Which is a better buy? acer 4736z or acer 4736

[bornagain]

I am planning to get a new laptop. Till now I was using Lenovo R60. But I am pretty confused about the model I should get.
Acer 4736 has two versions. One without 'z' and the other with 'z'.

Acer Aspire 4736

Processor & Chipset

Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T6400 (2 MB L2 cache, 2 GHz, 800 MHz, 35 W), supporting Intel® 64 architecture
Mobile Intel® GM45 Express Chipset

Memory

3 GB DDR3 1067 MHz; Upgradeable to 4 GB

HDD

320 GB HDD S-ATA Hard Disk Drive


Acer Aspire 4736z

Processor & Chipset

Intel® Pentium® mobile processor T4200 (1 MB L2 cache, 2 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 35 W), or T3400 (1 MB L2 Cache, 2.16 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 35 W), supporting Intel® 64 architecture
Mobile Intel® GL40 Express Chipset

Memory

2GB Dual-channel DDR3 SDRAM support
Up to 4 GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory using two soDIMM modules

HDD

320GB SATA Hard Disk Drive

Apart from the difference in processor, the only other difference I noticed was the price. 'z' model is cheaper.

I would like to know which one is a better buy. 'z' model is cheaper by more than 10%.

As far as I know core2 duo is faster, runs on lower voltage and heats up less. (correct me if I am wrong)

But still are the advantages of 'core2 duo' over 'dual core' are significant enough ?

As of the usage. I am student of Engineering (Electronics and Communication). Will be graduating next year, i.e. 2010. I am not much into gaming but I do play games occasionally.

 

[helios2052]

Well even at a 10% price increase, without a doubt go for the core 2 duo. Yes there is a SIGNIFICANT difference between those two CPU's. You will be happy you have the extra horse power.

Also, have you researched the reliability of this laptop. From my experience in a tech shop, Acer has turned out to be a pretty cheap brand (in price and quality). I'm not saying this particular laptop is bad, but at least keep that in mind when researching.

 

[bornagain]

Well even at a 10% price increase, without a doubt go for the core 2 duo. Yes there is a SIGNIFICANT difference between those two CPU's. You will be happy you have the extra horse power.

Also, have you researched the reliability of this laptop. From my experience in a tech shop, Acer has turned out to be a pretty cheap brand (in price and quality). I'm not saying this particular laptop is bad, but at least keep that in mind when researching.

Thanks helios for the reply.

Yeah. I have kind of searched about the reliability of 'Acer' as a brand. My friend is using one. He doesn't seem to have any problem. Beside cost is a factor to me right now. though I can spend a few extra bucks if needed.

Beside what about the RAM? how does DDR3 compares with DDR2?

 

[bornagain]

And since I haven't yet bought any of the above laptops, I am open to any other suggestion. If you guys can suggest any other laptop with similar features and comparable price.

For reference, Acer 4736 and 4736z costs around Rs 33000 and Rs 30000 respectively here in INDIA .
which comes to around 632.25$ (U.S. Dollars) for 4736 and 695.47500$ (U.S. Dollars) for 4737z.

 

[helios2052]

I don't think you will notice much of an improvement on ddr3 vs ddr2, but of course the ddr3 is technically superior, so go with that. (also more expensive to upgrade). As long as the reviews are good on these laptops, I would definitely buy the first one.

 

[Upendra09]

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/cto.do

This is better, but's an HP for less than what u have but slightly better, and alot more reliable. And it's 64 bit so u can upgrade the RAM to around 8 gigs. And ii's DDR2 which won't make much of a difference for u since u don't game a lot.

 

[Upendra09]

sorry the laptop link i just posted won't work so just go to the DV6 series at hp.com and customize what u want.

This is what i did:

AMD Athlonx2 2.1 ghz
3 gig RAM
250 gig HDD
ATI Radeon HD3200 graphics
normal cd/DVD drive
n-card wireless

 

[AKM880]

My friend brought a Acer laptop for me to fix, half the keyboard was toast and the screen kept going blank. He now has a Dell but I dunno if its better of not.......

 

[helios2052]

I would stat away from the HP DV series laptops also. They have had a remarkably high motherboard fail rate. We get at least 3-4 in the shop per day with dead motherboards (unless this issue has been fixed in the current model, but not to my knowledge).

