I'm not very savvy in this area. Looking for a laptop mainly for internet use - not games or graphics.
Is this Acer at £399 a good deal?

And is the spec ok for wireless use?

https://sslrelay.com/s77548008.oneandoneshop.co.uk/sess/utn;jsessionid=1542ee2bcaa2cf4/shopdata/0130_Notebooks/0033_Aspire/0087_Aspire+3500/product_details.shopscript?article=0007_Acer%2BAsp ire%2B3502LCi%2B%3D3Cfont%2Bcolor%3D3D%3D22%3D23FF 0000%3D22%3D3E%3D2A%3D2ACheapest%2BLaptop%2BEver%3 D21%3D2A%3D2A%3D3C%3D26slash%3D3Bfont%3D3E%2B%3D28 LX%3D252EA5005%3D252E140%3D29

Scroll down the page a bit - It's the 'Aspire 3502LCi'

It's a good dedal because Acer have discontinued that model and replaced it with LX.A5005.138

http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpresentation/index.php?alert=categoryresults&product_id=ARRYA04BRB

Comet have it in stock as well for £399, but the Comet one says it's a DVD writer but doesn't say it has wireless.

not a bad deal at all, consider upgrading the memory to 512 later on if you buy it, but otherwise, it'll certainly do the job of being an office pc.

I remember when £400 wouldn't have bought a 2nd hand laptop, and I could go to the chip shop with £10 and still have change for a pint.

Originally posted by Cyclone
not a bad deal at all, consider upgrading the memory to 512 later on if you buy it, but otherwise, it'll certainly do the job of being an office pc.

I remember when £400 wouldn't have bought a 2nd hand laptop, and I could go to the chip shop with £10 and still have change for a pint.

No it won't it's got XP Home on it and therefore will not network, and trust me from personal experience you don't want to be upgrading Acers from home to pro, they don't like it !!!!

strange, I have xp home on my laptop and it seems to network just fine.

It can't join a domain, but since the stated use was for surfing the internet, my comment about it being a perfectly good office pc stands, it will run IE, word, excel or other general software that office pc's are asked to run.

Big difference between a home network and an office network Cyclone, providing you have under 25 users on the network it should work fine but anything over that and your into headache territory

acer suck balls.. seriously, i would genuinely advise anyone against buying any acer products at all..

i'm not just some disgruntled consumer who has had a problem with acer, i work for a large IT reseller and am fed up with the problems that acer cause our customers..

you will get no joy from acer if you have the slightest problem with any of their products (and if you're buying a laptop, you will almost certainly have a problem of some description)..

i'm sure this will prompt a few "i've bought acer & couldn't be happier" replies, but i can honestly say that, out of all the vendors we supply (hp, fujitsu-siemens, toshiba, etc.) acer are easily the leaders with regards to customer complaints, failed RMA attempts, etc..

we are on the brink of taking the decision to remove acer products from our website altogether, as we feel we are doing our customers a dissservice by selling their products!

Acer are pretty new to the UK market and as such are struggling with RMA's and customer support. Since they are based in Ireland and only recently opened offices in England I think they ought to be given a little longer to settle in.

The equipment the sell is budget and has never professed to be professional or corporate. It is aimed at the low budget user and as such any massed produced item will have a few failures and complaints. I have sold hundreds of Acer products to customers looking to maximise their budget and I can honeslty say that the TFT's are great and the laptops and desktops are exactly as advertised.

Originally posted by RazorSHarp
Big difference between a home network and an office network Cyclone, providing you have under 25 users on the network it should work fine but anything over that and your into headache territory

good job that i was talking about a several thousand user mixed environment development network then isn't it.

Originally posted by Cyclone
good job that i was talking about a several thousand user mixed environment development network then isn't it.

Wasn't it !!!

Originally posted by RazorSHarp
..I can honeslty say that the TFT's are great and the laptops and desktops are exactly as advertised.

completely true..

however, if you have any kind of problem i can guarantee that it will not be sorted out in a satisfactory way/timeframe..

if you receive delivery of a brand new product, and open the box to discover a fault, you expect to be able to send that product back immediately and get a new one.. not according to acer..

if you open a brand new product they will not accept it back; instead they will collect it and "endeavour" to repair it within 72 hours!

sorry for ranting, but acer are the bane of my life lol..

Originally posted by dirtybobby
completely true..

however, if you have any kind of problem i can guarantee that it will not be sorted out in a satisfactory way/timeframe..

if you receive delivery of a brand new product, and open the box to discover a fault, you expect to be able to send that product back immediately and get a new one.. not according to acer..

if you open a brand new product they will not accept it back; instead they will collect it and "endeavour" to repair it within 72 hours!

sorry for ranting, but acer are the bane of my life lol..

