Vostro 3400 vs Acer 3810.

[ochadd]

Narrowed my choices down to a Dell Vostro 3400 or Acer Timeline 3810. Vostro is probably twice the machine for almost same price, $550-600. I'm not sure what the gotcha is with it and it appears to be new enough there aren't any reviews. Getting into a Core i3 350 for the same price as a Pentium SU4100 seems fishy. Curious if there is some glaring quality or design difference that I'm missing. Any input is welcome.

The laptop would be used from the couch and double as a media player. Web, flash, HD video, maybe occasional SETI crunching while unattended. Gaming is of no concern. Unless the Vostro is total crap, burns me, or deafens me I'll go that route.

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/us/segments/bsd/vostro-3400?c=us&l=en&cs=04
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115741
Thanks

 

[jgrunhut]

I just purchased the Vostro 3400. I must say that the design and specs were the deciding factor for me. I received my laptop last friday, but have only had a limited time to use it (basically a day).

The quality is really good, especially for dell, but certainly not perfect. has a good solid feel.

only two complaints: the screen doesn't seem all that good, but might just be that i'm used to glossy and this screen is not (coming from an old dell 6400 with high-res 1680x1050 screen).

The other complaint is that the cpu fan doesn't want to stop ever. after a few mins running the system it throttles up and, i'm assuming due to its size and therefore high rpm, is quite noisy. its exceptionally cool (in my limited experience) so i'm guessing it just needs a bios update to fix it.

i'm going to give it a couple of weeks and if Dell doesn't update the bios i might just return it.

hope this helps.

 

[TimeKeeper]

Narrowed my choices down to a Dell Vostro 3400 or Acer Timeline 3810. Vostro is probably twice the machine for almost same price, $550-600. I'm not sure what the gotcha is with it and it appears to be new enough there aren't any reviews. Getting into a Core i3 350 for the same price as a Pentium SU4100 seems fishy. Curious if there is some glaring quality or design difference that I'm missing. Any input is welcome.

These two machines are in totally different class.

One design for travel, ultra thin, light weight, portable, long battery life, and.... coffee shop.

The other one is beautiful, powerful, but more of... hmm..... on the desk?

 

[ochadd]

I just purchased the Vostro 3400. I must say that the design and specs were the deciding factor for me. I received my laptop last friday, but have only had a limited time to use it (basically a day).

The quality is really good, especially for dell, but certainly not perfect. has a good solid feel.

only two complaints: the screen doesn't seem all that good, but might just be that i'm used to glossy and this screen is not (coming from an old dell 6400 with high-res 1680x1050 screen).

The other complaint is that the cpu fan doesn't want to stop ever. after a few mins running the system it throttles up and, i'm assuming due to its size and therefore high rpm, is quite noisy. its exceptionally cool (in my limited experience) so i'm guessing it just needs a bios update to fix it.

i'm going to give it a couple of weeks and if Dell doesn't update the bios i might just return it.

hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply. Can you comment on the battery life?

 

[jgrunhut]

Thanks for the reply. Can you comment on the battery life?

sorry, not too much. as i said i just got it and still haven't even used it (away at a conference).

however, in the brief amount of time i used it, windows told me i could get about 6:30 mins just idling at the desktop, that's with the screen turned way down low (it is a bright screen).

a little more real usage and i windows said it was like 3-5 hrs. have checked it out.

If battery life is a real concern, then this definitely isn't the laptop you want. you are better off going with the acer. if you really want to stick with this dell then opt for the 9-cell battery.