 

[bornagain]

I would stat away from the HP DV series laptops also. They have had a remarkably high motherboard fail rate. We get at least 3-4 in the shop per day with dead motherboards (unless this issue has been fixed in the current model, but not to my knowledge).

I guess I will go for the core2 duo model of acer then.

Beside how about an AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor ?

how does it compare with its intel's counterpart or even core2 duo?

 

[helios2052]

Well the Turion processors are the mobile versions of the Athlon X2. The dual core Turion X2 chips will be comparable to the Pentium dual-cores. They are usually within 5% of each other, depending on model.

The Core 2 Duo is going to wipe the floor with both the X2 and the Pentium Dual Core. I would go ahead and get the Core 2 Duo Acer like you said. It is a very good price. Good Luck!

 

[jerreece]

Core 2 Duo beats out those AMD Turion X2's entirely. The most common Turion X2 in the price range of most of the Core2Duo T6400's is the Turion X2-72 I think. And it's way behind the C2D.

The T6400 is a pretty decent CPU

Only thing those laptops you're looking at won't do, is gaming. I recently purchased an Acer Aspire 6935 (?) laptop that I really did like, however with the Intel integrated graphics, it hardly played C&C3:Tiberium Wars.

I ultimately returned that laptop to Costco because I realized I wouldn't actually use it, since 90% of my computer usage is for gaming.

 

[jkandell]

I actually am facing a similar choice! Two Dell Inspiron 15 build options: comes with T4200 Dual Core, but can upgrade for $35 more has T6400 Dual2Core. From what you've said it seems obvious to choose the latter. (Though I am confused: Why does the latter "beat the pants" off the former, when they're both 2.0 hz, 800 mhz?)

How about the 3 or 4 mb of RAM? I always used to assume you should max out the RAM, but is that still true in today's lap tops with vista/xp? The computer will mostly be used for email/word processing and some surfing.

 

[ronycmc]

Hi,I m using Acer Aspire 4736z for last 10days and i pretty happy with my new laptop.It comes with T4200 processor(45nm,800 bus,2 Ghz),GL40,160GB,2GB DDR3.Performence very very good.It heat very little,always below 50 centregrate.I use everest ultimate edition for bench marking and result very impressive.Sound quality very good but not loud enough.my previous acer and toshiba laptop heats very much,may be due to celeron processor.But this is very cool
Lastly i wanna tell about T4200.it has 410 million trangistor besides T3400 & T6400 both 291 million.see yourself http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=37251
So my opinion acer 4736z best laptop for this price range
sorrry for my bad english

 

[ash7]

just get the aspire 4736, it cames with bigger hard disk capacity n better processor. besides that one also has bluetooth integrated.. pay little more 4 ur satisfaction

 

[ip_address]

im actually using the acer 4736z for almost a week now and so far im enjoying it, i installed windows 7 rc version and it's meeting my expectations,
so far it doesnt heat up a lot despite me working for 5 hours straight, hehehe

 

[kiddish1234]

Hi helios, I was looking at Acer 4736z and comparing it to toshiba L500 and It was same price 599$ cnd here in canada. The only difference was the 70GIG more with acer and toshiba has a numerical keypad. I like acers model but toshiba sounded like a trustworthy choice. What do you think . Is their a way you can email me at kiddish1234@yahoo.ca for your experience. I am also a hardware tech (or used to be) I currently work for CSC (computer science corp) csc.com and Im an anlayst

 

[Wic]

I would stat away from the HP DV series laptops also. They have had a remarkably high motherboard fail rate. We get at least 3-4 in the shop per day with dead motherboards (unless this issue has been fixed in the current model, but not to my knowledge).

Hi,

I am thinking of buying a Compaq CQ60-420US which is a Dual Core T4200, Do you know if this one also has the same issues with the motherboard? I've seen a few issues from users having problems with theAtheros Wireless card dropping the connection.

My other choice would be to go with a Toshiba L305-S5946 which is $ 150.00 more, has a Core 2 Duo T6400 and Centrino Chipset platform with Intel Wifi a/g/n. Both systems have 3GB of RAM and 250GB HDD.

