It's been a while tbf the last system I had back in 2005. Failed optical drive, lagging HDD, wireless not being as efficient as it first was, the laptop actually getting CRACKS in it! (all I used it for back then was surfing and checking mail perhaps some document work like letter writing etc.). Each and every time I tried dealing with Acer I was on the line for hours, chasing up emails, getting cut off the line on a couple occasions, eventually having an engineer come out and take the laptop back and Acer admitting there was a problem but it was too late as my warranty period was now over and nothing could be done...
I sometimes just point it down to plain old bad luck but would if I could stay away now. I have a lot of people suggesting now that Acer are not what they were like so many years ago. I have been tempted if I'm honest to check out what they're offering and I admit they do have some good deals on, butttt...
My friend who is also an IT technician said that he's heard good things about PC Specialist but is it worth going for a unknown company. He gave me an example as I deal with cars and gym equipment that I always advise my consumers to go for well known manufacturers so when it comes to things like warranties, insurances or anything like that it is more easier and efficient to deal with (not guaranteed though!).
So, your take on Sony??
I have to say that I am very suprised about this, my mum had an acer laptop for about 7 years and had no faults with it at all, she only changed because she got robbed and they stole the laptop, I have an acer laptop as does my brother, I have never had any problems with mine but my brother did have one slight problem but acer fixed it quickly for him without any hassle.
The problems with your hard drive, optical and wireless aren't all acers fault as they are all third part parts that are usually used on a lot of laptops.
With sony laptops it just always seems to be serious faults with them and parts are very, very expensive, if you can even get hold of them, most of the repairs we do are usually caused by user abuse, dc jacks, liquid, being dropped etc, but sony laptops seem to just fail for no reason at all which is why I don't like them, pretty much all of the sony laptops I see are owned by people who have a bit more money and look after their laptops better but seems to be a waste of time with sony laptops in my experience as they will just fail anyway.
You would be surprised that most laptops use the same screens, I am sure most people would be surprised that the mac book air uses the same screen as a £300 e-system laptop, technicaly its not the same as a couple of fixings are in different locations but the actual panel itself is of the same specification.
I have always found Dell laptops to be great, I have fixed a lot of them being a dell engineer although we stopped this a couple of years back as dell wouldn't pay us enough but I always found that dells support was second to none, their laptop build quality was excellent and they are probably the easiest laptop to work on, parts are also very easy to get if anything goes wrong.
You are never going to get a laptop that is 100%, they all have their own faults, some minor, some major so I find Acer is perfect, they are usually the cheapest with the highest spec, their extended warranty is very cheap and replacement parts are also very cheap and easy to get hold of.
It is also surprising how many people don't realise that they are not supposed to use the laptop sat on their knee, this is very BAD for your laptop and will cause it to fail.
