Hey guys, I’ve had a new toy to play with these days, an 11.6 inch Acer 1825PT.
I’ve been eager to get one of these ever since I’ve first seen them a couple of months ago and when they became available in my country, i finally did. Of course, i went for the best equipped version, with SU7300 dual core processor, 4 GB of memory, 320 GB hard-drive, 6 Cell battery and Windows 7 Home Premium.
And although I was reluctant to buy an Acer device , the idea of having an 11.6 incher with a capacitive convertible display for a decent price was stronger.
In these rows below you’re going to see a couple of pictures of the device (I have the black version, but it’s also available in red), but first take a look at the video mini-review I’ve shot earlier today.
As you’ve seen in the clip, the device is pretty much great for the money, however in terms of aesthetics, finishing and attention to those tiny details that matter so much… well, it remains an Acer. But, although my first impression when i got it out of the box was: “Crap, i can’t believe I’ve bought this”, a couple of hours later I was convinced I made a good choice. And I still am.
I’ve decided not to post a more thorough review as this product is only available in Europe and might not interest the majority of you guys. However, I will post the Pros and Cons below.
Pros:
- powerful enough for what i need: dual-core SU7300 processor, 4 GB of memory, Intel 4500HD graphics
- display is very good: multitouch capacitive 11.6 inch display, 1366 x 768 px resolution
- connectivity is good: Wi-Fi N and Bluetooth 2.0
- 320 GB hard-drive
- 6 cell battery capable of around 4-6 hours of life during everyday use, based on what you do with it
- Windows 7 Home Premium OS by default
- doesn’t get too warm or noisy even if used for hours
Cons:
- keybord is good but there’s just too little space between the keys; trackpad is very cramped but you won’t use it too much anyway
- display’s hinge doesn’t look that solid
- it’s an Acer, so attention to details is so so. Biggest issue is that when in tablet mode, the screen does not stay firmly in place and kind of wobbles
- device is glossy so the exterior is already scratched, plus it catches fingerprints like crazy
- speakers are on the bottom of the device and pointing downwards. Plus, volume is pretty low so if you plan to use them in more noisy environments, you won’t be satisfied at all with them.
All in all, after having this machine for around 6 months now, i can say I’m satisfied with it. It is powerful enough for my everyday tasks and decently built. Now, the touchscreen is for sure its biggest asset and it works very nice. I’m also satisfied with how reliable the device is, although the hinge that holds the screen in place did become more loose than it was in the beginning.
However, I’m sure that for its money, this is the best tablet netbook you could get: portable, powerful and with a touch display. Oh and since I have it, I’ve managed to discover the value of having a touch display on one of these mini laptops. And I can say I wouldn’t buy one without this feature anymore.
Also check the pictures below.
rube
May 29, 2010 at 4:26 pm
can you have a chart showing the specs for this tablet compared to tm2 and Asus T101mt?
Any news on the new tm2
Which country do you live in?
Andrei Girbea
May 30, 2010 at 3:37 am
Rube, i will make a quick post comparing the specs of the two. And no news on that new TM2 for now
hazim
May 30, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Nice device , good review
is this device uses wacom technology for pen input?
thanks
acer1825fan
June 4, 2010 at 8:15 pm
“is this device uses wacom technology for pen input?”
I think the answer will be no. this device is equipped with a capacitive screen. and as you can see in the review, there is no stylus.
acer1825fan
June 4, 2010 at 8:41 pm
hi,Mike,thanks for your great review. as you know, acer 1825p has its pros and cons comparing to asus t101mt, e.g. it has a more powerful ULV CPU(and GPU too), a higher resolution and more responsive touch screen, but it’s much heavier and doesn’t support pen writing(which means you can’t take notes with it). so, if you have a small budget, what’s your choice between 1825 and t101mt?
Andrei Girbea
June 5, 2010 at 5:01 am
Actually, I would definitely choose the Acer. It’s not a lot heavier, in real life you won’t really feel that difference too much. Also I am not using it at all for pen writing, so that doesn’t bother me.
