Acer v Dell Laptops

ReefBreak

Hi all,

I'm in the market for a Centrino Laptop, and I think I've narrowed it down to either a Dell or an Acer. I have a few questions:
1. Who has the better build quality? I've heard mixed reports about Dell - some say they're shíte, others say they've improved in recent years.
2. If I buy from Acer, can I reclaim my VAT, i.e. does anyone know if they are registered for VAT in Ireland? I'm an IT contractor, so I'll be buying it as a business expense.
3. Are Dell or Acer laptops quiet? I'll be using it to record music, i.e. guitar and vocals.
4. What model would you recommend for under €1000, exluding VAT? It must be a Centrino, it must have a separate graphics card, and it absolutely must have a firewire port. I have my eye on a Dell Inspiron 6000, but I'm not too sure about Acer.
5. Are there any IBMs or Toshibas I should be looking at? - they do seem much more expensive though.

Thanks for your help!

eggshapedfred

we have a Dell Inspiron 1100 and a Latitude D505 here in the lab. They're both pretty heavy (not very portable - more like desktop replacements) but fairly reliable. have installed linux on them a few times and they're still ticking... They seem more reliable than the Fujitsu-Siemens POS that we have. have no experience with Acer.

have you looked at www.elara.ie they have a rack of laptops.

jayneemac

Direct quote from Acer FAQ:

VAT
If you live in a VAT exempt country, or live outside the EC or have a European VAT number or you hold a VAT exemption certificate we can provide you with the laptop free of VAT, saving you 17.5%! Please note this is only if we export the laptop outside of the UK - you cannot collect it from us.

dergo

I recently bought an Acer and tried recording but got a constant rumbling noise in the background which i cannot filter out with my music program. I've no experience of Dell laptops...

muppetkiller

Well i have the Dell Inspiron 6000 and i think it's fantastic but it doesn't have a firewire port ...
although it heats up pretty quickly...

penexpers

The noise is probably caused by a poor soundcard?

elderlemon

muppetkiller wrote:

Well i have the Dell Inspiron 6000 and i think it's fantastic but it doesn't have a firewire port ...
although it heats up pretty quickly...

I just bought a dell 6000 and it does have a firewire port!

Rabies

I got a laptop from the dell outlety centre yesterday.

P4 1.8ghz
512mb ram
64mb geforce
DVD/CDRW
Firewire
Wireless

Was E570 ex Vat, E703 with vat.
Checked my visa card today and I was only charged E607

Ordered Fri 1st July and arrived at my door yesterday Tues 5th July. Impressed with the speed especially over the weekend.

aaf

Rabies wrote:

I got a laptop from the dell outlety centre yesterday.

P4 1.8ghz
512mb ram
64mb geforce
DVD/CDRW
Firewire
Wireless

Was E570 ex Vat, E703 with vat.
Checked my visa card today and I was only charged E607

Ordered Fri 1st July and arrived at my door yesterday Tues 5th July. Impressed with the speed especially over the weekend.

Which model?

ReefBreak

dergo wrote:

I recently bought an Acer and tried recording but got a constant rumbling noise in the background which i cannot filter out with my music program. I've no experience of Dell laptops...

How did you record? Did you simply plug a mic into the side of the laptop?. I'll be recording using an M-Audio Firewire 410 box

I really like the look and price of this one:
http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_1682WLMi_LX.A2705.226/version.asp

Rabies

aaf wrote:

Which model?

Think it was the Inspiron

SouperComputer

IMO with Dell and Acer, you get what you pay for. A cheap laptop, in the truest meaning of the word.

I repair laptops on a daily basis, anything from 5 - 25 a week, all brands: Apple, sony, dell, acer, PB, HP, Compaq, maxdata, FIC etc etc. My 2c would be on build quality alone, dont buy either Dell or Acer.

Aside from that, if this machine is going to be used for your livelyhood, then IBM would be a good move. Their support is swift and reliable. Dell is almost non-existant, at least with the cheaper machines. Dont be fooled into thinking being tech-savvy means you dont need good service either. If a logic board needs to be replaced or whatnot, your expertise wont matter. You are still in the hands of the manufacturer.

Despite the fact that the manufacturing side of IBM has been sold, their laptops are still of excellent build quality and strength.

Pay the few bob extra and get an IBM, or pay the same money and get a lower spec from them.

lastly, if you are an IT contractor, I think an IBM says you are serious about what you do. Dell and Acer say you are cheap!

the ad "dood you got a Dell" comes to mind, not really the image I want for my comany TBH

ReefBreak

Cheers SouperComputer. Any advice on where I could buy an IBM, apart from Elara? Also, would you place Toshiba in the same category of quality as IBM?

SouperComputer

In my experience IBM have been cream of the crop in terms of build, reliability and longevity.

Tosh aren't too bad, I can't comment on their support however as I have never used it.

