Acer is the latest entrant to the ultraportable ‘Netbook’ segment dominated by heavy weights like Asus, HP and MSI currently. Asus revolutionized the notebook market in 2007 with its ultraportable offering - the Asus EEE PC 701. It was soon followed by many other manufacturers offering their own versions of ultraportables with more or less similar configurations. Asus, however did win the first round of the “War of the Ultra Portables” by a landslide. Now comes the second generation of Ultraportables, more commonly known as ‘Netbooks’ now.
The new generation of netbooks comes with a whole new load of features including more powerful processors, better displays, higher storage capacities and much powerful batteries. Almost all of the new entrants sport Intel Atom processors, SSD storage ranging from 8 GB to 32 GB and better batteries. They have almost similar configurations, with slight changes in the designs and other features. Their prices are also very much in the same range, starting at around $500 to $700. The competition has fiercely hottened up with the launch of the MSI Wind U100 and the Asus EEE PC 1000H in the previous month. Lenovo and Dell are expected to jump in soon with the Ideapad S10 and E Slim respectively.
Of all these next generation ultra portables, Acer’s Aspire One is one of the cheapest, with the Linux version at just $379. It is loaded with decent features and a good design. It is a bit underpowered compared to its competitors in terms RAM, SSD capacity, battery life but can be upgraded. Besides it is at such a good price point, that it seems possible to neglect its shortcomings. Let’s have a closer look at the Acer Aspire One.
Acer Aspire One Specifications :
- CPU: 1.6 GHZ Intel Atom N270
- RAM: 512MB (Upgradable to 1.5 GB)
- SSD: 8 GB
- Display: 8.9″ WSVGA LCD @ 1024 x 600
- Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
- Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
- Operating System: Linpus Linux Lite
- Ports: 3 USB 2.0, Ethernet, Headphone & Microphone jack, VGA
- Other: 5 in 1 card reader (SD, xD, MMC, MS, MS Pro), 0.3 MP VGA Webcam
- Size: 9.8 x 6.7 x 1.1 inches
- Weight: 2.2 pounds
- Price (Approx): $379
- Warranty: One year limited
Design
The Acer Aspire One is a beautifully built machine. It looks sleek and has a metallic feel to it. It is available in 4 colors- pearl white, black, pink and navy blue. On the face of it, it never feels or looks like a cheap notebook. Instead it looks quite regal and expensive. The Pearl White Aspire One sports a glossy finish on the lid and exteriors which further accentuates its great design.
The Aspire One is both slimmer and lighter than the other 8.9″ers - Asus EEE PC 901 and the HP Mininote 2133. It weighs just 2.2 pounds which makes it one of the lightest ultraportables, and a joy to carry around. It scores slightly above the EEE PC 901 and HP Mininote in terms of looks and portability. The Build quality is good too and feels robust.
The port configuration of the Aspire One is very similar to the EEE PC 901 or the MSI Wind. On the left, it has the VGA port, Ethernet, a USB port and a SD card reader. On the right is the 5 in 1 card reader, 2 USB ports and headphone and mic jacks. Above the keyboard are the various status indicators.
Display and Sound
The Acer Aspire One sports a 8.9″ LCD display supporting resolutions of 1024 x 600 px which is the standard for 8.9″ and 10″ netbooks these days. It is brighter than the EEE PC 901 and MSI Wind displays and has good contrast levels with solid colors. The horizontal and vertical viewing angles are decent. The 1024 x 600 px wide screen resolution is optimum for watching movies and surfing through webpages. You can also connect your Aspire One to any external CRT / LCD monitor or projector using the VGA port.
It also comes with a 0.3 MP webcam and mic above the display. It performs decently with slightly grainy quality while the mic is good and clear. The speakers are loud enough to be heard around a small room but the sound quality isn’t much to speak of. The EEE PC’s Dolby certified speakers can easily trump these. You can plug in standard earphones of your choice using the 3.5mm audio jack.
Performance
The Acer Aspire One is powered by the Intel Atom N270 clocked at 1.6 GHZ and with 512 KB L2 cache, the same as in Asus EEE PC 901 and the MSI Wind and many other upcoming netbooks . It is very power eficient and has a very low TDP of 2.5W. The Aspire One comes with a rather low 512 MB of RAM which can be upgraded to 1.5 GB. It comes with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 onboard graphics which is capable of running low end games and multimedia playback. It also has a 8 GB SSD for storage which is a bit less compared to other netbooks. One interesting addition is the second only SD card reader which seems to be there only for expanding the storage of the Aspire One through SD cards.
The Aspire One is loaded with Linpus Linux Lite but is fully compatible with Windows XP as well. The Linux Linpus Lite OS runs quite fast and is very responsive despite having just 512 MB RAM at its disposal. It is inspired slightly by Asus’s Xandros OS and sports a very minimal interface with four sections - Connect, Work, Fun and Files. Under ‘Connect’, you’ll find Firefox, an IM client with AIM, GTalk, MSN, and support, an RSS reader, Skype, Wikipedia links, Google Maps etc. ‘Work’ houses OpenOffice, Contacts, Calculator, Notes, and Calendar. ‘Fun’ has Media Master, Photo Master, KolourPaint, a webcam, and some games. ‘Files’ has the My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, My Videos, My Downloads, and My Files folders.You can easily multitask 3-4 apps without any lags or delays. The SSD contributes a lot to the speed of the Aspire One. It also adds to the durability of the Aspire One and consumes less power.
The Wi-Fi reception is great with rare disconnections. It offers about 90% signal strength about 20 feet around the access point. Pages load quickly with no lag and even video / audio streaming works great on a decent connection.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The Keyboard is around 86% of a normal QWERTY keyboard and is quite good to type on. It has ample key spacing and travel. The keys are responsive and offer good feedback. Typing shouldn’t at all be a problem on the Aspire One. It is quite suitable for touch typing.
The touchpad is very similar to the one on the HP Mininote 2133. It has the left and right mouse buttons on the sides instead of the bottom which is quite an annoyance for normal users. The touchpad is also a bit small vertically, making it difficult to traverse the whole screen at a time. The buttons are a bit hard to press but that is workable.
Battery Life
The Aspire One comes with a 3 cell battery but falls short when it comes to battery life even with the Atom processor and SSD. It offers just about 2 hours with normal usage. There is an optional 6 cell battery upgrade available in case you want more juice of of your Aspire One.
Pros
- Inexpensive
- Good design & Build quality
Cons
- Low RAM
- Low SSD capacity
- No Bluetooth
Conclusion
The Acer Aspire One misses out on a lot of features but it also comes with a whole lot of upgrade options. The base price - $379 is sweet. Though if you can afford to, the EEE PC 901 or the MSI Wind would be a better option as the upgrades are a bit too costly. On the other hand, it is a much better option than the $399 EEE PC 4G 701. All in all, its a good buy for the budget conscious. If you can wait, the upcoming Lenove Ideapad S10 is priced the same as the Aspire One and promises to be better.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment