Acer to buy Gateway?

Is Acer getting ready to buy Gateway? There's no official word from either company, but the Associated Press reports that shares in Gateway jumped today after analyst firm ThinkEquity released a report concluding that Acer was considering making an offer for the company. No clue how close they might be to actually making a bid (or even if they are actually planning to), but it wouldn't be shocking to see Gateway get scooped up (although they did reject a $450 million offer last year). The company has been struggling for years to carve out a niche in the shadow of larger PC makers like Dell and HP -- remember that chain of retail stores they opened and then quickly closed? -- and you could definitely see Acer buying them as a relatively easy way to gain marketshare in the US.

[strider_mt2k @ Mar 19th 2007 4:26PM]

Two companies I don't care about become one company I don't care about?

That makes it so much easier!

[Jaxim @ Mar 19th 2007 4:46PM]

Gateway isn't bad, but watch out for their customer service. I recently inquired from customer service if I could purchase a PC from Gateway with Vista Ultimate (32 bit version) preinstalled and later receive the 64 bit version from them.

They agreed, I then bought the computer, and called them back to make claim to their promise. They apologized and said they couldn't honor their original agreement.

So watch out what their customer support department says. They will say one thing one time and another thing another time.

[Lachlan @ Mar 19th 2007 5:43PM]

Let me get this straight; Acer Computer Australia can't afford to give their staff the promised yearly bonus (equivalent to one months pay) because of a failed computer launch they like to call the Aspire T180, but Acer International can afford to buy out another company?! It's not going to happen.

on a side note: the announcement about the lack of bonus was made at the end of year christmas party which left everyone on a high note for the remaining 2 weeks of the year.

[tbyron @ Mar 19th 2007 6:31PM]

It would probably a lot cheaper for Acer to buy the #3 US mfr/mktr (maybe soon to be #4) now than spend a similar amount of money to build their own brand over the next 3-5 years without any guarantee of success. Presumably, Acer will be able to do a better job managing multiple brands than the current mgmt at Gateway.

[dcny @ Mar 19th 2007 6:34PM]

I rather have gateway buy acer, acer is a horrible company, horrible computers and customer service wish acer would go out of business.

[Andros @ Mar 19th 2007 9:22PM]

Man, I just came from a company that bought nothing but Acer computers. They were the worst POSes I've ever had to support. I had two laptops fry as well as two desktop that were less than a year old. And forgot about getting someone on the phone to help you get them repaired. If your computer is out of warranty, you have to send it to Nowhere, TX to get it fixed for a charge of $450. If it is in warranty, you will still have to send it away since they don't usually provide on-site parts. Terrible, terrible company. Never buy one!

[ndtinker @ Mar 20th 2007 11:48AM]

We use Gateways here at work, have put in hundreds of them over the past couple years and have had extremely good luck with them and I've personally been very impressed. Acer on the other hand I've never been impressed with at all. I hope they don't get their hands on Gateway and destroy what a great company they are.

[Daniel Turner @ Mar 20th 2007 1:34PM]

Agreed, dcny. My last two laptops have been Gateway. The first was for the value when centrino came out originally. I got hooked though, because of the customer service. I got the accidental damage package, and man do they let you abuse it. I got my screen replaced b/c of some damage, and actually got them to send me the whole top half of the laptop to replace on my own instead of waiting for them to do it. I sent my top half back to them, no charge for any of it. Best deal you can get for warranty coverage.

Oh, and Jaxim, you got lied to by sales, and I'm sorry to hear it. That sucks that they took advantage of your total cheapness. Which is what it is, btw. You won't get the deal you wanted from anyone ever, not for free. Like they're gonna blow a key on you, which costs them whatever a vista ultimate key costs, and then give you another.

[Jayson @ Mar 25th 2007 12:41AM]

I work for a large city and we use Gateway's exclusively. The machines are not that bad. There are faster and fancier PCs out there, but the systems they have are decent workhorses. I've worked on every system out there and I would prefer to have a Dell system, but Gateway is great for the price and support we receive from them. I know their consumer support line can be a pain, but whose isn't now days? Since we are a local government, we have their dedicated business support and it rocks! I am never on the phone with them for more than 10 to 15 minutes on a support call. The people are super friendly and fast. This is the main reason we have stuck with Gateway for so long.

Acer on the other hand is crap!

[Big Dummy @ Mar 25th 2007 7:16AM]

Hey Jaxim, I work for a large computer company... But your statement about being ripped sort-of seemed funny... Think about it... You called customer support to ask them a "tech question?" In any company customer support is only good for filing complaints and doing RMAs... With that said, call tech support for any "technical" questions... Plus, tech support agents dont work on commission so they will probably be more honest than a sales man... The previously mentioned things are pretty much true w/ every company...

[Jeff Martin @ Mar 27th 2007 9:20AM]

Good luck to any of you who ever buy an Acer product. I have spent the last 5 days going through the Acer "hoops" of trying to get my Tablet (which still has 17 months of total system guard) back to them to repair.
After speaking to 3 different condescending reps, I am done and I'm just going to trash their product and get my teacher a Toshiba or Sony.
I am a Network Administrator with 15 servers and over 800 pc's and laptops and have dealt with all of the major companies and I will NEVER buy another Acer product. Every piece of hardware has the potential of failing and NO ONE that I spoke with could solve my simple problem of just getting the product back to them for repair??!!

[Jeff Martin @ May 3rd 2007 11:21AM]

A follow up to my Acer nightmare - this is the 4th time I have had to send this tablet PC in for repair. Look, I TOTALLY get that things will break but it has come back to me out of the repair box 3 times with 3 NEW PROBLEMS??!!!! Are you kidding??!! And since I work for a school whose hours are from 8 to 3 pm EVERYDAY, Acer says they can only schedule a return pickup from 3:30 to 6pm. After explaining to 3 DIFFERENT REPS that these times obviously conflict, their repsonse was to "call back tomorrow after the failed pickup attempt and try to reschedule because our return system isn't that sophisticated to pick other times" - did she really just say that??!@!! So, I will AGAIN go through 2 or 3 failed pickup attempts and, hopefully, after calling back again and again MAYBE they'll find a time when someone will actually be here - I honestly don't know how they stay in business. I will NEVER buy another Acer product and I strongly suggest reconsidering any Acer purchase.