About laptops (Acer especially)

[KaJuN]

My Aspire 5004 laptop has been going pretty strong for 2.5 years now with some pretty heavy use. It's been the most trouble-free computer I've ever lived with. But there are a few things that bug me. The lack of dedicated volume buttons is very annoying; changing the volume is a two-handed operation. Battery life is appalling. 45 minutes after I unplug it I'm getting a low battery warning. That's with it in 'power saving' mode and the monitor brightness so I can just barely see it.

If you're on a tight budget they're alright computers and I don't regret buying mine. But if you can spare the cash on a higher-end make I'd go for it. If I were in the market for another laptop I'd be looking into Toshiba.

[jeffy777]

Originally Posted by Blind_Io

Fork out a little extra money and buy an Asus, you will thank yourself later.

Originally Posted by BerserkerCatSplat

I'd get an Asus, their warranties for notebooks are 2 years and their customer service kicks ass.

Great advice

[psdf]

Originally Posted by mclarensmps

Nothing wrong with Acer's except their QC isn't great and you may end up with one that has lemon-ish components. A couple of my friends had Acer Travelmates, which were perfectly fine, but my dad had the same thing, and it's MB blew out 6 months into service. Acer was good with their warranty, however, and daddy dearest was able to get it fixed free of charge.

I personally hate anything made by ASUS, so I can't offer any help on that front.

I have an HP Pavillion that I ended up with for free, and, it came with Vista installed, which looked cool and all, but made the thing sluggish as hell. HP doesn't support Windows XP for that particular model, so when I "downgraded" to XP, it was a bitch and a half to get all the drivers for the various components on the machine, however, once I did get all the drivers, the thing works like a bloody charm! The ergonomics of the thing aren't the best, I must warn you, though, because often while typing, your palm will hit the touchpad and you end up typing completely elsewhere.

Good luck with whatever you end up choosing

Well I went and got a Pavilion myself. I had just read way too many horror stories about Acers and pretty much everyone was telling me to not get one. I even asked a saleswoman at the store about the Acers and she told me to get the HP instead and mentioned that Acer has horrible customer service. The HP has a slower GPU and a smaller HD but those arent really issues for me.

I like the look of this machine and all that jazz... You are right about the touchpad though, have to lock it up when typing. I need to buy a mouse for this. I really don't know about all this Vista stuff though. Looks pretty but I just don't know if I'm going to stick with it for long. Checked the processes and it had _63_ running. Maybe I can ask you about the XP drivers if I decide to switch...?

[p0w3r]

^^i think you made a better choice...i go to college and everyone has a laptop. The Acers usually look the worst after a year due to poor build quality and cheap materials. Dells are decent, although they are like carrying a brick. HPs are usually pretty good as well and you should be happy with it...they have definitely made and improvement over the years. I personally have a Sony, and yes they are overpriced, but i think you get with you pay for. Everyone i know with Sonys are happy with their laptop and after a year of college work my laptop looks as good as new...and i honestly don't take care of my things that well. However, IBM/Lenovo laptops are bulletproof and i never hear of anyone having trouble with their thinkpads.

[teeb]

Originally Posted by smib

Why was it only a foot off the ground?

It fell from being on my bed onto my tiled-stone floor. There was a large 'crack' and I felt my heart stop for a second, as the Acer was less than a year old and I can't afford to replace it (not even with an eee).

As I said, though, it was fine.

[FATMOUSE]

I haven't read any of the posts in this thread but the subject said Laptop so I will share what I recently bought:

Lenovo Thinkpad R61
2.5Ghz Core 2 Duo with 6MB L2 cache (T9300)
4GB ddr2 ram
160GB 7.2krpm hard drive
Nvidia Quadro NVS140M video card
Intel 4965 Wireless AGN

$1050 USD

[mclarensmps]

Originally Posted by psdf

Maybe I can ask you about the XP drivers if I decide to switch...?

Absolutely

[viilaaja@pt cruiser]

i had acer ferrari 3200 for nearly 4 years, then the motherbord broke.
it had for a year bsod's every time i went to play lfs online, but that fixed via new mem.
Before the motherboard there wasn't anything wrong with it.

now i have hp pavilion dv6827eo (just 1 monht old) and i have liked it so far.

[eltoro507]

My acer aspire is doing fine. It handles my work just as well as my toughbook.
It's a basic model but 2gb ram & 120gb hd for <500
It has seen the floor upclose a couple of times & has flown through my van and still works perfectly.

You HAVE to remove whatever software that comes with it though.

[leviathan]

I bought an Acer for my father a while ago, and it's mostly fine - except the webcam stops working now and then, that started at some 1.5 years of age. I had to remove some software from it in the beginning and obviously add some more, but in general it's fine.

Myself, I have a Samsung R700 Dillen for two months now and am completely satisfied. I even didn't remove all the bloatware from it, since some of it actually is useful. The hardware is top, and the price (compared to similarly equipped Toshibas and HPs and Sonys) was brilliant. The R700 is a 17", but there is a "smaller brother", the R70 - you might want to take a look at it.