I came across an offer for an acer laptop with 320 gig hard drive, 4gb ram, etc at only 139000 in Port Harcourt. Why are acers so cheap?? is anything wrong with them??

pennystuck:

I came across an offer for an acer laptop with 320 gig hard drive, 4gb ram, etc at only 139000 in Port Harcourt. Why are acers so cheap?? is anything wrong with them??

don't buy ooo, those laptop are really low end and are only good for secondary school student, the can't do the rugged thing people like me need a sytem 4

idupaul:

don't buy ooo, those laptop are really low end and are only good for secondary school student, the can't do the rugged thing people like me need a sytem 4

What is the criteria for your conclusions on this machine ?Bear in mind that most brand names do not manufacture the chips that make up their products.

No matter which the best quality of laptop/computer system by HP, Acer, Dell, Sony, Toshiba, Gateway, Compaq, etc. you want to buy that FITTING YOUR NEEDS.

There are 3 different type of system with different system requirement listings ARE DIFFERENT:
[list]
[*]If you are academic student, buy l[b]ow budget laptop/computer[/b] cost ranging from $400.00 to $800.00 USD.

[*]If you are engineer, graphic-web designer, CAD/2D/3D specialized, video-audio production, then buy middle or home/office laptop/computer system[/b]ranging from $800 to $1,000 USD.

[*]If you are [b]EXTREMELY FREAKY MOVIE/MUSIC/VIDEO/INTERACTIVE GAME LOVERS [/b]with heavy graphic-sound requirement, then buy [b]ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA system that usually higher $1,000-$3,000 USD MORE POWERFUL AND DOUBLE video/graphic card, largest hard disk drive, and RAM memory than home-office claptop/computer system.
[/list]

The majority homeowners in the USA with working middle-class income USUALLY [/b]BUY either student (low budget) laptop/computer or home-office laptop/computer system [b]AT THEIR COMFORTABLE ZONE. It is 75% population PC users.

I buy low-budget NO-OS included barebone system that I can upgrade from my older PC system taking my hard disk drive, floppy disk, fireware port, and CDRW-DVD burner into barebone system with NEWER MOTHERBOARD, NEWER POWER SUPPLY, and NEWER CPU/PROCESSOR every 5 years I always do that. I have my own genuine OS cd ready to install either blank hard disk drive or existing my hard disk drive to be recognized.

NO BLOATED SOFTWARE ON BAREBONE SYSTEM!!!!  Barebone system is under $400.00 with no HARD DISK DRIVE, NO FLOPPY DISK, NO DVD/CDRW DRIVE, and NO OS pre-installed. Do it yourself assembled AT YOUR OWN!!!

UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENT TYPE OF SYSTEM no matter which manufacturer name you choose! But BEST QUALITY, REASONABLE PRICE! RELIABLE! EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE SUPPORT THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO ME!

The same way you shop around car that has different manufacturer names: Ford, Honda, Chrysler, Lincoln, Kia, GM, goes on you want to buy. Why Ford small car cheaper than Lincoln large fancy car?

Make a sense!

Infact you just said it all. It realy make a sence.
Nice

brownbonno:

What is the criteria for your conclusions on this machine ?Bear in mind that most brand names do not manufacture the chips that make up their products.

dude, youve said a very sensible thing. that has been my argument when i see people clamoring for HP above all others.

1. CPU is most likely by Intel or AMD

2. GPU is most likely by Intel, Nvidia, Ati or Via

3. Hard Disk is Most likely by Samsung, Pioneer, Seagate, Western Digital or other

4. RAM is most likely by Rambus,  Samsung, Micron Technology, Infineon, NEC or Hyundai

5. Wireless chipset most likely by Broadcom, Intel, Realtek/Via, etc

6. Display most likely by Samsung or fujitsu-Siemens

7. Trackpad licensed from Synaptics

8. USB and fireWire come from the Northbridge/Southbridge chipset manufacturer, most likely Intel or other (USB is a standard backed by a consortium while FireWire comes from Apple).

