Are Acer laptops good? (Windows 8 question)

[IHateMyJob2004]

Windows 8:
See latest post for Windows 8 question:

ORIG:

My wife's computer has been acting up for several months now.

I want to get her this for $380:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834215578

Only requirement is 17" screen. For what she does, CPU power and everything else I care about do not matter. Just cheap and 17" ... oh and Windows 7, not 8.

So it literally boils down to, does Acer make an OK laptop? So long as it is on par with Dell I will get it.


Other options are here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ue=398%3A47205

I can always get Windows 8 and wipe it and put on Windows 7. At most, I want to pay $500.

Dell outlet has this:
http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...arch.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dfh&cs=22&puid=a41fe6b4

Or this Toshiba (wow, i3!) for under $500:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+...0568&cp=1&lp=1

Thanks!

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

CLIFF NOTES: Should I avoid either Dell, Toshiba or Acer?

 

[lakedude]

I'd avoid the Acer with the "E" series CPU, because of the slow processor not the Acer brand.

That $399 Toshiba with the Ivy i3 looks best to me...

Re Acer:


Our family and friends have several Acer laptop computers between us and they have been great for us. Had no problems so far.

That said most all the laptops are being used as desktop replacements and they don't get moved or bounced around much. Mine goes carted around but I take good care of it.

I don't know if I'd get an Acer for rough service...

Had an old dell with a 1.5GHz "Centrino" that has been solid as well.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

the bigger problem with that laptop is that it is e450, what a piece of garbage that is. you can get a pretty good laptop with $379, you dont need to tolerate one with that chip.

i would avoid acer, they are the bottom of the barrel and they arent that much cheaper than good brands like hp and dell. id also avoid asus, they put a lot of crap out as well, and their stuff seems to be quirky. i have to say though acer does have some nice looking stuff lately. but they typically have really bad touchpads which obviously has a huge impact on how well a laptop feels.

a 17 inch screen is a good idea and theyre typically $450 minimum for i3 hp, toshiba or samsung. thats what i would get

 

[mfenn]

Acer is on par with Dell, HP, ASUS, Lenovo, etc. in the low end (sub-$500) market. I say "on par" and not "good" because they are all crap. That being said, I agree that the AMD E series CPU is to be avoided in any kind of primary-use system.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Just got a $25 coupon for purchases over $250 from best Buy. Actually it's not a coupon, everyone gets this deal:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=category&id=cat00000

Getting that i3. Letting wife try out Windows 8. If she doesn't like it, I'll wipe it and put Windows 7 on.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Getting that i3. Letting wife try out Windows 8. If she doesn't like it, I'll wipe it and put Windows 7 on.

That might not be possible. Google "Windows 8 UEFI Secure Boot".

Long story short, UEFI BIOSes have the option (the option to disable it may not be present) to enable a "Secure Boot" feature, which uses embedded Crypto certs to verify the OS bootloader.

Which means that Windows 8 computers with this enabled, will not be able to boot any prior OSes, nor Linux.

One more reason to avoid computers that ship with Windows 8.

 

[Sheep221]

the bigger problem with that laptop is that it is e450, what a piece of garbage that is. you can get a pretty good laptop with $379, you dont need to tolerate one with that chip.

i would avoid acer, they are the bottom of the barrel and they arent that much cheaper than good brands like hp and dell. id also avoid asus, they put a lot of crap out as well, and their stuff seems to be quirky. i have to say though acer does have some nice looking stuff lately. but they typically have really bad touchpads which obviously has a huge impact on how well a laptop feels.

a 17 inch screen is a good idea and theyre typically $450 minimum for i3 hp, toshiba or samsung. thats what i would get

I wrote about Acer's in other thread

I owned 3 Acer laptops, and they were crap in the past but they definitely went up with quality and reliability, past 3 years. I had one from 2006, which was utterly bad design, bad cooling and bad hardware inside(too hot and weak). But then I got the 2009 and 2010 ones(almost same types) and they were rock solid since then, quiet, fast enough for office and internet work and definitely more durable than previous generation.
Some of acers had problem with broken webcam cable which both of mine are also affected, but since I don't use it I don't bother fixing it, if you are buying laptop via retail store, you don't need to bother with warranty in case of failure yourself, the law requires store to resolve warranty within 30 days so you just return it. I got mine back within 2 weeks fixed and OS reinstalled.
I would definitely don't skip on Acer these days for sure, however be sure to check the online reviews before buying anything.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

That might not be possible. Google "Windows 8 UEFI Secure Boot".

Long story short, UEFI BIOSes have the option (the option to disable it may not be present) to enable a "Secure Boot" feature, which uses embedded Crypto certs to verify the OS bootloader.

Which means that Windows 8 computers with this enabled, will not be able to boot any prior OSes, nor Linux.

One more reason to avoid computers that ship with Windows 8.

Well, that kinda sucks. Argghhhhh. Well, looks like I'll have to install some of those Windows 7 like front ends.

Well, atleast I got it from Best Buy. i can always cancel the order.

UPDATE: cancelled the order. That was easy via the web. Just had to go to the order status and cancel order was right there.

 

[mfenn]

That might not be possible. Google "Windows 8 UEFI Secure Boot".

Long story short, UEFI BIOSes have the option (the option to disable it may not be present) to enable a "Secure Boot" feature, which uses embedded Crypto certs to verify the OS bootloader.

Which means that Windows 8 computers with this enabled, will not be able to boot any prior OSes, nor Linux.

One more reason to avoid computers that ship with Windows 8.

I don't know of any current (non-ARM) computers that actual ship with that enabled. Link?

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

How do I find out if that laptop I wanted can have Windows 7 installed on it? Ti comes with Windows 8 and someone in this thread brought up UEFI.

For those jumping in now, I want to get this but I want to be able to put Windows 7 on it as a fallback plan if my wife doesn't like Windows 8...
http://redirect.anandtech.com/r?url...2012_Computers_70568&cp=1&lp=1&user=u00000687

 

[mfenn]

How do I find out if that laptop I wanted can have Windows 7 installed on it?

That sort of info is hard to get for mass-market laptops since they change so quickly. If a laptop built on a similar chassis was sold with Windows 7, then you are good to go. Likewise if you find anybody selling it with the Windows 7 downgrade option.

Otherwise, I would just buy it and try it out. 99% chance that it will work. 1% chance you will have to return it.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

That sort of info is hard to get for mass-market laptops since they change so quickly. If a laptop built on a similar chassis was sold with Windows 7, then you are good to go. Likewise if you find anybody selling it with the Windows 7 downgrade option.

Otherwise, I would just buy it and try it out. 99% chance that it will work. 1% chance you will have to return it.

Forgot that Best Buy will take a returned an open laptop.

Thanks.

From my brief reading about UEFI, it seems like most manufacturers disable the secure boot feature that would prevent Linux and Windows 7 to be installed.