Thanks,

 

[JUSTSERG]

im planning to buy an Aspire 4736 C2D “P7350″ 2gb DDR2 320GB HDD… at ACER-CYBERZONE MEGAMALL but i was so confused about the other stores selling the same Acer laptop 4736 P7350 but has different memory. ACER store has 2gb DDR2 but those other stores im mentioning were selling 2gb DDR3… im confused when i ask the ACER why they dont have DDR3 in 4736 P7350 model… but Acer just told me that they doubt it if those shops im telling to them has DDR3. They were challenging me to go to those stores claiming they have DDR3 to really open the laptop so i can really see if they’re telling the truth..
i asked 4 stores in cyberzone and their 4736 P7350 C2D has DDR3
but the ACER itself dont carry the DDR3 in the said laptop
very confusing right?

*ACER also mentioned that there is a global shortage of DDR3

*One Technician from other shop told me that DDR3 is not yet compatible for ACER 4736 P7350 because it heats easily. Thats why ACER itself dont carry it anymore OR changed the DDR3 to DDR2.

So with your experience in the laptop world
what can you say about this?
is it really true that there is a shortage
or theres a problem in DDR3 for the said laptop?

hope you could help me decide..
thanks and God bless you

 

[roberick]

I'm also buying the AcerAspire 4736z-732G32Mn

According to acer and the store, this model contains 2GB DDR2-667 RAM.

http://www.villman.com.ph/Product-Detail/AcerAspire_4736z-732G32Mn

 

[manji]

Hi;
Well I'm also using the acer 4736z for about 4 months now & its beyond my expectations.....really cool

 

[soneebee]

I got one of this Acer laptop and am very happy with its performance. I got my unit from Mall of Asia and luckily it was a sale day all over the mall. The shop gave me another extra 2Gb memory for free.. Yes its running DDR2. I got it last week and tested it for a couple of days.. When I checked my LCD for any defects i found a dead pixel. So went back to the store and they replaced it with another one. Well I have the new one for 2 days already and the performance seems to be similar to the first one...

Am running it with Windows 7 .. it seems to be doing great with this OS. although the video chips are not for gamers. at 4Gb ram.. the video shared 1.3gb of memory which kinda made it kinda good enough for my simulator gaming.....

 

[asc1975]

I just bought an ACER 4736-732G32Mn today at Festival Mall in Alabang. The price I got it for was P34,500 PHP / $1037 USD. Was the price fair? They gave me a free 4 Gb Memory upgrade, Creative Speakers worth P1800 PHP and an ACER laptop bag. Together w/ that they're giving me a CD,w/c apparently will allow me to have an OS and Mocrosoft Office that is registered but it's just am not the registered owner. Does that sound pirated to you? I just want to know if what I got was a good deal. I got this at a deal of zero percent interest, 12 monthly installments. Specs of my laptop:
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo processor P7350
LCD - 14.0" HD Acer CineCrystal(TM) LED CD
RAM - 2 GB Memory
HDD - 320 GB Memory
Optical - DVD-Super Multi DL Drive
Modem - 56K Modem
LAN - Giga Lan (What does this mean?)
Wireless - 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N WLAN (What is this for?)
SoftLoad - Linpus Linux (What is this for as well?)
WWAN - NO (What does this mean?)
Bluetooth - YES
Has 4 USB Ports
Has HDMI Port
Dolby Digital Home Theater Sticker

One thing, never did it mention whether mine is a DDR2 or DDR3. What do u guys think mine has? Pls, I know a techie is reading this. Pls tell me honestly what I can expect w/ this PC. Will this be good for gaming as well? Guy at the store told me after the 4 Gb upgrade, it will now be good for gaming.

 

[directsaurabh]

I am also thinking of buying acer 4736. It is really working fine for many. My only concern is its keyboard. There is huge space between keys and with bottom so if mistakenly something like sugar, little pieces of snacks goes in there how could I remove them?
Sony has nice keyboard where there is no space between keys and bottom so it work well all the time. Also, dust is another factor to consider when there is lot of free space in keyboard. What do you think? Thanks and God bless

www.directsaurabh.co.cc

 

[asc1975]

i'm very satisfied w/ the acer 4736 that i bought. it's living up to all of my expectations. downloads now are a breeze. If you're worried abt dirt getting in betwwen the keyboards, there's always a keyboard brush that you can buy. also, a must buy will be a cooling pad and a mouse. A mouse just saves you time browsing thru websites. Acer is known to heat up so a cooling pad really is a must. My ACER is plugged 8 hours or more a day. I took out the battery so it's always been operating just plugged to the electrical socket. Make sure when you use your battery, to always drain it through before charging it back again.