Anybody have any experience with Acer laptops?

Judg · Oct 31, 2008

I'm considering getting one (a low-end model) but there seem to be a lot of reports online of really bad customer service, cracking cases, and a bunch of other problems. Is this a fair assessment? Should I avoid Acer altogether, or are the horror stories the exception rather than the rule?

I put the question up on my blog too (see signature) and included a picture of the one that interests me. Clicking it will take you to the Best Buy page of specs.

L M Ashton · Nov 1, 2008

Yes, I had an Acer laptop. Nicknamed The Craptop. Went in for repair more than once a month with a resulting repair file on my end over an inch thick. Once came back from repair only to go back in less than a half hour later. Absolutely every major component was replaced at least three times. It never worked properly. Ever.

Is this normal? I hear not.

In reality, every notebook manufacturer puts out lemons and there are horror stories for them all and this has been discussed ad nauseum in the tech help forum, which I'd suggest you check out.

Meanwhile, I'd also suggest that you look for reviews of specific notebooks since some specific models can be better or worse than others.

nicolen · Nov 1, 2008

Our computer suppliers at work (I work in the claims department of an insurance company) told me when I was buying my laptop, to avoid anything Acer at all costs. They've seen all kinds of issues with them, and apparently when something does go wrong, Acer are very slow at getting replacement parts/components shipped out to them. For them, there's no such thing as a quick repair on an Acer - the jobs take weeks, if not months...

L M Ashton · Nov 1, 2008

Yup. I was supposed to have guaranteed 5 day turnaround on all repairs on my Craptop. It was away for weeks to a month at a time regardless. Their reason? The Craptop was so problematic that they wanted to fix it right, so they needed it for longer. They acknowledged that they were ignoring their own guarantees. And yet they refused to acknowledge that it was lemon enough to replace, which they never did.

Dell, on the other hand, had a far far far better service record with me with another notebook I had. On time, quick, get the job done right.

Judg · Nov 1, 2008

Hmm, I think I'll hold off on it then. Service departments are not talking about individual anecdotes.

Darzian · Nov 2, 2008

Several of my friends have experienced very good service with DELL lappys. Just thought I'd input something.

I do know someone who's got an ACER FERRARI but that cost $2000 + so it's bound to be good. It's been working well for 4 months so far.

I generally recommend DELL or HP. As far as I know, they've got the best customer recommendation. Also, many Toshiba lappys have heating problems and you may require a cooler pad if you go with Toshiba.

williemeikle · Nov 2, 2008

I've got an ACER Aspire 5100 ... cost about $600 this time last year and I've had no problems at all with it.

And it runs faster than my wife's top of the range SONY which cost nearly five times more.

czjaba · Nov 2, 2008

My preferences are definitely HP and Dell. But since Hubby's HP lappy is crashing constantly, I'm thinking about getting him a new one for Christmas. His HP lappy is nearly 5 years old, which (I've heard) is a dinasour. From what I've seen, ACER is by far a cheaper way to go, so that's what I'm considering. He only uses it for internet access and saving Word documents.
Any more ACER users out there with comments?

Judg · Nov 2, 2008

I think we'll hold off a little longer. I've done the budget... But $500 Canadian for a new laptop with 2GB RAM is hard to resist.

Is Dell generally known to have good service?

Our computer is about five years old (HP) and we've never had much trouble with it. I just upgraded the RAM to 2GB, so it should be able to do service a while longer. But I can't haul it around with me.

I'll really make you guys laugh. My current laptop is 13 (yes, thirteen!) years old. It's great for writing because there are no distractions. No Internet, no CD player (!), no nothing. And I deleted all the games. We thought it was pretty special when we got it. Look Ma, a coloured screen! And Windows 95! Wooh, long file names! LOL! Of course, the battery is long dead and it weighs half a ton, but it is so old it's cool again. My life really would be much simpler if I didn't have to transfer files on a floppy, and if I could have Internet access.

Most of our computers never required servicing, although there was an infamous little laptop that broke down completely in just over two years. Some little company that no longer exists.

Anyway, thanks for the input. I do appreciate it.

lakotagirl · Nov 2, 2008

I bought my Acer Aspire laptop last year. Loved it so much that when I needed to replace my desktop, I bought an Acer.

Now, the laptop is awesome! Never had a bit of trouble with it.

The desktop is a different story. Two months after I bought it, the video card went out. I called Acer and was told to send the desktop to them. I asked how long it would take. They said that they would TRY to get it back to me in "two to three weeks".

I explained that I could replace the video card if they would just send it to me. I didn't want to send it in for two reasons:
1) I couldn't wait that long for my desktop
2) I didn't want any Tom, Dick or Harry to be able to access personal information that I already had on the desktop.

They wouldn't do that.

It takes five minutes to replace a freaking card. It was worth it for me to go out and buy a new video card and replace it myself.

So, I was happy with Acer until I had to deal with customer service.

Anybody have any experience with Acer laptops?

Judg

DISENCHANTED coming soon

L M Ashton

crazy spec fic writer

nicolen

L M Ashton

crazy spec fic writer

Judg

DISENCHANTED coming soon

Darzian

To-to-to-ron-to

williemeikle

The force is strong in this one.

czjaba

dreaming of the day...

Judg

DISENCHANTED coming soon

lakotagirl

Forgot what I was gonna say