Acer v. Apple

My old laptop fried, it was a beautiful high res compaq that stopped working a little more than a year after I bought it.

I don't remember the exactly model name, but I'm considering between a $600+ acer and a $1100 Apple macbook. All I do is photoshop, dreamweaver, and an internet browser so I know I am apple friendly. I don't need to mod my computer, etc, but I do like getting bang for my buck.

I just can't decide. I love the beauty of the apple, i hear its battery lasts long and its reliability is great. On the other hand, I have never heard of acer until I saw this laptop on sale, and the notebook doesnt excite me. It would save me a lot of money though.

Any advice would be appreciated. Bottom line is: I want a notebook that will last, I want to enjoy using it, I want it to be pretty fast, and I want me to be happy with the purchase.

 

if you live in Europe... just get the Acer

if you live in USA... just get the Apple

personally i dont like apples because you can only use internet, video, music, and a few more things... However, others can be used for gaming, working, video, music and internet... Above all, i hate the Apple system of: "only works with OFFICIAL APPLE BRAND"... so if you want a pair of headphones, you almost must get it from Apple, or they wont work properly...

anyway, you will never be wrong deciding one or another

 

acersales, you couldn't be more wrong. apple's don't need "official apple brand" accessories. where are you getting your info? i've had loads of friends in college with apples, and we share the same printers, cameras, scanners, headphones, everything. they can also run windows if you need to, natively! Boot camp has all the windows drivers verified from windows and apple!

nlevy, acer's can't last more than 2 years. i've had mine for 1 year, and i've lost 40% on battery life already. however, if you're looking for a cheap computer, acer is the way to go. however, if you like style and a solid, good, computer, go with apple.

 

"acer's can't last more than 2 years." wow, thats exactly what i hoped wasnt true

 

of course they can last more than 2 years, just that at that time, a lot of people start to get problems, like cracked this/that, extremely poor battery life, etc. you can make any laptop last more than a few years by taking good care of them, and not worrying about battery life after a certain amount of time. just keep them plugged in on your desk, and they'll run fine.

 

Taking good care of your laptop will lasts longer Battry life depend on usage....Like mobile phone ones....

It's valid not only for the Acer but also for the apple too

 

Agree, acer is not a very solid build laptop, but if you are not a careless person or any of your friend are, acer is a good choice.

 

Its like asking would you buy a BMW or a Kia, Acer being the Kia.

Acer is the best bang for the buck.
I dont do apple's so cant really tell you about them

 

Don't put ACER that much Down....
Remember Acer is world 2nd largest notebook manufacturer

Acer like Japanese car(low cost less reliable..bit fancy looking...can keep 2-4 years)

Apple like European car(Higher cost...More reliable..can keep 3-4 years without worry)

We can put Gigabyte or LG or MSI to Korean car level(Not so popular... reliable ???...can keep 2-3 max...My brother have MSI notebook and its a junk compared to acer or Apple)

 

If Apple notebooks break down as frequently as iPods, that is a reason in itself not to get one.

I personally will never buy into the Apple brand, which is more anticompetitive than Microsoft (or at least would be if it was actually good at anything other than Mp3 players )

 

hell european cars have way more problems than japaneese cars you need special parts and crap i have a 98 civic in mint condition never broke down all it needs it oil and gas sry to go off subject llol

 

but normally they live longer than Japanese cars

 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Acer.

Ask anybody who has owned one and actually WORKED on it and not just fiddled and stuffed around with it. Acer is OK.

 

apple is one of the most reliable computer makers out there. and ipods have a very good reliability rating. if you sell millions and millions of ipods, it is no wonder that there would be some bad ones in a batch.

 

by the way, i love acer. don't get me wrong. i just love apple too.

 

You do realize that even if only 1% of iPods sold are defective, that's more than a million iPods right there? Almost the entire sales of the Microsoft Zune! The majority of iPod users are very satisfied with their iPods.

I don't know where acersales got his info but its not true. Most devices work for the Mac. These are devices that aren't even labelled to be Mac compatible.

Acer and Apple are two different classes of computers. Right off the top Apple runs Mac OS X so right there if you want to use Mac OS X you'll be on the Mac. You can run Windows on the Mac but if all you plan to do is run Windows on a Mac I'd suggest you look for a PC.

