You Grade The Brands: Acer Notebooks

December 22nd, 2009 by K. T. Bradford  

Grade The Brands - AcerIn early fall 2009 at Acer’s global press conference, the company’s head honchos stated their goal of overtaking Dell as the #2 global PC vendor within the next few months. It was a pretty high bar, especially since the Acer brand wasn’t very well known before the Aspire One netbook brought the vendor to prominence. Yet when the 3rd quarter results came in, Acer squeezed by Dell, shipping 10.7 million units.

This meteoric rise isn’t just due to netbook sales, however. Acer released several solid mainstream and ultraportable notebooks this year. With the introduction of the Timeline series and its agressive push into the 11.6-inch ULV space, Acer is clearly out to earn fans the old-fashioned way: by delivering the most bang for your buck.

From now until the end of the year we’re taking a holistic look at notebook brands and how vendors fare when we aggregate data from our reviews and research, as well as third-party data. Check out Acer’s strengths and weaknesses and its 2009 review scorecard. Then sound off in the comments and tell us what you think of the brand and about your own experience with your Acer notebook or netbook. Without your input, our report card will be incomplete.

Strengths

  • Design: Acer is consistently able to blend attractive aesthetics with solid functionality, making notebooks that are not only good-looking, but comfortable to use. The best example is its Fine Tip keyboards, now found on systems ranging from the 11-inch Aspire 1410 to the from the 17-inch Aspire 7735Z. Not quite island-style, these keyboards have a distinctive look and are easy to use, no matter what size the notebook. Acer is adept at creating sleek designs that make its systems look high-end without the attending price tag. Larger notebooks benefited from rounded curves and tapered undersides, keeping them from looking boxy or clumsy.
  • Performance: Though the powerful desktop replacements in Acer’s line might garner the most attention, we found that notebooks from every size and category could be counted on to deliver good to great overall performance. The Timeline 1810T, Timeline 3810T and Aspire 3935 continue to keep pace with current category averages, as does the Aspire One D250 netbook.
  • Battery Life: Long battery life has now become a must not only for netbooks and high-end ultraportables, but for all laptops 15-inches and below. Acer introduced the Timeline series in April, proving that not only were they listening to consumer demand for longer-lasting notebooks, but that they could deliver on its promises. With every system in the Timeline series (plus the Aspire 1410 ULV ultraportable) offering 6 – 8.5 hour battery scores, it’s easy to see why consumers flocked to the brand in the last half of the year.
  • Value: Though not strictly a budget brand, Acer’s mainstream notebook prices fall between $400 and $900. Even powerful notebooks with large screens stayed under $1,500 this year, and systems that offer perks like 3D displays or touchscreens come in under $800.

Weaknesses

  • Graphics: While overall performance on most Acer systems is good, many notebooks suffered from sub-par graphics performance. This was a particular problem on larger, multimedia-focused systems like the Aspire 8940G and Aspire 5738DG, both with discrete graphics. Acer has also not dabbled with Nvidia Ion graphics on netbooks like its competitors, although the company has announced a partnership with Quartics to offer its Qvu technology, which will improve high-def video playback.
  • Touchpads: Acer’s smaller systems, particularly the netbooks, are often saddled with small touchpads and stiff mouse buttons. If there’s one design improvement we’d love to see Acer make it’s larger areas for the touchpads on netbooks (take the Toshiba mini NB205 as an exemplar) and discrete mouse buttons instead of a single bar.
  • Tech Support Hours: Along with its low tech support score, we’re not fans of the vendor’s limited support hours for the majority of it’s notebooks. Five of the Acer systems we reviewed this year have 24/7 toll-free phone support, but that’s not true for all of them. With others, if your computer breaks after 10PM on weekdays (7PM on the West Coast) or 7 and 6PM on Saturday and Sunday, you’ll have to wait until morning before someone will help you. Also confusing, the 24/7 vs limited support doesn’t appear to adhere to a specific line of Acer notebooks, so consumers can’t simply stick with the Timeline series, or netbooks only.

Review Report Card

In 2009 we reviewed a total of 13 Acer notebooks and netbooks. Of those, 54% earned 4 stars, 38% earned 3.5 stars, and just one system (the Acer Ferrari One) earned a 3 star score. Five Acer notebooks (38% total) were awarded LAPTOP’s Editor’s Choice.

acer review ratings 2009

Best Rated Notebooks

Worst Rated Notebooks

Tech Support and Reliability

Acer got a fairly low score of C- in our Tech Support Showdown, down from a grade of B+ the year before. According to a study by SquareTrade, Acer also has a pretty high malfunction rate over 3 years — 23.5% — just under HP, whose laptops malfunction most often.

As a brand, Acer is in a state of flux, transitioning into a global powerhouse and challenging the dominance of stalwarts like Dell and HP. Building from the juice the Aspire One netbook brought the company, Acer took advantage of the spotlight and won over reviewers and consumers with well-built, attractive notebooks that delivered what buyers wanted. In 2010 we’re looking forward to seeing a bigger emphasis on touch and 3D computing, plus a revitalization of the Aspire One netbook line.

