of the text) and get the driver for the JMB38X not 36X, this driver works a charm.
I can't speak for ExpressCard devices as I don't use them myself.
Sound works out of the box.
Even after installing the drivers for it the webcam refuses to work.
With the drivers from the driver disc created in Vista, bluetooth works............
I'm recording voice overs and singing with it and it's specifically meant to be thin and light for travel - with a good enough screen resolution to edit with the machine while I'm on the go. I'd prefer a Windows XP unit (I'm trying to use Cubase LE and I'm not certain it'll work on Windows 7 Pro) but I can get an IT friend of mine to install XP on it if I need to.
My biggest concern with it - is noise. Is the fan really noisy? I know that I can regulate the fan speed etc. with the little apps that have been created for the unit here on this very board, but how long can one leave off the fan without the unit getting incredibly hot? I'm recording with this unit fairly close to a large diaphragm condenser mic, so really - it needs to be as quiet as possible.
Well my PC came OEM installed with Vista 32 Bit edition and I would like to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit edition (as i get a student discount).
Looking around the forums and internet in general, I have noticed that on the acer 6920g there seems to always be a problem with drivers such as the CineDash, Realtek, TV tuner, Modem, Card reader, Fingerprint, Webcam, Bluetooth etc.. I have also read that you can fix the launchmanager by running in Vista compatiability mode.
If i do an in-place upgrade (going from vista 32-bit to windows 7 ultimate) will it be fine? Also is there anything I should be cautionous of such as the drivers etc..
I would actually really like to do a clean installation but I'm worried that the keyboard "quick" buttons (such as the internet,bluetooth,mail on the side of keyboard will not work)- can someone please confirm if I did a clean installation, would theese buttons still work?
Also I have two games:GTA IV, Call of Duty 5 , will theese both work on windows 7 (or on compatability).
Hello every one, I am interested on the Acer Aspire AS5532 that is currently on sale at bestbuy, it have a single core AMD Athlon 54 1.6, with ATI video card, and also I am looking at the Acer 5517 from staples which have a 2ghz Turion II
I have used HP computers for the last 6 years and never owned an Acer, I know first hand that Acer quality wasnt the best a few years ago as I had to troubleshoot and fix my friend's Acer while in college, but now that my HP died I need a cheap and reliable laptop for the mean time. So I will like to know user experince with this models and if there is a review since I have search the forum and Cnet and theres is none.
Acer Aspire AS5532[url]
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit AMD Athlon™ single-core TF-20 1.6Ghz 3GB DDR2 memory 160GB hard drive 15.6" HD Widescreen Acer CineCrystal™ LCD Display ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics 8X DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer Drive Built-in InviLink high-speed wireless LAN (802.11b/g/Draft-N) Multi-in-1 media reader 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery 1 year warranty
Acer Aspire 5517[url]
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor L310 3GB installed memory 250GB hard drive 15.6" HD Widescreen Acer CineCrystal™ LCD Display 8X DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer Drive Acer InviLink™ 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader Dimensions 14.4 (W) x 10.8 (D) x 1.1/1.5 (H) inches (6.1lbs) 1 year warranty
So I decided I would stick with Dell for my next purchase since my family and I have owned a couple of their models in the past. Our old inspiron and latitudes have held up for at least 4-5 years each so this a fairly easy choice for me to make.
10/28/09 - Ordering a new Studio XPS 1340 I was on the phone with Dell EPP and configured my setup for a fully loaded SXPS 1340 after about 2 hours of back and forth with the representative and manager (I am a bargain hunter). Blah blah blah the manager finally agrees on $1350 shipped (roughly a $200 discount after EPP)......................
To date, I have had X4 Motherboard replacements, X2 Screen replacements and X2 batteries, and I'm fed up with Dell. My computer is running all latest drivers and software etc, but is running really hot. The palmrest gets really hot, even if the CPU is idle. I have to retract my hand from the computer base after a few seconds because it is so **** warm. I'm not sure what is causing the heat - it was never this warm before the latest motherboard replacement, which was due to a fried GPU.
Is it really worth getting a new motherboard and going through all that hassle, if it will just happen again? My graphics in Flight Simulator and all games have become terrible (i mean, terrible) - with few other processes running, since I bought it a year ago. This is a concern that I can no longer play games on this Nvidia Chip.
Do you guys think I am right in thinking that my GPU is just messed up and chucking out crazy amounts of heat? (It is 65 degrees celcius idle)
just got windows 7 BETA 32x today and i have to say:
IT IS SIMPLY AWSOME!!!!
the new looks, the really snappy and smooth interface, the new features, and the fast as hell startup time... WOW!
i was going to add some pictures but my connection is acting up again and i cant seem to upload anything so il just write some outstanding features:
1- the speed, its just so much faster than vista.... as simple as that, and it uses 630 megs of ram when i actually have 4gigs on this comp, while vista used 1.2 gigs, and as i said, the startup time is amazing .....
