Re: [wlug] wlug Digest, Vol 177, Issue 3
In my experience, I would not buy another Acer - especially a cheap one. Not because of the lack of Linux support (I've run several Debian Based distros including Breezy and Xandros, Suse 9, 10, Fedora and probably others without too much trouble).
The main reason is the fact that I've had so many problems with the hardware; including the fact that my machine in particular is badly designed (very little airflow over the processor, which is prone to overheating - lucky I can just open the window, and because its -10 outside it cools down OK).
I've had the motherboard and hard drive replaced (in the first year) and the second hard drive died just 3 weeks ago. Their 2-hour warranty service agreement is misleading (I used to work for an Acer reseller until about 3 years ago), if I unplug the speakers or a pair of headphones, there seems to be a short of some sort which causes the machine to just turn off... and... I'm sure there are other things too.
It went in for warranty service (for periods up to a week, even if I drove to Auckland to hand-deliver the machine) I think 4 or 5 times in its first year.
Perhaps I just got a lemon. I do remember someone else at an installfest a year ago having the same overheating problem that I did with the same model of laptop, though.
Normally I wouldn't speak so badly of a product or brand, but this thing has just been ridiculous. Lucky for me I have just had the opportunity to acquire a nice Mac, so I'm happy about that. I'll be using this laptop as a media center in my apartment or something.
Go for the Toshiba or something similar. I wish I had gone and got a Toshiba. I will put it this way: if the motherboard chipset is Intel, chances are most (if not all) of the bits and pieces attached will work in Linux. Not always true, but something I would use to gauge the likelihood of something working. Also, if you can get an ATi video processor on board, thats usually a good thing, right?
Fujitsu Siemens are supposed to be OK, but I'm not sure about the differences between FS in Finland and FS in New Zealand (the same way that HP and NEC/Packard Bell are very different in quality between the USA/NZ and Japan/NZ respectively).
As for the power brick - I dont think I have seen one for a laptop that is not capable of handling 100-250v and 50-60Hz, so it shouldn't be a problem.
Keep in mind that the next Ubuntu will be coming out in a month or thereabouts, so perhaps if something doesn't work in Breezy 5.10, it might work in 6.04?
Mathew
Sorry to hear about the issues, I have several acers and we had a similar but easily fixed problem.
The poor airflow is really bad dust protection, So what we do is use a household vacuum cleaner and the crevice tool (narrow slot thing) to vacuum all the cooling ports. Diagnostics usually show a 15 - 20 degree drop in the CPU temp after this. No need to open the Laptop, but it pays to not do while its running.
Could be worth a try
But based on your experience I think its a lemon. My sons ASUS had some similar issues for a while and needs much more maintenance. My wife Got an HP(Compaq) and seems to have the least issue of us all but she's not running linux
The main issue here may be the speed stepping, If the distro can't support all the speed features Battery life suffers but much worse, the CPU doesn't slow down when its quiet and keeps generating heat. My AMD Athlon XP is supported ( but the crappy sis video is not) while my ECS has good Video and sound but no ACPI at all (lucky it runs cool) and the ASUS does most of it well, but its really old.
I think my old thinkpad was the best supported Linux laptop ever. but P1 233 96 meg of ram and a whopping 4gb hard drive isn't exactly state of the art. (Thank goodness for Puppy Linux)
SO it looks like ACPI support should be added to Video and Wireless as something to check.
Mathew Carley wrote:
In my experience, I would not buy another Acer - especially a cheap one. Not because of the lack of Linux support (I've run several Debian Based distros including Breezy and Xandros, Suse 9, 10, Fedora and probably others without too much trouble).
The main reason is the fact that I've had so many problems with the hardware; including the fact that my machine in particular is badly designed (very little airflow over the processor, which is prone to overheating - lucky I can just open the window, and because its -10 outside it cools down OK).
My own experience with my HP Compaq nx7010 has been generally positive though I have had a few "issues".
Ubuntu Breezy supports all of the Laptop's hardware (sans the NDA encumbered SD Card reader) out of the box. Wireless, Network, Video, everything. Fedora Core 4 required some tweaking to get things to work.
The proprietary ATI FireGL drivers in the Multiverse deb archive were required to get decent 3D performance though. But they installed flawlessly too.
The hardware reliability on the other hand has been where I've been let down. My hard disk's heads crashed after 11 months of use (just before the 1year international warranty ran out thankfully).
The laptop can also suffer a bit from over heating. Not too bad but really extended use (ie, days of uptime) can cause issues. Especially on the really hot days here in Australia (high 30's and low 40's).
And lately when USB devices are plugged in it can fail to finish the POST. Though that could be the USB devices more than the laptop causing the issues.
Laptops are great but if you want a workhorse that keeps on trucking for years at a time, nothing beats a (under-the-)desktop box. ;)
Regards
Gavin Denby wrote:
Sorry to hear about the issues, I have several acers and we had a similar but easily fixed problem.
The poor airflow is really bad dust protection, So what we do is use a household vacuum cleaner and the crevice tool (narrow slot thing) to vacuum all the cooling ports. Diagnostics usually show a 15 - 20 degree drop in the CPU temp after this. No need to open the Laptop, but it pays to not do while its running.
I have an nx9005 which also had the HD die, unfortunately out of the warranty period but well before I would normally expect one to die. I have heard of another nx which also had the HD die very early in its life. Iwas talking to a laptop tech about them and apparently they are very cheaply produced machines which use some pretty crappy components.
I don't think I would get another nx.
On Wed, 8 Mar 2006, Oliver Jones wrote:
My own experience with my HP Compaq nx7010 has been generally positive though I have had a few "issues".
Ubuntu Breezy supports all of the Laptop's hardware (sans the NDA encumbered SD Card reader) out of the box. Wireless, Network, Video, everything. Fedora Core 4 required some tweaking to get things to work.
The proprietary ATI FireGL drivers in the Multiverse deb archive were required to get decent 3D performance though. But they installed flawlessly too.
The hardware reliability on the other hand has been where I've been let down. My hard disk's heads crashed after 11 months of use (just before the 1year international warranty ran out thankfully).
The laptop can also suffer a bit from over heating. Not too bad but really extended use (ie, days of uptime) can cause issues. Especially on the really hot days here in Australia (high 30's and low 40's).
And lately when USB devices are plugged in it can fail to finish the POST. Though that could be the USB devices more than the laptop causing the issues.
Laptops are great but if you want a workhorse that keeps on trucking for years at a time, nothing beats a (under-the-)desktop box. ;)
Regards
Gavin Denby wrote:
participants (4)
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Gavin Denby -
Mathew Carley -
Oliver Jones -
Thrash Cardiom