Important! For Those Who Would Like To Consider ACER

I personally own ACER now.
It has a very good price-performance balance. Very Good on mid-range laptops like the aspire 5112,5630,5672.

But, few things you need to know about acer's mid-range/low-end products.
It's CHEAP , build quality's so-so, and customer service's not the best.

I tried to call acer technical support 2-3 times for my laptop's warranty issue.
No one picked up @ ACER end-user customer service 1-800 US number.
I even waited for about 17 minutes on loud speaker. NO ONE picked up.
I called few times. Still, no answer.
The last time I called, it said that average waiting time is 70 MINUTES.
I think that US ACER Company need to add their staff.
I'll try again.
(update: I had the warranty issue fixed. I tried again few days later. Even still, i had to wait for about 15 minutes hold before talking to the CS)

I'm not saying "don't buy acer". No. I myself bought an ACER.
I give you the fact that i think, Acer's midrange products are good deals. But there's also some minus behind it.
So if money is not your issue, get an ASUS or high-end ACER. Their products are usually OK and no complaints.
If best customer service is what you want, then buy a $$Dell$$.

In this case, I have limited budget and that's why i chose ACER. It's a good choice and i'm satisfied with the machine and price (not the build quality, and customer service).:acer:

So, consider first before buying.
Consider what you NEED.
Is it for extreme gaming? Occasional Gaming (like me)? School jobs and websurfing? or just for office use?
Then how much's your budget? What do you want? Good price-performance balance? Portability and style? or Desktop replacement?
Consider that,
No complaints/regrets afterwards.

(PS: Correct me if I'm wrong)


BTW, about my acer.. (aspire 5112)
It's GREAT. It's only 1300$ (best deal for me 2 months ago)
It can handle NFS Most Wanted and Carbon at 800x600 res, MAX details smoothly. You'll find it a little bit slow at max res (1024x768).
It scores 2500 3d05 marks. Not yet on PCmark05.

It's design's average. Build quality's not bad. Screen resolution and angle is enough for me.
Not superbly FAST in daily performance (not as fast as core2 duo) but is DEFINATELY faster and better than my old desktop (P4 2.6cGhz 512mb, Gforce fx5200).
Acer says HDD's 160Gb. But actual size for me is like 145Gb.

It's not hot, not cold either. It's warm. Comfortable warm for me (especially i live in WA ). It's not heavy (for me).
Wi-fi's signal is average.

Portability? It's definately portable for me. It's battery life is pretty good.
(unplugged)
With 0% brightness (which is acceptable. I sometimes turn it to 0% when doing long assignments), Wi-Fi bluetooth off, Minimum Performance (50% processor usage), i easily get 3+ hours (Even 3.5h if constant usage).

It has keyboard flex too. But not big issue. HP keyboard issue is more troublesome.
Overall it's satisfying but not something to be proud of.
It's futureproof, it has decent graphics, fast enough; Most Important, it's a GOOD DEAL for me:budget: :hardfind:

Hope This Helps!

 

Some Pics...

 

160 has 145 because some is used in the hidden partion (6gb) or so. and also the is the slight over rating on all hdds...

my acer had excellent build quality and there support was good to me, but i used ACER Canada. ...

now with a cheap computer there will be some, thing they will not put as much money into to give you that good price. like keyboard flex.

 

That's rite..
Mine's ACER US..

 

Just a quick note, HD size is quoted as per manufacturer, while it quotes as 160GB, because of the way HD manufacturers calculate it, and how Windows/Linux calculates it, actual size is smaller.

Basic problem is one of calculations, a Hard drive maker considers 1000k to be a megabyte (Base 10 calculation) all OS's (at least that I've ever come across) consider 1024k to be a megabyte, so the sizes are off (you will find this with any hard drive from any manufacturer, it's not just Acer)

 

Acer service helpline has gone out the window... (and if you're in the Uk they charge exorbant prices for repairs / replacements out of warrenty!)

I spoke to them about my laptop scroll button problem, they suggested it was a software problem (even though I have the latest drivers installed and the fact that the down, left and right work properly, except up.. and the scroll button looks as if its dropping loose!) Consumer rights has gone out the window...

Be prepared to have some DIY fixing if you run into laptop problems.

 

I've been calling the US Acer customer service for couple of minutes now...
Still no answer. It said that average waiting time's 17 Minutes..
Be PATIENT! US Acer's Users...

BTW, My Acer's touchpad left and right click make some CHEAP click sound.
Once again, mine's satisfying, but not cool enough to be proud of.
Everything works just fine (at least until now).

 

Finally, it was answered. So my Acer is registered now. It took about 23 minutes to do it Via phone..
I had to wait about 15 minutes.

 

BTW, Acer aspire 5112 is RARE in the US.
I bought it from jr.com..

 

0% Brightness, taken with my Nokia N93

 

I'm sorry to hear about Acer service.
Acer service has been great toward me, but I only needed service twice and this was 2 years ago.
Looks like service has went downhill.

I think it might have something to do with being more mainstream in USA, I never seen acers in stores like bestbuy, comp-usa etc: 2 years ago.

I had 3 Acer laptops in my life, one 17" and two 15" and I can say that acer does a great job on the heat category.

But yea you are right, Acer isn't a brand that you can count on without having knowledge of anything, unless you wanna take a chance. It's not like a Sony that put quality first before specs. Which is why a 2GB Sony will probally twice as much as a 2GB Acer.

 

I just updated to catalyst 6.12!!