One and a half year back, we started looking for a computer. At that time we were temporarily based in andhra pradesh so we wanted to have as little luggage with us as possible. So we ruled out desktops. Our requirement was mainly for internet and occasionally presentations. So we didn’t want a higher end one, but I couldn’t resist the pull of Core 2 duo! So finally it was left to dell, acer and HCL. Since at that time acer was coming with some offer by which we were saving around 5000, we went for it. Here are the pros and cons!
Pros:
Definitely cheaper than the rest(for us)
Has all the latest features including core 2 duo, wi fi, dvd recorder, bluetooth
Wi fi is good
Acer e management makes things easier for the novice
Cons:
Definitely more delicate than dell and others
Have some problem in connecting to the projector during presentations
Bluetooth not working properly(maybe not cnfigured properly) To conclude, this is a nice machine, but needs to be cared for. It has not given us much problem till now, so cant comment on after sales. But if you can afford go for a dell(not much difference in cost). But I would still recommend this as an option.
UPDATE(August 26, 2010)
Had a crash with Win XP in march. Updated to Windows 7. Now its running great!
By the way now the problem with projector is gone; it goes into projector mode automatically as soon as the cable is connected(which means the earlier problem must be a driver problem rather than hardware one)
Bluetooth is also working perfectly now.
Had a problem with the start button(which is a problem with this series, the guy at cust care told me) in may which was rectified by the acer customer care people here in Raipur in 1 day(cost me ` 1500)
So over all I am HAPPIER with my laptop than I was before.
A few nice softwares with links
KM Player(A korean media player with not much support, so not for novices. But it plays almost all files, audio is astounding when played on external speakers, lots of playback controls can be set by the user)- https://download.cnet.com/The-KMPlayer/3000-13632_4-10659939.html?tag=mncol
FastStone Image Viewer(Better image viewer than windows one, throughs in video editing features too and has a small foot print)- https://download.cnet.com/FastStone-Image-Viewer/3000-2192_4-10324485.html?tag=mncol
When my system crashed last time I realised you need to take care of it. So here a few free utilities that can do the work for you
Glary Utilities- https://download.cnet.com/Glary-Utilities/3000-2094_4-10508531.html?tag=mncol
Revo uninstaller- https://download.cnet.com/Revo-Uninstaller/3000-2096_4-10687648.html?tag=mncol
Auslogics disk defrag- https://download.cnet.com/Auslogics-Disk-Defrag/3000-2094_4-10567503.html?tag=mncol