10. Operating System most definitely from Microsoft (except if running Linux or a hackintosh box)

so it makes one wonder WHAT EXACTLY was manufactured by HP that set their system apart from, say, Dell or Sony or whatever.

thses guys just sell us specs and lots of trial software and bloatware in their machines. what they do is design the casing and send their specs to a mass contract manufacturer in Shenzhen or Taiwan and have them built. Then their Logo is slapped on the case and shiped off to the states.

thats why you never see a machine that says "made in the US".

A centrino Dell having the same specs with a Centrino VAIO are essentially the same thing as long as the base hardware is the same.

thats why i prefer Apple. they build their hardware AND Operating System and optimize both to work with each other. Windows machines (whether by Dell, HP, Sony et al) are subject to  the whims of Microsoft. No matter the specs of a windows machine, if the Microsoft OS lags (read: Vista) then your prized machine will lag as well. sometimes the OS is the bottle neck.

wise up, buy what you can afford and what can best serve you. if all you do is browse and make documents i see no reason for shelling out for an expensive Core 2 Duo when a Celeron is more affordable and can best serve your needs.

If you are a media junkie then by all means get a pavilion.

if you do intensive graphics and video works  then please get Apple  Macbook Pro.

PS: ive read in Engadget and elsewhere that HP, tired of the nonsense that Vista is and the hardware demands of Windows 7, are thinking of creating THEIR OWN OPERATING SYSTEM.

meanwhile Sun is innovating the entire OS concept. read about Project Looking glass here

http://www.sun.com/software/looking_glass/

while Cairo is an attempt to give windows a much needed facelift. everybody is tired of Windows Explorer so some people are redoing the whole thing.

this is what the developers say:

" With Cairo you can transform your desktop from the dated Windows user interface to a brand new system that will change the way you use your computer forever. Taking advantage of proven functionality, and with stability and performance in mind, the Cairo Desktop system aims to give users a productive and easy to use shell that advances current technology standards. Never get lost in a sea of windows again."

check out Cairo here

www.cairoshell.com

all these are happening because windows stubbornly refuses to be innovative.

the same way you have used windows 95 is essentially the same way you are using vista

@Ex. Good analysis.
@poster. Acer is the no. 3 pc vendor globally and no. 2 laptop maker  in terms of volume and sales worldwide infact they are no. 1 in Europe and Asia. Point is they make good  and afford PCs. The  above spec has generous memory(RAM and  HDD) and is a multimedia notebook from their Aspire range. If you can afford it, go for it. Personally I use Acer Travelmate 5720 , it's a rugged notebook suitable for a "road warrior" like me. Very good performance .

That makes sense!

@Flyuche

my very second lappy is an Aspire and its still chugging along nicely (the first is a WebBoy, P3). almost all other systems bought after it have croaked. the problem with Nigerians is that we believe "AFFORDABLE" equals "CHEAP" which equals "INFERIOR". most people do not know that in the States ACER ranks above VAIO and HP (which is almost globally despised except in naija). the funny thing is for raw power (which nigerians seem to crave over purpose) the relatively  unknown boxes are unsurpassed: Alienware, Voodoo, Skate, Rock, and of course Dell XPS. most of these systems come wit overclocked core 2 duos and discrete GPUs (some in SLI configuration) for all the processing power you need.

but theres a catch: they are expensive gaming systems.

the truth is laptops are stratified according to function: business machines (read:bland), gaming machines (excessive, dangerous power bordering on illegal), media machies (remote controls, media centers, HD screens, DVI/HDMI ports), and mainstream machines that combine a little bit of each.

the problem is, nigerians reall can't differentiate and prioritize based on their needs. they allow the salespeople to sell them features they don't need, like a business environment being conned into buying gaming machines because the sales rep spouted strings of dream-inducing specs. and at the end of the day, Vista will make nonsense of those specs.

for instance my DV5000 is an AMD Turion single core one gig RAM machine. my cousin's is a VAIO core 2 Duo with 3gigs RAM. however his system lags noticeably much more than mine does and we bot run Vista ultimate. the funny thing is his is barebones with few items running at startup while mine is clogged.  we can't properly explain it but i suspect in certain cases Dual core machines can slow down non-multithreaded programs.

however my Apple Macbook with one gig ram makes nonsense of the 4gig windows macjhines i pit it up against. thats hardware/software working efficiently in sync.

mind you im not trying to sell Apple machines, im just pointing out that beyond case designs and spec variations, most times windows machines all look and act the same to me.

cheers.

