Restore discs with laptops

[Ruggerbugger]

I'm currently looking at the Acer Aspire range of laptops to spend my PGCE student loan on (guessing £600-£800), but I've got a query about the discs. Acer states that these are "full restore discs", I assume not the original Windows media.

Do Acer fill their laptops with crap like my old Presario, or are the restore discs really a good deal? Plus, can the Acer laptops be customised (particularly with extra memory). The Aspire line looks like a good compromise, but seems to lack memory.

[edit] What are your opinions of this. My main concern about buying off the web is not being able to assess build quality. The school I work at uses Acer laptops, but they're tiny 12" models.