1. My Microsoft Intellitype Pro keyboard has better options than it did for my XP machine. I mean, When I pressed the mail hotkey my keyboard had it would open some bizarre mail client, one that I never configured. I wasn't even able to change what the hot key did! Now it's a completely different story in OS X. I can use the default mail client, which I'm using, but if I wasn't, I could use it to do a completely other task. Fantastic! I mean, my keyboard has a bunch of hotkeys which I never used, simply because they did what I didn't want them to do, but now I'm using them so much more because they actually can do what I want! I love it!
2. My Logitech VX Revo has more settings too! I can eject the damned CD, zoom, take a screen shot, use expose, search in finder, etc etc all on my mouse! I'm blow away.
I'm not going to make this list tiring to read, but I think that OS X is really, really impressive. I wasn't expecting much when I plugged in my Microsoft keyboard to the USB slots but I was totally wrong. I mean, for God's sake, the calculator/log off/sleep buttons work on the keyboard.
I have an older Samsung SLC RBX series 64GB SSD lying around. This was one of the very first generation SSDs to come out on the market. I was interested in installing this in my early 2009 15" MBP, and I wanted to ask how the experience of a limited hard drive (i.e. only 64GB) will be in Mac OS X. I am currently on a 500GB WD Scorpio Blue, and have about 50% used with various documents, music, etc. Obviously, I realize that I won't have the same functionality with a more limited hard drive. However, the speed improvement I think will be far worth the decrease in capacity, and I was hoping that someone with experience running Mac OS X on lower capacities drive could chime and let me know of some of the pros and cons.
I decided to upgrade my Vista/Fusion installation to Windows 7/Fusion today on my Alu unibody Mac.
The experience took a couple of hours, and I have to say it was a nervous operation. A few heads up for those making the trek....
The setup program would not run until I uninstalled McAfee completely. Just disabling does not do the trick.
The mouse button stopped working several times at key junctures, when it is asking for input. Pressing the escape key after bringing up the VMware menu bar seems to alleviate the problem.
I could not re-install McAfee after the installation from the VMware menu bar. I'll have to see if I can do it later from the Fusion install disk.
After installation, Windows 7 seems to to function OK, but I did not do any in-depth testing as I'll want to have a working antivirus before I proceed further. If I can't get McAfee back on, maybe I'll install AVG's free AV.
With my 1730 I can get a 5.1 score. The 5.1 is because of my ram which gets a 5.1, I am upgrading and adding another 2gb so this will not be a bottleneck anymore. My next highest score is a 5.2 for my hd. Is there anyway to get a higher score for my hd? I have a 7200rpm, would adding another hd, and putting them in raid somehow make a difference? I would at least like to figure out how i could make the hd faster, after that my next lowest score is not until 5.4, and if i had a score of 5.4
Well, I think it's more usual for people to leave comments over bad experiences than good experiences, so I think it would be good to do it.
Few days ago I had a problem with a XPS 1330 which suddenly stopped working. Something related with a shortcircuit with the power supply.
I checked guarantee and happily found that I bought the 3 year extended guarantee with the laptop and it was on the third year so i called customer support and after some small checks they decided it had to do with the motherboard so they ordered a replacement for me for the next day.
I even messed with the asking to come later as I wanted to backup data (just for security). Did the backup and called them again few days later. Again I had no problem, next day a technician came to my home and changed the motherboard. In matter of minutes i had the laptop working again.
Just wondering if any of you had any previous experiences with Dell Escalation Officers? One of them is supposed to call me about whether I would be able to exchange my E6400 for a different model.
How many of you have ordered the laptop from India? What is your experience?
I ordered on 13th November and got an EDD of 26th November. Called them up on 26th November and they said it will definitely come on 1st December and offered me a free blutooth headphones.
I called yesterday and today and the dell representative is not picking up her phone. Called the direct number and they said it hasn't come cause of a change in shipping address. I never once changed my shipping address.
Ordered an Inspiron 15z from Dell EPP for $678 on 12/10. Initial estimated delivery date: 12/28.
Yesterday, I noticed a small price drop ($16, lol) with the use of a coupon code, so I called up EPP customer service about the 30 day price guarantee. The rep, a nice guy from India, informed me that technically, the price guarantee was not valid with coupon codes, but he gave it to me anyway.
Today, I received a call from the same rep saying that the system was shipping out today, with an estimated delivery of 12/18...10 days earlier than originally estimated, and that I should see the price credit on my CC statement within 48 hours.
I have 8gb RAM on my laptop and so far no problems installing all the programs and drivers. Win7 did detect the drivers needed and accurately targeted Dell's website for the appropriate drivers... card reader and such. Programs loaded so far:
Office 2007, Acrobat Reader 8, Adobe CS4 (both 32/64), Panorama Factory, Roxio Creator 2010 Pro, Slingbox, Quicktime. Will load more but it took me almost all day to do these ones. Future programs includes Canon's Zoom Browser and other web browsers
This is a long story of various experiences ive had with dell tech support and dell technicians.
It all started when i was 3 years old, my mommy was out for dinner and i.... oh wait... wrong story lol.
okay so when i bought this xps m1530 i knew about all the GPU issues and i was OK with that,
becasue the m1530 is an amazing machine, but some months ago it started giving me green screens and high temperatures, so i figured i should talk to dell about it, and this is what happened .....
