Interesting piece in the
New York Times today about Acer -- the company is about to ride the tidal wave of netbooks and other el-cheapo computers straight to the number two spot on the PC sales chart. That's a big deal -- no non-US company has ever made it so high -- and it's interesting that the strategies Acer took to get there are the same things Dell's been trying to do lately: it's heavy on low-cost, stylish laptops and netbooks, it keeps inventory extremely lean, and it relies on an extensive set of retail partnerships in Europe. What's more, the Aspire One has been the
best-selling netbook for a while now, and we'd say Acer's way out in front of the
CULV thin-and-light race with the
Timeline -- in fact, we'd say the only open question here is whether the company can take all this computing success and translate it to something worthwhile in the smartphone space. Based on what
we've seen so far, we've
got our doubts, but we'll see what those
super-secret Android sets look like before we place our bets.
posted Jun 28th 2009 11:03PM
I could easily believe *Asus,* after all, they actually put some really awesome stuff out to market. But Acer? I guess I've just been turned off from them by seeing all the crummy laptop models on display and bought by unsuspecting friends/co-workers, but then, I suppose every company has their fair share of lower end crapola they spew out to the masses.
yea, acer's are crummy. I have a 1 year old one and its falling apart. The worse thing about it is the power adaptor makes a high pitch buzzing even when the computer is off. I have to physically unplug it to make it stop.
Dells is a lesser evil. My 3 year old Dell looks like crap but its still kickin strong
Agreed. The only acer product I trust is their monitors, and even those I avoid when possible. There are just too many cases of their craptops dying. Dells, on the other hand, are tanks, despite their lack of a true bios and annoying construction methods.
And really - I agree that if one company had a chance, it would be asus. With the eee line, I'd think they would have grown the most,
Never! Asus is horrible. Their EEE line is a puddle of confusing crap, their desktops and midrange notebooks are fugly and boring, and their gaming laptops look like they were designed by a toddler. Their only good lineup is their luxury ultraportables with the aluminum trim and leather accents.
I have to disagree with the above commentors. I have an Acer that 4 years old and still going strong. In fact, I've never had a single problem with it these four years. It hasn't even frozen up on me once. Based on my experience with Acer, and the low cost, I would definitely consider buying another Acer.
cause we all know how opinion = fact
i for one welcome our robot overlord
The first couple times I saw the title of the article, I though it WAS Asus...
That's how they get so many sales... their crap falls apart within a year...
Acer has had more shelf space in major retailers than Asus (at least here in Canada). You can find Acer laptops and netbooks in Best Buy and Futureshop, and apparently even Wal Mart.
I don't think I've ever seen an Asus branded product in Best Buy Canada, and they certainly don't sell EEE PCs online. Acer was smart in getting their products out to major retailers and for cheap.
At one point the HP mini cost almost 50% more than the Aspire One for the same processor, and came with a smaller hard drive and less USB ports. It's still priced about $100 more, and though it is a NICE netbook, paying more for less rarely wins over most customers.
Does this mean "Acers suck" will be now be the #2 poll option worldwide?
Dear Mr. Erik Shirk,
Before you post, I recommend that you discard of any plans to post on this post or on this blog altogether. Go to TUAW, there are people like you there.
I would like to remind you that we are the internets. You cannot win this war.
Sincerely,
Lando Calrissian
I think he's gone...
@Lando Calrissian:
I like your user name. But please do not assume that just because someone doesn't like Acer means they like apple. And in the smartphone space, if you say anything bad abou the iPhone, it doesn't mean that you're a WinMo fanboy. Or vice versa.
I for instance, hav a MacBook and love it because I think OS X is beater then Vista or XP, and slightly better then Win7. But I think it would be even nicer if I could get a Dell or HP computer with OS X.
Well I'm sure you contribute to the discussion, but Erik is just a troll.
Ah, the Engadget commenter mob. Where pro-Apple, anti-Microsoft commentary will not be tolerated.
Well played, tools, well played.
Astroturf Different.
@Quix
You do realize that you're an Apple troll as well, right?
I'm sorry but you do not have the right or position to request that anyone does not post here. If find it particularly dumb that you apparently do not want someone to comment but yet are effectively inviting them to do so. Either you are not the quickest of cats or you are attempting to start a flame war and I honestly cannot decide which it is.
Lando! Cause he is a gangsta.
Don't know why Dell is hemorrhaging market share so badly. I have always been extremely satisfied with Dell's customer service.
