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

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
>
>

In-line ;-)

Regards,
--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Creating Signatures
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

-----
"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.
---Cool!


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.
---It comes with a Dual DVD burner as well, right?


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 got mine with an overnight shipping; but we still call it snail mail
;-)


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.
---The lock mechanism isn't the best indeed. When I close my screen and pick
up the tablet it gets loose already :-S


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.
---the installation is in pretty low res so the soft keyboard indeed takes
up quite some real estate. During setup I just used the normal keyboard


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....
---are you sure you were done installing and booting? Does t still do this
or did it happen only once? Some programs can't run in the flipped mode and
force the screen back to normal. These are mainly 3D games though (get
Tablet Pool as a free donwload from MS!)


.... 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.
---the screen catches the orientation. When portrait it switches to portrait
and when landscape it switches to landscape. You can confuse it by setting
it to landscape while in portrait and vise versa. Switching it properly some
times and using the orientation button gets it right again. Since I switch a
lot I just use the button :-)


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....
---haha, a feature you haven't found out about yet; the little circle on the
left side of all the LEDS (most left LED is the wireless for me on the C302)
is a little eye that "sees" how light/dark your environment is and adjusts
the brightness for you automatically.


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 wouldn't call it broken; just play with it some more


I was so looking forward to getting my own tablet...
---and I'm sure you'll enjoy it for a long long time. When Service Pack 2
comes out; install it! It has incredible improvements for the input panel
(TIP); you'll love it even more!


--

-callahan



--


-callahan

Congratulations! One thing the others haven't mentioned yet is making sure
you've calibrated the pen and set the handedness. Go into Control
Panel/Tablet and Pen Settings and you can do these functions on the Settings
tab. Make sure you calibrate both for Landscape and Portrait modes, too.

Experiment, play with the little gem. You'll soon be finding it
indispensable.
--
Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP/Tablet PC
Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
Associate Expert
Expert Zone - www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone


"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
>
>

To followup:

The flickering and shorting still happens, well after booting and installing. It
doesn't seem to be as bad in the secondary portrait mode. As for the display
darkening/light sensor issue, I turned it off in the softbuttons.

Furthermore, I now have problems with the TIP. After a few minutes, the input
panel first stops showing any ink (although it will send the invisible writing to
the selected field--I think I saw something about it but I can't seem to find it),
then the TIP freezes up altogether. The only thing that seems to work (short of a
hard reboot), is to go to laptop mode and do a ctrlaltdel on the keyboard and
force a close of the tip application. *Then* when you reopen the tip, it will
work for a while.

The catch? It only fails in tablet/portrait mode. The problem? If I didn't want
a convertible pc I would have bought a nc6000....

Also, I loaded the updates that XP was begging for (rolling back the smartcard
driver). I think it may have muddied the waters concerning this TIP issue.

--


-callahan
"Roady [MVP]" <newsgroups_DELETE_@_DELETE_sparnaaij_NO_._SPAM_ne t> wrote in
message news:uUKZoIZVEHA.212@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> In-line ;-)
>
> Regards,
> --
> Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
> www.howto-outlook.com
>
> Tips of the month:
> -Creating Signatures
> -Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3
>
> -----
> "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.
> ---Cool!
>
>
> 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.
> ---It comes with a Dual DVD burner as well, right?
>
>
> 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 got mine with an overnight shipping; but we still call it snail mail
> ;-)
>
>
> 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.
> ---The lock mechanism isn't the best indeed. When I close my screen and pick
> up the tablet it gets loose already :-S
>
>
> 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.
> ---the installation is in pretty low res so the soft keyboard indeed takes
> up quite some real estate. During setup I just used the normal keyboard
>
>
> 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....
> ---are you sure you were done installing and booting? Does t still do this
> or did it happen only once? Some programs can't run in the flipped mode and
> force the screen back to normal. These are mainly 3D games though (get
> Tablet Pool as a free donwload from MS!)
>
>
> ... 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.
> ---the screen catches the orientation. When portrait it switches to portrait
> and when landscape it switches to landscape. You can confuse it by setting
> it to landscape while in portrait and vise versa. Switching it properly some
> times and using the orientation button gets it right again. Since I switch a
> lot I just use the button :-)
>
>
> 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....
> ---haha, a feature you haven't found out about yet; the little circle on the
> left side of all the LEDS (most left LED is the wireless for me on the C302)
> is a little eye that "sees" how light/dark your environment is and adjusts
> the brightness for you automatically.
>
>
> 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 wouldn't call it broken; just play with it some more
>
>
> I was so looking forward to getting my own tablet...
> ---and I'm sure you'll enjoy it for a long long time. When Service Pack 2
> comes out; install it! It has incredible improvements for the input panel
> (TIP); you'll love it even more!
>
>
> --
>
> -callahan
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> -callahan
>
>
>
>

Okay. I've got the keyboard resized for login (thanks Josh). I disabled the
light sensor in the softbuttons. I also found out that the shorting of the
display is only on the bottom lefthand side, because it doesn't happen in
secondary portrait view (unless I squeeze the top left corner, which is unlikely).
Mind you, the shorting is good enough reason in my mind to return it before it
gets worse.

But, since I can't get an RMA before monday (I have to go through support and my
account manager isn't in on the weekends), I thought I'd poke around further.

Here's some, somewhat disappointing stuff I found--

--the 80gig HD is only 4200 rpm. I was completely misinformed by my sales rep. I
use VPC extensively, and that slow speed to access the drive is a problem. I am
willing to test it though and see if the slower speed is surviveable. I could
maybe buy a faster (but smaller) external drive for the images (ahh, trying to
justify keeping the tablet...)
--Oddly, and maybe someone can explain this, the centrino processor seems to run
at 210mhz when the battery is fresh, and then kicks to 600mhz (?!) when it is
almost drained. At all times, only browsing static, or near static pages.
--The TIP began (when used for more than a few minutes) to not bother showing ink,
I just was writing invisibly, then it would send what I wrote to the field
selected. No ink in the input panel. This would occur in either portrait
(tablet) or landscape (laptop) modes.
--Then the TIP began to freeze up (in portrait only), becoming completely
unresponsive. The taskbar would also freeze, as would the start button. The
desktop would remain unaffected (making me think it was the TIP and explorer.exe.
The problem could only be resolved by converting back to laptop (folding the
screen back up and using the keyboard), and doing a ctrlaltdel, going into task
manager, and ending the process for the TIP. This did not seem to happen in
laptop mode.
--I did let XP install its updates (I did rollback the smartcard drivers as they
have caused me problems on previous laptops). I wonder if that could be causing
or exacerbating the TIP problems.


Any suggestions?
--


-callahan
"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
>
>