Thinking about getting an Aspire AS6920

I am going to be going to an engineering college so I need some pretty good specs to run simulations and 3d programs like solidworks. I have been looking at HP, Dell, and Sony but they are all a bit too much out of my price range. I was originally skeptical about Acers since I heard they dont hold up over time and I need this laptop to last all through college. I have never owned a laptop before and I only have experience with Dell PCs.

My price was $1000
Screen: 15.4" - 17"
Processor: 2.2 or 2.4 Ghz intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 3gb
graphics: Nvidia dedicated card with 512mb
HDD: atleast 160GB
Fingerprint reader included

I found this Acer on newegg for a 6920 series for $999.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115486
How good are the build quality of an Aspire 6920 series and do you think this is a good deal?

 

As a proud owner of Acer laptops for over two years, I can vouch for their build quality. I banged around my old TravelMate 3252 for two years, and it held up just fine. The Aspire 6920G I have right now is solid as a rock - it'll last me at least three years, maybe even five with a configuration upgrade.

Acer's build quality really improved with the 5920 series, and I'd say is comparable to the other big manufacturers.

Looks like a good deal to me - my config has a Blu-Ray drive and a bigger hard drive, but a slower CPU (which I seriously want to change), and only cost me $50 more. If you're going to be doing simulations, the faster CPU will definitely help you more.

 

I love my Acer Aspire 6920!!!!!! I'm so happy with it. Its fast! Mine is fast and yours will be faster because the one in the link has a better processor than mine. The Nvidia GeForce 9500GS is a very good card! It can be compared to the 8600Gt DDR2. Acer and 6920G is a awesome laptop and I highly recommend it! I bought mine for $900 but for the link you gave its worth $1000!!!! Its a great deal. You will not be disappointed!

 

I was wanting to get a laptop with a 2.4ghz processor since you can't really upgrade a laptop processor so i wanted the higher speed so it would last over the years.

How big of a difference will there be between a 2.2 and a 2.4ghz processor? I am not familiar with laptops (this will be my first one) and im not familiar with Dual processors (my pc is still running with a Pentium 4 w/ HT).

 

Does Acer use gloss or matted screens. Is there anyway to find out if this one is one or the other?

 

First off, you CAN upgrade a laptop processor, as some of the threads here in the Acer forum will attest. The days of having the CPU soldered to the motherboard are all but gone in the mainstream.

Second, the difference between a 2.2 and a 2.4 GHz processor are exactly one multiplier state and about $200. You shouldn't really find that much of a difference between two CPUs at such close speed rates. Going from 2.2 to 2.8 or 3.0, however, would be noticeable.

Finally, keep in mind that the Core 2 architecture that all modern desktop and notebook processors from Intel are built on is clock-for-clock faster than what the Pentium 4 ran on. Plus, the dual cores allow your system to multitask far better, and multi-threaded applications will run smoother.

EDIT: Oh, and the 6920G is a glossy screen.