am I missing something here, or is this laptop a steal?

[Grey Fox]

It'll be a good work laptop. It's going to be hot, very hot tho.

[derspiess]

Those still with 32bit CPUs won't have enough memory to run that Win7 fluently, or even at all. As for legacy code users, those would be stupid to upgrade at all (which is part of why Vista business penetration is abysmal).

Have you tried it with a 32-bit processor?  'Cuz I have Windows 7 RC running quite well on an old 2.8ghz celeron processor with 1GB memory.  I haven't tried it on mine, but I hear that Win7 even runs great on netbooks.  It should run fine on this Acer laptop.

[derspiess]

I found this

http://pcdecrapifier.com/

for the pcilliterate this will get rid of most of the crap you get pre-installed on your computer.

I prefer the Cal approach: zap the hard drive & start from scratch.  Some friends of mine recoiled in horror when I suggested that, so I've pointed them towards the decrapifier, which seems to do a really good job.

[Caliga]

It'll be a good work laptop. It's going to be hot, very hot tho.

I tried to warn her about this, too, but she doesn't care... even though overheating issues effectively killed her last laptop.

[Josquius]

D

You mean Windows 7 will still have 32-bit versions? Seriously? 

Isn't 32 bit still the most common kind of computer out there?
I know mine is.

[Iormlund]

Those still with 32bit CPUs won't have enough memory to run that Win7 fluently, or even at all. As for legacy code users, those would be stupid to upgrade at all (which is part of why Vista business penetration is abysmal).

Have you tried it with a 32-bit processor?  'Cuz I have Windows 7 RC running quite well on an old 2.8ghz celeron processor with 1GB memory.  I haven't tried it on mine, but I hear that Win7 even runs great on netbooks.  It should run fine on this Acer laptop.

That's quite interesting, I gather they've listened to complaints about Vista performance then.

And no, I haven't actually used Win7. My field of work (supervision and control) places emphasis on robustness and stability. Upgrade cycles are long and legacy issues paramount. Which is why we're still installing XP on new workstations. My last project, for example, involved upgrading a Pentium III running NT in control of a waste water treatment plant. It was a pain to deal with both old software and hardware (had to switch from DDE to OPC->DDE vía obsolete I/O server among other things). Needless to say, Vista wasn't even considered for the job. Thank Hod.

[derspiess]

That's quite interesting, I gather they've listened to complaints about Vista performance then.

I can't say what they actually did, but it just seems to scale really well to low-spec systems. 

And no, I haven't actually used Win7. My field of work (supervision and control) places emphasis on robustness and stability. Upgrade cycles are long and legacy issues paramount. Which is why we're still installing XP on new workstations. My last project, for example, involved upgrading a Pentium III running NT in control of a waste water treatment plant. It was a pain to deal with both old software and hardware (had to switch from DDE to OPC->DDE vía obsolete I/O server among other things). Needless to say, Vista wasn't even considered for the job. Thank Hod.

Our stuff is banking software that runs on XP & will for a long, long time-- especially since Win7 will have an XP mode

[Caliga]

The apps we design at work don't seem to work on Vista (I have tested for that actually), and I'm talking about both a webapp built in J2EE and a terminal (IBM iSeries Access) that connects to an AS/400 greenscreen app.

[DontSayBanana]

All Acers run hot, and I would actually look into HOW hot it runs- certain Acer power bricks have been linked to fires.

[Lucidor]

The apps we design at work don't seem to work on Vista (I have tested for that actually), and I'm talking about both a webapp built in J2EE and a terminal (IBM iSeries Access) that connects to an AS/400 greenscreen app.

With Vista you will have a BSOD app!

[DisturbedPervert]

Looks good, I'd buy it.  But is up to 3 hour battery life enough?

[Caliga]

I just bought that laptop, plus two WD Caviar Green 1 Tb hard drives (one for me, one for her).  My porn collection shall grow: exponentially!

As for battery life, I mentioned that to her, but when she's on the road she's almost always at an office, where she'd be able to plug in.

[KRonn]

D

You mean Windows 7 will still have 32-bit versions? Seriously? 

Isn't 32 bit still the most common kind of computer out there?
I know mine is.

This is what I thought also. I thought 64bit runs into more compatibility problems and what ever else? But I'm not real up on where things stand. My computer is a Vista 32 bit.

[Caliga]

This is what I thought also. I thought 64bit runs into more compatibility problems and what ever else? But I'm not real up on where things stand. My computer is a Vista 32 bit.

Definitely true when 64 bit first debuted (especially on XP), but I have Vista 64 and have no compatibility issues whatsoever.

[KRonn]

This is what I thought also. I thought 64bit runs into more compatibility problems and what ever else? But I'm not real up on where things stand. My computer is a Vista 32 bit.

Definitely true when 64 bit first debuted (especially on XP), but I have Vista 64 and have no compatibility issues whatsoever.

It works well with games, older ones also? Some just don't run anymore anyway, but I wonder if the issues are about the same as with 32bit?