Acer 8371/3810 Owners Thread

[wiserommer]

got a few 3810s here....

 

[Tute]

This laptop is fabulous. 8.5 hours on a full charge. I bought my Macbook for battery life and whilst it's quite a bit faster than the Acer, I get 4-5 hours MAXIMUM.

 

[aaron_yume]

Help .. updated BIOS to 1.28 (from Acer) but fan is always on .. is there a better version for the 3810TG ?
Thanks
John

I haven't recieved my 3810TG yet but I was looking for a modded bios for it myself and came across this Patched BIOS for the 3810. I can't give a link to the site that linked to it though as they would be classed as a competitor.

 

[InQ]

I'd advised the sister in law to get the 8371 a few months ago although i dont recall what GFX option she went for (it was the 4Gb / 500Gb HDD / Vista version).
I was quite impressed with it when i had a little mess around with it (i was putting Win 7 on for her)!
Now i'm thinking of selling my highish end desktop and 24" Dell monitor and replacing it with the 8371 @ £360 or 3810TG @ £385 ish inc delivery (with 2.5% discount code and 2.5% Quidco) both with 4Gb RAM and 500Gb HDD.
I'd really like some gaming capability even though nowadays i dont game much at all so i'm drawn to the 3810TG with dual cards rather than the 8371 with onboard GFX but the question is how good is the screen on the 3810TG as its not matte like the 8371 i believe?

Hmmm its a tough choice, i'm not that bothered about HDMI and Win 7 (i have Win 7 Pro 64bit) but the GFX is an area for consideration for sure!
Has anyone compared both side by side?

 

[johnnyfinlandia]

Well I have the 3810 and the screen is fantastic .. but as you say shiny. I find these give the best clearest picture but my Lenovo works PC has matte and it is nice too.

I used to own an NC10 and that had a nice matte screen but I find (personally) the shiny ones are better albeit with reflection if you type against a window).

I haven't tried the graphics yet apart from streamed football (last night's Liverpool game - shocking - Hodgson away you go !!) and it seemed to make only a little difference. Going to try a few older games tonight and will update.

I wanted the HDMI and then optred for none (8371) but left it very very late and ended up just missing the 8371 and getting this but not regretted it.

The 8371 doesn't have a SIM slot behind the battery and I have ordered a WWAN for it (they both should have had free slots).

If anyone know how to fit the SIM with this non-SIM friendly model then please let me know as most forums add the WWAN card to the machine with some slit behind the battery which is already connected internally to the WWAN connector.

Also I will try that BIOS arron_yume thanks. If anyone knows a better one then great.

 

[InQ]

Thanks.
The wife has an NC10.....and yes Hodgson is rubbish, i'm a Blackburn fan and he was useless when he was here as well!

 

[ALD]

If anyone know how to fit the SIM with this non-SIM friendly model then please let me know as most forums add the WWAN card to the machine with some slit behind the battery which is already connected internally to the WWAN connector.

You sure the slot isnt hiding behind a small bit of black tape?

 

[e36Adz]

You sure the slot isnt hiding behind a small bit of black tape?

It is indeed under some black tape, underneath the battery.

INSTALLING A 3G MODEM

Also the laptop is ready for a 3g modem. It all ready has a sim card slot in the case. If you remove the battery and then look to the left of the battery connection on the laptop you will see a black sticker covering something. If you remove this black sticker it will reveal a fully functional sim card slot. You can insert a sim and remove. Now this doesnt give you 3g. All you need to add a 3g modem into the laptop is purchase a 3g wwan pcie card like this :

And plug it in to the slot in the top right (you can see the slot in the first picture I posted. Top right of picture). They cost ab

 

[iMacMart]

Can someone ping me a trust on best price on the 3810TG please?

Ta

EDIT: Found the LX.PE702.016 for £398.29 that sound good?

 

[johnnyfinlandia]

Wahey .. I must be blind but that black sticker is VERY VERY difficult to see but I found it and indeed the slot is there SO I am just waiting for the WWAN from China. THANKS !!!!!!

Installed the new BIOS and it seems OK.

