which to buy, sony or acer....

cranky bollix

having trouble chosing a laptop, i would really like one that is durable with a good silent fan, has 3gb ram, 3 usb inputs would be an added bonus.i've had catastrophic issues with my current hp pavillion, so i will never buy hp again.

currently ive been looking at these, all opinions would be very much appreciated, my prce range is about 600 :

sony vaio with 3gb ram and it has adequate usb ports ,similar to this i think, http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/sony-vaio-vpcee2m1e-wi-06559666-pdt.html

Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop :http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/dell-inspiron-1545-black-laptop-06684278-pdt.html

acer aspire, although it only has 2 usb, its only 500 euro, http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/acer-aspire-5734z-06539249-pdt.html

Jaafa

The Sony is the best there. Never buy Acer,

Bazzo

Jaafa wrote: »

The Sony is the best there. Never buy Acer,

I'm using an acer right now and I've had no problems with it?

Then again I had a HP pavillion for 3-4 years with 0 problems

dazzday

What uses do you want if for?
If a student portability and battery life would be important. etc
Will you be hooking up to a tv...HDMI would be key.
Do you want to game?
Are you set from buying from PC world?

etc etc! Need to know a little bit more about you!

Personally in that price range the following should be considered

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_4820T_Core_i3_Laptop_LX.PSN02.007/version.asp

cranky bollix

dazzday wrote: »

What uses do you want if for?
If a student portability and battery life would be important. etc
Will you be hooking up to a tv...HDMI would be key.
Do you want to game?
Are you set from buying from PC world?

etc etc! Need to know a little bit more about you!

Personally in that price range the following should be considered

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_4820T_Core_i3_Laptop_LX.PSN02.007/version.asp

thanks for all the replies,

id be using it for home use i.e. hooking up to tv,internet and some casual laptop djing and work which involves paint shop pro, word, powerpoint and sometimes 1 or 2 mapping programmes.

it doesnt have to be super fast, i really just want a reliable computer..breaking down in the middle of a project can be disasterous.

and no im not into gaming and im not 100% set on buying from pc world, its just handy to go in and have a look

i would probably buy 3 years insurance in case of a disasterous spillage or something.

that laptop looks pretty sweet, im just not really sure about acer, their after sales help is meant to be diabolicle, but i only read about that on the net...

Jaafa

Well Sony have rock solid builds. Although they are a little overpriced.

hare05

Get a Toshiba if you want reliability. There's some decent ones floating about at the moment. The screens on them aren't great however, but at ~€500 you won't find anything with good color/brightness for serious photoshopping.

cranky bollix

went in to get the vaio and there were all sold out, the guy in there was recommending a packard bell,one similiar to this one http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/packar...83838-pdt.html

but i think it had a smaller screen, he said it had a new ic3 processer which was the biz...

im not sure what to think, i might just wait till they get the sony back in again, as the packard bell might not be reliable, im basing that opinion on a gut feeling alone, any thoughts

Jaafa

Packard-bell there has better processor, bigger screen and is cheaper.

The Vaio has more RAM, and better build quality.

You choose.

avalon68

I had a sony vaio for almost 6 yrs.......just died recently and I replaced it with a mac (would have bought another sony but needed mac for work ) I loved my vaio - its been round the world with me and I probably only ever had 4 or 5 blue screen events, adobe elements was built in to it which was useful.......my only criticism (and it may be important for you) is that the battery completely died after about a year so I had to keep it plugged in all the time. It didnt bother me too much so I didnt replace it, but I have heard people complain about battery problems with sonys before. Screen was good and sound was great - never felt the need for external speakers

hearny

I agree with the toshiba recommendation for reliability, have serviced lots of Toshibas over 5 years old, I've yet to see a Sony or Acer last that long.

I know a lot of people who complain about Sony's battery Life. Most complain of about 1 hour battery life when new.

