Unless you are buying it for bleeding edge performance and gaming, you do not NEED the latest CPU and integrated graphics are fine and dandy.
If you do want a gaming laptop - I have seen far better reviews of Dell's XPS laptops than anything Acer have built. That said it is not a brand loyalty thing, I have bought some Acer desktops and they are quite nifty.
Well, as I said, I'll use the laptop mostly for 3dsMax/gaming/Photoshop/Internet/creative writing and some sound mixing.
Taking into consideration Max is fairly CPU intensive when it comes to rendering I'd prefer to get the affordable Montevina technology (given the fact it also consumes less power and operates on faster FSB) and a fairly decent gpu in the mid-range that would fulfill the gaming purpose and ease up display in Max viewports (I know pro cards would be better for Max, but then I can forget about gaming ... not to mention the fact that pro cards like FireGL and QuadroFX are fairly expensive).
I've also seen good reviews of the XPS laptops ... problem is their tech lacks in the mid-range aspect and is not what I'm looking for (not to mention they still use 8600m GT which has issues).
Well, fair enough - but there is a significant price premium for the latest and greatest.
Which is why I'm looking for mid-range laptops that have the latest gen cpu and gpu for an affordable price (which is not impossible to find btw ... just a bit harder).
May I ask what you are looking for?
I answered that question by posting the specs I'm looking for along with explaining for what I'll be using the laptop.
Acer replace their individual models regularly, the industry just moves too fast not to, and most laptop manufacturers change their base model line-ups (look, feel, added features, base technology) around once a year. The new HP business laptopos just came out for example - very nice.
If I was in US, getting an HP (or any other brand) with the above mentioned specs for my price range would be easy ... alas, I'm gonna be in UK where these laptops have a fairly large price on them (over 800 pounds).
And as I said earlier I do know just how fast tech changes, but it won't be at least a year until companies change tecs in their existing laptops or replace them with newer ones.
Acer just recently put out this particular model in the market.
You might note that your HDD is a slow 5400RPM one, you might want to upgrade to a 7200 to take advantage of your CPU and memory speed as disc access is going to slow your system there.
Also 3GB of RAM is all you want unless you are getting Vista 64-bit, as otherwise you will never use that 4th GB.
I noticed the HDD was a slower version ... most laptops come with 5400 rpm hdd's unfortunately, and getting 7200rpm in these specific models for the same price is next to improbable.
Besides, the only performance decrease that would occur would be when the HDD is doing the work ... 3ds Max and games primarily rely on CPU/GPU/RAM.
If companies in UK offered customization (which is not exactly common) of their laptops prior to purchase (without slapping a huge price on them in the process) then I'd do it ... alas, most resellers sell the laptops already assembled and don't allow online customizations (DELL is an exception and they don't exactly put a too large of a price, but as I said, they are lacking).
5400 rpm is something I can live with at least for now ... later on I can easily replace that hdd with a larger capacity 7200 rpm version.
As for RAM issue ... what you mentioned about 4GB not being used to it's fullest extent is not entirely correct.
32bit OS's were DESIGNED to utilize a maximum of 4GB, and in most cases they may not 'see' all of it (about 3.5GB is usually recognized), however if there is an application that actually uses such large amounts of RAM, rest assured that ALL of the 4GB will be utilized in a 32bit environment.
Also there is a patch for 32bit OS that makes it recognize the full 4BG if some people are THAT worried that their ram won't be used to the fullest.
One other thing, I was thinking of having my XP SP3 on the laptop along with XP 64bit or Vista 64bit (I'm only considering Vista because it's 64bit version is more supported by M$ than XP64 bit, plus drivers are more common ... however, even XP 64bit can be set up to function fine ... the drivers could present an issue, but not a large one).
Plus the 64bit environment is a tad more suitable for Max and Photoshop ... but for everything else I'm planning on doing (and having old software that I got to work under 32 bit XP SP3), not so much.
Tried them .... and they don't have what I need (plus they lack diversity when it comes to specific models). Plus as I said, if DELL doesn't offer better specs on their websites where you can customize the laptops, it is not likely the resellers will have something better, unless DELL releases it there before they update their webpages.
Acer are OK, have decent customer service (in the UK at least) and keen pricing as you yourself have noted. However in terms of build quality they lag severely behind Dell and HP in my opinion, and I've bought a lot of laptops.
It is like buying a Volkswagen instead of a Ford.
I am a bit concerned about the building quality true, but alas, unless I will be throwing stones at the laptop, hitting it and making it fall of the desk intentionally, I don't think I have much to worry about.
Besides, plenty of people had issues with DELL and HP in terms of their building quality so it's really depending on circumstances and how you treat your laptop.
You might be right about that particular model being right for you - but try to see more reasons for the keen pricing than you think the other laptop makes rip you off. In computing as in most other fields, you get what you pay for.
I understand that ... however, the keen pricing is often (but not always) a result of overpricing the outdated specs so people would be conned into thinking they are getting their 'bang for the buck' only to end up with something entirely else (and given the fact A LOT of people are poorly informed about what is inside specific laptops and what they can do, they end up making huge mistakes in their purchase quite often and having additional problems).
It does - though according to a recent supertest in PC Pro magazine it is only with 3D you see the extra benefit. This is however also determined my memory latency and the quality of the DIMMS in your laptop - not necessarily the best.
A lot of the benefit is also realized by overclocking - which due to cooling issues is difficult in a laptop.
3ds Max (when working with large scenes in viewports) and games can be 3d intense to a large degree which is why I want a gpu that would allow me to do both for a reasonable performance.
Since there are laptop solutions with 9600m GT DDR3 and the other specs I mentioned out there for an affordable price, I don't see the reason why I should spend the same if not vastly larger amount of money for the DDR2 version and other techs that don't suit me (taking into consideration everything else I mentioned).
I won't be doing much overclocking on the laptop as it's unnecessary.
However even if I were to do such a feat, I can always open up the laptop and introduce the cooling paste on the CPU, along with adding a cooler beneath the laptop (which is not exactly a stellar solution, but it does help ... provided I get quality active cooler).
And the gpu overclocking ... while interesting, I don't think overly needed (at at this point).
