hello, i havent tried dealing with Acer.
but In the office we have IBM Lenovo Thinkpads.

Our thinkpad machines are still working fine - all are at least 2 years old
I cant say for sure about the Acer machines, but maybe you can demand to speak with Acer reps and ask for a replacement or upgrade (you might have to pay extra) to get a better/newer machine.

The thing is, its not supposed to give headaches when its fairly new at 6 months old. Unless of course you somewhat abuse it - always turned on, gaming, etc etc. But then still it should endure the first 6 months to a year.

With regards to the repetitive hard drive errors, that is a good point to raise with Acer -- it should be a valid basis for demanding an entirely new replacement unit or an upgrade.

Goodluck on this
And yes, personally i considered buying an Acer laptop -- but then maybe ill compare it more in terms of price and m personally proven durability of IBM/Lenovo machines.

if price is not a consideration, id definitely choose the same spec Lenovo machine
if budget is limited, i would choose Acer because of the good price and specs.

but i would always shell out more for the extended warranty service - to make it 3 years parts and service warranty