I have sent a message regarding this to our enginner team. While we only qualify the system with Windows, we are asking questions and will see what options are available for those of you that want to install Linux.

Justin:

Your efforts are very much appreciated.  As you can tell by how this particular thread has stayed active over so many months, there is much interest among select acer laptop users to pair the substantial hardware we've purchased with the Linux family of OS.  The frustration many of us feel are somewhat justified as today's Linux is mature and sufficiently well developed that the vast majority of various Acer product competitors can run it with little or no issue.  

Your attention to this BIOS specific problem should be acknowledged as an honest effort to engage affected user.  While we understand that nothing has been promised at this point, we are hopeful that any progress made toward fixing this bug will go a long way toward building brand loyalty, customer satisfaction, and raising perception of quality - which will likely translate to more sales and a better bottom line.  :-)

Please give our regards to your engineering team and good luck. We await with anticipation.

Ren