It's obvious that Nigerians like expensive thangs! After dem go say economy no good!

You see a cheap laptop with good specs, you no wan buy! I'm using Acer right now and the feel is rugged!
Maybe the other laptop manufacturers they get theirs from Heaven! Shior!

You berra buy confirm stuff for cheap price, I trust maself sha

Seems Id go 4 it after all,

i cant describe my hate for HP laptops. So fake looking. Popsy bought the silly HP Pavillion, tht crap tht has 360 rotation and touchscreen, it looks so fake!
HPs are so fake and expensive. I don't show mercy for all the DV6000 lappy owners who i help with issues on their lappies.
Everywhere u look na DV6000. small pikin dv6000, mummy DV6000, uncle DV6000, even tht smallie chic u've beein trying to racket
all looking so fake

Dual Core:

i can't describe my hate for HP laptops. So fake looking. Popsy bought the silly HP Pavillion, that crap that has 360 rotation and touchscreen, it looks so fake!
HPs are so fake and expensive. I don't show mercy for all the DV6000 lappy owners who i help with issues on their lappies.
Everywhere u look na DV6000. small pikin dv6000, mummy DV6000, uncle DV6000, even that smallie chic u've beein trying to racket
all looking so fake

ROFL!

Dual Core:

i can't describe my hate for HP laptops. So fake looking. Popsy bought the silly HP Pavillion, that crap that has 360 rotation and touchscreen, it looks so fake!
HPs are so fake and expensive. I don't show mercy for all the DV6000 lappy owners who i help with issues on their lappies.
Everywhere u look na DV6000. small pikin dv6000, mummy DV6000, uncle DV6000, even that smallie chic u've beein trying to racket
all looking so fake

Sho, baba dual core, kilon shele ? Abi you no chop plaintain today. No vex i go buy you dv6000 for christmas. However, i do agree with you that hp laptops are like "pure water" these days. they are so common everywhere, especially the one with the swinging screen. Dont mind them DC. na for effyzie thats why they buy that one. Am managing a dv2130us for the time being. Its portable and kicks ass before i my macbook go land. Cheers.

P.S You stil havent replied to my question about getting that izap thingy.

samir101ng:

P.S You stil havent replied to my question about getting that izap thingy.

erm. . . i forget.
ok for that izap thing eh. . . u can just. . . erm bros, wht question did u even ask about the izap sef, i 4get

@dual core.Acer was the first to come out with that form factor( design).hp laptops are not rugged

@dual core

it sweetens my heart to see that fellow naijans are not all sold on HP. you say you despise the so-called Tablet swinging hideousity; is there a word greater than 'despise'? because i loathe those machines. if anyone has a Hp Dv6000 or so series, look on the casing along the seam; you will notice that the casings dont really fit well. and ive found out that some of the casings are spray-painted and not molded.

smells cheap to me, all you Acer hating folks.

if you have enough money for a HP pavilion, buy a Dell XPS instead.

