I just got a new Acer C300 yesterday. Currently, I have a love hate
relationship with it. The hardware for the price is great. I wanted a
convertable, and the only comparable model was the Toshiba, which seemed
whoppingly more expensive once I customized it to be equivalent of the
C300. However, I have a couple of issues with it, and am hoping you guys
might have some recomendations.

1) The screen is incredibly reflective with a very poor viewing angle. I
admit I'm spoiled, as my old laptop was a high end Toshiba that was
incredibly bright and detailed. For the most part, I'm ok with the fact
that it runs at a lower resolution, and that whites are somewhat blue,
but my main concern is with the reflectiveness. When I'm looking at the
laptop in portrait mode, I can turn it slightly left and right and parts
of the screen will somewhat pop, I think because they're suddenly
reflecting too much. This is without direct light. It's very
distracting, and difficult to hold such that the screen looks normal.
For no reason I can tell, the problem is much worse in portrait mode
than it is in landscape, where it's pretty minimal. Sadly, I really
wanted to use this in portrait mode.

2) As I've noted in some other messages, the built in mike is poor to
the point of unusable, despite making sure that it's input volume was
all the way up, and that the mike was boosted.

3)Two pixels are screwed up, a red and a green. Ah, the joy of trying to
argue how many bad pixels are required to get an exchange.

There are some good things.
1) Battery life is very good. I'm not sure exactly how long, but at
least 4 hours. Beats my Toshiba's hour and twenty minutes with a new
battery!
2) The machine doesn't get very hot, which means I can comfortably leave
it on my lap (another knock against my otherwise beloved Toshiba).
3) It's whipping fast, at least compared to the train wreck of the last
Tablet I tried, the Compaq something or rather with the transmeta chip.
That was the slowest thing I'd ever seen. With a gig of RAM the Acer
flies.
4) The Tablet OS is much improved since last time I played with it. Much
more graceful, better recognization.

So, I really want to keep the machine, but boy, that screen is
bothersome. Has anybody else seen the same thing?

-Russell Williams

Hi Russell,
I've had a C301 since December and I mainly use it in Convertible mode
however I too have noticed the reflections on the screen. Overall I find
that if I turn the brightness up all the way the tint to the white
disappears.

As for the reflections, try contacting Pocket PC Techs to see if they have a
WriteShield for it. www.pocketpctechs.com Their shields reduce the
reflections from the screen signficantly.


--
Chris De Herrera
http://www.cewindows.net
http://www.tabletpctalk.com
http://www.pocketpctalk.com
http://www.mobilitytalk.com


"Russell Williams" <rusty-removetoreply@flyinglab.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1ba1478d7835dff1989689@news.microsoft.com ...
> I just got a new Acer C300 yesterday. Currently, I have a love hate
> relationship with it. The hardware for the price is great. I wanted a
> convertable, and the only comparable model was the Toshiba, which seemed
> whoppingly more expensive once I customized it to be equivalent of the
> C300. However, I have a couple of issues with it, and am hoping you guys
> might have some recomendations.
>
> 1) The screen is incredibly reflective with a very poor viewing angle. I
> admit I'm spoiled, as my old laptop was a high end Toshiba that was
> incredibly bright and detailed. For the most part, I'm ok with the fact
> that it runs at a lower resolution, and that whites are somewhat blue,
> but my main concern is with the reflectiveness. When I'm looking at the
> laptop in portrait mode, I can turn it slightly left and right and parts
> of the screen will somewhat pop, I think because they're suddenly
> reflecting too much. This is without direct light. It's very
> distracting, and difficult to hold such that the screen looks normal.
> For no reason I can tell, the problem is much worse in portrait mode
> than it is in landscape, where it's pretty minimal. Sadly, I really
> wanted to use this in portrait mode.
>
> 2) As I've noted in some other messages, the built in mike is poor to
> the point of unusable, despite making sure that it's input volume was
> all the way up, and that the mike was boosted.
>
> 3)Two pixels are screwed up, a red and a green. Ah, the joy of trying to
> argue how many bad pixels are required to get an exchange.
>
> There are some good things.
> 1) Battery life is very good. I'm not sure exactly how long, but at
> least 4 hours. Beats my Toshiba's hour and twenty minutes with a new
> battery!
> 2) The machine doesn't get very hot, which means I can comfortably leave
> it on my lap (another knock against my otherwise beloved Toshiba).
> 3) It's whipping fast, at least compared to the train wreck of the last
> Tablet I tried, the Compaq something or rather with the transmeta chip.
> That was the slowest thing I'd ever seen. With a gig of RAM the Acer
> flies.
> 4) The Tablet OS is much improved since last time I played with it. Much
> more graceful, better recognization.
>
> So, I really want to keep the machine, but boy, that screen is
> bothersome. Has anybody else seen the same thing?
>
> -Russell Williams