I’ve had my Dell studio 1555 for about 3 days now and I thought I might tell my experience I’ve had with the laptop and Dell as a company.
I was in the market for a new laptop for about 2 weeks nothing suitable had come up, looked at a few Sony’s and HP’s and nothing was in my price range, the ones I wanted were £1000+.
I never considered dell after hearing all the horror stories that people have had, however I decided to look at them with an open mind, you know the phrase never judge a book by its cover. Anyway I was considering getting a relatively small laptop that I could carry around university, but at the same time I needed something with a little power to handle all those graphic intensive applications and decided to go for the Studio 1555 (price at £800 was great value) , I chose the high end model and because it had a built in blu-ray drive I thought I might as well upgrade the screen to 1080p, I ordered and that was that.
Being the impatient person I am, after the 3rd or 4th business day it was shipped I was wondering why no one had called to arrange a delivery, so I called them and they said “we can deliver it tomorrow morning.” Was really happy, and felt like an excited kid again.
Next day delivery man came and I signed for it with a big smile on my face. I opened up the box to find a shiny laptop inside, anyway I power it on to find some bloat ware that I didn’t want or need, so I thought I would start uninstalling the programs, MacAfee trial uninstalled no problem, same goes for the office trial, however when I tried to uninstall the Data online backup software it kept on giving errors, so I said full install of vista it is then… After the vista reinstall I loaded up all the correct drivers and everything was good to go.
Playing with for a first few hours I thought it’s a fast and snappy laptop and was really happy with the product. One thing I did notice every time I powered on the laptop on the vista welcome screen had horizontal lines running through it; I thought ill address that problem a bit later.
I put a Blu-ray disc of Spiderman 3 to test out the gorgeous screen and that it where all the problems began, first of all it didn’t recognize the disc, I thought it might be a faulty disc so I pressed eject and low and behold nothing came out, I tried pressing eject on my computer and trying it from the bios all to no avail, I know there some people out there that are going to say it’s a easy fix, but I am not going to take apart the laptop after a few hours of use.
That was the final straw basically have just got off the phone with them after being passed around their telephone lines like a piece of meat and being put on hold for the best part of half an hour, lol they first said they will call me back for a cancellation , i was having none of that and i said i needed sorting out today, to give dell credit they put me straight through. The delivery man will pick up the laptop on Monday and I am going to get a full refund within the next week or so….. Sorry I know this is a bit long but I had to get this of my chest, it’s such a shame because I really did like the laptop. It’s just a case of starting the whole process of buying a new laptop. Im thinking the studio xps but dell has really put me off...
it came without OS as I have Vista business SP1. Second, the mics dont work at all when I first installed windows and the drivers. There was a cacle sound too each time I played audio... but all that I fixed.
It came with a 5400 rpm WD 250 GB that I took out and replaced with my Seagate 7200 200 GB.
The first time I installed the OS, all the devices in the system were okay with the drivers. With the new drive installed, I reinstalled the Os and now I have a whole bunch of Bluetooh devices without drivers and an UNKNOWN device.
What the hell could they be? System: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz. 3 GB RAM. Seagate 7200.2 200 GB. ATI 3450. Windows Vista Business SP1. ViewSonic 26" V2640W.
I have NO input from the two mics that are digital near the cam. Tried everything in the audio panel. I do not want to give the thing in service for a month for a mic fault.
The thing with the drivers missing is bothering me.
My Winidows rating thing was at 4.0 when I first installed the OS on the 5400 drive.
When I redid the thing, I came down to 3.8 lowest on the video
1st time my Son broke his mouse button on his 1501 Called Dell, within 40 minutes he had a RMA box being sent out, he got the Day after and sent his computer in within 10 days it was back in his hands fixed 0 money out of his pocket.
2nd and 3rd I had onsite warranty service the person was prompt nice and did a great job. I was satisfied, 3 day turn around on that.
4th time I have this 1555, I used the chat yesterday morning, it was faster then calling, within 40 Minutes it was agreed the laptop needed to be fixed, my space bar had popped off twice and I noticed it looked warped, I need this laptop so I agreed to the extra cost of onsite this time, no only was it promised this week but they came today, next day and replaced the keyboard within 40 minutes this am. I thought it was worth the extra.
now fixed and totally satisfied.
Of course I know Dell can screw up but lets be honest there are times they do not and we need balance at times.
this my first and probably last post. I just want to make you aware of my 3-4 months drama with this system and Dell "Phillipindia".
Here it goes... around 4 months ago I decided to replace my 3 year old Inspiron. I look at what dell has to offer and was immediately attracted by the look and specifications of their studio XPS 16.
So I choose one, max it up almost to the top, slide $2k and waited In about 20 days the system arrived... new, nice and shiny... first impressions where more than good... amazing screen colors, crazy performance, backlight keys, stylish design, burns bluray, amazing speakers... only downside at time what that the laptops was like a magnet for fingerprints... I remember that this little thing upset me in way at that time .....