Ever tried Lenovo service? Oh snap it's damn good. The "A" key on my brother's T61 broke and they sent out a new keyboard and got it to him in 8 hours. From the service center in Oregon to my house in Southern California.
I'll be impressed if they can do next day from earth to Cloud City...
Well they can use a time machine to travel back to the era when Cloud City existed, they could technically deliver it to you before you call to have it replaced. I've never requested service to my vacation home in Cloud City, but I use my time machine to travel back and forth between my home in So. Cal and my vacation home in Cloud City.
Lando, you pimp!
Damn straight! The life of a space pimp is a difficult one.
Lando Calrissian: Time Gigolo.
(http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=217484&title=timing-time-gigolo)
Dammit, Greg! I told you not to tell anyone!
Lando, 3 posts about some troll who hasn't even posted. And you think you're the clever, insightful commentator? The one who judges a multinational's customer service on 1 experience?
You're having a laugh
@redcard
I've had many experiences with Lenovo support, and they've been very quick to solve the problem or offer to send a replacement for free. Apparently I'm not the only one that feels this way...
http://www.i4u.com/article17896.html
How else am I to judge a company's support? Should I take a poll with a sample size of 100,000 people? Really, people judge support services based on their one or handful of experiences with them, that's how it works for people, and Lenovo has always made a good impression for everyone I know, as well as everyone in my family.
In this topic redcard fails to understand what 'comment deletion' means.
Also, some Acer machines are good. Others are horrible.
Dell replaced my laptop display within one business day after I told them it blacked out 3 times during the last 2 months. I don't know how to beat that...
Acer on the other hand want you to send in the laptop to replace the keyboard, which will probably take 3 weeks, instead of sending the owner and IT admin a replacement keyboard. On a notebook 3 times as expensive as my Dell.
Also I've seen many Acers fall apart. So if people rather buy Acer than Dell, then screw them. Ok, no need to ask for that, the notebooks will make sure the job gets done.
@ kadajawi: Huh? Maybe it's just my hangover, but your reply just made my head hurt. It's hard for anyone to take your words seriously when they can't understand them...
I think it's all temporary, that Acer's low cost stuff is getting consumers, once they realize Acer's build quality isn't up to par they will shift back to better companies when they upgrade in a few years. In the end I just hope Dell doesn't decide to go back to focusing on low-end crapware in response
Acer is Gateway... Gateway does not even honor their warranties!
Wrong! Gateway is Acer's, so Acer is not Gateway.
I gotta give it Gateway for having some Kick A** gaming laptops.
They actually work like Alienware and don't break the bank.
I will say Acer has much better customer service than Dell!
What's the model above? Looks pretty good.
Because a company would put a picture of a shit stain notebook on the internet. Of course they make look good! They're in it for the cash--like everyone else.
That is the Timeline 4810, 14" model in the 8+ hour battery life Timeline series.
Not bad for $600
I have recently bought the 18.4" laptop from acer. The price is very respectable and it is an above average build. They deserve it.
I've never understood what's so great about the aspire one. It has two SD slots, but anything else? Can someone enlighten me?
It is cheap, and sold in stores like Walmart.
it does facebook and email, its a new cheaper pricepoint, looks decent, fits in a handbag, why else would a girl own a laptop?
sexist I know :p.
It only comes in two flavors, 8.9" and 10.1", unlike (ahem) EEEs.
im not sure. i own 2 EeePCs (701 and 1008HA) so im biased but i dont get it. fine netbook but im surprised people don't go for the HP since its a way more recognizable brand. but i love me some ASUS hardware. (is it supposed to be all caps or not?)
my brother has an Acer laptop and it feels cheap and i don't like the keyboard. but it has decent specs and only cost him $350. can hardly complain about that.
That picture is the Acer Timeline which seems to be a lot better than what they've previously put out. Most of the reviews I've read have given it 8 or 9 out of 10 and there's also been a lot of "Editor's choice" type things plastered on the reviews.
I bought an Acer laptop 5 years ago and although I don't still own it (sold it to a friend) It is still running perfectly, never had a problem of any kind, the case is still perfect which shows better build quality than the Macbook that replaced it (just had a 2nd new case top fitted due to cracking)
I would definitely buy again considering that the Acer was £350 new and the Macbook cost nearly £800, especially since I can buy a 3 year Acer warranty for £45 and they come to collect unlike Apple, I have had to drive 20 miles to my nearest service center (just outside Edinburgh) 4 times now for cosmetic fixes, also on my 3rd magsafe, as unattractive as most PC laptops power bricks are at least they only cost £20 to replace, mag safes cost £65 !!
