Acer Laptop?

[imroberts]

I've been looking at laptops for a few weeks, and am currently deciding between a Dell and an Acer. Spec is the same so not really relevant.

I was tending towards Dell cos I was very happy with my last one, however there's about a 5 week lead time on the model I'm looking at, so I was looking for alternatives, and stumbled upon the Acer.

What are Acer like in terms of reliability, build quality, etc? I'd be extending the warranty to 3 years anyway, what is their after sales support like in the event of faults?

I like the design of the one I'm looking at but that's not reason enough to buy it

[staffsMike]

I've always found acer to be of a lower quality overall and their after sales is an atrocity on man or at least was when I was at my previous job (last year).

I say be patient and get the dell. Which model are you after?

[imroberts]

I've always found acer to be of a lower quality overall and their after sales is an atrocity on man or at least was when I was at my previous job (last year).

I say be patient and get the dell. Which model are you after?

Inspiron 1525.

[Arimus]

Go for the Dell.

I've had in the past major problems with Acer which only ever got resolved when I threatened court action against them - amazing how quickly they managed to find the lost laptop and return it to me after being sent a copy of the letter my solicitor drew up for me

I would never touch Acer again - atleast not unless they paid me a great deal to do so

[fishd]

I'd have to throw another comment in for Dell.

Apart from pestering you to death once you're a customer my Dell Laptop was faultless.

Acer on the other hand shipped me a new laptop (Travelmate 8204), as I do on all my laptops I immediately installed a BIOS password. I finished for the day, suspended my laptop and then couldn't get back in. My password was always refused. A quick call to Acer support (actually a third party company in the UK) just came with the reply "Send it in for repair, we'll likely charge you as you've forgotten your password" - which I HADN'T.

Anyway, one repair later (5 days incidentally without my new £1,700 laptop) and it was returned. I wasn't charged and a few days later a new BIOS was listed on the Acer website. One of the fixes listed was "Fixed an issue where S3 sleep would corrupt BIOS passwords"

I still wasn't finished however, my laptop was back and BIOS passwords worked with hibernate... however, I now had no bluetooth. The first Acer tech guy tried to tell me that bluetooth wasn't standard on my model... which it was. They then suggested that perhaps the bluetooth module was disconnected or damaged during the repair which meant... you guessed it... sending it back for repair... and another five days without my laptop!

Apart from all of this, the laptop has been ok... the screen is nowhere near as bright or vivid as the Dell laptops I've had, so I'd try to check it out before buying... unless we've all managed to put you off yet.

[this_is_gav]

I go Dell every time myself when possible, but we've had around 50 Acer laptops at work in the last few years, and we've had 1 die (dead board) and it was quickly diagnosed and booked for repair, with a turnaround of around 10 days. Other than that, they're all fine, save for a few dying batteries now (given their use, I can have no complaints there either, and it would happen to any laptop).

Only complaint I do have with them is how much crap they install by default. Somewhat of an irony as that's what Dell are famous for, but cutting back on massively now. They're going in completely opposite directions.

[Arimus]

The saga of Acer:

Laptop 1: DOA - returned. 6 weeks later no replacement. 12 weeks later joy of joys new laptop turns up. 12 weeks 30 seconds later tears of rage: DOA - HDD dead. I gave up on Acer repairing it - as everything else checked out I got my own HDD and replaced it myself. (This laptop is now long consigned to the computer lab in the sky due to a combination of old age and a meeting with a cat's waste products (Anyone want a cat?))

Laptop 2: After 6 weeks of use LCD failed. Again 12 weeks to get replacement. This laptop spectularly failed the other week - just of warranty hence me getting a new laptop.

Dell on the other hand - for work use - I've not had a problem with, my work's 610 is a sturdy little beast and has survived all sorts of drops, falls, knocks etc (not to mention the loving attentions of our IT people )

[DDY]

I've got an Acer 5051 and Dell Inspiron 1300, both cost £300 new at the time.

The Acer looks nicer but feels flimsier than the Dell. Imagine holding a laptop up by its sides while lightly twisting it and feeling the plastic creak and warp, that's how the Acer feels. The Dell feels much stronger, like a a brick made of plastic.

I've had a few problems with the Acer,

- HDD stopped working after 1 year, drive manufactured by Toshiba.
- Mouse pad left click packed in after 1 year, fixed by opening mouse button thing and cleaning, probably due to toast crumbs.
- CPU can started grinding after 1 year, this took long hours of searching on the Internet, finding a replacement and taking apart every single component from the laptop to replace.

I've not had a single problem with the Dell yet (fingers crossed) even though I've had it for longer.

[Funkstar]

Acers have the worst keyboards ever.