Tuesday, October 23, 2007

First Day Using the Improved Acer

Tuesday was the first day I only used my improved Acer C110. I did power up the Q1P but only to get a file that I needed to transfer to the Acer. Overall it went well. The biggest plus is the larger screen. Compared to the 7" screen of the Q1P, the 10" screen is huge. I can easily work in all my applications, never having to go to full screen mode. While the screen quality and brightness are not even in the same league as the Q1P, it worked fine. I was actually impressed using it this morning to read the New York Times via their reader software. With the brightness set at only 17 (on a scale of 20) and sitting right next to a window the viewing experience was quite pleasant. I even read in portrait mode which I never used to do as the view tended to bother my eyes. While it initially did bother me I decided to try it for the duration of the train ride and apparently I got used to it. This is good news for me as its much easier to hold the Acer in one hand in portrait mode rather than landscape mode.

Battery life is decent at about 1 hour and 45 minutes with screen brightness set at 17 and WIFI on. However, this morning I used the device on the train with WIFI off and had 29% battery capacity left after using it for at least an 1 1/2 hours.

At the desktop I am using the same setup as I used for the Q1P. I do have the Acer port replicator but now that I only have three hookups (power, USB and external monitor) the desk just seems less cluttered without the replicator. However that may change if I connect external speakers. The Acer speaker is no where near the quality of the Q1P. However, since I don't listen to audio much at my desktop I will probably keep the desk less cluttered without the speakers.

As for using the Tablet screen as opposed to the Q1Ps touch screen, I think it will take some time to get used to. Its strange to see the cursor move all over the place as I move the pen across the screen. It also seems a bit sensitive since if I leave the pen hovering above an object such as the minimize or close buttons it will engage them after just a few seconds without my even touching the screen.

I also updated two drivers, the Wacom driver and Intel graphics driver. Lastly, I went to the advanced controls for the microphone and enabled "microphone boost' which improved the performance of the microphone.

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