[ILUG-SOCIAL] Laptops...

[Wesley Darlington]

Hi Folks,

I'm thinking of buying an Acer 1312XC laptop...
    http://tinyurl.com/ipnc 
...and was wondering if any of you had any horror stories about
Acer laptops, or any suggestions about alternatives.

In its favour: adequate ram, adequate hdd, adequate cpu, adequate
resolution, 10/00, modem, firewire, usb2, cdrw/dvd, s-vid, trackpad,
tolerable warranty.

In its, um, disfavour: Warranty is only 2 years and it's c&r, no WiFi, 
no bluetooth, big (14"), heavy (3kg). Also, it's neither an ibook [0]
nor a dell [1].

Oh, it has one big pro: it's surprisingly cheap.

What do you think? Am I mad to buy an Acer? Am I mad to buy /this/
Acer? Any horror stories? Has anybody any experiences with Linux
on these beasties? (I assume it'll work, but if anybody knows
differently... :-)

Ta,
Wesley.


[0] Technically, this probably counts in its favour considering the 
    technical crapliness (!) and cost of an ibook. (My totally
    irrational (and very persuasive!) side really likes them though.)

[1] I'd prefer a dell, with their [notionally, anyway] much better
    on site warranty, but a comparable dell would be a good bit
    dearer.