depends entirely on the price point really ... guts of laptops at set price are near identical & they are all assembled by a very small number of companies regardless of name on outside - cheaper ones all as good as each other.
I'm rather sceptical about them as my dad had one and it snuffed it after only two years. The graphics card went and then the motherboard went so the machine was practically unrepairable. He said he'll never buy an Acer laptop again. However, some people seem to have had good experiences with them.
I've had 5 or 6 and currently have an Acer Ultrabook.
Generally they've been very good, and on the two occasions that I had problems they were picked up, fixed and returned very quickly.
A big advantage with Acer laptops is you can buy a 3 year collect and return warranty for about 30 quid, and with accidental cover as well for about £35-40 if you shop around and check ebay - as the warranties are transferable I normally keep a laptop for about 2.5 years then sell it on with 6 months warranty.
I been using Acer products for years, and find them highly reliable. However, NO manufacturer is 100% perfect 100% of the time.
Some people will have used one particular brand without any problems & will sing their praises. Others will have had one faulty item, then swear never to use that make again!
With regards to the "Budget-ish Brand" comment. I must disagree - Acer are not only budget - they make Budget, mid priced & top spec kit.
The laptop I am using now is a Acer Aspire 5630, must be 6 years old now if not more, still working fine and it been knocked about a bit. The only thing I have just replaced is the keyboard as mine was falling apart. A tenner from ebay.
The battery is no good either, but that happens to all laptops.
This acer is a still a good machine, a bit slow compared to newer machines, but been reliable.
I also got a old Acer monitor, that still works.
I would look at a new Acer laptop if I was going to buy a new one.
I been using Acer products for years, and find them highly reliable. However, NO manufacturer is 100% perfect 100% of the time.
Some people will have used one particular brand without any problems & will sing their praises. Others will have had one faulty item, then swear never to use that make again!
With regards to the "Budget-ish Brand" comment. I must disagree - Acer are not only budget - they make Budget, mid priced & top spec kit.
True, The majority of people I know that have got laptops seems to have Toshiba's and some of them are getting on a bit as well. So they seem to be ok, I know one who have a Dell, useless thing, someone else who have a HP, not much better than the Dell.
A couple that got Samsungs, seems ok and one person who got a Alienware, that is a nice bit of kit, but certainly not in the budget range, and in my opinion way over priced.
But these people who own these machines think they are great, apart from the person who owns the Dell and he agrees it is a load of rubbish
According to Square Trade statistics in 2009, Asus, Toshiba, Sony, and DELL laptops were the least prone to breakdown.
When choosing a laptop I think you need to consider what's inside it, and balance that with a good screen, keyboard, and pad, and whenever possible, extend the warranty to 3 or 5 years.
Rather like cars, most manufacturers produce good and bad models over time. The big names have a reputation to maintain, and so quality control over the longer period is an important factor. In that respect, I would say the Asus is comparable to a BMW, and the Acer to Ford. But then Ford have made some really good cars in their time.
Check out particular models in reviews, and if Acer are scoring high across the board, why not give them a go. If possible, try and get 'hands on' before making the final commitment.
But if one of the above manufacturers had the same specs at a similar price, personally, I would probably go for one of them because of their long standing reputations.
I have an Acer 8942G i7 and it's been very good. Which? produce reliability figures for all the main brands but personally I take them with a pinch of salt because the figures are based on results submitted by the owners, and who knows how experienced the owners are?
I understand you are trying to get an idea of who makes good laptops and who doesn't, but just asking a general question won't yield any results that are of value, because again those results will be based on personal experience.
I'd say that all of the main brands make good laptops and they make not so good ones too. The pro reviewers will give you a better idea of each individual machine's capabilities, and then it's up to you to decide whether those capabilities suit the use that you want.
You're probably better off deciding what you want the laptop for, how much you want to pay, shortlisting the main manufacturers models that fit your spec, and then checking the reviews.
I have an Acer Ultra-thin V5-571 and it is a great little computer. I have had it for over a year now and it is now flagging. I use to have Samsung R710 Laptop and it was at Samsung for repair 3 times before they found out the fault was the motherboard and replaced. I managed to palm it off on my youngest son... My son has a Toshiba that also ended up having to go for repair as his keyboard stopped working.
I have an Acer Extensa 5220 which was bought in 2007 and it's still going strong, two things I upgraded was the Processor to a dual core and the Ram to 2gb as that's the max the board will take and also put Windows 7 on it, so it's fairly basic but it does the job.
I wouldn't use the adjective budget, to describe Acer at all. As with all brands, one has the option of buying an extremely affordable model, approx £300, but you won't get a high performance laptop for that. My current laptop is the Acer Aspire 5750and was my first foray into the Acer experience. It is i5, high spec and with bluray. The only other brand laptop I have had, is HP. Fortunately, I am quite tech savvy when it comes to computers so, consequently, know what to look for. I do think, however, that a laptop's performance can be subjective; it depends what you want to use it for. I would say buy the best that you can either afford, or are prepared to spend on one. How often are you going to be using it? Is battery life important? Do you play a lot of games? If it was a choice between RAM and HDD, I would always go for the memory, which determines the effectiveness and performance of the machine.
I have an Acer Aspire 5920G which I've had since 2008. It is still going strong. I would recommend Acer products. However, like with all brands, they are prone to making bad models/batches.
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A budget-ish brand, but one up from the own brand types.
My nephew has an Acer laptop. (I've got an Acer monitor)
Generally they've been very good, and on the two occasions that I had problems they were picked up, fixed and returned very quickly.
A big advantage with Acer laptops is you can buy a 3 year collect and return warranty for about 30 quid, and with accidental cover as well for about £35-40 if you shop around and check ebay - as the warranties are transferable I normally keep a laptop for about 2.5 years then sell it on with 6 months warranty.
Some people will have used one particular brand without any problems & will sing their praises. Others will have had one faulty item, then swear never to use that make again!
With regards to the "Budget-ish Brand" comment. I must disagree - Acer are not only budget - they make Budget, mid priced & top spec kit.
The battery is no good either, but that happens to all laptops.
This acer is a still a good machine, a bit slow compared to newer machines, but been reliable.
I also got a old Acer monitor, that still works.
I would look at a new Acer laptop if I was going to buy a new one.
True, The majority of people I know that have got laptops seems to have Toshiba's and some of them are getting on a bit as well. So they seem to be ok, I know one who have a Dell, useless thing, someone else who have a HP, not much better than the Dell.
A couple that got Samsungs, seems ok and one person who got a Alienware, that is a nice bit of kit, but certainly not in the budget range, and in my opinion way over priced.
But these people who own these machines think they are great, apart from the person who owns the Dell and he agrees it is a load of rubbish
When choosing a laptop I think you need to consider what's inside it, and balance that with a good screen, keyboard, and pad, and whenever possible, extend the warranty to 3 or 5 years.
Rather like cars, most manufacturers produce good and bad models over time. The big names have a reputation to maintain, and so quality control over the longer period is an important factor. In that respect, I would say the Asus is comparable to a BMW, and the Acer to Ford. But then Ford have made some really good cars in their time.
Check out particular models in reviews, and if Acer are scoring high across the board, why not give them a go. If possible, try and get 'hands on' before making the final commitment.
But if one of the above manufacturers had the same specs at a similar price, personally, I would probably go for one of them because of their long standing reputations.
I understand you are trying to get an idea of who makes good laptops and who doesn't, but just asking a general question won't yield any results that are of value, because again those results will be based on personal experience.
I'd say that all of the main brands make good laptops and they make not so good ones too. The pro reviewers will give you a better idea of each individual machine's capabilities, and then it's up to you to decide whether those capabilities suit the use that you want.
You're probably better off deciding what you want the laptop for, how much you want to pay, shortlisting the main manufacturers models that fit your spec, and then checking the reviews.
I would not touch Toshiba, rubbish backup when things go wrong. I sent my Toshiba back in exchange for a HP.