In my Opinion this notebook don't deserve this high rating. With this low akku time it isn't a portable netbook. This is an KO Point. But in this Test it looks like that the akku time isn't important for a notebook. When you look at the other negative points comparing it with the Eee PC 901 like the smaller HDD, the bigger case(This isn't a pro, it is a con)smaller Ram and smaller/uncomfortable Touchpad.I think the Testers have overestimate the bigger keyboard. The whole Keyboard is ~15%whider, but the important keys are only 7-8%whider that is ~0,8mm per Key. I dont think that this is an Point which is Big enough for this Test result. when you look at the Arrow keys they are very small and dificult to handle. For some Games is this horrible.When you say that the most bad diffrents of the Acer can be upgraded. Than is the Acer much more expensive than the Eee PC 901.
Acer Aspire One
If you’ve been hedging your bets when it comes to buying a low-cost laptop along the lines of the Asus Eee PC, you’ve been wise to keep your wallet closed for so long. Asus may have all but created the market for the ‘netbook’, but now other laptop manufacturers are jumping on the bandwagon and the latest is Acer with its Aspire One.
All netbooks have so far followed the same ultra-portable laptop design to some extent and the Aspire One certainly doesn’t buck the trend. It is, however, by far the best-looking netbook we’ve seen so far and we even prefer it to the stylish – but bulky – HP 2133 Mini-Note.
The glossy finish on the lid contrasts nicely with the matte underside and the two raised hinges leave an expanse of visually pleasing empty space below the screen. Acer has also used the same design trick as Apple did with the MacBook Air – curved edges on the lid and front of the case make the Aspire One look much slimmer than it really is.
The Aspire One is 24mm wider than the Eee PC 901 and while this is obviously a step in the wrong direction in terms of portability, it’s one we’re inclined to forgive. Why? Because it means Acer has been able to squeeze in a bigger keyboard that transforms the Aspire One from a device for emails and occasional notes into something that you can actually sit and type on for lengthy spells. The keys are still far from full-size, but the larger key tops and wider key spacing makes them much more comfortable to use, though it’s a pity Acer didn’t plump for a double-height Enter key too.
The touchpad has the same stretched design as the HP 2133 Mini-Note, with buttons at either side rather than below it. Fortunately, it works a great deal better than that on the Mini-Note – the narrow buttons have a far more positive feel and the sensitivity is properly set to match the horizontal and vertical dimensions.
Both the size and resolution of the Aspire One’s screen are the same as the Eee PC 901’s, and put side-by-side, there’s little difference in image quality. The Eee PC’s screen is a little brighter at its maximum setting, but the Aspire One’s LED backlight is far from lacking in luminance.
The Aspire One has a near-identical complement of ports to the Eee PC, with a couple of notable differences. The first is a second SD Card slot on one side of the case – pop a card in here and its free storage space is automatically added to that of the 8Gb SSD, much in the same way as you can create a JBOD RAID array in Windows.
Acer has also recognised that that a netbook designed for go-anywhere internet access isn’t much use without an internet connection and to that end, its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi will be complemented by onboard 3G on some models (but not the entry-level one) – there’s a SIM card slot underneath the battery – and at some point, WiMAX.
Although Windows XP will be available on the Aspire One later in the year, for now models are shipping with Linpus Linux Lite – a commercial distro based on Fedora. It’s a distro that’s designed specifically for small-screen netbooks and it uses a similar simplified front-end to the Xandros-based distro supplied with the Eee PC. The UI has been heavily modified, judging by the screenshots at the Linpus web site, though.
The Desktop is split into four categories – Connect, Work, Fun and Files – with a selection of appropriate applications in each. The applications are comprised of the usual open source suspects – OpenOffice.org, Firefox – plus a few apps that appear to be unique to Linpus Linux.
At the time of writing, we hadn’t figured out a way to switch the operating system from simple to advanced mode, though we suspect someone will figure it out before too long. You can access the full suite of Linpus Linux programs and utilities by right-clicking on the Desktop, but many of these didn’t do anything – something we’ll put down to this being a pre-production laptop rather than the features actually being disabled.
Since it runs Linux, we weren’t able to benchmark the Aspire One for performance, but we can safely presume that its Intel Atom N270 processor won’t perform any differently to that used in the Eee PC 901.
The Aspire One doesn’t offer a manual underlock/overclock function, so there’s no way to lock the processor at its lowest 1200Mhz load/700Mhz idle clock speed to eke the most out of the battery. This is a little unfortunate, since the base Aspire One model is supplied with a mere three-cell, 2200mAh battery and this lasted for just two and a half hours in our light use test. And this is a best-case battery life test – we weren’t able to run an intensive use test, but you can bet that it would be around half this time.
With an expected price of £199 Inc VAT, the Acer Aspire One is remarkable value and it’s much more in keeping with the netbook concept than the Eee PC 901 at £319. Of course the Eee PC 901 has a better overall specification too, but with a free SODIMM slot, its automatic SD Card storage expansion and an optional six-cell battery, it’s easy to bring the Aspire One up to a similar spec for less than the £120 price difference. And, of course, it also has a bigger keyboard – one thing you’ll never be able to add to the Eee PC 901.
