Re: Acer Aspire 5652WLMI

Byron Hinson wrote:
Anyone got any views ont this laptop - the Acer Aspire 5652WLMI. Also
could anyone tell me if Tesco sell it - I know they do sell some Acer
laptops.

Hi Byron, I just bought an Acer Aspire 3610WMLI last week. Different model
but still an Acer Aspire range.

I am extremely happy with the build quality of this laptop. Its fairly
light, well made and has a good spec - obviously the model you want will
have a bigger spec.

I have a couple of gripes with it though. When you first switch on the
machine, you are prompted to create a restore DVD backup from a hidden
partition on the drive. I wanted to change the drives from FAT32 to NTFS so
I inserted my DVD restore disc that I created and sadly there was a missing
file. Because it had started the recovery process of copying files, it
actually rendered my current OS useless and it would not boot - I had to
temporarily resort to using a pirated copy of windows just to get the laptop
back to a usable state. They do say that you can restore from the hidden
partition by pressing alt+f10 on booting, but pressing those buttons did
nothing.
The other thing is that the hard drive came already partition with a C and D
drive - half the drive each. Both drives were formatted in FAT32. The
backups do not work if the D drive is in NTFS. This seems a rather bizarre
thing to have seeing as XP works more effectively in NTFS. If you wish to
use NTFS, then do not expect the restore disc to work as it will not.

The bottom line of it is - if you wish to use XP take the risks of the
restore DVD (which most manufacturers insist on nowadays) or do what I did
yesterday and go out and buy an OEM version of XP home/Pro

Naturally I have not had this laptop long, so I cannot speak for the
longevity of the machine, only how I feel the build quality to be so take
that into consideration too. I would also like to add that if you do need
to upgrade memory or hard drive, they are both very easy to get to - just
unscrew the flap underneath and they are right there in front of you. No
messing trying to get the keyboard on and off like other laptops.

The long and short of it is, if I wanted to buy a laptop again, at the
moment based on first impressions I would buy another Acer - I just know
myself not to trust the restore set that they provide.

BTW Comet sell Acers too.
http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/572_315052.html

Tesco do not have it on their website.


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