Now It’s Your Turn

Do you own an Acer laptop? Owned one in the recent past? What does Acer get right and where does the company need improvement? Tell us how you’d grade Acer and why.

from the 17-inch Aspire 7735Z
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Comments (8 Responses) 

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8 Responses to “You Grade The Brands: Acer Notebooks”

  1. Fanfoot Says:
    December 23rd, 2009 at 3:03 am

    Well, I just bought my first Acer, an AS1810tz, and I think its great. I like the focus on price, battery life and great designs. I don’t really need the best graphics or fastest CPU most of the time anyway. Also their systems tend to be well spec’d for the category–for example the 1810 has 3GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, 802.11n, eSata, HDMI etc while others (lately Dell for example) will try to get away with lower specs (less RAM, smaller hard drive, 802.11g, no eSata, VGA not HDMI, etc). And yes, I never would have bought an Acer before their netbooks brought them to my attention, even though I never bought one of those.

  2. Kick It Says:
    December 23rd, 2009 at 7:53 am

    All the Acer products that I have bought, were build poorly. The display is usually poor.

  3. jlb Says:
    December 27th, 2009 at 9:54 pm

    I am not a complete computer idiot and have set up my own home system, so I have been really furious at the fact that I cannot get my new acer one to connect to my wireless network. It detects it, logs on for about 10 seconds then is closes. I have tried all of the fixes others have mentioned, updating the driver, changing the power saver switch, among a myriad of other things and even returned it and got a new one. No luck same problems. Now maybe this is my fault, but since tech support has been closed for the past two days how could I find out. I will try to get through to tech support tomorrow, but I am not too hopefull, so it is likely going back and I am looking at another brand

  4. David Smith Says:
    January 9th, 2010 at 12:10 pm

    I got my 8940G this week 1/6/10. Used it 4 hrs 1st night to register, Microsoft updates, burn the 3 Recovery Discs. Used it 10 minutes 2nd am. It was plugged in all the time. When I tried to turn it on last pm (48 hrs from first turning it on) it wouldn’t turn on at all. I did all the Acer FAQs things (press power button for 30 seconds — with/without power cord attached, with/without battery, etc.), but it is dead. I used my multitester and noticed LED on power brick goes out whenever cord attached to 8940G. When power brick LED is on get 19.5 VDC, when LED on the brick is off get about 1 VDC. On the 8940G itself the front left LEDs worked when computer worked, but not now.

    I have communicated with Acer on support website and telephone. They authorized sending it to Acer service center in Texas.

    Anyone else with this problem?

    Any help would be appreciated.

    Thanks, David

  5. Albert Pelletier Says:
    January 14th, 2010 at 10:58 pm

    I have an Acer Aspire 4730Z that I purchased in the spring of 2009 for my wife. It has an Intel dual core T4300 processor, and came furnished with 2GB of RAM and Win Vista. It ran great, and my wife was happy to have it. All was well UNTIL she spilled a FULL piping hot cup of HOT CHOCOLATE WITH MINIATURE MARSHMALLOWS ONTO THE KEYBOARD while the unit was on! The screen went BLACK, and the unit became LIFELESS. When I returned home from work that day, she told me the bad news. She had not tried to turn the unit back on since the insident. I removed the battery pack and took a garden hose to the keyboard, and flushed it out thouroghly. I then took an air compressor blow gun and dried every bit of it as thouroughly as I possibly could. Re-installed the battery and tried it. NOTHING, NO LIFE, COMPLETELY DEAD. After 2 days, I tried starting it again. It booted up and ran FINE! The keys were a little sticky when typing (tending to want to stick down when pressed, but always returning up in a second). After a couple of weeks the keyboard (with normal use) has returned to NORMAL. Well, after the initial DEATH of the laptop, I had to buy her a new laptop. This time she wanted a Dell, so that’s what she got. I inherited the Acer. It runs GREAT. I upgraded the RAM by simply adding another 2GB DDR2, and it scores 3.5 (minimum) on the Windows Experience Index with only a 667 MHz FSB. From what I’ve seen, this is slightly better than an awfull lot of the newest PC’s. And how can I complain? I now have a great running (inherited) laptop of my own because of Acer’s incredible durability!
    PS: I was lucky it was hot chocolate, and not coffee, because the acid in coffee WILL eat a circuit trace!

  6. Sid Says:
    January 15th, 2010 at 5:41 pm

    @David Smith

    I bought an Acer 1810T, worked great for the first day I had it, the second day it wouldn’t turn on. I took it back to the store I bought it from, they ran some tests on it, said it was dead and gave me a new one. The new one’s been running like a champ so far.

  7. Marco Says:
    February 4th, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    To Albert Pelletier :
    I have one Aspire 5920 2/half years old. Last summer i´ve spilled a beer over the keyboard! I just turned it off to clean it up. After that it boot just fine.Except for the sticky keys, never had any problems since them.
    I run Photoshop at the same time whith coreldraw, sketchup and officeword many times and never upgraded de RAM (2g).
    A friend off mine from work, bougth a macbook 3 months ago. Last week i sold it and bougth a 1810pt:
    the 11” acer can run Pshop and Autocad at the same time and the 15” mac can’t without cracking!!

  8. Katie Says:
    February 8th, 2010 at 11:32 pm

    I bought an Acer Aspire in 2006 because I was looking for a laptop with a large screen for under $1000. The system I got was on sale and had a 17 inch screen, so I bought it. I’ve never regretted it. The keyboard is good, the screen bright, and the performance exactly what I needed. I do some web design, some graphic work, and I never had many problems.

    It’s been over 3 years and the only problem I had was it overheating on the bottom in the summertime. Otherwise, I’ve never had to take it in for repairs or anything. I replaced the RAM (a really easy process) and take care of it. I think they key to any laptop’s long life is taking care of it.

    When I next have to buy a laptop I’ll be looking in to an Acer.

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