Acer aspire V5-171 v PC Specialists

censuspro

I'm looking for opinions on whether to buy an acer aspire V5-171 for €399 in currys/pc world ( I don't have a link). Seems like a reasonably good spec Intel® Core™ i3-3217U processor, Windows 8,Memory: 6 GB, Hard drive: 500 GB. Would I be able to get something similar on http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/ for a similar price range, their entry level model is £480 for the 11"?

Monotype

The 11.6'' isn't an entry level laptop, it's slightly dearer because of its small size.

Short answer: No you won't get better than that price unless you leave out things like the OS.

PC Specialist are good if you have a little more money to spend as they offer better customisability and often better dedicated graphics cards then its competitors. For a tight budget though, they're beaten by various pre-builts that come on offer now and again.

censuspro

Monotype wrote: »

The 11.6'' isn't an entry level laptop, it's slightly dearer because of its small size.

Short answer: No you won't get better than that price unless you leave out things like the OS.

PC Specialist are good if you have a little more money to spend as they offer better customisability and often better dedicated graphics cards then its competitors. For a tight budget though, they're beaten by various pre-builts that come on offer now and again.

Thanks, what are your thoughts on the Acer aspire v5?

Monotype

Given those specs, it's not easy to find a laptop to match up to that.
http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/ACER-Aspire-V5171-116andquot-Laptop-Silver/313709/301

The i3-3217U has a fair amount of power behind it. I didn't realise that it was an 11.6'' laptop and at that point, you're entering the ultra-portable and netbook territories so it's hard to find something with good power behind it.

What the PC specialist one offer that this one doesn't have is the additional graphics power. The Acer would be fine for HD films or simple games as the integrated Intel graphics can hold their own, but the PC Specialists equivalent could actually have the potential of running modern games. If this is of no interest to you and you just want something that mobile with a bit of power in it, then go for it.

The only thing that strikes me as "bad" is the battery life. It says 4 hours and online tests back that up, quoting even less actually, if you're watching videos. It's a bit poor given that there's a low voltage CPU in there and most laptops that size - even more power hungry ones - tend to last a bit longer.

I suppose if it was me that was buying and I had a bit of money to spare, I would probably throw an extra €150 or so at getting a ~256GB SSD to speed it up hard drive access times. It could improve the battery life too.
E.g., This:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Series-250GB-Solid-State/dp/B009LI7C9Y/

censuspro

Monotype wrote: »

Given those specs, it's not easy to find a laptop to match up to that.
http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/ACER-Aspire-V5171-116andquot-Laptop-Silver/313709/301

The i3-3217U has a fair amount of power behind it. I didn't realise that it was an 11.6'' laptop and at that point, you're entering the ultra-portable and netbook territories so it's hard to find something with good power behind it.

What the PC specialist one offer that this one doesn't have is the additional graphics power. The Acer would be fine for HD films or simple games as the integrated Intel graphics can hold their own, but the PC Specialists equivalent could actually have the potential of running modern games. If this is of no interest to you and you just want something that mobile with a bit of power in it, then go for it.

The only thing that strikes me as "bad" is the battery life. It says 4 hours and online tests back that up, quoting even less actually, if you're watching videos. It's a bit poor given that there's a low voltage CPU in there and most laptops that size - even more power hungry ones - tend to last a bit longer.

I suppose if it was me that was buying and I had a bit of money to spare, I would probably throw an extra €150 or so at getting a ~256GB SSD to speed it up hard drive access times. It could improve the battery life too.
E.g., This:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Series-250GB-Solid-State/dp/B009LI7C9Y/

Is it possible to add an SSD to a laptop?

Monotype

Of course it is! Nearly all SSDs are in laptop size to begin with. I'm typing at a laptop with an SSD I added myself!

Some laptops have ultra thin ones though - 7mm. These are ones that already have SSDs in them. The traditional laptop hard drive is 9.5mm, but the thin SSDs usually come with a spacer anyway if you need it to make the extra height.

Lu Tze

I think that acer is excellent value for a B+M store

Monotype

Indeed. Looking online, it seems to be good value for even anywhere for the size.

You might get a 15'' laptop with better specs, for the price if you have a good look around, but that might be not what you're looking for.

censuspro

Monotype wrote: »

Of course it is! Nearly all SSDs are in laptop size to begin with. I'm typing at a laptop with an SSD I added myself!

Some laptops have ultra thin ones though - 7mm. These are ones that already have SSDs in them. The traditional laptop hard drive is 9.5mm, but the thin SSDs usually come with a spacer anyway if you need it to make the extra height.

Did you have to remove the existing hard drive and replace it with the SSD?

Could i squeeze this in with the existing hard drive? http://www.hardwareversand.de/Solid-State-Disk/59807/SanDisk+SSD+64GB+6%2C4cm+S-ATA+600.article

Monotype

No, you'd have to replace replace the hard drive. You'd want a 250GB/256GB one really to avoid being overly frugal with the space.

You'd want to do a reinstall of windows as well. It's a bit of trouble, but worthwhile enough, in my opinion.

It's something that you could do at at later time, if you didn't fancy it straight away.

censuspro

Monotype wrote: »

No, you'd have to replace replace the hard drive. You'd want a 250GB/256GB one really to avoid being overly frugal with the space.

You'd want to do a reinstall of windows as well. It's a bit of trouble, but worthwhile enough, in my opinion.

It's something that you could do at at later time, if you didn't fancy it straight away.

Problem would be cloning all the software to the SSD at a later date. But overall you think it's a good buy?

Monotype

Yeah, it's a good buy.
So long as it's the size that you want.

I wouldn't use it as my only machine - laptops that size are good for travelling, for college, for work. They're not so good when you need to do a lot of typing.

censuspro

Monotype wrote: »

Yeah, it's a good buy.
So long as it's the size that you want.

I wouldn't use it as my only machine - laptops that size are good for travelling, for college, for work. They're not so good when you need to do a lot of typing.

I was going to connect it a monitor and keyboard when at my desk, and the size is useful for when I'm on the go or working at home in the evenings.

Monotype

That would work alright. If you were to use it a lot, I'd definitely go for the SSD.
It's just office work, yeah? The low voltage i3s are good for doing a bit of regular stuff, but they're not designed for intensive work. With an SSD, it would seem lightning fast as the CPU speed becomes largely irrelevant beyond a point.

I'd say it would be fine for what you have in mind so.

censuspro

Monotype wrote: »

That would work alright. If you were to use it a lot, I'd definitely go for the SSD.
It's just office work, yeah? The low voltage i3s are good for doing a bit of regular stuff, but they're not designed for intensive work. With an SSD, it would seem lightning fast as the CPU speed becomes largely irrelevant beyond a point.

I'd say it would be fine for what you have in mind so.

Sorry, one other question. As the Acer will be running Windows 8, will this be able to join a Windows 2000 server?

I have a copy of Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit edition on a cd maybe I should install that instead?

Monotype

Difficult to say without trying it out and without knowing how your server is set up. My guess is that it would.

It's unlikely that Windows 7 would have much difference in that area to Windows 8. I'd be thinking of installing Windows 7 for the sake of improved usability, but you can get around Windows 8's shortfalls with mods.