Rant about my PC

[Angrboda]

I haven't kept up with Acer's reputation in general, though I suspect they are likely on a par with others in the field such as HP. I've heard good things about their netbooks, which persuaded me to purchase one that I found on clearance. I have had no problem with it, and the newly acquired Acer monitor.

Acer has a checkered past, but I don't know that their history is relevant. I've had occasion to buy systems like yours in the past, or fix them (friends & family), and my experience is that if you get a functional unit, they will likely deliver years of good service. I have encountered ones which were defective as delivered, one which was returned after exasperating experience with their tech support (that was Acer, but that was over 10 years ago), and the other CTX. The latter one once swapped out for a good unit, performed admirably for years. My sister currently has, I think, an HP which she has enjoyed for several years, and my first pentium unit, a Packard Bell, worked flawlessly for 8-9 years (likely largely due to an Intel made motherboard). The quality of components in these ready-made boxes is somewhat spotty, but by thorough testing of their integration as an OEM unit, most perform just fine.

I'm not gonna make apologies for the above comments. People who are very computer literate often forget what a challenge things can be for someone not as technically advanced, and, in my experience, have an undesirable tendency to engage in snobbery and elitism. I've been building my own machines for over 10 years, but if I were to go to buy something today, I'd have an immense research project on my hands. The technology changes so fast, and it is difficult for the inexperienced to navigate their way around a morass of what is often conflicting and uninformative technical advice (which likely includes this post, lacking clear suggestions). Anyway, you have my sympathies, though I suspect (hope) that once the unit is replaced, your frustrations will be reduced to much more manageable and solvable ones.

I haven't kept up with technology over the years, as aside from the netbook and learning about SSDs, my technology is back at the core2duo stage. However, if you feel that I can be of assistance in any way, feel free to contact me.