A good manufacturer?

I never had a computer from Acer. Please, tell me everything, what I should know before getting one!

 

This is based on what personal experience I have with Acer notebooks. (least from the very cheap ones to the mid-lineup ones)

I have yet to see an acer which is capable of more than 1½, perhaps 2 hours hours of battery life while doing word processing.
The screens do have quite a lot of flex and they can be somewhat wobbly so be careful with it.

That said, I do believe that they are quite good value if your looking to just get a notebook to use for basic computing.

 

Yeh, up till now. They are now trying to make entertainment notebooks with there new gemstone series.

Build quality is a big disadvantage to Acer - bit of 'hit and miss' with particular models.

 

and this model?
Acer TravelMate M6292

 

Not familiar with that model, but you're going to find a full gambit of opinions about acer. Love'em, hate'em, it usually comes down to making sure you do your research and know what you are getting into. You seem to find alot of complaints about poor resolution, battery time, vid cards, ect... after people make thier purchases. With some time spent looking before buying, most of these complaints would never happen. Acer seems to be in the lower to mid end on the build quality spectrum. Some where near Toshiba, but not as good as Fujitsu, Asus, Sony or IBM (I've owned a quite a few of each brand).

They tend to be less expensive, so you generally get a good deal for the amount of features you receive. Currently I own the 5672 and it has problem free, and is pretty much what I had expected (expect for the massive amount of heat it expels!). I feel they put out a good product, but that you can find a superior laptop for a few dollars more. Personally, I would buy another Acer if they improve upon their high end gaming rigs (even the new 5920 can have a better screen resolution), but I'll probably be moving on to Asus with my next purchase.

Sorry I can'y help you with the specific model you are looking at, but do read through the acer forum, get an feel for the brand. Just remember, it's usually only the ones who have problems that write in, there are thousands of owners who never have any issues and never write about it.

 

'low end' is the only word I can think of...

bad bad bad quality on the high end... low end, and as far as i am concerned - by at your own risk.

I made that mistake.

 

IMHO asking this kind of question does no good at all. The only people who tend to respond to these kind of threads are the complainers, the people who have had problems, it is just like skibums said there are thousands who have never had a single problem but you never hear from them. Well I am one of those who has never had a problem with either of my acers (knock on wood). It is my observation that the travelmates tend to be better built than the aspire series but this is just my opinion. Anyway I encourage you to do some searching before you make that very expensive purchase remember google is your best friend when it comes to finding reviews for specific models, I suggest you use it so have some idea of what you are getting.

 

My new 5920G has over 3 hours easy of battery life so Acer are improving.

My last AMD Acer had only 45mins but that was because the laptop came with only a 4 cell battery and the ATI Xpress 200 Chipset is no power miser like the Santa Rosa.

 

I've owned an Acer since 2004 and I have been very happy with its build quality and performance. I'll actually be buying a replacement (as an upgrade) in the next 24 hours. Additionally, I bought my wife, my dad, and three business partners Acer latptops. Nonetheless if they ever had a problem with their machines, I'd be the first person they would talk to. I've also have had a very good experience with their customer service when I've had a question or needed some assistance.

 

most people have no problems at all. but from what I read, IF you do get a lemon, your experience is going to be horrible.

 

I own two acer notebooks and never had a problem the latest one i have purchased it last month but i'm very pleased with it.
I think to that travelmate is better constructed than Aspire.
About the complains i think that only the people that have been problems with there Acer notebooks complain, there are few people saying how good is there acer notebook, but for what i see this is the same on other countries.

br
lloco73

 

Overall I really like my Acer, has been as good as my previous Toshiba's (for what that's worth).

I get about 2 hours battery, which given the high specs on the 8204 I think is pretty good.

 

OK me 2 have an aspire 5672 and it's spectacular model the build quality of it is average to good but the plastic is really easy scratch able ,i said if you have less money you can get an acer with better spec but if you can afford an asus then go for asus as my acer know is stolen and i have enough money to go for asus and choose the spec's i want
go with acer but i thinks you better check more than 3 full reviews for the specific model

 

Acer is among the world wide leader in laptops. I believe they are number 1 in Australia. They are relatively new to the US and have moved into 3rd place behind HP and Dell in laptops sales.

 

As with everything else in this world Acer isn't perfect.

I've had a few laptops throughout the last few years, and my Acers have usually been without problems. What's important to know about Acer is that there's a huge difference between Aspire and Travelmates.

Aspire is the home user series, and is made in China to keep the cost down. Feels and looks cheaper and less sturdy. People buy this one because it's cheap and has nice specs/features, and don't really think about the price/quality factor - and it is mostly on these models you see the complaints about Acer comes from.

Travelmate is the business series, made in Taiwan, and is more expensive with the same setup, but has a much better build, looks better, and is generally laptops with little or no problems at all.

 

I get 3h. My battery was @ 2 hours about 6 months after I got the 8204. Got it replaced under warranty and it's been 3 hours consistently since then.

As for Acer build quality - Acer opened a new book with the Gemstone series so we will have to wait and see. They look much better constructed than the old Aspire series, so I think it will be an improvement. Same for the new TravelMate designs.

My Acers:
TM 803 - Flawless, perfect machine
TM 4600 - Lemon, fried 2HDs and ultimately the mainboard
TM 8204 - Very good, only minor problems which were handled by service, sturdy and _fast_

 

Battery life depends in the operating system you are using. In my case Windows XP Media Center Edition yields about 3:00 (with all Acer power management features!), Fedora Core 6 about 3:15, and Ubuntu 7.04 is the absolute winner with almost 3:30. Have in mind that the more USB items you plug in, the lesser the battery will last.

Joe.