Any info on ACER TMC 204 TMI ( M-760 )?.

I ended up getting a toshiba in the end, I was worried about reliability and warranty of acer notebooks, otherwise I'd be all over this! I really like the specs (except the weight). If you end up getting it, let us know how you like it.

 

Found a first review of the acer c204 in an italian journal, though not the greatest here's the translation with google language tools
http://translate.google.com/transla...&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=/language_tools

Sounds like they were generally pleased with it, with their major concerns being the weight, viewing angle & wrist space

 

DR, Thanks for posting that link. Although the translation makes it a bit of rough read, we can all get a good general idea about what the author is trying to convey about the C204.

 

there's a kind of review on tabletpcbuzz.com its more of a user experience with the acer c204
http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=29215&whichpage=3

the posts are by TheJudge sorry the site doesn't have numbered posts so i can't link directly to the posts...but his two posts talk about what he found re the acer c204

Post 1
I received one unit from Acer for testing purposes. Pros were the relative speed working with it, performance in general and a good viewing angle, clear cons the short batterly life (roughly one hour with word processing setting and one battery), the reflexive display (don't try to write directly under a lamp) and an opening mechanism which seemed to lock up every second try. I had big hopes about the latter, but opening and closing this tablet was not as sturdy as it could have been.

Maybe i was just unlucky with the testing unit, but i'm seriously considering the C312 now.

Then I posted to TheJudge
I think your battery performance might have been due to the type of battery you had, the c204 model comes w/ two batteries a 3 cell & a 6 cell which should give a total of 5.5 hrs. I do agree however that having a 3 cell battery alone serves no purpose (only gives an hour & a half of charge), the c203 i think only comes with one battery, if that was the model you had its sounding like it had a 3 cell battery.

The Acer US site says that the c203 should come with a 6 cell battery giving 3.9 hours, really sounds like you had a 3 cell battery, which might have been used in the interest of weight. Who knows.

and later
To The Judge
What did you think about the lack of an arm wrest, how did it affect your typing? What did you think of writing on the screen, did it feel natural? was the stylus responsive? How did you find the ink recognition? Was the resolution of the screen sufficient?

can the screen sit at a 90 degree angle or is it only possible in the angle as seen in the press shots? What did you think of the angle for daily use & what kind of scenario's did you use the tablet in? Did you find the sliding mechanism practical? limiting?

& he replied in post 2
Arm wrest: I read some complaints about that in a german magazin, personally, it was no issue for me, i never use arm wrests while typing.
Ink: Because my old TC1000 is 100times slower than this Acer, my first experience while writing on it the C204 was fantastic
Only setback was the feel of the new pen, the TC1000 pen is much heavier and has a solid feel to it, the C204 pen feels..."cheap" somehow. I take it that recognition will be the same with all tablets, so i didnt test that.
Screen: Resolution was sufficient with 12,1 " and 1024x768, i connected an external 19" LCD and was happy to see that you can go much higher with the Gforce Card
Angle: It really is fix like on the screenshots. That wasn't an issue for me, but i hoped that the two rails provide a more secure feel while opening or closing the tablet. Maybe i'm spoiled by the TC1000.

I was searching for a powerful tablet for software development with a strong graphic engine and as an option the possibility to use it like my old TC1000 taking notes while carrying it around.
Speed: checked!
Graphics: checked!
Portability: way too heavy and clumsy while opening / closing

I think I will find a less expensive tablet which does exactly the same for me.

I suggest you try one out before you buy it for yourself. Strange that there is still no review available.

I hope copying & pasting of someone elses replies is allowed in the blogosphere If not i will stand corrected

 

Dear all,
Well, I have not received it yet. Supposedly I must be the first Spanish customer of the 204 TMI!. Although I going abroad next week, in case I receive it before that I will post my very first impressions of it.
Regards,
José.