I am not surprised Acer have reached No. 2 after all my bitching about Apple I would buy from them again but one company I will never give my cash too again is HP they have the worst build quality I have ever witnessed!
While Acer has had a bad reputation, I believe they are getting better but the reputation is still among them, they will have to work extra hard to dispel it.
Same with Dell a couple years ago. They used to be known for ugly, cheap clunkers. But they've gotten a lot better starting with the XPS line.
Dell is losing market share because of their high prices and custom service is poor
I've had 3 dells (this one being my 3rd) over the past 9 years and I have never had a problem with their customer service. Also, in terms of pricing you have to be smart and wait for a week with a great deal.
I got my xps 1530 for 2k instead of 2.7k AND a $100 gift card as well as a free printer. It's all about finding the right deal (think best buy).
I also got the 4yr warranty & complete care (they also offered 4 year lo-jack for me (free) as well) and Any problem I had they offered to fix it asap and they even do follow ups if they can't solve an issue. They're very professional and very nice.
My experience with most "customers" are that they mostly come up with idiotic questions and idiotic problems that requires a tad bit of common sense to solve. Just like someone telling me the printer is broken because they press the power button and it didn't turn on. All I asked was, did you plug it in and the answer was, "oh... I didn't know that"
@mikethevee
Once you get past Dell's HORRIBLE Indian support reps, things get much better, just gotta get to level 2 and it's almost impossible
I disagree. It's more luck of the draw than anything. i got the indian tech once and even then, they were polite and if they didn't know the answer, they simply just escalate it to the US tech support.
oh, actually i lied, i got the indian tech support twice. the first time was with my old inspiron and they didn't know what to do, so they told me they'll call me back asap. 2 hours later, i got the call back and they provided the answer for me. I'm pretty content with their tech support. It's not as bad as you think it is. They barely have an indian accent nowadays.
I'm not sure what's with all the Acer hate here. They actually make some pretty nice stuff now for a good price.
Acer understands accessibility, and they were offering decent hardware well before the economy imploded.
You shouldn't have to pay a premium for aesthetics and acer is just giving people functionality at fair prices.
They can easily do it considering where Dell is focusing themselves. Most consumers are finally tired of buying expensive laptops and having to upgrade every few years. While Dells so focused on building crappy expensive versions of MBA w/ Adamo, Acer's pull is cheap & convenience. With stores like Walmart backing the product I can see more people having Acers for just net surfing and easy Office work.
I'm not American but I will say that in the coming decades, this will only be the first for a bunch of non-US things.
It's not like anyone hasn't seen this coming. It basically comes down to the heart of american capitalism. Try and make as much money as possible while spending as little as possible.
Same goes for up here in Canada.
For example, American's want to make $10-20 dollars an hour at work making laptops, and then they want to go home and save as much as possible. So when it comes time to buying a laptop, they would prefer to buy the CHEAPO notebook for $300 less which is so cheap because it saved costs by having it built in Taiwan or China for workers who earned 10-20 cents an hour.
This is a very bad generalization but it's almost the truth. There's a reason why America's biggest industries now are for commodities like Wheat, Grain, Corn etc... while the other countries who pay their workers crap have taken over cars, electronics etc...
so.. now that you cussed him out, would you mind showing him how much more enlightened you are by showing your own research?
Personal attacks might be justifiable if you actually back it up with your own "research" otherwise you end up looking like a hyppocrit.
mikethevee, you wanted an explanation of why HC has no idea what he's talking about? Sure thing.
"For example, American's want to make $10-20 dollars an hour at work making laptops, and then they want to go home and save as much as possible. So when it comes time to buying a laptop, they would prefer to buy the CHEAPO notebook for $300 less which is so cheap because it saved costs by having it built in Taiwan or China for workers who earned 10-20 cents an hour.
This is a very bad generalization but it's almost the truth. There's a reason why America's biggest industries now are for commodities like Wheat, Grain, Corn etc... while the other countries who pay their workers crap have taken over cars, electronics etc..."
Uh, my Dell battery was made in korea and assembled in malaysia. The laptop itself was made in Malaysia. I'm not sure if you were aware of this, but American corporations often manufacture their products in other countries just like Acer does. Any country can send designs to China to get them made there. The real difference is where the white collar workers are and even there, the lines are blurring today as you see Kia using california design centres for products released in different countries and vice versa.