I agree with you there, they do seem to have a very "different" view to RMA's than any other manufacturer I know, even HP have a quicker turn round (Once you get the reference number off them)

Originally posted by dirtybobby


if you receive delivery of a brand new product, and open the box to discover a fault, you expect to be able to send that product back immediately and get a new one.. not according to acer..

if you open a brand new product they will not accept it back; instead they will collect it and "endeavour" to repair it within 72 hours!


But under the sales of goods act you can ask for an immediate refund if the product is not fit for the job advertised.

How would a Intel Celeron-M 360 Processor (1.4Ghz) compare to a non mobile P4 (1.4Ghz)?
Would it still run... say, DreamweaverMX, Photoshop7 and Firefox at the same time without going in to meltdown?

Originally posted by RazorSHarp
Acer are pretty new to the UK market and as such are struggling with RMA's and customer support.

I used to sell Acer laptops back in 1999-2001 and had no problems with them, certainly not with support and returns.

We used to supply them to students with special needs and they were our choice because of their reliability and good service.

Originally posted by vidster
But under the sales of goods act you can ask for an immediate refund if the product is not fit for the job advertised.

yeah, you'd think that, but try telling that to acer..

now, obviously, as a consumer you can go back to your retailer/reseller and demand a new one.. they will be duty bound to provide you with a new one, and they will be lumbered with a faulty one that they can't do much about..

i appreciate this isn't really your concern, but it is just indicative of acer's overall attitude.. if you had a problem 30 days down the line, when any problems were acer's responsiblity, then you would see what i mean..

seriously.. you'll save fifty quid or whatever in the long run, but i would definitely recommend you spend a little extra on an HP or something just for their excellent aftersales service (not to mention lovely buld quality)..

Originally posted by vidster
But under the sales of goods act you can ask for an immediate refund if the product is not fit for the job advertised.

Not always the case, especially if you buy from mail order stores, you are bound by their t's & c's. It's a minefield when IT goes wrong. Resellers generally offer replacement or reair and very rarely refund.

Originally posted by vidster
How would a Intel Celeron-M 360 Processor (1.4Ghz) compare to a non mobile P4 (1.4Ghz)?
Would it still run... say, DreamweaverMX, Photoshop7 and Firefox at the same time without going in to meltdown?

Personally I would never use a laptop for development work of any sort, however providing the graphics are OK you shouldn't have much in the way of a problem with the Macromedia and photoshop. Never used firefox so I can't comment there.

Check the manufacturers web site or the software boxes, they usually tell you the PC minimum requirements

Originally posted by RazorSHarp
Not always the case, especially if you buy from mail order stores, you are bound by their t's & c's.

not sure if i'm understanding you correctly, but if so you're wrong..

if you order from a mail order only shop (i.e. you can only communicate with them via phone/internet/mail/etc. and have no way of physically seeing the stock before ordering) then you have far more rights than you usually would.. you are covered by the distance selling act, one of the perks of which means you can return anything you buy within 7 days of receipt for any reason, even if it's just because you've changed your mind..

in addition, acer's policy flouts a basic uk statuatory right: goods sold should be fit for purpose and function as described.. because acer seem to think they are above the law and ignore this, it means resellers & retailers lose out big time..

Originally posted by RazorSHarp
Not always the case, especially if you buy from mail order stores, you are bound by their t's & c's. It's a minefield when IT goes wrong. Resellers generally offer replacement or reair and very rarely refund.

this is just plain wrong.

T's & C's cannot alter the legislation in place that protect the consumer.
Distance selling regulations give you 7 or 14 days (depends on circumstances I think) to return something if you bought it in any other way than at the store. You don't have to give any reason, they cannot refuse to accept the return, you will be liable for postage costs, nothing else.
And if you buy it on credit (with your credit card as is sensible) then you get additional protection via the consumer credit act.

Consumer credit is an absolute minefield particularly when it comes to computers on credit. The Court's are chockablock full of cases in this area.

Just because the law is supposedly there to protect you from harm please do not think it means you are able to enforce your rights. When push comes to shove, there's an age old unwritten code which applies to the legal process, ie MIGHT is right and stuff the consumer, with or without a solicitor. Even if you buy on a credit card enforcing your rights can be a right royal Ripoff. It is well known that the courts are unsympathetic to individuals because they've got their eye on who pays the whacky court fees they charge, ie the corporates, etc who can afford the legal fees and dont care what they say in court.

Just proceed with real caution, check out all your facts before buying, do your best to see the thing you're buying before you buy and look in to the quality of your supplier's post sales support very very carefully.

Even if you dont need a reliable piece of state-of-the-art kit from a manufacturer with a potentially questionnable track record, its very important to remember that you get what you pay for always applies to buying computer systems and even more so to laptops.

Personally I'd think you stand a better chance of a fair deal buying one 2nd-hand from someone on the forum and there are plenty enough advertised for about the money you're wanting to spend.

Its probably worth mentioning that the original laptop only has a 2hr battery life, which will drive you mad after a while if you are serious laptop user. The Acer 4051 LCI at £470 + VAT is a pretty good deal - 4-5 hrs battery and XP Pro (just in case).