 

than why do i seed civics from 86 still driving around, their cheap its cheap to service them and they last long time. so quit dissing on Japaneses cars. not that i don't like European cars.


apple is a great company they make sexy looking products and they have great warranty, i had a macbook pro for a year, when i sold it it was in them same condition i bought it. battery life was great. my charger got messed up, i called them up, and had a charger next day, overnight delivery did not pay anything. and if you want it to last even longer get apple care and they will repalce anything that breaks for 2 or 3 years.

I'm currently using acer 3050. i know it will last me a while cause i take care of my stuff. but i usually sell my stuff at the end of the year and buy something new.

 

I've owned an Acer laptop (See Acer build quality thread) and I've owned an apple laptop (Also used a G4 powerbook extensively, back when they were in), and used everything in between... I really do like Apple's robust build quality.

Actually, I don't just like the robustness of their computers, but the design of them as well. I was really impressed that the only time I've seen a Mac take damage is when my ex dropped the (new) Powerbook G4 6 feet onto a polished wooden floor. Only the hinge cracked. My Acer hinge cracked from opening the computer too much!

On a side note: I recently took my Acer 3620 to Uni (In my laptop bag) and not only did one of the legs fall off it (and coat my uni books with black glue gunk) but heaps of the silver paint rubbed off the top of the screen!

Even though it costs a bit more, the Macbook pro is practically identical to a high-end Dell Inspiron 1520 (ie. Nice and fast). What the Mac owner gets for the price is an all-metal construction, an LED backlit screen, a sweet slot loading drive and a 1-inch thick body.

If you're strapped for cash, then go Acer, if you treat it well, it should last a while. If you can afford it, go Mac! Then every time you pick up your slender titanium encased computer, and wake it up from it's dreamy-pulsing-white LED sleep cycle you'll think:

"Alright! I got the mac"

To use the car analogy, every day it'll be like sliding onto the leather seats of your fully specced out BMW M3 and thinking "Alright! I'm driving a BMW!"

Go on... Get the mac, you deserve nice things!

 

i would get the acer if i was in your shoes. if you have money to toss away, the apple is a great machine. they run windows pretty dam well with boot camp.

 

Personally, while I love the concept and the look of the Macs, I think you get way more bang for your buck with a more generic one that runs Windows, and even more if you choose one that is friendly to Linux in case you ever want to go in that direction. Even running Windows, there are all kinds of free and/or open source software these days that run much better on Windows than they do on a Mac. Mac people are always at the back of the line as far as open source goes.

At this point, I haven't had any problems with my Acer Aspire 5044, but another brand might be my choice the next time. The Aspire line is built kind of flimsy for real carrying around all the time kind of use. Fine for a student to carry around carefully for a school year. Fine for desktop replacement use mostly at home with occasional transportation. But it's not really built for much punishment (Acer does have more expensive models for this).

But to be honest, I'm a former Mac desktop computer user. I would be writing this on a MacBook right now if it wasn't that one would have cost twice as much as the Acer. One thing about laptops is that, unless you're independently wealthy, they are obsoleted extremely quickly, and unlike a desktop computer, there's no way to upgrade individual components as time goes by. So, it might make sense to avoid spending too much on one.

 

you can upgrade ram, hard drive, wireless, dvd burner on a macbook/pro. i i've done it before. but it will void your warranty.

 

Hard drive and burner can be replaced on almost any laptop. Ram can easily be added. Wireless, well, it's not really a big upgrade item as long as it works. But to really be able to upgrade a computer, you need to be able to take out and put in any graphics card you want, any processor you want to keep up with technology. Otherwise, you're obsolete 3 months after buying it. Not being able to do this makes all laptops throw-away computers, even the Apples.

 

Yes I agreed...:yes:
This is my fourth laptop (5920G) since 2004/10..after 6-8 month of usage I'm getting nuts with the laptop & want to buy new one

When i see new features on another laptop I'm quickly getting tired with current laptop. I know it's waste of money ,but what to do i can't control myself:GEEK:

 

Too true and well said :yes:

 

Even though I am a "natural-born" PC user - and I don't like Macs (as any Apple product) I'm gonna have to say Mac - because I hate Acer (I tried Travelmate and did not like it at all: keyboard, screen, design...)

 

same here.

 

they way I see it if you buy the apple for 1100 and it dies on you a year after the warranty ends your out of luck. if you get the acer for 600, and it too dies after a year you have the 500$ you never spent on the mac + another 100 = a new 600 dollar computer

 

which eu car you're talking about?
it can't be generalize.let you think citroën or mercedes is the same thing?

 

Please don't revive old threads, thanks .