Expert: Karl Zick - 2/24/2011

Question
Hello. I am about to purchase a new laptop. I thought I had come to the decision to buy the Sony Vaio VPCEB46FDBJ system from Best Buy at $849.99. That was until today when I got a flyer from staples advertising the Acer AS7745G-3053 on sale for $799.99. Now I know the major differences between the two (i.e. bigger screen on the Acer, more memory, different graphics cards, etc.) however there is one thing that I know little about and that is the processors. The Acer has an Intel i5 430M and the Sony has an Intel i5 480M. I can't see there being a huge difference between the two, but I really don't know. Would you be able to give me a little advice as to which one you would recommend. I'm not sure of Sony's or Acer's track record, so I'm mostly concerned with performance and reliability. I won't be really using the computer for gaming, more for multimedia like downloading music and movies and watching them, minor photo editing and internet stuff.

Thank you

Geoff

Answer
Hi Geoff,

You are right - the processors are practically identical.  As far as brand, Sony is top of the line and ACER is somewhere in the middle.  Also, speaking from personal experience, ACER probably has the worst customer support of any manufacturer in the business.  Just Google Acre support and see what you come up with.

Next to Sony, I highly recommend Lenovo (IBM).  Check them out while you are shopping.  Also, Toshiba has a good track record.  Definitely stay away from HP and Compaq though.

Hope this helps.