acer aspire 8940g

[grasshopperbe]

one of my mates wants to buy an acer aspire 8940g, the 8940G-724G50MN model
(with the gts240m card, and 4gb ram, and dvdrw)

i asked him what he wants to be able to do with it, it has to be a fairly powerful machine, as he wants it as a "media center", (music via logitech speakers, usb tv-card, some games, photoshop, dvd watching, etc) because of limited space in his appartment.

i never use laptops any more so i don' t really know what is good and what isn't
my little experience with acer laptops (more than 5 years ago) was that they did
make some bad series once and a while (mine overheated constantly)

i found a couple of reviews,
this one seems to be pretty pleased about the model.
http://gadgetophilia.com/acer-aspire-8940g-review/

while this review is rather mixed opinion (see conclusion at bottom)
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-...k.22447.0.html
mostly what they say about the screen flexing rather of worries me, and they are quite negative about the screen.

Are there any other laptops of more or less the same specs, (17inch screen is ok too)
that are a better choice maybe? It has to be either Acer, Packard Bell, or HP
(his brother owns a small electronics shop so he can get it far cheaper that way, but they only do those brands) i think they also sell Sony, but not sure

all advice is very welcome, as i don't really know what to tell him on this

[glc]

You aren't giving us much choice here. I don't care for any of those 3 brands, and Sony is overpriced and very proprietary. The only 3 brands of laptops I care for these days are Asus, Dell, and Lenovo.

[jdeb]

I agree with glc, what is your budget?

[grasshopperbe]

The first thing i told him, when he asked me about laptops a few days ago, is that he should look for a Dell studio 17 . that would be my choice at the moment

but since they don't sell trough stores over here, only online, he can't get them cheaper via his brother .

I think the budget is about 1200 euro's, maybe a little more, with our 20% vat, he can get it for about 1000 euro then.

I'm gonna call him in the morning and see if lenovo or asus are ok too.
What model would be the best of these 2 brands?

thanks for the advice

[glc]

Lenovos are road warriors. Asus makes primarily multimedia machines.

[jdeb]

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/c...33E1A9F586CC28

these are the models I would look for but I am not sure where to look for in Europe. Hope this helps.

[grasshopperbe]

Lenovo IdeaPad isn't available anywhere around here atm, only thinkpads.

from what i read on reviews , it seems they are very new ? Usually we are at least a few months 'behind' on the rest of the world when it comes to electronics, i guess they will appear here in a little while. i googled a bit but couldn't find any "europe release dates" so far

They look quite good to me, thank you for the link.

i found these 2 asus laptops on a local shop, they seem pretty good too
http://www.loveno.be/product/17997/A...-notebook.html
http://www.loveno.be/product/17998/A...-notebook.html

i printed it all out, and gave it to my mate. This is far better advice than any sales guy in a computer shop will ever give him

Now just for him to make up his mind

Thanks for all the help in any case

[jdeb]

I think either one of those would be a nice choice. Nice find Asus has excellent technical support and customer service. I also know that Asus laptops are gaining ground because of their excellent reputation to quality and service.

[grasshopperbe]

well nearly 2 months later now, and this seems to be turning into a nightmare

He ordered a dell studio 17 on 18th december 2008 as they had a christmas discount wich made it the most interesting. Initial delivery date was set on 8/2/2010 which is already fairly long imo, but with the christmas period, ok i can imagine.

There was never any update in the delivery status, untill today.

Now the delivery date is set on 7/05/2010 !!!? that is 10 days short of 5 months !? are they insane?

i fear the only info i need to get now is how to get his money back from dell. My mate will be going berserk when he hears that , i'm certain he's not going to wait for that.

This is the most horrible experience i've ever seen with any pc related product.

edit : from what i can find on the net it seems the screen and the vidcards are completely unavailable.