[Related: See all Mobile Computer netbook reviews to date]
© Dennis Publishing
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Comments
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Does the Acer Aspire One really feature bluetooth? All the other tests up to now said that it didn't.
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@ Met@lQuote:"the Arrow keys are very small and dificult to handle. For some Games is this horrible."Dude... Do you really want to play games on a netbook?And your Math is incorrect as well...The aspire one is 24 mm wider...In the qwerty-line there are 14 buttons, concerning the acer as well as the asus. That is almost 1.8 mm more per button. This may not sound like very much, but is a truely noticable difference at typing...I like the acer one alot... and I really think, 3rd-party-batteries will be available soon... and if not, there is a 6-cell battery available as well...The only con is, with the 6-cell-Battery, the acer one will be about 20% heavier...
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I know that the whole keyboard is ~15% wider, bus asus has use a trick on their keyboard, the unimportand keys on the right side are smaller, so the important keys could be bigger. so The diffrence between the important keys are only 7-8% what is ~0,8mm per key. I have a Asus Ee PC 701, it has the same keyboard, and I can write perfect on it, so I can't understand the people who want a keyboard with 0,8mm bigger keys. The battery life and the other things are for me much more important, when I baught the acer to safe money, but I have to buy a bigger akuu for ~60? I dont had save money. and when the acer has a 6cell akku, it only had 5 Hours, but the asus has 8hours. Because of that I cant understand why mobilecomputermag say that it is better than the asus. The Acer is'nt bad, but it isn't the best.
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With the Arrow keys, I think I would play some games on my netbook, I drive often with the train for more hours, and there are some games very good. for the old games which dont need a high performance system, the netbooks are perfect. I cant understand why acer has made them so small, there is enough place to make them bigger.
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Personally for me it would be a hard line to draw. I have seen but not used the 701, but own the HP 2133.I like the thought of having an atom cpu as apposed to the via, but to be honest considering what I do, VPN, word docs, emails, RDP to servers to fix issues etc I dont need much more.The only thing I reckon should change as standard is the 3 cell battery to 6 cell.Other than this I rate the HP extremely highly and it runs XP perfectly. Not to mention the 120gb hdd (can be upgraded as its 2.5") I reckon I would stick with the 2133 for a while to come as apposed to moving to either asus or acer.
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The arrow keys don't matter that much. This isn't for gaming, it's for the basics. It's cheaper than the 901, and that second SD slot makes up for any lacking it has in memory. You can get the Aspire one, and upgraded battery and a 16Gb sd card for just about the price of an EEE 901. And if you don't like the mousepad, get a usb mouse.
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Is the SODIMM slot for additional RAM?I'm thinking of going for the 500Mb version with the 8Gb SSD from Play.com, but would like to upgrade the RAM.
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You are able to install XP on the versions with linux on, just install XP to a usb drive and then set the system to boot off the usb, then you will need the drivers which you can find over at aspireoneforum.com
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i have just purchased one of these note books and i love it just the job i am a mobile macanic and live in portugal and need something to surf the net and run my auto data program and i think every body has missed to build and finish of this product and the easy use of the linux systemsand i find the keybourd fine to use :D
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Today I noticed that the recovery disc supplied with Acer One does NOT function in a way that recovery wil work !!!
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Mine does - I've installed PClinuxOS, it works - mostly - and used recovery cd to put Linpus back. No probs at all. Will probably go back to PCL again when I've got time to sort out wifi driver - the only problem area!
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I strongly prefer the single-height Enter key on the Aspire One to the big one on the MSI Wind. Keyboard layouts are a personal preference, so having different ones in the marketplace is a very good thing. Acer should be congratulated on having well-sized and well-placed shift keys, especially in comparison to the Wind.
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mine worked, but strangely I had to do first right then left click on the menu buttons...
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" when i baught the Acer to safe money " ????? Dude, i don't fink it matter wot keebord yoo yoos.
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i am getting one of these computers for chrismas but i dont no if they do it in diffrent colours
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Would you mind answering a question for me, does it have a disk drive. a.k.a - C.D Rom.
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Yes Shannon, they do come in different colours Acer Aspire One (Blue and Black) / Asus Eee PC (White)
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Hi Aimee. A disk drive normally refers to a floppy drive. A CD ROM is an optical drive. This, like other netbooks, has neither, though you can add an optical drive such as a external CD/DVD ROM or CD/DVD burner via USB.
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Hi. I am thinking of buying one of these for storing cash flow charts for my business. Also to store photos to show customers. Do you think this will suite my needs. I am unsure as its mainly for browsing
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The Aspire One comes in 5 colours white, black, blue, brown and pink.
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The AA1 with Linpus,for my needs is a cracking tool.The only disappointment is the Wi-Fi, there are unresolved issues here at this time.Plenty on this at the Acer Guy & Acer Aspire One User Forum
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can one expand the memory and hard drive for the acer netbook? Does it operate wi-fi? I am thinking of buying one. pls advise.
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is it a cool investment,i mean the acer1
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The battery dures aprox 6 hours working at full which i think is enough. The keyboard is very comfortable and I love the look. Bluetooth is incorporated. The only problem I see is that the screen isn´t the best to work outside.
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it has only 500MB RAM can i upgade??
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