re: What's the consensus on Acer computers?

I've had a mid-tier ($600) Acer for about 4 and a half years, and it's still my daily knockaround laptop. Literally knockaround, because I'm not careful with it. The components are of course as good as any other laptop with the same general specs. The shell is all plastic, a few screws and snap-together frames. There's one benefit to this -- replacement components are cheap. I've replaced the monitor and a hinge so far, just from physical abuse.

That's kind of been my electronics-buying MO over the past few years: buy whatever has a billion replacement parts available on eBay.