However, i just found the t101MT unusable for my taste. It was sluggish to annoyingly sluggish sometimes , while the ULV on the Acer performs way way better (it’s just the difference between unusable and usable). And while the Asus is way more solid built, I would still go for the 1825PT from the two, that’s for sure.
acer1825fan
June 5, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Mike,thank you very much for your advice! in fact, after seeing your post, i was so conviced that I immediately ordered an acer 1825ptz from a web store, hehe
Andrei Girbea
June 6, 2010 at 10:03 am
cool. if you have time, let me know what you think of it once you get it 😛
acer1825fan
June 9, 2010 at 8:56 pm
hello, Mike! I just received my 1825ptz yesterday afternoon. I took several hours examining it. Much to my surprise, the whole keyboard and touchpad area is apparently uneven, with its right side a bit higher than its left side. If you brush your fingers across the touchpad from right to left, you’ll get an obvious feeling of “going downward”. I consulted the web shop which I bought it from, but got an answer like this “it is normal”. is it normal with the one you’ve got?
Andrei Girbea
June 10, 2010 at 12:38 am
Hmmm, no. Definitely i don’t have any problem with the touchscreen, it never fails to work…
As for the keyboard and trackpad, i cannot say their are uneven. How did you determine that? The keys on the keyboard are a little bit flexxy but overall the entire chasis is pretty much flat… I believe there’s kind of a problem with your unit, you should return it to the store.
acer1825fan
June 10, 2010 at 12:12 am
there is something else. sometimes, the touch screen suddenly fails to respond, but will go back to normal after restarting. wonder if such a problem ever happens on your device?
acer1825fan
June 10, 2010 at 2:30 am
That’s what I think too I should do, thank you so much, Mike. 🙂
Rob
June 10, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Thanks for the review Mike. Where did you purchase it from? I’m having trouble finding any online retailers (Asia preferably) who have this unit for sale.
Andrei Girbea
June 11, 2010 at 7:55 am
Well, it is available in Europe for some time. Check Amazon.de for instance, but i don’t know if they ship to Asia…
Johnson
June 12, 2010 at 3:52 am
Hi Mike, I’m planning to buy a nervertible soon. I wanted to know the battery life of this Acer 1825PT. And also whether it supports HD playback. I think to should be fine with 720p.
acer1825fan
June 13, 2010 at 10:39 pm
Thanks to the ULV CPU built inside it, the acer 1825ptz is made able to provide a fairly good performance while at the same time keep the battery consuming really low. In fact, I’m pretty impressed with the battery endurance this unit can provide, with about 6 hours’ intense using(two 720p online movies playback, and about 1 hour web game)
720p is just a piece of cake for this unit. Due to the intel 4500mhd GPU it can play 1080p without difficulty
Ray
June 18, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Hi Mike, A fantastic review. I was looking at the iPad and playe dwith one in the store. Really do like it; screen, touch, interface etc. But it doesn’t support full web browsering eg BBC News videos etc. So thinking if and when will a ‘pc/window’ version come out? Looked at Android and UI look cool, but after coming across the Acer 1825PT then your review Ithink this is what I am looking for. I have a Nokia N900 which is one hell of a Smartphone, no infact a mini pc in a phone body it is fantastic. So is the Acer better than the iPad? I suppoe I would love a Nokia N900 in the size of an iPad, but this Acer is of real interest. Thank you again for the review.
Ray
June 18, 2010 at 7:09 pm
PS: I have been considering the HP TM models for a while also. Do you have the Acer 1825PT vs HP TM2 review yet?
Andrei Girbea
June 27, 2010 at 9:17 pm
well, i did not write any review on these two, but. Here are my coins on them. The acer is lighter and smaller and cheaper. The HP on the other side will come with core i3/i5 hardware so will be faster , is heavier (12 incher, while the acer is an 11.6 incher). Also, the HP is somewhat better built. Overall though, i chose the acer, because I travel a lot and like my computer to be as light as possible. Also, the Acer was around 200 bucks less expensive…
Ady Moldo
June 20, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Hi Mike, I want to buy the Acer Aspire 1825PT-734G32n but I’m not sure yet. I saw a review of hp touchsmart tm2t, and the stylus with the proximity sensor was a really great feature. I know Acer doesn’t come with one in the box.