 

Dear All,
I have just received the Acer C204 (I also bought the EDock so that I will order a bit of the cable mesh I have now). I have installed it, I have updated Windows and I am now in the process of installing the other programs I had in my (old now) notebook. My first impression is very good: highspeed, I like the response of the pen (although I have to get used to it), the wifi is working without any problem, the rate of transfering data from the optical disk to the hdd is much better than in my old laptop and the screen is perfect (a bit small but I knew that because I am going to use it with a 17" screen; I wanted 12" because I want to travel with it). It comes also with a screen protecting cloth.
That´s all by now.
Regards,
José.

 

Hi José,

That C204 sounds pretty cool. Keep us updated on your likes/dislikes!

Barry

 

Oh, I am so excited you have the C200. I'm so close to buying one myself. Here is what I would love to know.

1 - Keyboard
- How much kickback do the keys have. I like my keys stiff?
- What do you think about the lack of wrist rest?
2 - Display Cover
- Does the soft cloth cover do a good job. Does it fasten down?
3 - Weight
- Have you tried using the 3 cell battery and no-drive lite-weight configuration? Is it comfortable one armed?
4 - General Quality
- Does the unit feel solid or flimsy? How sturdy is the transition mechanism.
5 - Horsepower
- Can this unit handle Maya and other game development tools?

I've been starved for reviews and hands-on, so I hope you have the time to give us a quick review.

-thanks,
mauro

 

Awesome. First person I've heard to actually have one. Just a quick question, though: the C204 comes with a 6-cell and a 3-cell battery. Can you use both at the same time?

 

Dear All,

Well, nearly two days working with and checking the 204. First of all I am going to answer the questions raised by Mauro.

Q - How much kickback do the keys have.
A. I do not know what you mean exactly with the word 'kickback', but I like the keyboard and the feeling they give to me. As I told before, I want it for my desk and for travelling. In my desk I have an Acer LCD 17" screen and another "normal" keyboard so that I am not going to use the Acer keyboard very much. For travelling I think that the keyboard of the Acer is good (a bit small, but I wanted a small one).

Q - What do you think about the lack of wrist rest?.
A. I think I will get accustomed to it. Not very important for me (now, will see in the future when I use it more frequently).

Q - Does the soft cloth cover do a good job. Does it fasten down?.
A. Yes and no; yes. It is a bit complicated; the problem is that it is always there (you can remove if you want) but it does the job, I suppose that in the near future there will be a specific commercial cover which would do better that the one given by Acer.

Q - Have you tried using the 3 cell battery and no-drive lite-weight configuration? Is it comfortable one armed?.
A. It comes with two batteries and the optical drive can be removed very easily. Yes, it is confortable when armed. I have also ordered a battery which will be exchanged with the optical drive. Talking about weight, I will be able to bring it with me in my travels; I had a Fujitsu-Siemens laptop and I decided not to bring with me because of the weight and size.

Q - Does the unit feel solid or flimsy?.
A. Very solid.

Q - How sturdy is the transition mechanism.
A. It is very good at least till now. It is very easy and it seems hard enough.

Q - Horsepower. - Can this unit handle Maya and other game development tools?
A. I like Flight Simulator and one of the first thing I made was to install it (to see the horsepower, as you say). I have not checked it for much time, only to see how it handled it, and my first impresion is very good (for a laptop). I attained aprox. 20 fps with many things on. You know what you have, but I think it is reasobale good for what I have.


The question by Agent.
Q - the C204 comes with a 6-cell and a 3-cell battery. Can you use both at the same time?
A. No. But I ordered a new battery to install in place of the optical drive. That would be the best thing to do (you can go travelling with two batteries if you do not use the optical drive).


Other impresions I have.
- It comes with two partitions, I do not know why. They are FAT32 (I have changed them to NTFS).
- At the very beginning it recommends you to make a backup and I did it. It says that the backup is for 4 CDs or one DVD. I used the DVD and it was very quick. No problem with that. The optical drive works very well.
- The fingerprint password works very well. I do not know the real utility (you can use a password if you want) but it is quicker than keying the pwd.
- The wifi works perfect (I use a wifi network at home).
- The bluetooth works very well also. I have checked with my bluetooth GPS and it is perfect.
- The general speed is very good (I have to compare it with my old one, that´s the only reference I have).

My general impression: very good and I want what I was looking for.

Best regards,
José.