I am using this Notebook since last 2 years 10 months and I must confess that more-or-less, it has been giving me reliable service but definitely with an added price.
The main reasons, I have purchased a Notebook because of its mobility. I always wanted to be connected with the Internet even when I am traveling, providing outdoor demonstration was also another purpose. However, the reason I have purchased this make and model for its pricing. In the year 2005 Acer Aspire 3002NLC probably was the cheapest Notebook available in the market so I have decided to buy it for this reason first. I preferred AMD than Celeron as experts said AMD is ok but it gets hot, irrespective of this fact it has never given me any problem in this respect.
It priced me Exactly Rs. 31, 394/- including VAT, cost of the carry bag included in this price. But I had to spend another Rs. 350/- for an external mouse and Rs. 6800/- for Windows XP Professional (as the Notebook came with the OS Linux pre-installed). The Nokia DKU-5 cable for the mobile internet connection needed another Rs. 1790/- . Within 90 days of the Notebook’s purchase, I had to spend another Rs. 6.061/- for two more years extended service warrantee (with spares but except battery) called STEP. This extra payment secured peace of my mind for a complete three years for free service warrantee. In the initial months it had performed well but after 6-7 months the Combo (CD R/W + DVD Player) drive started giving trouble, so I have referred it to the service centre and they have changed the drive into a new one.
Again within one month, vertical lines started appearing in the display screen so the service centre again change the entire display but that is not all, soon after expiry of the normal 1 year warrantee the Hard Disk and the mother board started giving severe problem but the extra payment made for STEP (additional warrantee) saved me from an obvious huge expenditure and the service centre again changed the HARD DISK, MOTHER BOARD and may be some other components free of cost. All of these components were new. The battery backup is indeed bad; it has never given me more than 20 minuses of stable backup when I am traveling and without the electricity at my disposal. Another problem is that, the notebook does not have IEEE1394 port so I needed to use my desktop to edit and even to download movies from the tapes of my Handycam. Now I am thinking in disposing it off and buy a new one with latest features and coverage of warrantee.
So the ultimate cost for this notebook was: Rs. 31, 394 + Rs. 6800 + Rs. 6061 = Rs. 44, 225 + Rs. 1790/- for the Nokia Internet Cable) = Rs. 46045/- Acer Aspire 3002NLC Rs. 46045/-!!