Shoo!Dualcore,Ex Inferins & co,una dey vex me no be small.So wetin una dey try talk be say may I go throw away my Hp pav dv60000 special edtn.Mba o!Me,I like my Hp die,even pass d love wey dc get 4 indomie.D only issue with it is d battery life.As 4 speed @ startup,dont even go there because I've tested it against d acers,vaio's,dell,F Siemens,benQ, of dis world & my HP lappy boots faster than all of them.I did my research b4 buyin it & so I knew about all d bloats in Hp.I tweaked it & only 10 fxns run & startup.Its a 2gb ram,250gb hd,intel core 2 duo,1.85 ghz speed & vista home edtn lappy & it is very solid.As 4 beauty,it is comparable 2 no other as it is 7up. Its not d black shinny Hp pav dat is so common as mine is a brown bronze colour.
As 4 other, O.S dont even go there because there's no support in naija in terms of softwares.Most of d phone internet providers do not work with d linux & macs of dis world & softwares 4 dem na headache.Hp is aware of d low batt life of their lt's & have dere4 made lithium12 bat

tteries available.
@Ex inferins,if as u say,all d chips,panels,boards etc of d difrent brands of lt's are made by d same peeps,wetin come make acer beta pass Hp.
@Dualcore,Hp is common because it has tried & trusted and dis pple keep on recommending it 2 others to buy,so no blame that girl wey u dey toast wey no gree 4 u.If 2 say u dey use Hp,she 4 gree 4 u kia kia.

my hp pavilion dv6899ei (special edition) with brown bronze color kicks butt!!!!!!!!!

Acers are not just it, especially their new models, they all look like some cheap plastic stuffs, looks very fragile

altavista:

Shoo!Dualcore,Ex Inferins & co,una dey vex me no be small.So wetin una dey try talk be say may I go throw away my Hp pav dv60000 special edtn.Mba o!Me,I like my Hp die,even pass d love wey dc get 4 indomie.D only issue with it is d battery life.As 4 speed @ startup,don't even go there because I've tested it against d acers,vaio's,dell,F Siemens,benQ, of this world & my HP lappy boots faster than all of them.I did my research before buyin it & so I knew about all d bloats in Hp.I tweaked it & only 10 fxns run & startup.Its a 2gb ram,250gb hd,intel core 2 duo,1.85 ghz speed & vista home edtn lappy & it is very solid.As 4 beauty,it is comparable 2 no other as it is 7up. Its not d black shinny Hp pav that is so common as mine is a brown bronze colour.
As 4 other, O.S don't even go there because there's no support in naija in terms of softwares.Most of d phone internet providers do not work with d linux & macs of this world & softwares 4 them na headache.Hp is aware of d low batt life of their lt's & have dere4 made lithium12 bat

i was waiting for exactly someone like you to make a comment and, no offense, but you've spoken exactly like the type of HP-targeted demography we were posting about.

HP pavilion "special edition" is one more fancy way of snaring people like you into paying extra for essentially nonsense. ok, so "specila editions" have swirling engravings and colored cases.

yeah.

so what does that do for performance? does it make your wok any easier? its just eye candy to further induce you into giving HP your money since they have nothing else to recommend them. have you noticed that most new Windows Latops come with gaudy colors these days (even the DELL XPS range)? thats because most of them have similar specs and very little differnce to harp on and market so they paint their boxes in fancy colors (even pink, god forbid) hoping some psychedelia-high Joe Schmuck will get bedazzled.

and it seems to be working going by your fanboy gushings.

yours is a brown color.

jesus.

who ever heard of a brown laptop?

recently my comany bought a string of HP dv 6430 or something like that for the staff. they are Core 2 duo 3gig RAM 160gig machines bougt at 160,000 each. the "special edition" earlier pitched to us were Core 2 duo 2g RAM 120gig candy colored, engraved systems at the rate of 190,000 per machine. i checked the features and the secs and found that the 160,000 systems were more advcanced specs-wise and it dawned on me the "special editions" command more premium over the more powerful machines because of the graphical engarving and the colors. we were to pay an extra 30,000 for colored cases and printed graphics.

jesus.

you mentioned how your HP starts up faster than the others. well, we only have your word for that since we dont know the specs of the comparison boxes nor the starup itesm they run. we can only assume you used a non-scientific and horribly biased means of arriving at that conclusion.



and then you said:
" As 4 other, O.S don't even go there because there's no support in naija in terms of softwares.Most of d phone internet providers do not work with d linux & macs of this world & softwares 4 them na headache."

