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General discussion

Acer Aspire 1681 WLMi

Aug 19, 2004 6:46AM PDT

Discussion is locked

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Re: Acer Aspire 1681 WLMi
Aug 19, 2004 10:47AM PDT

You are getting the Dothan 1.5 Pentium M (705 is not Dothan, everything 715 or higher is a Dothan with the 2mb L2 cache).

Also, you are getting the upgraded ATI 9700 video card versus the ATI 9200 in the Compaq ( a lot of Compaq and HP owners want the ATI 9700 with 128mb video dedicated but they don't offer it yet) but note that this still only has 64mb and not the 128mb.

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Re: Acer Aspire 1681 WLMi
Aug 22, 2004 5:11AM PDT

thanks Ken, as I said, I thought it looked good, and the price seemed right. Anybody have any experience in dealing with ACER after purchase ie. warranty, repairs, etc.

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Re: Acer Aspire 1681 WLMi
Aug 22, 2004 5:19AM PDT

My Acer 600ter's CDRW failed in month 3. After I registered by laptop online, I called an 800 number and in 2 days a new CDRW arrived. No big fuss for me and beat having to ship the laptop back.

Bob

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Re: Acer Aspire 1681 WLMi
Aug 25, 2004 8:17AM PDT

My advice to you is not to get this computer. I am typing on it now but it is going back to New Egg soon - even though I'll have to eat a $200 "restocking fee." The 4 cell battery life is 2.5 hours max - for a Centrino processor that is unacceptable to me. I have been checking all around, but they don't sell an 8 cell battery in the US for this model. Also, my wireless network drops every minute or so even though the signal strength is "excellent." (Three wireless drop outs while writing this message)! I'll be happy to sell it to you! Happy

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Re: Acer Aspire 1681 WLMi
Aug 25, 2004 8:44AM PDT

The battery life is an important factor for you to consider. The Compaq X1000/HPZT3000 has a 3.5 to 4 hour battery life using wi-fi (Centrino) and longer if you turn down the LCD brightness or don't use wi-fi (turned off) etc.

So 2.5 hours is low for a Centrino notebook and getting back to the range of an Athlon 64 or Pentium 4M.

For the wi-fi issue, it is likely that the firmware of the router has not been updated or the drivers for the wi-fi minipci card have not been updated. I had some wi-fi drops when first getting my X1360US in late May 2004 but after updating my D-link wi-fi router firmware and updating drivers at the Compaq site for the Intel Proset utility and the Intel 2200g/b card I have not had a SINGLE dropped connection since for wi-fi. My notebook is on the first floor and the router is on the 2nd floor (inside a bedroom).

Also, note that Cnet has posted that installing Windows SP2 causes the Intel Proset utility to get messed up. The new Windows wi-fi built in utility in SP2 supposedly works fine but you have to go in and change your wi-fi settings to achieve this.

So if mjw downloaded Windows SP2 this may be your problem (or look for updates to your drivers and router firmware).

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Re: Acer Aspire 1681 WLMi
Aug 25, 2004 9:07AM PDT

Ken,

Thanks for your reply. I did fix the wireless issue. I was on the phone with a buddy of mine and he suggested unchecking the "enable 802.1x authentication" button - and it worked! Battery life still is the big issue for me, though. The Acer Aspire 2012 WLMi is an almost identical machine with a much better battery, and has gotten great reviews. Oh well.

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Re: Acer Aspire 1681 WLMi
Aug 25, 2004 10:34AM PDT

There is something else you will find interesting. The Acer 2000 series is built by the same Chinese manufacturer as the Compaq X1000/HPZT3000/HPnc7000 !

Go to the X1000forums.com and see in the general section the photos posted showing the same battery and internal components for both (with keyboard removed). However, the front edge of the notebooks are different.

People were noting this at X1000forums.com as some Acer 2000 models have the ATI 9700 video card with 128mb and the Compaq/HP only go to 64mb on the ATI 9200 card.

But you don't have that model so you can't just order a Compaq/HP battery I guess (as you say the Acer 2000 series is an 8 cell not a 4 cell battery).

That is too bad about the Newegg restocking fee (unless defective) but that is what Circuit City and Best Buy and Compusa have also.

Note that Fry's Electronics has 14 days no restocking fee (allowing you to try it out) and Costco (can order custom HP/Compaq or Dell online at web site) has a 6 month return policy.

Since you have fixed the wi-fi issue perhaps you will be able to find an upgraded battery solution at some point.