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First laptop: Acer vs. ASUS

F

fuzzy247

Junior Member
I'm about to buy my first laptop and I've narrowed my searching down to 2 possibilities. Both have almost the same specs: i3, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, DVD burner, good battery life, etc. A few differences I found:

Acer Aspire TimelineX AS4820T-7633
RAM type=SODIMM
128MB Graphics RAM (unknown card?)
14"
$619

ASUS U30JC-B1
RAM type=SDRAM
512MB Nvidia G310M Graphics Engine
13.3"
$649

Does RAM type matter much? Is the Nvidia card worth the extra $30? I won't be playing any big fancy games or editing video. Just some basic image editing, MS office, and surfing the net.

I've read good and bad things about both companies so that doesn't help me much.

Does anyone have any experience with either model? Or better suggestions ~$600? Thanks for any advice you can offer! I'm sure either would be okay, I'm just nervous to make the plunge since it's my first laptop.
 
Both use SODIMM DDR3 memory, just their descriptions are different.
The Acer uses onboard Intel HD video, so it won't be as good as the Nvidia.
Also, the Acer specs list a slightly larger screen and higher res webcam.
 
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Thanks for the reply Mr. Lebowski.

I still know very little about graphics cards (maybe because I don't play a lot of games or edit video?) but I assume any dedicated card is probably better than using shared processing or whatever the Intel HD video is... But how much better? Would it make a difference in running Photoshop or Illustrator CS4? Or using the HDMI output?

I'd like to try to get to a store which carries similar models just so I could put my hands on them and make sure they are sturdy and comfortable to my hands. That would probably make me a lot less nervous.

Thanks for the help!
 
Some people complain about the keyboards on the Acers, specifically with them being too mushy. I was never able to find a B&M store to test the Acer Timelines out though, I was lookin at the 11.6in variants.

Asus machines seem to be well respected and have above average build quality though. And its nvidia GPU will easily defeat the Intel IGP on the Acer in pretty much everything. Well worth the 30 dollar price difference, IMO.
 
I just ordered the ASUS. Thanks for all the advice everyone! I was leaning towards the ASUS a little bit to begin with. And since other places are selling it for over $800 it seemed like a good deal. I can't wait to try it out!

Thanks again...
 
wirednuts said:
asus smokes acer imo. in pretty much everything.
Click to expand...
My Acer Aspire laptop bought August 2009 literally went up in smoke 14 months after I bought it. Treated well, it never left my kitchen table. One day I popped the lid to take it out of suspend and smelled burning electronics. It died slowly enough (barely!) where I was able to get the data I needed off the HD onto flash memory. I will not buy another Acer. Asus is supposed to be one of the most reliable brands for laptops. Myself, I'm sticking with Lenovo Thinkpad T6x's for the time being. I've had one for over 4 years now, no problems. Built like tanks. I just bought 2 used.
 
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i love my 3810t timeline and i just bought a 4820tg. i am a fan of the timeline series...great value and features, only con is the mediocre screen but i can live with that.
 
We have 2 Acers.
Mine has been good so far.
My GF's survived being at ground zero for a very large fish tank spilling it's contents all over it. I have a thread here somewhere about taking the LCD panel apart and removing all the water from it. other than a slight water stain on the screen that I can't get out, it still works just as good as ever.
 
acer can offer faster hardware specs for cheaper, generally.

asus has better quality builds with still good specs.

the nvidia graphics chip on the asus is pretty slick..

i'd get the asus. it will outlast the acer in build quality.
 
i think the warranty for acer is one year, and asus is two years with the first year including at-fault accidental damage.
 
i have an acer and i'm a little mixed on it. The AC adapter basically burnt up but they did fix it.
 
OS said:
i have an acer and i'm a little mixed on it. The AC adapter basically burnt up but they did fix it.
Click to expand...
If you'd like another Acer adapter, maybe we can swing a deal.

My Acer was crashing occasionally (blue screens) prior to the end of the warranty period (last August) but I assumed it was software (driver?) related and didn't pursue it. I intended to install the supplied upgrade to Windows 7, but delayed doing it. When the machine burnt out it was a bit beyond warranty. Maybe those blue screens were related to the death of the machine. Anyway, I'm sticking with Thinkpads, at least for now.
 
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Spikesoldier said:
i think the warranty for acer is one year, and asus is two years with the first year including at-fault accidental damage.
Click to expand...

I made the mistake of getting an Asus because of the warranty only to find their support department to be one of the worst I've ever encountered. (so much so that I ended up giving up on getting the HD replaced under warranty on a 3 month old notebook and I just ordered a HD from Amazon to replace it myself rather than continuing trying to interact with Asus). Acer can have their issues -- I tried to help a relative who had a battery that was on a recall list get it swapped out, and it took an hour on the phone with Acer -- but Acer still ended up being heads and shoulders above the support I got from Asus when I had a HD die in one of their notebooks.

Altogether it was probably 3-4 hours on the phone with Asus, 95% of it being wait time (literally), then I'd get a phone rep, he'd say 'What's your phone number?' then just hang up. Call back, wait 40 minutes, get the same guy, 'What's your phone number?' then he just hung up again in the middle of me saying it. I actually posted about it over on HardOCP's mobile forum and another person said he had a guy answer and just randomly hang up on him too. (probably the same guy)

Here's the real kicker - I submitted a request online, three days later they ignored my request to just replace the HD and just sent a form letter with an RMA number attached. I call the phone number again, get a different guy this time, I asked him if I could just send in the HD (I can run Ubuntu off a flash drive until the replacement arrives) and he said 'Yes, you can do that. Just send in the notebook.' I ask again since he had just answered both yes to me sending in just the HD and then told me to send the notebook, he put me on hold, came back and told me 'I am told that is ok. I'm advised to say send in the notebook.' I gave up and was just going to send in the notebook when suddenly he says 'Also, I've been looking into your RMA and they did not create it right, so I have cancelled it. Do not send in the notebook or the repair center will hold on to it. I am seeing your warranty has expired.' I explained that I just got it in 2010, and he tells me I have to send in these various forms, wait 72 more hours, then call support and be issued a new RMA (and that when I do that I still need to send in the notebook). Basically - waiting on hold 40+ minutes, and trying to talk to phone support had just sent me back to square 1 with another 72 hours added before I can even try to get an RMA number. So much for that whole 'We get you up and running fast, 2nd day shipping!' warranty claims.

They have a different support number for notebooks than all other Asus products, so I can only assume it's just the Asus notebook team that's as bad as this, or I'd have read about problems with Asus in a lot more places.
 
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