are we to assume you call Microsoft via phone for tech support? in naija? please! the same way we get our windows software is the same way we mac users get our mac software: illegal online downloads or pirated CDs. i have tons of Mac programs even though the system comes with basically everything you need.

im sure you are not aware that Microsoft Office first appeared on the Mac (in fact before the Advent of windows, Bill gates used to make software for Apple machines, and Microsoft still has an entire division dedicated to making Mac software. indeed, Microsoft is a share holder in Apple. ). in Mac we have Microsoft Office 2008 while windows users still grapple with Office 2007. we have Microsoft Entourage, Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger etc so what do you have that we aint got? is it firefox, Adobe CS4, Opera, or what? name it and we got, or something better.

as for support, none beats Linux. you want to try the endless amount of forums dedicated to specific areas? is it frequent upgrades? all for free?

windows is less supported han the other OS so dont even go there, because windows support isnt free. the only free aspect is Knowledge Base, and goodluck that one solving your problems.

on to your second "point"

you say:

altavista:

tteries available.
@Ex inferins,if as u say,all d chips,panels,boards etc of d difrent brands of lt's are made by d same peeps,wetin come make acer beta pass Hp.

affordability.

altavista:

@Dualcore,Hp is common because it has tried & trusted and this people keep on recommending it 2 others to buy,so no blame that girl wey u dey toast wey no gree for you.If 2 say u dey use Hp,she 4 gree for you kia kia.

wrong! nigerians buy HPs in droves because we have a fetish for what seems the rage. if neighbour A bought product X, chances are Neighbor B will also buy Product X. that probaly explains why to most Nigerians there are no other worthy Cars than Honda, Toyota, BMW, Merc and Kia. (what the Americans will call commuter cars.)

the same logic is applied to almost every consumer product. if its phones, anyting other than Nokia is suspect; any TV not made by Sony/Samsung/Sharp/LG is suspect; any car speakers that are not made by Pioneer are suspect and on and on.

so also lappys. if its not HP it must be rubbish even though most Review Magazines and online consumer products blogs hardly feature HP. in fact Acers feature more prominently than HP. how many HPs have you seen on TV and in movies?

the most despised Systems in America are HP and Toshiba and America is a bigger and more discerning market than the backwater here.

so bottom line, people recommend HP to other people because thats what everyone is buying, thats what the store guy told them, and thats what they belive.



and as long as you are running Vista, your precious HP is no better than a similarly specced non-HP system.

Antia:

my hp pavilion dv6899ei (special edition) with brown bronze color kicks butt!!!!!!!!!

kick which butt, precisely?

Antia:

Acers are not just it, especially their new models, they all look like some cheap plastic stuffs, looks very fragile

you can say the same for HP

HP "special Edition" lovers, check out this sleek powerhouse.

Packard Bell's iPower GX:

1. 1,920 x 1,200 display ( true HD)

2. nVidia 9800M GTS with 1GB dedicated GDDR3 video memory

3.  Intel's first Quad Core mobile processor, the Core 2 Quad Q9100 (four CPU cores)

4.  Blu-ray drive

5.  4GB of system memory

6. 640GB hard disk (twin 320GB SATA in RAID 0)

7. 1.3 MP webcam

8.  gigabit LAN

9. wireless-N

10. bluetooth

11. 5-in-one card reader

12. 9-cell lithium ion battery

13. fingerprint module

ever heard of packard Bell? the above is a gaming notebook.

theres a world outside HP.

Acer Aspire 6920G Gemstone Blue Laptop

1. Intel Centrino chipset

2. stereo speakers with sub woofer

3. Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2 GHz 667 MHz FSB (Front Side Bus to the uninitiated)

4. 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM

5. 250 GB SATA

6. 6 in 1 card reader

7. NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS TurboCache supporting 1280MB with GDDR2 SDRAM - 512 MB

now, is that too shabby? all these for £719.97

Acer sucks! I bet you won't want to have it!