If a buy a stylus for the Acer will it have that proximity feature? At least will it be accurate enough to use it to take notes for example?
Andrei Girbea
June 27, 2010 at 9:21 pm
yes, it will. However be aware that the acer can’t recognize your palm so you can’t use it to write like on a regular piece of paper. That means you’ll have to write with the pen without touching the screen with anything else.
sorbos
July 9, 2010 at 1:42 am
Hi Mike, great review thx. Did you tested the HDMI connection. I want to use the acer as touchpanel interface for an audio program called album player, but then the hdmi must support audio throughput (so my receiver can pick up the digital signal via hdmi). No S/PDIF so I think this HDMI port should support digital audio? Unfortunatelu this is with computers not always the case.
Andrei Girbea
July 9, 2010 at 5:13 am
Not yet actually. But i will soon and let you know. However, HDMI standard does support audio by default, it’s part of the definition, so i see no reason why it wouldn’t. On what computers did you find HDMI with no audio?
sorbos
July 9, 2010 at 8:50 am
Hi Mike, thx for your quick reply. I must say the hdmi without audio I’ve seen was on video cards with hdmi output.
Wally
July 17, 2010 at 9:13 pm
just wanted to thank you for taking the time to do the review. It is what I was looking for now to try and find a 1825 here in the USA,
rich
September 2, 2010 at 9:45 am
Hey, i just got a new acer 1825 ptz and i’ve been loving it so far. any known issues with this system? do you think the screen will go away after a few months? it’s quite vulnerable being twisted and all..
Andrei Girbea
September 2, 2010 at 9:54 am
Hey Rich. I had mine for 4-5 months, I use it often and it is fine. As expected, that hinge gets looser in time… Also, I end up frustrated with those speakers, they are some of the worst I’ve seen. Volume is poor and they are also faced downwards so especially when trying to watch some clips on youtube, I’m having a hard time understanding anything if for instance my AC is turned on (thus there’s some noise in the room).
But hey, no device is perfect…
Rich
September 12, 2010 at 2:58 pm
@Mike, True. Worst speakers ever. Sounds like mice talking in the darkness. lol! I had a toshiba before and the audio was perfect. But not this one, had to use some portable speakers to feel its alive. anyway, thanks..happy with this one so far. 🙂
Peter
November 15, 2010 at 8:57 am
Mike (anyone),
Help….I bought the netbook last week. Having problems with teh touchscreen. Works fine when I use my vinger but the problem is that I can not find a way to use the touchscreen with a Stylus pen???? I checked the settings but???
Do you have to use a special pen for it. There was no pen in the box!
Hope anyone can help me out with this.
Peter, The Netherlands
Andrei Girbea
November 15, 2010 at 9:19 am
Peter, because it has a capacitive display, it will only work with special capacitive pens. So, a standard Stylus will not work with it. And yes, there is not pen in the box, capacitive devices usually lack those. Go search online for a decent one, should cost around 10-15 euro. Still, don’t expect to use this for inking a lot. Like I said in my clip, it lacks palm rejection support, so writing on it won’t be a very pleasant experience.
mohsen
November 18, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Thanks,that’s a great review.I really enjoyed reading it and watching the video.
Well done man!
ashley
January 16, 2011 at 9:43 pm
The review was very interesting. I also want to buy the acer 1825pt online but I don’t know which website sells it for a low price. Where did you get yours from? Can you give me some suggestions? Thank you.
Andrei Girbea
January 23, 2011 at 7:37 am
It sells in most European countries
april
January 16, 2011 at 10:02 pm
I loved the review. i seriously want on now. I want to buy it online but I don’t know which websites have it. Got any suggestions? By the way I live in the US so that is why I am having trouble finding them. Thanks.
