Acer launches server biz in the US

Does the server racket in the United States need another competitor? Acer and its channel partners think so. The Taiwanese PC maker, which ate rival PC makers Packard Bell and Gateway a little more than three years ago to take the number four position in the market, came out swinging last March in the European server racket …

[alwarming]

acer sucks.. but it's cheap.

And nowadays cheap + unreliable beats reliable due to s/w enhancements. Plus, x86 h/w gets outdated much faster than big iron.. so it just means that you'll have a replace more servers every year. If that inconvenience is fine with you, acer is your guy.

[andy gibson]

Support

For me it would be the after-care support that would be crucial. After having my fingers burnt more than once with crappy Acer support staff - "sorry Sir you've invalidated your warranty by taking off Vista and putting on XP".

Or the three MONTH warranty on their keyboards and mice (are they really that crap you can't guarantee them for a full 12 months?)

Or the laptop which was sent away for repair, fixed and then returned when we were closed. So returned back to Acer who couldn't find a fault and tried to charge us for it.

I'd rather buy second hand HP gear from Ebay thanks.

[alwarming]

Re: support

This article is on the acer's server arm not PC/laptop, but you still have a point.

[james4765]

Acer has done Unix servers for a long time

Recently retired an Acer Altos running SCO OpenServer 5. Pentium Pro processor in it, and the thing was shipped specifically for OpenServer. So, they've been doing servers in the US for a very long time.

This box actually came from the POS vendor - it had the vendor's nameplate beside the Acer plate. Still worked when we retired the machine (and the location).

Acer's lowball parts are crap, like any lowball parts. Their servers seem to be made of sterner stuff...