I'm considering buying an Acer desktop; don't need anything fancy or fast. Their Core Duo one should suit me nicely. (The Core 2 Duo model looks like it's good value, but it's Viiv technology, which I read might have additional DRM controls or some other restrictions - why take the chance?)

 

I might be able to build something cheaper, but really don't think I'd be able to find the time.

 

Anyone had experience with Acer desktops?

Why don't you try PC Themes DIY , the spec as follows for S$688 : -

 

Intel Core 2 DUO (6550) - 2.33 ghz

Asus-P5LD2-X (1333Mhz) 775 Mainboard

1 gb PC5300/667 Kingston/Corsair DDR2              - Can always add 1 gb of ram

512mb Nvidia 7300 PCI-E 16x Graphic                  - think this is using DDR2 instead of DDR3

160 gb Samsung/Hitachi Sata2 7200rpm HDD

Samsung/LG/Benq 20x DVDRW + 450W ATX case

LAN/SATA2/Sound/Free:KB/Optical mouse/Spk    - KB , mouse and Spk think better buy replacement.

 

Price exclude LCD display and operating system but they will fully assembled for you with no extra cost.

 

Same spec. except change of CPU as follows : -

 

DC 1.6 ghz (2140) - S$528

DC 2.0 ghz (2180) - S$568

Core 2 DUO 2.0 ghz - S$628

Core 2 DUO 2.2 ghz - S$648

Core 2 DUO 2.66 ghz (6750) - S$728

Core 2 DUO 3.0 ghz (6850) - S$868

Specs are good, but I'm a bit worried about warranty and quality of PSU. I don't really need a Core2. There's a Core Duo Acer being sold at Challenger at S$699; no monitor, only on-board graphics, with OS and a 5 year warranty (not sure how comprehensive it is).

 

But thanks for the suggestion; perhaps I should look around SLS a bit.

have 2 acer pc in office, quite okay .. no breakdowns, just laggy (proly due to spyware) ... if want hassle-free pc, probably quite a good choice

Why don't you try PC Themes DIY , the spec as follows for S$688 : -

 

Intel Core 2 DUO (6550) - 2.33 ghz

Asus-P5LD2-X (1333Mhz) 775 Mainboard

1 gb PC5300/667 Kingston/Corsair DDR2              - Can always add 1 gb of ram

512mb Nvidia 7300 PCI-E 16x Graphic                   - think this is using DDR2 instead of DDR3

160 gb Samsung/Hitachi Sata2 7200rpm HDD

Samsung/LG/Benq 20x DVDRW + 450W ATX case

LAN/SATA2/Sound/Free:KB/Optical mouse/Spk     - KB , mouse and Spk think better buy replacement.

 

Price exclude LCD display and operating system but they will fully assembled for you with no extra cost.

 

Same spec. except change of CPU as follows : -

 

DC 1.6 ghz (2140) - S$528

DC 2.0 ghz (2180) - S$568

Core 2 DUO 2.0 ghz - S$628

Core 2 DUO 2.2 ghz - S$648

Core 2 DUO 2.66 ghz (6750) - S$728

Core 2 DUO 3.0 ghz (6850) - S$868

 

Hi Norman_Chan ...

 

Where do U find this place / shop??????

 

thanks

PC Themes is at #04-19 Sim Lim Square.

Try download their package price list from below link : -

 

http://sg.hardwarezone.com/priceguide/download.php

Well, I went and bought an Acer taking advantage of their recent trade-in offer. The PC is VERY quiet (admittedly only onboard graphics), but Vista is a PITA, and the Acer entertainment software hangs the system whenever I try to play a virtually-mounted ISO. And I can't work out how to get Windows Media Player to play sound on DVDs.

 

The documentation is virtually non-existent, and what there is is totally generic. On the other hand, when you do get documentation, it's also pretty useless (40 page manuals in 8 languages showing safety certification, for example), so this isn't really a valid complaint. Unfortunately there's no system restore disk, although if you dig around a bit on the PC, there's a way to burn your own.

 

All in all, despite the grumbles I'm fairly happy (but maybe that's because the CPU is about 3 generations newer than the last PC I bought).