Zsolt
February 7, 2011 at 5:48 am
Hi, do you know the difference between PT and PTZ? Did you try booth? What About the screen hinge, still getting looser and looser, what do you think life time of that hinge?
Thanks
Andrei Girbea
February 8, 2011 at 3:14 am
PT is the top version with Su7300 and 4 GB of ram while PTZ comes with Su4100 and 2 GB of ram, if not mistaken .
Hinge is OK till now and the device is almost 9 months old and been using it daily. So not that bad. I feared it would get loose, but it actually didn’t
Zsolt
February 7, 2011 at 5:50 am
Also didnt you try matt screenprotector?
Andrei Girbea
February 8, 2011 at 3:15 am
NO, i haven’t . Not sure if or how it will affect touch sensitivity…
Zsolt
February 9, 2011 at 4:57 am
The touch sensitivity shold be ok, I use my Dell streak with cheap mat screenprotector and there is no difference. I have seen glossy laptop with matt protector and good to put on even if you cant do without bubles. If switched on not visible but less brightness saves a lot of battery.
Do you know the size of the hard disk? I mean the phisycal size. I would like to upgrade to ssd and would like to order with the laptop.
Andrei Girbea
February 9, 2011 at 8:18 am
it’s s standard 2.5″ hard-drive so any 2.5″ SSD should work. I thought about upgrading mine with an SSD as well but I’m actually considering now replacing this one with a X201t or anything else that might pop out with swiveling display and more powerful hardware.
Zsolt
February 9, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Ohh, I just ordered my perfect solution and you found other perfect solution 🙂 so I had to search some reason why is 1825PTZ better :)))
– smaller (same batery time needs the extra big battery for lenovo that adds samo extra weight too
– cheaper (512GBP<1600(with ssd etc))
– I am not sure the screen ,if wacom system than not finger touch , need the stylus
-I wouldnt use much bec dangerous to travel with 1600worth laptop 🙂
But I am curious what come out in spring
Stylo
February 11, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Hi Mike !
First, i wish to thank you for your blog and your test.
Actually, you convinced me to buy this great netbook.
I first bought an asus 1015pn but your test (really) convinced me to sell it (after less than one week of use) and to buy this one.
Im very satisfied and all and i have a few questions :
-The hinge. In your comments, sometimes you say it get loose, sometimes not. Whats your opinion after months of use ?
-The display on portrait mode. I noticed that in portrait mode, colors (or contrast, i dont know exactly) change a few. it even become unpleasant to use. Do you have the same problem ?
Many thanx again Mike.
Andrei Girbea
February 12, 2011 at 2:34 am
Stylo, i initially expected the hinge to get loose in time but it actually didn’t. it’s the same as it was when new after 9 months of use.
As for the problem with the screen, that happens with all such LCD displays found on laptops. Not really something you can do here. I for one rarely use it in Portrait and got passed this issue
Stylo
February 12, 2011 at 5:08 am
Spaciba.
Its ok then.
Thanx again for your work
And if you come in paris, please send me a mail.
I would be very pleased to take a drink with you.
Jeni
February 12, 2011 at 5:45 am
Hi,
Fantastic information – all of us who know very little really appreciate you guys out there!
I have a question though – I have bought an 1825 and was told it had a sim capability. There appears to be a port underneath the battery holder. From what my son and I can find out, there is 3g microsim technology out there now but our phone sims do not fit.
The question is: is there an antenna inside the 1825 to access dongle free 3G? Do we need a micro sim adaptor for the USB port? No one has raised this question. We think this may be the way all laptops will go in the future and would like this facility. Do we keep this or try to find one with true 3g capability?
Can anyone help with this as we have 12 days to return the 1825.
Many thanks – Jeni
Andrei Girbea
February 12, 2011 at 5:17 pm
mine doesn’t have 3G integrated. there is a space where there should be a SIM reader behind the battery, but on mine it’s a dummy, not the actual reader.
