The Acer Aspire 3620 was one of few (in my experience), really easy installs. Almost all hardware was recognized and usable with Linux. There were the common problems, I could not get my wireless network card (Intel Pro/wireless 2200bg) recongized, but I found a driver in development for it
here.
At this point almost all hardware is working, I haven't used some of the hardware yet, but all of the most widely often used hardware is working.
The last problem I need to resolve is not being able to monitor the battery running Linux. I've done a little research and it seems the BIOS of these laptops uses something called DSDT.
There a page that explains what it is and why it could be a problem
here.
After messing with some of the methods for this fix, I've gotten nowhere and information on this is not widely available (for me, at least), though at least it's known.
So, I keep my laptop plugged in and enjoy, I'll someday fix it, as for the laptop, for the price and Linux compatibility I could not ask for more. : )