Computers & Electronics

Acer M5 240 dollars off at Future Shop

  • Last Updated:
  • Mar 30th, 2013 12:43 am
Newbie
Mar 28, 2013
33 posts
7 upvotes
Mississauga

Acer M5 240 dollars off at Future Shop

Hey guys, it's my first time posting on this forum. I was wondering how worth it this "Ultrabook" is.

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/ ... ageIndex=1

I don't think it's worth at all the original 800 dollars that it was listed for but now that it's down to $550 how do you guys feel about it? It's got a new i5 processor but it's Acer... Last time I heard Acer wasn't the best brand unless they've cleaned up.

Please let me know what you guys think though!
Thanks!
9 replies
Deal Addict
Oct 31, 2012
4547 posts
1045 upvotes
London
Now it's about regular price.
Newbie
Mar 28, 2013
33 posts
7 upvotes
Mississauga
Okay thanks. And just wondering, how do you guys feel about the quality of HP versus Samsung? I currently have the HP M6 with A10 and 8 GB from Best Buy. The Spring Sale at Best Buy just released a Samsung with identical specs except for 750GB HDD instead of the 1TB I have from HP. I'm planning on returning this HP anyway but am seriously loving the 5-8 hours I get out of it depending on what I do. Would you guys think that getting this Samsung one would be just as good and last me a couple years? (I only use these for school, Facebook, watching movies, etc. and occasionally want to be able to throw down a little Counter-Strike 1.6...)
Deal Addict
Oct 31, 2012
4547 posts
1045 upvotes
London
Chingwan wrote: Okay thanks. And just wondering, how do you guys feel about the quality of HP versus Samsung? I currently have the HP M6 with A10 and 8 GB from Best Buy. The Spring Sale at Best Buy just released a Samsung with identical specs except for 750GB HDD instead of the 1TB I have from HP. I'm planning on returning this HP anyway but am seriously loving the 5-8 hours I get out of it depending on what I do. Would you guys think that getting this Samsung one would be just as good and last me a couple years? (I only use these for school, Facebook, watching movies, etc. and occasionally want to be able to throw down a little Counter-Strike 1.6...)
Samsung over HP any day. I would never get an HP if anything else was available.
Newbie
Mar 28, 2013
33 posts
7 upvotes
Mississauga
Scycotic wrote: Samsung over HP any day. I would never get an HP if anything else was available.
Thanks. Just for me I have these mental rankings when comparing laptops.

Lenovo>Asus>(HP, Dell, Toshiba, Samsung + everything)> Acer

You seem to not like HP too much, is that just one experience or is it just everyone gets screwed by them?
Deal Addict
Oct 31, 2012
4547 posts
1045 upvotes
London
Chingwan wrote: Thanks. Just for me I have these mental rankings when comparing laptops.

Lenovo>Asus>(HP, Dell, Toshiba, Samsung + everything)> Acer

You seem to not like HP too much, is that just one experience or is it just everyone gets screwed by them?
You'll find lots of people on these forums have had bad experiences with them, with the occasional person who's been lucky enough to have had no issues. For myself, I often repair laptops for people, and I've seen too many issues with HP laptops to recommend them.

My mental rankings would be closer to this: Lenovo Thinkpads = Dell Latitudes > HP EliteBooks > Lenovo Consumer = Asus > Sony = Samsung = Dell = Few others > Acer > HP
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 10, 2004
2256 posts
6076 upvotes
Vancouver
I just bought this Acer Aspire M5 for my parents at Future Shop.
For $550, it's a pretty nice computer.

Other "ultrabooks" are more expensive $700+ and other laptops in this price range are similarly (or better) spec'ed but MUCH cheaper in build quality.

The reason it's so cheap is because it's last year's model.
In fact, it comes with Windows 7 instead of Windows 8... which I actually consider a POSITIVE since (1) it doesn't have a touch screen anyway and (2) my parents don't know how to use Windows 8 and I don't want to teach them (I don't even know how to use it!).

Anyway, it's only been a few hours but I'm happy with the purchase. I'm willing to sacrifice some specs (e.g. this has of 6GB RAM instead of 8GB, and 500GB HDD instead of 750GB HDD, etc.) for MUCH better build quality (this has aluminum instead of full plastic) and nicer/slimmer design. The backlit keyboard looks and feels nice.

I will say, though, that the screen is disappointing. It's dim, low contrast, and washed out.
I'm not sure if any laptops in this price range are that much better though.


Also. At this price range, I'm not sure if brand really matters.
Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, HP... meh. They're all gonna be a little flaky.
Newbie
Mar 28, 2013
33 posts
7 upvotes
Mississauga
Thanks for the insight on that laptop. I'm gonna return this HP A10 since they're selling the Samsung with almost identical specs for $70 less and I'm going to give that Acer ultrabook a shot.

I have a $600 budget and I realized that I couldn't get a good ultrabook on that budget. I'm basically looking for a laptop that can get 4 hours of batteries through class (with wi-fi and stuff running) for the next 2 years. My dad also wants me to get either an i5 or A10 along with 6gb+ ram so I've been looking pretty hard. This laptop was advertised to have 9 hour battery life with everything meeting the requirements so I picked it up. The battery has been amazing but my last laptop was an hp and I had to replace the battery twice in the 3 years so I'm willing to try something new. I'll give that Acer Aspire M5 a run for sure and if you guys have any other recommendations let me know!

Thanks in advance.
Newbie
Mar 28, 2013
33 posts
7 upvotes
Mississauga
Scycotic wrote: This Fujitsu might suit your purposes too: http://ncix.com/products/?sku=72798&vpn ... omoid=1334
Or I also highly recommend the T430u, when on sale it's sometimes below $600 using the Lenovo EPP site: http://shoplenovo.i2.com/SEUILibrary/co ... ode=FNDEPP
Ohh I was strongly considering the Fujitsu but I couldn't find any reviews on how they are so I was hesitant.

As for the T430u's they look great! I'm on that website now and just strolling through, thanks for this! The other series also seem to have decent specs but I like the sound of the ThinkPad series, they seem great.

Top

Thread Information

There is currently 1 user viewing this thread. (0 members and 1 guest)