UNLEASHED:

Acer sucks! I bet you won't want to have it!

thats an unprofessional statement. give us a reason why Acer "sux" beyond this "eloquent" one-liner.

and you're wrong, ive owned Acers before i went the Apple route.

try giving me one and see if i wont accept. 

you see the two laptops above? do you know the connection between them?

no?

well, Packard Bell is owned by Acer.

still on the issue of specs, which is what sells windows machines, and in my attempt to show you there are better kick-butt notebooks out there (and fancy case coloring), gobble te pix and spex below.

1. Intel quad-core processor (of course, four cores or the equivalent of 2 dual cores)

2. 16GB RAM

3. 1GB VRAM for graphics

4. 1TB (terabyte, or 1024 gigabytes) Hard disk in RAID 0.

5. Fancy food coloring

oh, and its a Dell, coming out soon.

so all you specs lovers start saving up.

Alienware Area 51 m17x

1. 17 inch screen

2. 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme

3. Dual NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX (thats two discrete powerful GPUs in Scalable Link Interface mode.)

4. 4GB 667MHz DDR2 Memory

5. 1.5TB Storage (terabytes)

6. AlienFX Illuminated Keyboard

ouch.

best laptop of 2008 (as voted at Consumer Electronics Show 2008)

Lenovo IdeaPad U110

All Hail Baba Ex .

Actually, the reason why i bought my hp laptop dv2130us was based on the specs only and the perfomance it could give me. I am a very hard person to stick to a particular brand. I always judge based on my needs and performance. I however do consult on anything new like the macbook am now considering getting. Another reason why hp is so popular in nigeria is that our local assemblers have fallen asleep. Omatek and Zinox started out with a bang which has now fizzled out. I mean common drivers are not available at the zinox site (last time i checked). Zenith and some banks started adopting them, but after the naija virus had finished its work. You should see the way zenith was dumping their systems and rushing for hp systems fia. We recently bought a desktop at home. At first my dad was like " we should get a hp" as they are the best and it is what they use at their office. However, after marketing research and due diligence, i finally found a good system Acer Veriton 6900 Pro. It had better specs and was cheaper than a hp with lower config by far. I have not had a problem with it so far despite all the knocks and viruses my siblings have giving it. Nigerians dont know any better simple when it comes to buying things in general . we still have that , i must get what my friend has mentality. God help us all.

@samir101ng

bless yer pa for having the constitution to transcend the naija HP bug. eventually the enslaved masses will awaken from their hypnotic slumber and trawl the market for a better bargain.

guess what what hapened recently? a mate bought himself a MacBook Pro 15". unfortunately it came with Tiger preinstalled and not Leopard. in any case he went to MTN Connect in KD and tried getting online via MTN's so-called 3G service. know what the mindless drones there told  him?

"heeeee! na Apple you go buy? hmm! where you wan get software? and by the way our Modem will not work with Apple" (even though the Modem comes with a Mac OS X installation CD in the pack).

anyway they fiddled around like the overpaid ninnies they are and finally gave up, that they couldnt configure it.

their problem? well, the've never had the privilege of using an Apple box before, so the .dmg file extension was alien to their .exe-fueled minds.

and they were not willing to explore the possibilities of twisting their tiny minds around the problem by asking for anyone who knew anything about Mac.

No. they looked at the shiny Aluminium masterpiece as a computing anathema and promptly told my mate to sell it off and buy a HP.

the horror.

anyway, he came to me and voila! i did it in less than half a minute. (for all 5 five of you Apple owners in Naija, simply change the APN from MyMTN to web.gprs.mtnnigeria.net in the network interface.)

i installed Azureus, Office 2004 (its Tiger so 2008 wont work), opera 9.52, transmission, firefox, CenterStage, internet explorer and tons of other stuff. then for extra kick i installed Vista on Boot Camp/Parallels so he has both windows and Mac OS 10.4.

off topic. abeg make una no vex
a friend called me and asked me to buy a lappy for him.
Not that h needs it but is now a fashion statement in naija. Everybody carries it around whether they are going to church or bible study. When they visit a friend, it is a sign that one has arrived.

Is that true?