request for tips from seasoned aspire users to prolong life

Hi, all,

This is a request for general tips from seasoned aspire users to prolong life of my acer aspire one. This forum has a mixed reviews/experiences. It appears that for some people, the problems begin with weeks of getting the new acer apire one while for others, they've had a positive experience for many months.

I just got my acer aspire one in the mail yesterday (purchased directly from Amazon.com, not 3rd party re-seller, etc) and it's been great. But it's only been like 24 hours.

I'm hoping that I can get a few questions answered on this thing from folks who have been using the aspire aspire one.

So here goes:

1. What is BIOS? (The language on wiki is too technical for me to "get it")

2. Should I continuously check in for BIOS updates or drivers and why? Is there a recommended time to check in? Say once a month? I've owned Dell and Toshiba in the past and never had to worry about it. ACER seems to be giving ppl a lot of BIOS problems. (My acer is 8.9 in, XP, 1GB ram, 160 hard drive).

3. Are there general tips that you recommend to maximize the efficiency of the aspire one?
For e.g. one of the first things I did was change the power save settings linked to my Atheros wireless device to "off" to make for faster web surfing.
Also, I'm a heavy gmail user and Internet Explorer kept freezing on me everytime I would check my email. I use Mozilla Firefox and it's a piece of cake.

4. Any ergonomic tips? I'm thinking of sticking a book in front of the laptop so my hands have something to rest on so I don't get carpal tunnel like tomorrow. My right hand hurts but i'm so in love with this thing, it's hard to put it down.

5. Basically any tips at all??? Regarding fans, anything? Anything to decelerate the progression of problems associated with the acer that I've been seeing all the other folks have. I know there's a year warranty on this thing but I don't know how user friendly Acer customer service is, etc.

This is a reasonably priced-machine but $400 is still a lot for a student budget. Would be nice to make this investment last for as long as possible.

Thank you!!!

-Rose

 

For 1 & 2: The bios is a small program that is stored on the motherboard of your computer, rather than on the hard drive or ssd. It is the first thing that loads up when you hit the power button, and it's job is to tell the various pieces of hardware in your computer (memory, processor, hard drive etc) how to work with each other. You get bios updates for computers all the time, but generally you don't need to worry about them unless something breaks. Acer seem to have dropped the ball on a few things in their original bios, and so updating it is useful. For looking out for bios updates, macles.blogspot.com is keeping up to date, and macles is also posting on here, so if you keep an eye on one or the other you'll be kept informed.

4: When it's on my lap, I sit it on a placemat, which gives me a little shelf at the front for hand resting if needed.

 

As far as tips. The most important thing I can say is be careful. I almost sat on my one, one time. I carry it in a plastic insulated lunch sack. It protects it ok but a hard case would be much better. As everyone else has said the casing can smudge easy, it also pits easy too so make sure not to set anything on top. I set my keys on it by accident and got a small little indent. As far as things to change, if you have the windows version you can pretty much leave everything right out of box. I personally uninstalled the included programs and disabled un-needed services and startup items to make it seem a little faster. I bring an external mouse, power adaptor and Playstation 3 controller in case I need them. I would say having a good case would be the best advice. Keep exhaust vents clear of dust and dirt. That should keep you in tip top. I try to exhaust my battery fully before charging, not sure if it helps much. But i just do it out of practice.

J

 

I'm using a 1" vinyl three ring binder as a lap pad / deskpad - tilts the keyboard up a little on the lap and down on the desk and runs the power cord through the rings and out of the way. The best "ergonomic" thing I do is use a wireless mouse - on the seat of the armchair, couch or bed, and as the "remote" for video.

I've owned notebooks since the mid 1990s and never seen any maker fool around with BIOS as much as Acer is doing with this machine, and moreover can't for the life of me see why they have a stone-age flashing method instead of flashing through Windows like everybody else. I'm very happy with the machine as is, and am leaving BIOS as shipped unless/until I identify a BIOS-related problem requiring an upgrade or until Acer finalizes the BIOS and implements a Windows install for it.

 

Thank you, all! Appreciate your time.... What I've decided to do now is to use my stick drive to go back and forth b/ween documents on my acer (for school use online) and on my monstrous laptop (which is awesome minus all the weight), when i'm at home. this way - i'm limiting the acer use and not leaving it on for hours all day and also protecting my eyes and fingers.

Regarding BIOS- i'm just going to wait it out...

Regarding the wireless mouse - great idea and i've been thinking about getting one for awhile now. let's see. i tried the binder use but didn't like it as much. i'm thinking about getting those 'wrist rests' for the aspire. maybe something really light.

thank you all for the help - i'll keep checking in and also through in ideas/questions on my end as they come. cheers!

 

An ergonomic/protection tip: I use my old Samsonite attache case as the case for my AA1. I get a locking hard-sided case that doubles as a lap desk. For padding I just cut out a few pieces of foam carpet padding.