laptops?

hi gang,

i'm looking for a new laptop under $1000. i'll use it mostly for going on-line and for transfering digital camcorder footage to dvd. due to their 3 year extended warrantee ($79 for items < $1000), i plan on buying from sam's club. the problem with sam's is that the selection is very limited. anyone have any experience with acer or averatec? my previous laptop was from hp and we made good use of the warrantee (money well spent). thanks.

-jim

I heard of Acer (a friend of mine help kick-start that company) but never worked with one. Maybe you can try perusing Best Buys for laptops there since their selection is more than that at Sam's.

Hope you find what you're looking for and Enjoy!

My aunt has a IBM T42 with a DVD (Read only) drive, 3 years warranty, 14.1 inch screen... But that was due to a discount.

Bought an Acer 3624WXCi a few weeks ago from CompUSA for $500. Really good deal, and none of that mail in rebate nonsense. Primarily used for travel, checking e-mail at airports (travel a LOT), not used much at home since I have powerful desktops at home. Will be using for downloading memory cards on future vacation trips. Have digital SLR and take photos in raw format, so I really load up the flash cards.

Operationally, unit functions fine. Decent speed on processor, fast RAM, nice LCD, built in wireless, etc. Downside is minimal run time since comes with 6-cell Li-Ion battery, 4000mah. Lucky to get 2 full hours on battery only, but was not a big deal for me, can easily find plugs to recharge. Only a bummer if I want to watch a DVD, may not run through the whole thing unless battery is full to start.

I think a 4800mah battery is available, but have not found yet. I also have not tried optimizing the power profile yet, which may yield additional runtime.

Overall, satisfied with purchase.

Navck said:

My aunt has a IBM T42 with a DVD (Read only) drive, 3 years warranty, 14.1 inch screen... But that was due to a discount.

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Not what you're asking about. But I love my T42, it's my only computer now.

Not too long ago, I bought an Acer for my girlfriend. She's had it for about 4 months now, I think, and, so far, it's pretty good. It's almost identical to the ones at Sam's Club (the ones they sell for $899, not the $699 one (different processor)). Actually, I was planning at buying at Sam's, but online, at the time, there were two rebates on the machine at NewEgg.com, which made it $125 less, so I just took a chance and bought it online. If anything goes wrong with it, though, I'll probably be kicking myself for not buying it at Sam's Club. Their warranty policy and extended warranties are the best. I was told that even with the standard 1 year manufacturer's warranty, I could bring any electronic item back if something went wrong and if they couldn't fix it, they'd just give me a new one. Even better, the extended warranties are cheap and they begin after the manufacturer's warranty is up. The only think screwy with it is that it doesn't automatically connect from start-up (if it has been shut down). It used to when we first got it, but now FNC F3 (or CTRL F3) needs to be pressed, which brings up the Acer networking program and you just have to click the connection on. I don't know why it's like that.

You can get the cheaper Thinkpad R-series laptops for around $800. It's quite a solid machine, and despite the company's trouble they still have decent support.

bruddamoke said:

I think a 4800mah battery is available, but have not found yet.

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Have you tried looking into iGo.Com? They sell quite a number of laptop batteries.

Enjoy!

CHC said:

Have you tried looking into iGo.Com? They sell quite a number of laptop batteries.

Enjoy!

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Thanks, I'll do so.

I keep hearing Acers are good machines, and I need to buy one for my brother. I also keep hearing of these $500 no-rebate deals but can never find one. I certainly didn't see that at my local CompUSA a few days ago. I do see $500-550 with a rebate involved sometimes. But I hate rebates and generally try to refuse to buy anything that has one.

paulr said:

I keep hearing Acers are good machines, and I need to buy one for my brother. I also keep hearing of these $500 no-rebate deals but can never find one. I certainly didn't see that at my local CompUSA a few days ago. I do see $500-550 with a rebate involved sometimes. But I hate rebates and generally try to refuse to buy anything that has one.

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This was an instant savings deal, $150 off, one day only (3/18? or around there), got the ad in an e-mail. Some kind of march madness promo. I hate rebates too, because of the hassle and the fact you pay sales tax on the total purchase and don't get it back. You also have to be damn sure you are gonna keep the product, because if you take off the UPC code, you can't return it.

They have been getting better at keeping a decent stock, though most times you gotta be waiting when the store opens. They also had a bunch of desktops for $199 after savings & rebates deal...not in the market and it was a basic machine.

Here is a good thread about Acer laptop from FW

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/mes...threadid=595016&highlight_key=y&keyword1=acer