You will get better Spec Acer for the same price as a Sony (although I find both come with too much bloatware but you can remove this).

cranky bollix

i was sold on the sony until i heard about this battery problem , im gonna go have a look at the toshiba's ill might have to settle for a lower spec, but im more inclined to go with reliability.

thanks for all the useful replies

Jaafa

True sony's battery problem is their major flaw.

PlayGirl

is the battery life on sonys really bad?
i was also looking at the one linked above.

and does anyone know where to get the best price for that particular laptop?

The Pontiac

cranky bollix wrote: »

having trouble chosing a laptop, i would really like one that is durable with a good silent fan, has 3gb ram, 3 usb inputs would be an added bonus.i've had catastrophic issues with my current hp pavillion, so i will never buy hp again.

I'm in the same boat - my HP G60 is less than 2 years old and the fan is dead, making all sorts of noises and getting hot. Not surprising to see HP coming last in this survey.



Boy, do we have a nice slab of data for you to sink your teeth into today. The 3-year service history of more than 30,000 laptops has been pored over, analyzed, and reduced to gorgeous comparative charts, which you know you're dying to know more about. We should note, however, that the service was provided by SquareTrade, whose primary business is selling extended warranties, but that shouldn't completely prejudice us against reaching conclusions on the basis of the presented facts. Firstly, netbooks have shown themselves to be on average 20 percent less reliable than entry-level laptops, which in turn are 10 percent more likely to break down than premium machines. In other words, you get what you pay for -- shocking, right? The big talking point, though, will inevitably be the manufacturer comparison chart above: here ASUS and Toshiba (rather appropriately) share the winners' spoils, while HP languishes in the ignominious last place, with more than a quarter of all laptops expected to suffer a hardware fault of some kind within three years. So, does your experience corroborate / refute this info? Keep it gentlemanly, okay?

Link here http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/17/laptop-reliability-survey-asus-and-toshiba-win-hp-fails/

NBCPass

I bought an Acer a couple of years ago and had to replace it within a year due to the sound going. I got a credit note and replaced it with another Acer, came home and it was dead. So I had to go back into the shop and get yet another one.

I have had no problems so far with the new one but If I was buying another laptop in the future I would steer clear of Acer.

CarrickMcJoe

What about the Asus, apparently its got a 2 year warranty and a good spec.

I've had three Acers in my time, TravelMate 240, Aspire 5920 and Aspire 7730. The 5920 developed two problems, the inverter failed and the card reader died (wouldn't read anything anymore), which seemed to be a motherboard problem. The other two were grand, typing this on my 7730 here. I love it except it's pretty bulky but that's to be expected from any 17" laptop. But I've found Acer's warranty service to be pretty slow, I've returned several as part of my job and they can take anything up to a month to come back. The most recent took about 3 weeks.

I've had two Dells, Inspiron 6000 and a Studio 1737. The 6000 developed a keyboard fault within the first week and had to be returned. My brother uses it now and the hinges are starting to fall apart, though it is 4 years old at this stage and has been heavily used. I didn't have any mechanical problems with the 1737 but the WLED screen was giving me headaches so it had to go!

hare05

That graph is skewed a bit by HP's one terrible release a few years ago (I think it was a G60 variant). They had more than a 50% failure rate, but sold so quickly that by the time HP tracked down the problem, their support teams were being overwhelmed.

Same goes for Sony a year before that with dud batteries. Tons of laptops were returned when the batteries in one particular line began showing minor faults (like exploding or catching fire in your lap, etc). Yet again a simple problem to fix, but expounded by mass sales and a fault that was slow to surface.
Their recent offerings have been quite stable, but their batteries are quite weak in comparison to other manufacturers. No blowing up, but they don't hold charge near as well as Acer or HP batteries in the high end.

Bazzo

I'm not too sure about the graph either. Literally every single person I know who has had a dell has had some problem with it. The most common(I personally know 5 seperate people that have had this particular fault) is that the battery stops charging, though it doesn't seem to be a battery problem. The laptop will still run if plugged in but won't charge. Has happened to all these people within a year of buying the laptop new too.