Would you give up Radiance for $400?

I have a HP Envy 14 w/ Radiance display and I'm thinking about selling it for a Acer AS4830T. I bought the Envy mainly for gaming but I recently built a gaming PC and no longer need the discrete graphics on the Envy. I would much rather have a laptop with a longer battery life. My Envy gets around 2.5-3hrs while the Acer has been said to get around twice that.

Currently Amazon has a Back to School deal where you can get the Acer for $550 plus a free Xbox 360. (need to confirm on the Xbox) If i sell the Xbox on ebay for 150ish, i can get the laptop for ~$400.

Assuming I can get around $800 for my Envy, I can trade up for the Acer + $400.

I would probably jump on this right away if I had a Brightview display but I dont know if I am willing to give up the Radiance. Also, I dont know about the fit and finish of the Acer. I love the build quality of the Envy and would hate to get something that squeaks and creaks.

So, what would you guys do, trade up or keep the envy? I'm having a hard time deciding and could really use some opinions.

 

I'm with you on the build of the Envy--I have an SB Envy 14, and it feels and looks great. I initially bought a dv6t, which was a disappointment as an actual machine (despite the ridiculously good specs).

I've been in the market for the past few months for a college laptop, and I never really looked at Acer much. Their TimelineX series looked pretty good on paper, but the designs looked really awkward and bulky too me--too many sharp corners and such, making it an awkward fit in a bookbag. I can't really say definitively that I'm against Acer, as I just said I never really looked too seriously into them, but I would say keep the Envy. The Radiance screen, from what I've heard, is a thing of beauty. If anything, tweak up your system a bit and buy an extra battery. The free 360 deal is pretty tempting though...

 

As long as you're not buying a T G version of the Acer xx30 line, you should be fine. Those models suffer from overheating and throttling issues. If you're going to sell the Xbox anyway, why not just buy a smaller netbook for even less money? Something like this:

Amazon.com: Acer Aspire One AO722-BZ454 11.6-Inch HD Netbook (Espresso Black): Computers & Accessories

You could even play a game or two on it (granted at low settings at reduced resolution, but it's possible).

 

I would not sell my Envy with radiance unless I know some similar is easy to find (and its really not). But I plan to keep it for several years to come so I will not likely part with it. I would have to lose my job or something drastic happen to part with it

 

Thanks for the opinions guys. I really like my Envy and I'm leaning towards just keeping it. However, my local Microcenter has the Acer laptop on display so i might just drop by and take a look.

As for the netbook, I dont think i can see myself using something so small

 

Have the 'og' envy but the Radiance is what sold me on it & it's what's keeping me on it. Only way I'd give it up is for a comparable 14' laptop, specs and price and build quality wise...was considering the 15z but I've been loyal to Hp for too long and the Z's not really customizable.

 

Don't expect the Acer to hold a candle to the Envy's quality.

 

Acer is not very famous for its quality, I would never give my radiance display for anything less. I want to move to an ips dispay when they come out for laptops. Till then keeping my ENVY.!

 

Radiance is a legend. Acer, Asus, Lenovo are all chinese garbage that I would never touch.(mainland china considers taiwan to be part of china-albeit a misbehaving rogue part)

Keep the HP, save a dying American company!

 

Designed in the US yes, but the radiance / envy 14 is also made in china ... like most consumer goods....

I would not mind paying a couple hundred bucks more if it was made in the US or europe... but most people do not agree with me and want the cheapest possible.
Which means producing in countries with much cheaper labor and no labor laws.

By looking for the cheapest products we effectively rob ourselves of our own jobs ...

 

Why pay more though? There are quality checks in place. Most of them are built by machines anyway. Most apple products are made there too. The chinese industry has improved drastically since 5 years ago. Give them a chance.

 

to keep more jobs in the US and Europe ? Have less people rely on welfare and other entitlements ?

I try not to buy Made In China anymore, but in electronics it's a lost cause ...

 

Agreed, it's debatable. I don't think the quality would be any different, though the quality control is probably not as great when your executives are living thousands of miles from factories. I more so worry about after-sales support. I would gladly have paid for HP's pricey warranty if I'd thought they'd be competent at fixing machines. But my personal experiences and the experiences of others show they simply aren't.