I have had an aspire 5741 for six years now. It finally died on me the other day (ac port fried I think).
It's amazing to see the gap between those who love and hate Acers. Personally I loved owning an acer. It ran smoothly, trackpad/keyboard never broke down. After a few years it began overheating and I thought it was the end; after cleaning the fans temperatures dropped to normal. The only swap I had to make was an SSD, best decision I ever made. It's been running pretty slow the past year but after changing to an SSD it was lightning quick.
Granted I only used this laptop for schoolwork/internet (same thing) and overall it's been very reliable.