I Think £398 is the cheapest - it has gone up from £389 that I paid with VAT increase

 

[chrismscotland]

Wahey .. I must be blind but that black sticker is VERY VERY difficult to see but I found it and indeed the slot is there SO I am just waiting for the WWAN from China. THANKS !!!!!!

Installed the new BIOS and it seems OK.

I Think £398 is the cheapest - it has gone up from £389 that I paid with VAT increase

Are you going to install an antenna or use one of the WLAN antenna?

 

[johnnyfinlandia]

Good question .. I have an old antenna (says Apple) which I added and then removed from my UL30 .. that might work or will wait to see what comes with the WWAN card.

.. Nothing apart from about 7 micro screw which didn't fit .. so used one off the WiFi card (so it now has 1) .. anyone know where to get more of these mini screws ? (HDD screws don't fit).

 

[InQ]

Can someone ping me a trust on best price on the 3810TG please?

Ta

EDIT: Found the LX.PE702.016 for £398.29 that sound good?

I've ordered the 3810TG from the same place and an external DVDRW/BD-ROM for £63 from our favourite auction site.

Use 2.5% discount code as well - MYVWIN25
QuidCo gives 1.5%...better than nothing!

 

[iMacMart]

Nice one thanks

 

[chrismscotland]

Good question .. I have an old antenna (says Apple) which I added and then removed from my UL30 .. that might work or will wait to see what comes with the WWAN card.

I remember reading earlier in the thread that its possible to install an antenna by dismantling basically everything to install it behind the screen or by disconnecting an antenna from the WLAN card and using that, I was worried this might reduce the standard of the WLAN signal but maybe not.

 

[faraday]

WWAN Installation

I've added a Sierra MC8781 WWAN card to my 8371, however after installing the Sierra drivers there is no indication that the card is present. Has anyone successfully installed a Sierra (or any other, for that matter) WWAN card? Does the Insyde BIOS require modification, i.e. does it have a whitelist?

 

[johnnyfinlandia]

Well I bought an "Unlocked SIERRA MC8775 HP HS2300 HSDPA" and still waiting on it from China or Hong Kong .. did say a few weeks

I read in this or another forum you had to select it somehow. What did you do to the aerial as some place said you just had to put it underneath the new card. I will try and dig out the text.

Here
http://forum.notebookreview.com/networking-wireless/432371-3g-wwan-antenna.html
So chrismscotland you might be right about using one of the available WiFi antennas as I don't fancy messing about opening the LCD

Also I have having fun trying to prise the keyboard away .. 5 little plastic catches which I don't want to damage so using a credit card but don't seem to be able to pop (lifting the keyboard carefully as I try but still no joy - can't hear that click open).

Found this
http://notebooks.bigresource.com/Ac...esting-tidbits-with-the-machine-hUMNB7F2.html
which says you have to start with the middle 1 of 5 and work outwards .. I will try when I eventually get the WWAN card.
Faraday how did you remove the keyboard ?

 

[faraday]

The keyboard is removed by pushing the 5 latches to the rear and simultaneously lifting the keyboard. Not very difficult; see http://www.acerlaptoprepairs.info/

I bought a pair of WWAN antennas; one of which I've had to fit at the front left due to its size and the other under the LCD bezel at the top right. Cable routing is easy as there is a spare channel for it.

Any help with getting the WWAN card to work still gratefully received

 

[johnnyfinlandia]

Faraday .. yes after clicking and lifting with 2 credit cards .. dead easy Thanks!

Didn't see spare WiFI antenna just 2 connected already one black and one white on left hand side and the spare WWAN slot waiting for a card under the thin gauze on the right

Read a few forums on the WWAN issues and some say that you might need to install an older version of the WWAN card drivers. Also I think yours has the GPS built in whereas mine doesn't. A lot of the disussions were from the US but some UK

http://forum.notebookreview.com/networking-wireless/432371-3g-wwan-antenna.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/networking-wireless/453901-huawei-em770w-wwan-settings.html

(sorry for so many notebookreview comments but only ones I could find with google at the mo).

 

[Culinia]

I just removed those horrible Intel Centrino/Windows/ATI graphics stickers from my machine. Now it's left some horrible sticky residue - does anyone know how to remove this effectively without damaging it!? Thanks

I better see if I can remove it first before I try to remove the massive travelmate stickers on the left lol!