Can’t say for sure on yours, perhaps ypu should ask someone adviced to actually take a loook at your particular model .
Anyway, you can use an USB 3G dongle you get from most carriers. But that’s for sure not as convenient as actually having the SIM reader integrated 🙁
Zsolt
February 14, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Mine just arrived. Everythig is ok and I love it except the back of the display little bit archy and doesnt allow fully sits on place in tablet mode. The other thing I can find out yet how will I swapp the hard disk because doesnt look that simple as my old hp, is there any practice with this?
JLLL
February 16, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Hi, your review helped me decide, and I bought it! well, the 1825PTZ I’m pretty happy with my 1825ptz but I don’t know about charging time. It now takes 3h20min to charge from 10 to 100% battery when not in use, over 4h when in use. Acer customer service says it’s normal, but another 6-cell acer laptop at the office only takes 1h10 min to charge from 35% to 100, even when in use.
How long does your 1825 take to charge? Just so I know… TIA!
Andrei Girbea
February 16, 2011 at 8:31 pm
Ahh, never actually timed how long it takes, but i’d say around a couple of hours. So probably the same as yours does.
The thing with batteries is that if producers choose to use higher capacity chargers, they will charge faster but might loose their properties faster in time. If it takes longer to charge, they’ll lat longer in time. Take it with Sony for instance, they used to have problems with batteries exploding after a couple of months and since then they use very slow chargers, but their devices are now safer.
JLLL
February 22, 2011 at 11:44 am
thanks Mike for the answer!
Here’re my 2 cents after using it for a month (1825 PTZ with upgrade to 8gig of DDR3, had 2gigs to start with)
The good:
– it can handle everything I need it for. I use it both for work and leisure and it hasn’t failed me. Of course, I don’t play games or do edit large images with it…
– lightweight and a great compromise between tablet and laptop – everything in one unit
– good battery life. I hardly get the 8hours but that’s because I like a bright screen and work with videos, but I’ve never had to stop working because of that..
– responsive touchscreen, great for surfing the web on the couch
– HDMI sound when connected to the telly, waaaaaaaay easier than all I used before…
– a happy owner ^^
The bad:
– When I use headphones, I can hear noises when the hard drive is spinning. Now I just use my bluetooth headset or I connect the headset to the audio out of my external screen, connected in HDMI. Maybe just a problem with my unit.
– Took some time to find how to get HDMI to display fullscreen, I had black borders, just go to Intel Graphic control panel, General Settings, select your HD TV/monitor and set Horizontal & Vertical scaling to Scaling to 100. But that’s maybe User error ^^
– inking on the device is OK, not great, but make sure you have a good quality capacitive stylus (I have one by Griffin, same as boxwave, works fine). Don’t expect to make precise sketches though, or to trace something. Also, as Mike said, no palm rejection…
– speakers are crap indeed, had Harman Kardon speakers on previous notebook so I can notice the difference but I don’t work much with sound so it’s a minor bummer;
Overall, I really recommend it. I just wish there was some kind of dualboot allowing to run Android when I just want to browse the web or use it as a tablet only. Maybe I’ll try that later..
Andrei Girbea
February 22, 2011 at 11:49 am
Thanks JLLL, your feedback will for sure help others looking to buy such a device in the future.
I personally haven’t spot that problem with headphones, but I agree with all the other things you said. Overall, the 1925PT is a good bundle for the money and has been the best tablet pc you can get in this class for a while. But has its flaws of course.
Zsolt
February 22, 2011 at 12:14 pm
I just upgraded 8gig + 256 SSD (ssd needs an intel RST upgrade)
Woooow, now this is my dream machine 🙂
Oh plus an anti glare,anti fingerprint screenprotector.
All together 900GBP, if you want buy similar machine cost ~1500.
Plus my PTZ has got an U7300proc not a 4100.
Andrei Girbea
February 22, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Mine has a SU7300 as well. Here the PTZ goes with Su4100 and the PT with Su7300, but I guess that depends from country to country.
