MBP vs Acer

[aquajet]

Don't forget the iLife factor as well, along with the other third-party bundled applications. Does the Acer have something similar?

Why don't more people address this point? I simply don't understand how so many people completely ignore the features which are included with the iLife suite when it comes to comparing a cheap PC and a Mac.

 

[Twyntub]

Cool factor... Apples are cooler... I get random people when I am working on site stop in and say how cool my laptop is, and ask me what brand it is (They normally cant see the apple logo on it)

Hey - you're not wrong. I recently did a presentation to 60 windows developers in London. Over half the people in the room used Macs - mostly MBPs, but several spec'd up MacBooks. Aside from the fact that Macs are usually cheaper than most rivals when it comes to the specs that matter to developers (size, weight, battery life, raw CPU) - 'Coolness' came high on the list.

To quote from one developer from Denmark: "The best thing about my Mac is that all the pretty girls on the train see the Mac and assume you're something interesting like a graphic designer, and not something boring like a Windows programmer!"

Try getting that with your Acer

 

[Veracon]

Let me start by saying that I understand how great machines MacBooks are. But, that said, I don't know if everyone else is unlucky, I'm lucky or something entirely different, but I've had an acer laptop for quite a while now and have had close to no problems with it. In the beginning there were a few application crashes, but after a week or so they seemingly disappeared and it's running perfectly now.

So I definitely can't say all those "horror stories" about acer apply to me. I'm happy with my acer.

(edit) oh, about the bloatware, yes, it's there. But I think I spent probably 5 minutes removing it and now performance is just on-par with my other, similarly-specced (and home built) computer.

 

[queshy]

I work at futureshop (like best buy), and let me tell you - the acer laptops are sooooo cheap. they may look good on paper, but literally I have never seen a cheaper looking laptop. it looks like it was built by fisher price as a children's toy. the hp-s, not so much, but the acers...they just look and feel so cheap. the keyboards literally sink in when you type on them. the quality of the mbp is well worth the premium.

 

[ezekielrage_99]

My previous personal laptop was an Acer 8104 (2Ghz Pentium M, ATI X700). I'll never buy another Acer based on my experiences....

1. Ran insanely hot 97C or higher under load, and heat radiated up through track pad. Loud-ish fan on every 3 minutes or so.

2. Power issues. I had to have the system board/power supply replaced 3 times. Memory failed once. Repair service took forever and each required multiple tries to fix the laptop.

3. LCD...uneven lighting and grainy.

4. Silver paint discolored, wore off on wrist areas.

5. Weak support, no driver updates, bad ACPI implementation that hosed Linux installs

6. Crashes more often than is comfortable.

I had similar issues with my Acer..... Grainy LCD, burnt out the CPU (it ran very hot), crappy Video (intermittent fuzzy graphics), the finish rubbed away (only after a few weeks), the DVD ROM bay died after a few uses.

Overall Acer sucks, and their Customer Support is as useful as tits on a bull.

 

[vicious7]

Just replaced my Acer 2310 with a new MBP. The difference is night and day. I've had the Acer for about two years and while I've not had catastrophic failures, the machine had deteriorated quickly - uneven screen brightness, excessive heat, questionable cd drive and typical of PC's, bloated. The thing I did like was the keyboard. It did take a pounding and all the keys still work

Would I ever buy another Acer? Probably not. Would I buy another Apple? That remains to be seen. I'm still on my honeymoon with my new MBP. I'll report back in four years

 

[DeadAcerFerrari]

Stay away from Acer

I had Acer Ferrari Notebook a couple of years ago.
With nice red glossy back. You know.

Try to search 'dead acer ferrary notebook' in google. Considering this, I was a lucky one!

The mother board went dead 12 months after bying. Right after warranty expired. (Looks like it was programmed to die
Have replaced it in Singapore without warranty. I had to bought new battery by then. Because old one was started to heating up enormously.

Few months after that hard disk went crazy.
If you're holding the notebook vertically like book - it works.
When you lay it down to the table - it's not.

Bluetooth has never worked right on it.
Thermal management is awfull.
When limiting the processor speed to 800MHz it works nicely few minutes after power on. When the horrible fan come into play. When you push 100% load upto1800MHz it become an owen. Very noisy one

My advice if you want problems: go with Acer. They don't care much about what notebooks they are making. But for their sharedholders Acer do amazing job. They got more than $2000 for a crappy notebook itself from me and around $500 for repair service and parts.

If you don't stay away from it.

Now i'm waiting new subnotebook from Apple or MacbookPro if I run out my patience soon.

 

[oldscool63]

It's all about the OS for me. I own 18 Macs and love them all. Now that MAC's are on the Intel platform, I'd like to run OSX on my choice of computers (yes, I know I can hack it...and I'm sure I'll get around to it). I wish the cost of Apple's hardware was lower, of course, but who doesn't? I run Linux and Unix on some older MAC's as well. Apple's making HUGE profits by switching over to the lower-priced Intel platform and keeping OSX proprietary....and as long as we LOVE OSX, we'll continue to buy Apple hardware.

Que sera, sera...

 

[cluthz]

I was considering buying a 2.2GHz MBP for my gf and initially running Windows on it.

As a last minute reassurance why wouldn't I want to get this:

http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5920WSMi_Laptop_LX.AGS0X.015/version.asp

Seems to have an almost identical spec and is a whopping £500 cheaper plus I don't have to buy Windows for it.

Ta

A friend of mine has a Acer that is really looking similar to that one, he has a 2.16ghz c2d and x1600 gfx and its 10 times hotter than my SR MBP.

He has to have his mouse almost half a yard away from his computer due to the exhaust fan, else he gets his hand burned... but it was cheap