Hey let me shed some light on some of the things you are experiencing. I
used to own a C110 and they're pretty similar.

1) The on screen keyboard can be resized even before logging in so you can
adjust that so that it doesn't cover as much of the screen. The on screen
keyboard is necessary if you boot in tablet mode since you need to log in.
:)

2) The thing about the latch not lining up probably is causing the
"flickering" that you talk about. The Acer detects when the latch is closed
and automatically switches orientation. Mine started doing that a few months
after I bought it but it wasn't a big deal. I wrote a simple application
that does absolutely nothing and overrote the auto rotate utility. Then I
remapped a hardware button to rotate the screen so that it never auto
rotated. Since I used the tablet in landscape and portrait orientation alot,
this was better for me because it gave me full control.

3) The auto dimming you talk about is because you are covering a light
sensor on the device which auto dims the screen. You can get into the BIOS
(F2 I think) and turn off Auto Dim and this should stop happening.

I hope this helps. You will find that once you get the hang of your tablet
that it is indispensible. Whether or not you want to return it for a
replacement for the latch problem is between you and Acer.

Welcome to Tablet Land!

--
Josh Einstein
Einstein Technologies
--------------------------------------------------------
Add ink input to Outlook with Tablet Enhancements for Outlook! Only $19.99!
http://www.einsteinware.com

"Callahan" <ca_callahan@WHATZA_HEYcomputer.org> wrote in message
news:eI0y7xYVEHA.3620@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
>I have been lurking on this board since the tablets came out, hoping
>against hope
> that one day I would be able to justify the purchase of one of my own.
>
> That day has come. It was a toss up between the good old workhorse, the
> HP
> nc6000, and the Acer c303xmi. The additional 512mb ram, 80 gig drive and
> dvd
> burner-- for only about 96$ more, really sealed the deal for the 303xmi.
> Yeah,
> I'd get a strong machine and a tablet to boot.
>
> Well, despite the fact that I have never worked with any acer products
> before, and
> wasn't really thrilled with the limited warranty, I decided to go for it.
> I paid
> for two day shipping, and voila, it's here.
>
> I took it out of the box, and first thing I noticed is the screen doesn't
> line up
> properly to latch in tablet mode. It is slightly off to the right, and
> you have
> to sort of shift it over to get it to lock.
>
> Then, during the setup process, a large keyboard popped up onscreen and
> obscured
> most of the
> display. I had to keep moving it around to actually see the text and fill
> in the
> fields properly. This keyboard disappeared after the reboot (or two) that
> was
> required before the system actually moved into the operating system for
> the first
> time.
>
> When it actually booted up to a desktop, and I clicked through the tablet
> stuff
> that loaded, I decided to try messing with the stylus. I flipped the
> screen
> around, snapped it down (with a jiggle), it changed from landscape to
> portrait,
> and I started writing....
> ...then it flickered, then it shifted back into landscape, then
> portrait....
>
> ...I think you get the picture. Is that a common problem with the C300
> series,
> 303s in particular? Did I just get a bad machine (figures, that is my
> luck)? It
> seems to "short out" if I hold onto the bottm left side (in portrait mode,
> hinge
> to the right) of the laptop while I write. Also, if I tip the laptop
> while
> writing, it spontaneously shifts from one mode to the other, but not back.
>
> In addition, it seems to darken and lighten the display spontaneously as I
> move my
> hand over the "rim" of the screen as I write (I am left handed). What's
> with
> that?? The screen does not move, there's not a cloud in the sky, yet the
> it seems
> to be responding to lighting changes that do not exist....
>
> Please, could someone give me an idea of whether or not the thing is
> broken (it is
> now almost three hours old) and needs to be sent back or if there is a
> patch, fix,
> or tweak that will make the issue go away.
>
> I was so looking forward to getting my own tablet...
>
> --
>
> -callahan
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> -callahan
>
>