Acer Aspire 5670 Series Review (pics, specs)

Sorry to rush you all, but it's fairly urgent. I just find it curious that this one costs less than the one with an X1400 in it (1300-1400€ . Is the T2050 that much slower than a T2300? And will it be noticeable when gaming?

 

Bu-bump? Anyone? Just a small "it'll do just fine"?

ease my troubled mind.

 

This thread is dead without a doubt, but I needed some place where I can let loose my frustration with this piece of junk.

I bought my Acer 5673 WLMi a year and half ago, way back in Oct 2006 before i left for Bristol. Looked at the specs and decided that it would be the best laptop to replace my desktop, as well as the price that you can't get anywhere. But that's as good as it goes for this laptop, the price and the specs. No where does it warn you about its craptastic durability.

My first problem appeared when there's a dead pixel on the upper left corner of the screen, i had to battle with my own mind to just let it go because Acer won't do anything about it.

My second problem with my cooling unit bout 4-5 months into using it. We all know (or those who owns this laptop) gets heated up so quick i can cook an egg with it. What's good an acer with a crappy fan? The problem wasn't dealt with because apart from the noise emitted (louder than the built in speaker might i add), the cooling capability still functions. The noise was however, annoying and at that decible it would wake anyone in the flat up. I called up the Acer support in England inquiring about the repairs necessary for my laptop, and i found it apart from the warranty (bought a passport waranty for csaes like this), i had to pay a freaking 48pounds just for the delivery charges alone. Since i already knew what's the problem, i asked for them to direct me to their parts department, so i can purchase (yes, i'm willing to pay for a broken part myself than go through their warranty service because 2 weeks of without my laptop is definitely not worth that money) the fan and cooling unit directly. I made my payments but didn't get my parts for 2 weeks, I called up again and asked bout it, i was told they don't have the parts yet. Since my fan doesn't give me anymore problem than just being noisy I'm willing to live with it because i'm going home in a month that time. I got my refund, of course.

Another few months, the Dvd-RW rom died on me. It refuses to read CDs and prior to this it was working fine, i have been burning cds (although rarely) without any problem. I was flabbergasted at the rate of things breaking down. My built in wifi, which was running smoothly for about a month or so (i rarely use the wifi function before i moved to another house in uk, staying there temporarily until i fly back home to malaysia) and then it died on me. The wifi would be fine everytime after the laptop restarts, then it turns off after 15 minutes or so and turning it back on wouldn't fix it.

When I got back to malaysia, a good 1 year after i bought it, my harddisk had bad sectors in it. Enough is enough i sent it in for repairs. Weeks after weeks they delayed handing over my laptop, and finally when i told them i couldn't wait any longer, the gave it back to me only fixing half of what's wrong. The wifi was still broken.

I sent it back, and they took another 2 weeks and yet the failed to diagnose the cause of the problem. They told me they knew something was wrong with the wifi but couldn't find the cause of it and they said they needed more time with it. For a month or two i have been without my laptop, so frustration kicked in again and i tried to be as civil as i can with the person over the phone but i must admit i feel bad for the guy after the entire episode was over. They gave in and gave me a new motherboard and a new wifi.

In a nutshell, they gave me a brandnew laptop, new mobo, hdd, dvd rom, wifi and the cooling unit. What was left unscathed was probably the video card. The built it soundcard was trash, I had to immediately get an audigy 2 ZS notebook soundcard when i was in UK because i couldn't bear with the sound anymore. Of course, not to mention the additional Philips speaker.

Now, a month after the service/repair/whatever it was, the laptop starts freezing up again. At first i thought it was me probably hitting the keyboard too hard (especially the 'p' button, it wouldn't function properly), i got myself another external keyboard. Then the freezing problem occured when i was playing games. I don't play all those fancy new games because if i do i think my laptop would probably explode.

It still freezes up occasionally, whether i'm just im'ing or gaming. I'm gonna get a brandnew desktop for a change, i'm tired of visitting the service centre, wasting my phonebills calling them.

My warranty is up anyways.

My advice? Don't get an acer. settle for something else. Those fancy specs and dirt cheap price are obviously without a catch.