With regards to labour costs, the GDP per capita (PPP) in Taiwan is $31k while in the US, it is $47k. That IS a significant difference, but not really close to your 10-20 cent i-pulled-that-out-of-my-ass figure. Taiwan's GDP per capita is 25th in the world- ahead of countries like Spain & Greece, and similar to countries like Finland, Belgium, France, and the UK. According to your logic, shouldn't they all have electronics and automobile companies that are recognized internationally?
With regards to the claim that the USA's main industry is now agriculture: completely wrong. Main exports are chemicals, medicine, automobiles, aircraft, computers, etc.
Really, all the FUD is getting old.
see the way you are handling this is more the right way of replying.
My first reply was to admonish his reaction. If you want to prove someone wrong, bring up the facts, not call him an idiot and not back it up. I am well aware of the concept in which products are often created from many places where the raw materials come from somewhere else, but I do not condone senseless personal attacks in which one refuses to back oneself with facts when they call others out on facts.
but. your answer is definitly well said. This is what the average web denizen should learn especially when they comment.
its funny how some people still perceive taiwan as a developing country along with china and india, little did they know that acers, asus, msi, htc are all taiwanese companies and the largest high-tech designer and manufacturer company, FOXCONN, is also taiwanese.
every heard of JAKOTA TRIANGLE? look it up.
Does anyone else get Asus and Acer confused?
Can't these companies agree to disimilarize their names.
The fact that one company pretty much singlehandedly invented the netbook market and the other company has the best selling netbook doesn't help either.
What an unfortunate bit of news. Market success based on setting an obscenely low price point and trying to manufacture products using parts of the lowest quality should be a crime.
I have an Acer gaming lappy. Been going strong for 6 six months so far. But I never use it, mostly my desktop all day
Whats crazy is I had to do a report for 9th grade economics in 1992 and I did it on computers. I visited 15 stores that sold computers and wrote their complete inventory down by store and brand. Acer, Packard Bell, and IBM were the top 3 computers by a very wide margin as far as models, reputation, and features.
17 years later and Acer is making quite the comeback. Heck 8-9 years ago probably 90% of Engadgeters had probably never even heard of Acer.
Oh that's a pretty nifty school you went too.
@greg
I have an Acer laptop that has held up very well. I bought it last august so almost one year without any power problems or anything else going wrong.
While I wouldn't rule out luck of the draw when purchasing electronic equipment (I had to RMA 2 Western digital HDD's within 6 months of purchase). My opinion is that my laptop was built pretty solid. (for a laptop in the sub $1000 range anyways)
I also made a point to spend $20 on a soft foam case to carry it in which I have no doubt has protected it more than once from damage.
for me, dell went wrong around when the XPS1210 laptop came out. How the hell can they have a so called top of the line laptop made with the crappiest hardware? and companies like acer come out with low cost laptops with hardware that is more reliable...its a no brainer why people are not choosing dell lately...
I've have no problems with Acer. The first LCD monitor for my pc is Acer. It is relatively inexpensive, has great display and great quality. Never had to use their customer service. Same with Dell. Although, with Dell I have used their CS and it was great. They are very helpful.
Id rather have quality parts than a cheap computer. Sadly I'm not sure who makes those anymore, HP has gone far down hill , I see so many cheap broken HP laptops
HPs are notoriously bad for their horrible heat management. Even when it was Compaq/HP, it was a nightmare. My best friend had one such laptop which overheated in Massachusetts, mid winter at -15 degrees farenheit (we were working next to the giant window at the library where it is coolest. Infact his laptop overheated so bad it shut itself down automatically and he lost all his work because apparently it didn't even understand the concept of hibernation....-_-
... I guess Acer is going to be up there with HP in making a lot of mainstream trash..
Where's Lenovo in all of this? Thinkpads are better than Latitudes and the S10/S12 netbooks look better than Acer Asssspire Ones.
Lenovo is more expensive, people don't buy those. Heck, here in Germany everyone buys Acer, because they are cheap. Except of course companies, because they have people knowing what they do. Also you can't get Dell and Lenovo in shops here.