Anyway, that 256 GB SSD sounds really nice (and expensive) . Like I said, I planned on upgrading myself but didn’t quite found the time for it (or the budget). As for memory, never really felt I needed more than 4 Gigs. What apps do you run so you need those 8 GBs?
JLLL
February 22, 2011 at 1:12 pm
wow.. SSD… that’ll be for later ^^ I got 8gig upgrade from work, it was a good deal that’s why I went for it, though I agree 4gig’s probably enough.
Zsolt, where did you get your screen protector?
Zsolt
February 22, 2011 at 1:15 pm
There is no spec apps(live movie maker maybe more smooth). I just had a budget for 13incs Macbook air, but I just can give my money for it 🙂 and 4gig cost 30 bugs so bigger is better 🙂 the ssd upgrade takes half hour with Acronis clone soft(hardware work included). 256 Gb ssd 350GBP from ebuyer and makes huge diference. After two days usage you will feel computers with hdd is mediocre. I have put ssd in my desktop too, when I try to reach hdds and have to wait for spinning up i go and make a tea 🙂
Zsolt
February 22, 2011 at 3:29 pm
Mine is from ebay, for 6GBP but I cant find now same brand.
Ken
April 17, 2011 at 12:48 am
This is has to be one of the most informarive sites about the 1825.
Thanks!
Have been thinking of buying one for months….
Have you managed to run any decent games on it?
I know it’s not a gaming laptop and only has an intel GPU, but was hoping to run some older games ( e.g. Half Life 2)
Mike
April 17, 2011 at 8:55 pm
haven’t tried any games at all on it Ken but overall the laptop is solid, i’ve been using it daily for the last 11 months and it hasn’t failed me. Not sure if it would be a good buy right now though, there’s probably a version with Sandy Bridge ulv hardware on its way in the next months
Stratman
April 26, 2011 at 4:28 pm
Hi Mike,
Love your excellent review of the Acer Aspire 1825PT. I’m from Malaysia btw.
I bought one on June 2010 as I wanted a smaller sub-notebook and to replace my aging 14″ Asus A8He (Pentium Dual Core T2130) and wanted to move up to Win 7 64-bit (the Intel T2130 processor isn’t 64-bit capable). I didn’t like netbooks because they’re vastly underpowered for tasks like photo processing.
Originally I was eyeing the Asus 13″ UL30VT but the salesman convinced me to choose between the Acer Ferrari One and the Aspire 1825PTZ (the PT version is not available in my country). The 1825PTZ comes with an Intel SU4100 ULV processor, 2GB of DDR3 RAM and 320GB Seagate 5,400rpm HDD. This contrasts with the 1825PT for the European market, which sported the Intel SU7300 (with a 3GB L2 cache vs 2GB) , 3GB RAM and 250GB HDD installed. Both processors run at 1.3GHz, btw.
I added an extra 2GB RAM, making the total memory to 4GB with 2x 2GB memory chips. I paid the equivalent of USD800 for the Acer 1825PTZ, which is considered pricey for a sub-notebook. The vendor installed an A-Data 2GB RAM chip, which caused BSODs on the second day of using it. I took it back to the seller and he replaced the incompatible (or perhaps defective) DDR3 SO-DIMM with another brand. My 1825PTZ worked fine after that.
A month later I found that the 11.6″ screen was too small for serious use, so I bought a 14″ Asus UL80Vt as my primary laptop. I decided to go for the UL80Vt instead of the smaller UL30Vt, which lacked an optical drive (it can come in handy when the need arises). But that’s a different story, so I won’t go there.
In practice, I rarely use the 1825PTZ in the tablet configuration as I type more than I browse. It’s still a boon for reading and casual browsing, btw. I found out that with a Sensonic notebook stand I could fold the Acer to its tablet mode and plug an external Sensonic USB keyboard for typing, but later found out that it was just impractical and made my backpack heavier still.
