Acer Aspire AS9504WSMi

Acer Aspire 9504WSMi

Aspire AS9504WSMi Review, by Carla Thornton January 10, 2006

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• Reviewed by: tehdood

  Strengths: Out the box functionality, just plug it in and turn it on. Excellenct DVD playback, remote is a plus. Easy connectivity, dual monitor display ability for gamers and multi-taskers, beutiful display.

  Weaknesses: Mmm, none if you use it for what it's built to do.

  Overall: I bought this laptop intending to use it primarily for internet gaming. It has performed better than any desktop that i had specially modified for internet gaming and has pretty much replaced all the desktops in my home. Performance wise I have hosted an internet game server form it while logged into that same game session (with about 12 other participants) to participate without a problem whatsoever (one of the first tests I put it through). After that I simply used it for MMORPG style gaming, internet surfing, mobile intertanement when traveling, presentations, video/audio editing. I am pleased overall with how it handle all these tasks. I never tried to use the TV tuner or was ever really interested in it so I can't really say good or bad about it. I will buy another one when or if the time comes.

• Reviewed by:

  Strengths: very fast, surprisingly light, beautiful monitor

  Weaknesses: terrible customer support, no tv tuner included, poor website, poor acer software

  Overall: I really like this laptop and use it to do video editing and computer graphics work. Rendering is fast and smooth. The screen is very clear and crisp. I was expecting this to be super heavy, but its actually not bad. I was excited aabout the ability to watch tv on my laptop, but the dvb-t tv tuner that should have come with my laptop, didnt. The manual says that this tuner is optional, so maybe mwave.com chose not to include it. Or they forgot it. I am willing to buy the antenna separately, but ive looked all over the internet, and its not being sold anywhere. I went to the acer site for more info, but their site is terrible. I tried filling out their question form, but their form page isnt even online. (URL does not exist error)I can attach the laptop to my cable from my wall and watch cable tv, but the whole point of having a tv tuner with a laptop is to be able to watch tv wirelessly! I would like to get basic antenna broadcasts, but apparently need to have this 'optional antenna' that isnt sold anywhere on this planet. The built-in Acer software is a bit annoying. When I boot up my computer, it assumes i will be connecting to a wired broadband connection so it enables my LAN card and disables my wireless card. I actually have a wireless router in my house so i just need my wireless enabled and my LAN disabled. I switch these settings and try to save them, but it always reverts back to the defaults when you reboot. (so its a pain to turn by wireless card back on every time i turn on my laptop) I ended up uninstalling their software because it annoyed me. I also think its weird that they used the FAT32 file system to format their drives. I reformated the 2nd drive to NTFS which is faster and can handle bigger files sizes.

• Reviewed by: belial_buys

  Strengths: Big beautiful screen; SPDIF output; Plenty of USB ports.

  Weaknesses: TV tuner didn?t work; Fat 32 partitions (disc restore only works with FAT 32 partitions too); No SPDIF input; lousy remote; proprietary dongles; price dropped $300 the very next week? hastening buyers remorse.

  Overall: TV tuner didn?t work. Don?t expect Acer tech support to be of any help. There instructions: ?reinstall and RMA?. Yeah, you?ve got a hangnail, let?s solve it with amputation. Later found out that Mobile magazine gave Acer tech an F grade in mid 2005 (worst of the manufactures tested); I unfortunately have to concur. Luckily I drive through Temple, TX on my trips to Austin, so I can ?drop in? personally if there is ever an RMA need ;-)After substantial research and an extensive process of elimination, I found the solution.Turns out the TV tuner circuitry doesn?t have an adequate preamp (or bad soldering) and thus requires an extremely hot signal. So even if your TV and cable modem work fine, you may need to buy a signal booster (or 2) if you have long cable runs and/or splitters in the line.Thought the built in capture card would be hardwired to bus (maximizing speed), but later read that it?s likely wired to an internal USB port OR shares the Card bus (which can cause voltage problems). As the decoder exhibits significant delay, I think it?s wired to internal USB. So probably better/cheaper to just buy a different model and an external tuner/capture device.The SPDIF digital out is the relatively uncommon Mini Toslink (i.e. optical) form factor. This ought to be mentioned in the documentation, as there is also ?electrical? SPDIF. This caused some aggravation until I found a website were another consumer lamented how even Acer tech support didn?t even know the difference.The laptop is quite speeding except when running Media Center or MS Moviemaker; then it?s time to get out the oars. Suggest nixing both progs and using one of the many third party alternatives.During my TV tuner & SPDIF troubleshooting, I read that MS XP Media Center Edition has a host of crummy DRM issues that could be confused with hardware/software problems, so possible consumers may want to save themselves aggravation by not buying ?Media Center? laptops.Acer also appears to install by default its own ?remote assistance? devices on their laptops, which is almost as displeasing as the inanely sized Fat 32 partitions.I?ll continue to update.

• Reviewed by: ssr10820

  Strengths: Excellent Screen, good value, not loaded with a lot of useless software. No dead pixels.

  Weaknesses: Cumbersome remote control system, specs stated on Acer U.S. Web site are not completely correct. TV tuner didn't work.

  Overall: This is a well built notebook with a beautiful 17" screen. It is very bright with brilliant colors. It has lots of connections and just about every feature you could ask for. A lot of bang for the buck. However the TV tuner would not tune stations when I hooked it to my antenna. I took off the cover to the TV tuner card to find that the internal antenna wire was not connected. I hooked it up and now it works just fine. Another problem is that the specs on the Acer U.S. web site and the user manual on the notebook doesn't match what actually comes with it. The specs state that you get a standard and PC card size remote which work with the IR on the front panel of the notebook. What you actually get is one remote with a large USB IR receiver. Very cumbersome and not as neat as the package listed on the Web site. Acer customer service says that this is available on the Aspire 9502WSMi. Overall I'm very pleased with the Aspire 9504WSMi. Any other notebook with all these features would run about $2400-$2800.