college student getting a laptop

hi!
i'm about to start my freshman year at indiana, and i'm almost definitely going into piano performance and theoretical math. i'm looking for a laptop to use, and i came across the Acer Aspire AS5003WLMi-XPH Notebook:
15.4" screen, 1GB DDR RAM installed (2 GB max), xp home (i think), AMD turion 64 mobile processor, DVD+-RW, 1.8GHz processor speed, 3.5 hours battery life (i'm thinking that's idle), 1280x800 screen, 1 year warranty, all for around $800.
i mentioned the name acer to my office mate and he said "no way-- just get a dell." but, this seems like a good buy. is this a good deal, or should i stay away from the company?
thanks!
-nate

 

Welcome to MajorGeeks!

Your question, however, belongs in the Hardware forum, this is just the place to introduce yourself.

 

ah, ok. thank you, i'll post it there!
-nate

 

Welcome to Major Geeks!

 

interestingly, i am sending my acer aspire off to the fix it shop when i go on holiday next week. it has terrible problems overheating.

one good thing about a dell is that you can order a full copy of windows when you buy it. that means if you have to reinstall the operating system at some point, you don't have to install all the junk they load onto it at the factory.

 

Welcome to Major Geeks.

Steve