I spend a lot of time at my regular Starbucks outlet and to this day I have never seen anyone with an Aspire 1825PTZ. The notebook drew plenty of curious stares from people around me.
After almost a year of ownership, I’d like to share my thoughts on this nifty model. It seems that the 1825PTZ is rare as hen’s teeth in Malaysia and I’ve read about people desperately seeking one. As of 2011, this model has been discontinued by Acer Malaysia. It seems that the 1825PTZ wasn’t selling that well (probably due to to its high price/performance ratio), therefore Acer Malaysia dropped it from its lineup. Today, it’s either their Atom-based notebook or the Aspire/Timeline X/TravelMate models.
Understandably, Acer has decided to drop the convertible sub-notebook concept for its newest Iconia line, which is more of a tablet concept (a’la iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab) than a convertible sub-notebook. That said, even the 13.3″ Timeline X models have been dropped from the market as well. Therefore Acer’s smallest non-netbook screen size is now 14″.
You are right in saying that the glossy cover is a scratch magnet, but I’ve taken measures to protect its surface with a clear LCD cover protector and store it in a notebook sleeve. So far I’ve had no hitches with the 1825PTZ until recently when I updated a series of Windows updates, which resulted in the notebook unable to boot. I thought it was hardware related but it turned out that the updates somehow corrupted the boot process. Win 7’s memory checker utility showed no problems with the RAM.
Went home and Googled on how to remedy the problem. Fortunately I found out that the Acer’s recovery partition worked by pressing Alt-F10 keys repeatedly upon the boot-up sequence. It took over two hours to restore Windows 7 back to its working state (plus Win 7 updates to SP1). My data and personalization settings were restored although I had to reinstall apps all over again.
For a small form factor notebook with an consumer ultra-low voltage CPU, the Aspire 1825PTZ can run a bit hot. I believe it has more to do with the case design, which isn’t that efficient in dissipating heat.
If there’s one gripe I have with my 1825PTZ, it’s the 6-cell battery’s high wear rate. It was only months later of ownership I discovered a nifty utility called Battery Bar Pro and the software indicated an 11% wear rate (it’s now at 24.5% ) and the max battery life @ 100% charge has dropped to slightly below 5 hours. Acer claims an 8-hour standby for this model but I think the battery pack was either aged at the time I purchased it or the notebook’s heat is rapidly killing the Sanyo-made cells. My Asus UL80Vt by comparison, is now at a very reasonable 3.2% battery wear level.
As I still have two months to go before its warranty expires, I’m going to complain to Acer about the ridiculous battery wear rate and hopefully get a replacement. I can live with the full-sized (albeit cramped) Acer Fine Tip keyboard although I found out that I make typos more frequently than the well-spaced keyboard of my Asus UL80Vt.
Acer’s support site doesn’t seem to update the 1825PTZ’s drivers and I have to download the various hardware drivers manually from the respective vendors’ sites. The Acer Update utility is a joke – although Intel has updated its Wireless LAN 1000 and Mobile Express 4 chipset drivers a few times, Acer doesn’t bother to announce the drivers through its support site. Ditto for the Realtek audio and Synaptics touch pad drivers.
Overall, I’m quite happy with the 1825PTZ other than its ridiculous battery wear rate. I only wish Acer will continue to make 11.6″ sub-notebooks in the future, but I guess they’re not interested in doing so.
Great site and review, btw!
cheers,
Stratman.
Mike
April 27, 2011 at 4:34 pm
Hmm, i shall try that utility on my Acer as well. I haven’t noticed any battery wear off on mine but i haven’t actually recorded expected battery life lately. Still, my deice only came with 12 months warranty for the computer and 6 months for the battery… so that’s probably Acer’s way of saying their batteries are crap 😛
To be fair, i was not expecting to like the 1825PT that much when i bought it but now, nearly 1 year later, i still have it and use it daily. So i’m confident i made a smart decision buying one back then.
And thank you for the thorough comment, much appreciated.
Djhon2
June 20, 2011 at 1:20 am
nice review ty