quite troublesome i must say. coz i'm planning to install multiple OS on my own and i wont be able to download the drivers if I dont have the ethernet driver in the first place.

Then why not download first using the preinstalled OS ?

haha yea la. extra step there.

You can resize your partition without reinstalling windows. Just shrink it in Disk Manager.

If you still have the default factory image in your hardisk, all the driver you need is inside C:\OEM directory. It's hidden so you need to enable viewing of hidden files in Explorer. Just copy that folder out somewhere and use it after do you a fresh install.

ok, I believe the drivers/power apps that comes or is pre-installed in the laptop is the version as of when the laptop was manufactured.

obviously I would need to download them if I want the latest ones. So does acer website provides the drivers and apps in a single package (ie. a single exe file with all the drivers in it) or do I have to download one for ethernet, one for sound, one for intel gfx, one for ATI, another one for those power management stuffs?

^you need to download one by one...

p/s
Finally !
http://forum.notebookreview.com/7214705-post9986.html

You'll have to download them one by one... but if you just brought your notebook, chances are your driver is up-to-date. You can compare the version with the one on www.acer.com.my (they have new interface )

I suspect the only driver you need to download is the graphic driver, which release on Jan 2011. All others dated as old as Mar 2010... Acer is lazy when it comes to driver update...

download one by one

anyway, this switchable graphics is similar to the one found in macbooks right?

So how does it really works?

Battery : auto switches to intel. but will it change to ATI seamlessly if the need for power arises?

Plugged in : permanently on ATI?

that was a good post! i ve never really play around much with the Intel menu although I have unlock it. There is also a post to add PCI-E to 3820tg...

Not only Acer is lazy, others also

Different from the Macbook, the screen will be blank during the switching...
and you need to switch it your own, either right click on the desktop and switch or press the P button on battery mode or use hotkey to change the GPU..

so regardless of whether battery or plugged in, it will not be smart enough to switch for me? so for example....before i fire up photoshop, i gotta switch to ati first.

however, is the power management app smart enough to detect whether it's on battery and plugged in? will it change to intel for battery and ati for plugged in on boot up?

Yup, its a manual switch...
Macbook Pro way is different since its being handled by the Mac OSX itself...

Boot up will always ATi?

oooohh...now i get it. So it will always use ATI to boot up regardless of batt or plugged in.

After login in, power app will detect and switch to intel if it's on battery or leave it in ati if plugged in. correct?

That is why they do this in bios to make it boot up with intel - http://forum.notebookreview.com/7214705-post9986.html

correct?

Not really sure, better wait for cowithgun confirmation

oh...and what's the difference between 3820TG/4820TG and 3820T/4820T?

edit : any other difference besides T only has intel gfx while TG has switchable intel and ati.

This post has been edited by fisherman10: Mar 4 2011, 12:24 AM

The T series only got 1 fan for 3820..
4820, no difference except the GPU, maybe shorter heatsink ..

This post has been edited by lee_what2004: Mar 4 2011, 12:27 AM

was off watching "The Universe" documentary...

the switching of graphic can be done manually by right clicking on desktop.

but if you have PowerSmart installed (which is default), it will automatically switch to ATI when you connect to AC. and it will automatically switch to Intel in battery. that graphic card will be used even after you restart...

say, you use Intel, restart, it will still be intel. but say, you use intel, shutdown, connect to AC, reboot, during boot, it will use Intel, but after you login (after PowerSmart loaded), it will flicker and change to ATI.

however, if you do clean format, no longer install the PowerSmart, it will no longer automatically switch for you. so, if i use ATI, reboot, regardless if i use battery or AC, it will continue to use ATI until i manually switch it

This post has been edited by cowithgun: Mar 4 2011, 12:27 AM

hmmm.....if that's the case, then why is there a need to choose Intel only via bios? http://forum.notebookreview.com/7214705-post9986.html considering that fact that if u uninstall powersmart, it'll stay on intel until u change it.

also instead of doing it in the hidden intel menu, how about changing from switchable to discreet from here? http://www.imagebam.com/image/fae0a982795979

Common issues and solutions

Poor 3d performance / PCI-E runs at only x1 not x16. Installing the latest ATI Catalyst drives fixes this. See below:

Switchable to discrete means only ATi, they want it to run the integrated, Intel...
As for bios hack, maybe can ensure the GPU fan completely off ?

This post has been edited by lee_what2004: Mar 4 2011, 12:34 AM

ahh i see. sorry sorry. I thought discreet is intel.

cowithgun can confirm about the gpu fan? will gpu fan continuously on if I just switch from the P button?

if disable from bios, gpu fan off?