Generally I would reccommend:

IBM
Tosh
Compaq\HP (certain models)
Apple


Avoid if you can:

Dell
Acer
Sony

Sony's are a bit of pot luck. They can go very well for a while and then suddenly wallop. They are generally the hardest to get reasonably priced parts for. When they fail its catastrophic in usually just out of warranty, I have two such laptops waiting here for parts!

Dells usually fail a lot because the chassis flexes too much. Good news is that a reseat of the components usually sovles that. Parts are easily available and fairly cheap.

IIRC jaguar computers sell IBM.

Dan_B

Well my 2 cent from 10 years in IT is to avoid HP / compaq and IBM like the plague.
I would highly recommend Dell's, particurlary latitudes.
Dells after sales services althought far from perfect leaves the support offered by other makes for dead.

I haven't had to re seat a component in a dell since the Cpi days??

Oh, and any one who thinks the model of laptop they have reflects on them or projects a certain image needs to get out more.

SouperComputer

Had two Dell's dropped in last month with boot failure. Usual flexing of the chassis. Cant remember the exact models, but one was circa P4 2.8 and the other a Centrino.

Im interested to hear your experiences with IBM?

Im glad Dell support has been good to you. Clearly you are a patient person!

Oh, and any one who thinks the model of laptop they have reflects on them or projects a certain image needs to get out more.

You mean to say to me that Apple computers don't project an image?

It might not reflect an image to other geeks\nerds, but they are not the people I am aiming for. With the real decision makers, perception is reality.

Too many people in IT dont think outside the box IMO. It's a small thing, but it adds to a professional appearance. Thats why I wear a suit and tie, its professional.

Given a choice between carrying onboard Dell's "doooood, you're gettin a Dell" philosophy, or IBM's, ill take IBM's anyday. Notwithstanding the fact that they really are structurally better IME.

Ive probably sold personally, about 800 laptops through a retail store in Dublin. All makes, to all kinds of people of differing budgets. During that time, I also repaired a lot of laptops. Dell overall had the largest volume of repairs. Of course this reflects their market share (28% or there abouts). Even still they covered about 70% of our repairs.

Unlike some people though, im not a fanboy and I am always interested in hearing other people's views.

Dan_B

And the fact that Dell sell direct and you are in competition with them as a reseller has nothing to do with opinions expressed?
I aint no fanboy, I don't even own a Dell laptop at the minute although I have in the past.

With Dell you generally get up to the minute specs, not something in a retail box that could have been sitting on a shelf for months and is already out of date.

Sleipnir

Dan_B wrote:

And the fact that Dell sell direct and you are in competition with them as a reseller has nothing to do with opinions expressed?
I aint no fanboy, I don't even own a Dell laptop at the minute although I have in the past.

With Dell you generally get up to the minute specs, not something in a retail box that could have been sitting on a shelf for months and is already out of date.

No, with Dell you get the cheapest components they can find at the time of the build. If they can source another component the next week at a cheaper price, they'll switch to that.

SouperComputer

And the fact that Dell sell direct and you are in competition with them as a reseller has nothing to do with opinions expressed?

Could you jump to a conclusion any faster?


Im not in competition with Dell. I USED to work for a retail store. Just to reiterate, I currently sell very little hardware.


By virtue of their business model (which I admire BTW) what Sleipnir said is closer to the mark.

"up to the minute specs" even if that was true, how relevant is it to the customer? To most, its not that relevant that they have another 400Mhz of CPU. It is relevant that they get competent service however. Extra RAM is always nice, but its usually smothered in marketing to give "perceived" value

Ive had two clients tell me over the past four months that they were instructed by Dell tech to get a screwdriver and tighten the screws on the chassis, on machines under six months old. You can draw your own conclusion that one.

The fact of the matter is that 70% of the repairs presented to me are from Dell.

No vendor is perfect mind you. I could name a couple that are far worse than Dell, although they only make networking equipment. They didnt even use cheap parts, they used scrap ones from RMA'd boards!

sceptre

ReefBreak wrote:

It must be a Centrino

Just a small point but if you put a better wireless card in the machine than is specified by the Centrino spec (put simply, if you put a non-Intel card that happens to be better in the machine) it's no longer a Centrino but obviously it's a better machine. The only obvious difference is that the Pentium-M logo comes up on boot rather than the Centrino logo but well, it's up to you. Just making the point, not trying to drive the discussion off-kilter.

patzer117

This is something I can pronounce upon. Twas my 21st in June and my twin sister and i decided to get laptops as part of our present. I got an Acer, she got a dell. In all honestly the dell has given much less trouble (my acer was DOA and took 3 weeks to get fixed), and works fine. But my screen the crystalbright or something is much better than any dell screen, and also the keyboard and trackpad are better. Both use the same ram and speed processer, but mine is a AMD and is much better. For a basic model Dell or Acer, Dell is much cheaper, but when you start adding on stuff like raphics cards or bigger hard drives, or dvdrw etc. the Acer works out better.

I'd stick with Acer just so I don't look like a sheep...