Did I buy the wrong laptop?

General Forums Off-topic Chat
1

hi,
I just bought an Acer Inspire 5735z:

Summary

Product Name
Aspire 5735
Operating System
Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium , Service Pack 1
System Type
32-bit OS
Processor
Intel® Pentium® Dual CPU T3200 @ 2.00GHz
System Memory
2048 MB
Hard Drive
Hitachi HTS543225L9A300 ATA Device, 232.88 GB
Video
Mobile Intel® 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio
Monitor
15.6" HD Acer LCD

Ha, 32 bit Vista?
Ripped off!
Surely this is a 64 bit capable system?
Where is my 64 bit Windows!

There has been 1 benefit, I can use all my 32 bit programs.
Is the system not running to it’s full capacity?

The computer was expensive.
Should I risk duel boot to use the system to it’s fullest?
I have a Kubuntu 64 live cd. Can/Should I try it out?
I need to learn Vista, as my children have 3 Vista computers.

Ahhh, Widescreen, soo much wasted space.
lol, I’ll learn to live with that but the height is quite vertically challenged.

DOH! Intel Graphics. WTF did I do that for.:mad:
Did I secretly believe I would be immune to the problems so many post?
Well, I knew the risks, now I pay the price.

Blender is not happy.
With Aero turned ON:
Black Ghosts under the menu’s, in some cases the menu background is the splash screen, kinda cool, but obviously not the desired result.
Press Render in window, :frowning: the screen is black until the render is finished.
No good at all. Render in Image Editor, great, I can view rendering progress.
So That’s my work around, set up a Windows Layout, Full screen Image Editor,
use this for rendering.
Looks like I’ll have to live with the dodgy menus.
here,s why>
Turn Aero Off:
With Aero Turned off, Blender is completely unusable for me.
If you render in window, then close the render window,
nothing redraws & Blender is unusable.
View the console on top of Blender, then minimize the console.
nothing redraws & Blender is unusable.
I have tested 8 builds with the same problem.

Ahh well, I’ll have to live with it now.
Any suggestions/comments welcome.

2

I’d install Ubuntu 64 (or Kubuntu) using WUBI. That is the easiest way to check out a fully installed version of Linux without repartitioning.

I bought my machine from HP and the Vista license is good for 32 and 64 bit. I called them and they sent me the recovery disks for Vista 64. I wonder if Acer will do the same?

3

Well, depends on what you plan to do with your notebook to answer your initial question :smiley:

First off, you dont need a 64bit OS. You only have 2GiB of RAM, so there is no need for 64bit at all and the performance improvement is marginal.

As for the Intel graphics… its a PITA atm… nvidia mobiles are supposed to burn out, intels are no good at all and ati… well. choose the lesser of 3 evils :smiley:

I ordered a Dell Subnotebook last week, i give the GeForce 8xxxM series a chance. But i chose a 45nm dualcore and 4GiB ram… Dell offers Notebooks with 4GiB ram, with no 64 bit system, not even as option in the configurator. Maybe because they have a special offer again with 1GiB free. At least you can downgrade from vista to xp :wink:
I mostly need the Notebook for hacking, but wanted the machine also to be capable of some blending if my workstation is out of reach :smiley: I will write a small review on my notebook along with blender then.(“then” is in half a year or so when dell deceides to send it… lol)

Personally i disliked widescreens a long time too. My main is still a 4:3 screen but the additional screens are wide. I think i will change my main for a 24" 1920x1200 wide soon. It´s just so much more comfy to work once you are used to it… and blender 2.5 will benefit from your wide :wink:

Buying a notebook is a ritual, if you configure it yourself and not just grab one at the next electronic market, so who is to judge if the system is good if you tailor it on your own needs…
my 2 cents…

4

Hi,
Philbo, good Idea, I will contact acer,
I have 5 acer laptops, so acer should help.

Arexma, thanks for the great reply.
Basically, this computer is an upgrade from my acer inspire 3610.
I need a spare laptop for when my kids acer inspire 5920 need maintenance.
(the 5920 has proved to be a troublesome comp, all 3 of them (2nd return in progress).)
The kids get the old 3610 as the spare.
The main use for me is Internet, as this comp has more power,
extending it for multimedia programs will be important too.
Blender will also play a big role in use, I have a Blender dedicated Desktop (non Internet by choice),
so whilst not primary, it can be tiring transferring files to & fro for quick tests & what not.

There is a spare Ram slot, so another 2 gig could be added.
But reality says you are right.
My next Comp purchase is penciled in for December…saving…saving…
so I will just have to configure this comp as best I can.
I guess I should be thankful I have Blender in a working state.

off topicish, Gimp 2.6.2 looks quite sexy in full screen!

Thanks for the replys.

5

Ahhh, Widescreen, soo much wasted space.
lol, I’ll learn to live with that but the height is quite vertically challenged.

Try using a tiling WM, no title bars+minimal borders+no taskbar/pannles+none overlaping windows = soooooo much more screen space available for use, instead of just looking ‘pritty’.

Pearsonally I much prefer widescreen, you can have more vertical splits in blender before you end up having to pan arround a lot.

6

I work on an Acer laptop too. Most of your issues sound like opengl problems I download some graphics drivers a while back the sorted out most problems. The biggest I had was blender crushing everytime I resized a brush while sculpting when I pressed the f key. but that render window issue is still around i usually just minimise it and carry one with my work also I can’t see any curves on any widget that uses curves ege lights falloff curves, sculpting brushes and colour curves but all these are graphic driver problems not vista problems I have had similar issues on xp laptops with intel graphics chips.

7

No use. Even VISTA would have been ok, if t weren’t for your Intel Video Card. :yes:

8

Well, ripped off, ripoofff VISTA by formatting and install sometin else

9 
 Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual  CPU  T3200  @ 2.00GHz

i don’t think this is a 64bit processor…

10

Thinking is for philosophers,
believing is for priests
and technicians know ^^

The T3200 is a downcut C2D (which are all 64bit)
It has just 1MiB cache and there is no real T3200 from intel.
There are several CPUs listed under this name with different FSB, TDP and MULTI from different Notebook manufacturers…

11

I am getting used to the wide screen.
I will just have to live with the Blender problems for now.
More tricks like the unusable office suite.
vista is just xp with bling.
the speed up the more powerful computer is offering is good.
So I am reasonably happy.
Installed Gimp, Open Office, basic tools so far.
Thanks for the info.

12

That´s a common misbelief.
This topic would hijack the thread totally, but vista is completely different under the hood. The “highlight” is that vista is the first MS OS that really has a seperated kernel and userpace (which causes the problems with the Creative Soundcard drivers for instance)
You can also see it, if you check the common cores of the MS OS:
WinXP is “standalone”
WinXP64 <-> Win2003Server
WinVista <-> Win2008Server

I´d say vista is something like a big beta, usability and customer acceptance test for windows7 :slight_smile: