Acer Aspire desktops - thumbs up or down?

[macpaul54]

Hi everyone. I'm considering buying a quad core Acer desktop (the Aspire e700-662, sometimes called the ASE700-662). However, although I've certainly heard of Acer, I haven't heard much about Acers in terms of whether they're any good, reliable, etc, other than that their laptops are pretty good. I'd really appreciate any feedback you can give me on this brand. Are they well-made? Do they use decent quality components? Are they reliable? How good is their tech support, and are their phone support folks English speaking / understandable?

I'd also appreciate any feedback on the particular model I'm considering. Here in Canada, it's on sale for $1,099 including the Samsung 21" monitor, and Windows Vista Home Premium. I'm not a gamer, but I need fairly decent graphics capability for my work. Here are the system's key specs:

Intel Core 2 Q6600 Quad
Processor Speed -- 2.4GHz
RAM -- 2048MB DDR2 RAM (Up to 4GB)
Hard Drive -- 500GB 7200RPM
Optical Drives -- DVD+/-RW Dual Layer
Graphics Card -- ATI Radeon X1650 256MB (512MB Hypermemory) PCI-E 16X Video Card
Available Expansion Bays -- 1 x 5.25", 4 x 3.5"
Available Expansion Slots -- 1 x PCI Express X16, 3 x PCI V2.3 (5V), 1 x PCI Express X1
Cache -- 8MB L2
Sound Card -- High-Def Audio 7.1-Channel Audio Support
FSB -- 1066MHz
9-in-1 card reader
Samsung 216BW 21.6" digital LCD monitor with 300cd/m2 brightness and 3000:1 contrast ratio

Thanks a ton, everyone!

 

[Dollar]

Would actually be great if you can provide the link to this acer aspire desktop on your next reply. Basically if you are not into gaming and massive multimedia needs, I would say this is a considerable system. Acer has a satisfying sales response if I am not wrong these two years. The available pcie slot gave you upgradable options in future which puts your mind at ease. The quad is certainly something that means business when it comes to performance.

 

[ThatGuy16]

For that kind of money you could build alot better system than that with much higher quality parts, but if building your own is out of the question then i would rather stick with HP and Compaq (same company) I havn't heard much about acer, but HP/Compaq have been around a while and i would trust them than most of the prebuilt manufactures

 

[macpaul54]

First, here's a link to this system:

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=BDL10002201&catid=

This is the page for the computer/monitor package. Near the bottom of the page you'll find two separate links, one to the system and the other to the monitor.

ThatGuy16, I actually looked into having a system built that matched these specs and it came out considerably higher -- about $1700 without taxes, and I think that was without the monitor too. Don't forget, I'm in Canada and our prices tend to be higher than US prices.

More feedback about Acer would really be appreciated -- including the reliability of their products and their tech support. I've heard the latter is handled out of Austin but that may not be reliable info. Thanks all!

 

[macpaul54]

Acer Aspire desktops - thumbs up or down? Or...Dell?

Here's another system choice. Slower processor, but will I really notice the difference? Would you choose the Acer or the Dell? Which would be more reliable? Here's the Dell system -- cost is a bit more than $1200, so a bit more than the Acer system:

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6320 (4MB L2 Cache,1.86GHz,1066 FSB), English
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium Edition, English
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
Integrated Sound Blaster®Audigy™ HD Software Edition
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT-DDR3
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
22 inch E228WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor
Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007
13 in 1 Media Card Reader

Thanks all!

 

[paratwa]

I have heard that acer is improving their reputation. I have not had anything to do with Acer for many years, since I opened 1 up to look at the insides. The solder joints of most of the parts where sharp and digging into the cables. I never looked at another acer system after that.

But that was back in the late 90's

Would I buy that system? No. Dell has a much better reputation than Acer. The fact that it is selling for so little scares me, you get what you pay for, you know. What did they go cheap on? Powersupply? Ram manufacture? No way to know.

It is always better to build your own. You know what you are getting and what the quality is. If you priced the parts of the acer against what you can buy and build on your own I bet you will find that it will be about the same price, but with higher quality parts.

 

[macpaul54]

I appreciate your point of view, paratwa. I was concerned about the low pricing of the Acer too. But then I remembered that Intel had just reduced the cost of the quad Q6600 processor by more than 50% a few weeks ago at the same time they were announcing several new high-end processors. Also, the normal selling price of the Acer E700 with the Samsung 216BW monitor here in Canada is $1329 -- the $1099 is a sale price. I'm not saying Acer is the best brand out there, or that there aren't some cheap parts in the Acer...I'm sure there are at least a few. But will it really make a difference to the operation of the machine? I hear stories about even the "better quality" brands like HP having parts that go kaflewey. If Acer comps have a consistent reputation for being below average in quality, reliability or for having bad tech support, I'll definitely stay away. But so far, I'm not hearing very much of that. I'd love to hear from more people!

Re: Dell, my last several comps have been Dells. They've been fairly good in terms of reliability, but their tech support is bloody awful. I'm not writing them off, only because my impression of the actual product is not bad. But I'm now very open to buying something else.

So again, would love to hear from more people about Acer and/or Dell. "Impressions" are welcome, but real life experiences are especially appreciated.

Thanks!