My experience of Acer is that they have upped their game both in Laptops and TFT's in the last year. Warranty repairs always take a while, but Acer also do a 3 year extended warranty for £60 or so which should see you through to end of usefule life on a laptop.

PS Who said Acers dont like going from Home to Pro ? Whats the difference, its an O/S upgrade, nothing to do with the machine...

Originally posted by TheManWhoCan
Warranty repairs always take a while, but Acer also do a 3 year extended warranty for £60 or so which should see you through to end of usefule life on a laptop

Its worth checking out what this means in practice, ie is it on-site and if so how much over the £60.

Originally posted by wendygs
Consumer credit is an absolute minefield particularly when it comes to computers on credit. The Court's are chockablock full of cases in this area.

Just because the law is supposedly there to protect you from harm please do not think it means you are able to enforce your rights. When push comes to shove, there's an age old unwritten code which applies to the legal process, ie MIGHT is right and stuff the consumer, with or without a solicitor. Even if you buy on a credit card enforcing your rights can be a right royal Ripoff. It is well known that the courts are unsympathetic to individuals because they've got their eye on who pays the whacky court fees they charge, ie the corporates, etc who can afford the legal fees and dont care what they say in court.

Just proceed with real caution, check out all your facts before buying, do your best to see the thing you're buying before you buy and look in to the quality of your supplier's post sales support very very carefully.

Even if you dont need a reliable piece of state-of-the-art kit from a manufacturer with a potentially questionnable track record, its very important to remember that you get what you pay for always applies to buying computer systems and even more so to laptops.

Personally I'd think you stand a better chance of a fair deal buying one 2nd-hand from someone on the forum and there are plenty enough advertised for about the money you're wanting to spend.

that's why you use a credit card, they are generally bigger than most pc manufacturers and can withdraw the processing of cards if they wish. It's a pretty big lever for them.
You get your refund from your CC provider, they get a refund from the computer manufacturer.

Oh, and as for 'wacky' court costs, the costs for small claims court start at £40, since they only see most corporates acting in defence they have no bias towards them, nor have I ever heard of any bias towards corporates at any court level. If you're consumer rights are breached and you've kept a record of what happened, ie dates, letters, phone calls then you should have no trouble proving so in court and getting your money and costs back.

Bumpety bump!

The original deal seems to have ended now but i had a look at the Acer Travelmate 2356 XM (http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/Acer_TravelMate_2305LCi_LX.T5605.382/version.asp). Staples has it on offer for £399 until Monday 22nd.

I had a good look at this laptop. It looks and feels very good indeed for the price. It's even got a DVD/+RW, not something i was expecting for under £400 :o

RE Credit Card payment for laptops & PCs. when i rung Nationwide to get my extra years cover which i got on fridge/freezer they told me they do NOT cover Laptops or PCs. So check that your bank does before you buy.
Cheers
Harry

Originally posted by Cyclone
that's why you use a credit card, they are generally bigger than most pc manufacturers and can withdraw the processing of cards if they wish. It's a pretty big lever for them.
You get your refund from your CC provider, they get a refund from the computer manufacturer.

Oh, and as for 'wacky' court costs, the costs for small claims court start at £40, since they only see most corporates acting in defence they have no bias towards them, nor have I ever heard of any bias towards corporates at any court level. If you're consumer rights are breached and you've kept a record of what happened, ie dates, letters, phone calls then you should have no trouble proving so in court and getting your money and costs back.

Dont know which planet you live on mate but I strongly recommend that you take some time off work and spend it sitting outside the Advice Bureau at the Royal Courts of Justice. I think you will find it quite an education and you may even come away with a different, more tolerant perspective on life. Cheers for now. wendygs

Originally posted by RazorSHarp
Acer are pretty new to the UK market......


ROFLMFAO!! I have seen, repaired, and thrown away Acer laptops from 1992 -- so you cant tell me theyer new to the UK market :(

I owned one in 1993 :/

i got a acer laptop and it came with a fault, the disc drawer wouldnt open, rung em, came next day was back with in a couple of days, seemed ok to me, i bought it through ebay though,.:)

If you don't recommend acer - what are other good budget laptops? I want a laptop to do word processing, surfing, watching the occasional DVD and listening to music occasionally. Battery lie isn't important as I'll be suing the mains.

What is important is that it can run Football Manager 2006 at a decent speed. I also wouldn't mind playing games like Far Cry but it doesn't matter if the graphics aren't spot on.

Can anyone recommend a laptop for this use?

try this link Ergo Computing (http://www.ergo.co.uk)they even do on site maintenance for their own kit and which I am very sad to say does not extend to the Motion Tablet PCs if your budget extends to that.

By the way I seem to recall reading somewhere on this forum someone having seriously damaged the battery of their laptop by running from mains power which you may want to reconsider.