Dell, Acer, Asus - I've had em all and it doesnt matter. If you like glitches when streaming audio - or hiccups when recording audio - get a windows device. If you would prefer not to have this behaviour then run Linux or Mac OS X. I am a professional recording engineer and this has been my experience over the last 8 years. Flame all you want, windows gets in the way when other OS's have CoreAudio in their DNA. No studio I have worked in uses Dell, Acer or Asus.
If you just want a basic PC they work fine, but why suffer?
Apple computers have as much issues as PCs.
I own both a mac and a windows computer and both have their fair share of annoying hiccups.
I'm a video editing professional (apple certified pro - fcp lvl 2) and my experience is that when you run high end software on computers, it tends to work the system real hard (on laptops). And with that in mind, both OS crash and glitch as much as one other and no, I spent atleast 2k for each laptop and it is not some refurb infact it was brand new and as close to top of the line in its series that I can afford.
this mac vs windows stereotype is ridiculous and mostly just a bunch of PR that the average consumer absorb without processing.
@mikethevee
Sorry to disagree but I think it is based solely on experience. I am sure you have read posts from people that say that "Problem A happened to my Product Z" when you also have owned Product Z and did not experience Problem A. This does not mean that Problem A is widespread (although it might be) but it also does not mean that it doesn't exist either. What it does mean is that the other person had a "bad experience" with Product Z whereas you may have had a "good experience" instead and it is these experiences that decide our positions in these debates rather than PR. I've owned a few Dells in the past and they were all utter junk whereas I absolutely swear by my current MacBook Pro. This does not mean that all Dells are junk or that all MacBook Pros are wonderful but my experiences with both mean that I am prejudiced against Dells in favour of Macs. Apple or Dell's PR has absolutely nothing to do with my position and I seriously doubt this for anyone else.
It should also be noted that you seem to do a different job to djstix so I do not think that your experiences necessarily apply to him/her and vice verse.
yes you are right. but I think it's annoying when someone throws a blanket statement because they believe their experience encompasses everyone else's. Yes I do do different things that djstix and that makes a difference, but the point still stands that both systems have their own share of hiccups and annoyances. That's why it's annoying to hear the stereotypical "apples don't crash and windows suck" because most of the time it is untrue and almost always without facts to back it up.
Also, as many problems as there are in each system, it's mostly because of the users who screwed around with it and cause the problem that the system in turn responds with its errors. Apple gets away with it more because their OS pretty much prevents any sort of tweaking to the system file. It's 2 different theory of practice. Windows open their system for you to explore (no, not to have someone hack) and for those who knows coding, they can actually optimize things. Mac believes that you should not touch any of their innerworkings and have an iron (more like steel) fist rule for anyone who wants to look at it. but yeah, the PC (personal computer) experience depends on the user and not stupid PR claiming apple is better than windows.
Whoa, didn't know engadget would delete posts that point out their bad editing and grammar..
At least they did add the "to"
Number 2? Who's number 1? HP?
Never had a problem with my 2 year old Acer laptop. Never had it in for repairs ever, no cracks or anything.
I'm seriously considering the Timeline if and when I have to replace it. BTW, I'm on the Acer right now.
Toshiba got the best notebooks in my opinion.
The reason why Acer is so popular in Europe, and not Dell is the Consumer. Acer have been very good at securing retail relationships with key retialers in Europe. At the same time the nootebook and netbook market have gone to full commitisation, no one buys based on CPU and Ram anymore is all about screen size and lowest cost. So like cheap flatscreen tv's Acer have become the compute rmkaer with the lowest price at the screen size and best connections to retaliers and consumers in Europe, therefore are they soon to be number 1 in the Consumer space, enterprise and SMB's are still HP territory in Europe.
who is no. 1
You must be new around here..
We bought a $399 laptop from BestBuy to replace our Compaq that just killed its 2nd hard drive. It had a C2D 2.0ghz, 2Gb ram, 250gb hd, GMA 4100 graphics on a 14.1" screen and I am increadibly impressed with it. It has been dropped off our couch a couple of times with no problems, its really light and suprisingly powerful. I can play CSS and WoW on it, allthough it doesnt play WoW well enough to raid, at least at native resolution.
With this experience I have no problems trying more Acer products or recommending them.
My mother just bought herself an Acer Aspire and I have to admit it's a really decent looking machine. The out of box experience was terrible and she needed my help - install from HDD image, no-choice crapware installation, uninstall crapware, make recovery disks, etc. - but she got an LED backlit screen at an impossible price-point.
Does anyone know the model number of the Acer computer pictured?