Looked at this unit in my local office supply store until it finally went on sale for $499 a couple weeks ago. Vista didn't thrill me but my old IBM's hard drive bit the dust and it was either buy a new $200 hard drive for an old computer or cough up another $300 and just get a new computer.
Got home with my prize and saw my first warning that things weren't going to go well. Acer put a note on top stating Vista would take at least 30 minutes to boot and set up.
Guess what, it tooks less than 10! Unlike XP, Vista even figured out what time zone I was in and properly set the time and date without asking. As usual, Microsoft had about 2 GB worth of updates waiting for me, but I got used to that with XP.
I used the computer for about 2 hours installing all my old programs and even my old printer. Vista didn't even blink and even took the time to located my Samsung printer driver from the internet (allegedly a printer that could never be used with Vista).
On the pro side:
* It never gets hot. Not even warm.
* The screen is crisp and displays graphics with vivid colors.
* It's built like tank. Not a creak or groan anywhere.
* Colored plastic casing is a nice break from the gray or black bricks I've been used to.
* Wireless sucks in signals I didn't know existed.
* The webcam not only works, it works better than my current 7 MP digital camera. Crisp, clear pictures. Guess I had better start combing my hair when I sit in from for video chats.
* Solid keyboard. Comparable to most IBM Thinkpads although the board itself isn't spillproof.
* Limited bloatware. Cripes, my new Fujitsu came with so much junk ("Free Software!" offers) that I had to spend an hour to get rid of it. This one was nice enough to warn me that Norton Anti Virus was about to be installed unless I chose otherwise. I chose otherwise and deleted it.
* CD/DVD burner works as it should with little fanfare or excess noise (in fact, it'll spin sometimes and you'll have to listen for it or you may think it's not working)
* Vista is not as bad as people say. The bad Vista version is the Basic setup or the upgrades. Many complaints are from people who attempted to use a new O/S on a computer that originally came with Windows ME. Avoid Basic, even on a new computer. It's worthless.
* Customer service seems good so far. I sent an email about the power brick and actually got an uncanned response while still on the internet (about a half hour later).
Cons include:
* Irritating wireless light on the keyboard flashes to advise you you're connected. No way of turning it off.
* Keyboard is solid but unforgiving. Miskeying can result in deleted work (FN key too close to CTRL key)
* Computer stays cool but the power brick can cook pizza at close range. I contacted Acer and they are looking into the problem that has been reported. Not a danger, but it does get too warm for my liking.
* Battery power really sucks at roughly 2 hours of wireless internet surfing. Better than my new Fujitsu, though (it gets less than 1.5 hours).
* Quirky, unmarked touchpad. You can accidentally start scrolling and highlighting text to delete if you don't watch out. While typing it will very rarely catch a glimpse of my wrist movement and move the cursor.
* Portable? Maybe, with the battery removed. It tips the scales at about 6 pounds with the battery installed.
* Really nice gloss black cover is a covert fingerprint magnet. Makes a nice mirror in a pinch, though.
* No card slots. That's reserved for the more expensive units. No great loss, but it's nice to have sometimes.
Overall, a very good unit for the price. Much cheaper than the competition and most reviews are positive so far.
By the way, make sure you get the version with the 2 GB of RAM and at least the Pentium Dual Core or Turion processor. The Celeron processor is a waste of time and quite often is packed with no more than 512 MB RAM.
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