On 9/2/2004 10:28:42 PM, "Chris De Herrera" wrote:
>Hi Russell,
>I've had a C301 since December and I mainly use it in Convertible mode
>however I too have noticed the reflections on the screen. Overall I find
>that if I turn the brightness up all the way the tint to the white
>disappears.
>
>As for the reflections, try contacting Pocket PC Techs to see if they have a
>WriteShield for it. www.pocketpctechs.com Their shields reduce the
>reflections from the screen signficantly.
>
>

I'll second Chris' recommendation. Almost everyone I know who uses the
protectors talks about how much they helped reduce reflections and glare.

I know many tablet users who got them for just that reason - not to protect,
but to improve the viewability.


--
John

JDThree [MVP] wrote:

> On 9/2/2004 10:28:42 PM, "Chris De Herrera" wrote:

>>As for the reflections, try contacting Pocket PC Techs to see if they have
>>a
>>WriteShield for it. www.pocketpctechs.com Their shields reduce the
>>reflections from the screen signficantly.

> I'll second Chris' recommendation. Almost everyone I know who uses the
> protectors talks about how much they helped reduce reflections and glare.

Hi folks,

any recommendations about the type for which to buy? I visited their page
and they have no protector for the TravelMate C300 Series.

Thanks


Stefan

Stefan, I used a protector perhaps two minutes and dumped it. In about two
years of use on various Tablets, I have yet to scratch a screen.
--
Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP/Tablet PC
Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
Associate Expert
Expert Zone - www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone


"Stefan Wolber" <S.Wolber@Buettner-Dryer.com> wrote in message
news:cj0kj5$52v$1@online.de...
> JDThree [MVP] wrote:
>
>> On 9/2/2004 10:28:42 PM, "Chris De Herrera" wrote:
>
>>>As for the reflections, try contacting Pocket PC Techs to see if they
>>>have
>>>a
>>>WriteShield for it. www.pocketpctechs.com Their shields reduce the
>>>reflections from the screen signficantly.
>
>> I'll second Chris' recommendation. Almost everyone I know who uses the
>> protectors talks about how much they helped reduce reflections and glare.
>
> Hi folks,
>
> any recommendations about the type for which to buy? I visited their page
> and they have no protector for the TravelMate C300 Series.
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Stefan

Stefan Wolber wrote:
<snip>
> any recommendations about the type for which to buy? I visited their page
> and they have no protector for the TravelMate C300 Series.

http://www.pocketpctechs.com/ws.asp

"Click here to select Product By Size"

or the largest
http://www.pocketpctechs.com/detail....D=WSDIYKIT03-1

Don't know if that one is anti-glare, though...

cheers,
- Jan

Stefan Wolber wrote:
<snip>
> any recommendations about the type for which to buy? I visited their page
> and they have no protector for the TravelMate C300 Series.

http://www.pocketpctechs.com/ws.asp

"Click here to select Product By Size"

or the largest
http://www.pocketpctechs.com/detail....D=WSDIYKIT03-1

cheers,
- Jan