My primary client, who must have every new gadget, saw the Acer Aspire One in a store one day, soon after they came out. He travels a lot and was so taken with the low price and the small size that he immediately bought one. He called me and raved about it and said he'd get me one if I wanted it. Having recently acquired a 13” Dell Vostro laptop, I thanked him but said I couldn't see why I'd ever need anything else. I looked at it the next time I saw him and had to admit, it was cute.
At some point I began seeing and hearing about netbooks everywhere. People were raving about them and they were flying off the shelves. My sister got an Asus EEE pc for Christmas and loved it. (Read a review of her Asus here.) Hmm...maybe there was something to this new toy after all. I started thinking about how handy it would be to have a really little laptop to take on trips. Although my Vostro is pretty small, it can get weighty when you're dragging it through the airport. This thing would actually fit in my purse! In spite of my initial hesitation, a netbook became the top item on my “want” list.
I started to do my research. Keeping in mind that my primary use for this thing was probably going to be writing, it was important that the keyboard be comfortable. Everywhere I looked the Acer got high marks. Some of the netbooks scored better in certain areas but were also more expensive. My choice came down to the Asus or the Acer and, because I'd had the opportunity to try out the one my client has (and frankly, I loved the metallic blue color), I decided to go with the Acer. My client renewed his willingness to pay for it and the deal was done. Now, he says, I can take my work anywhere!
I love my little Acer. Because I already have a 13” laptop, and my major concern was portability, I decided not to go with the newly released 10” model and stuck with the 8.9”. I also decided that the extra battery life (from 5 to 7 hours) of the 6-cell battery was worth the extra weight that came along with it. All told, it weighs 3.2 lbs. I bought my Acer Aspire One AOA150-1784 8.9-Inch Netbook - Sapphire Blue
from Amazon and, with the 6-cell battery, the total price was $330.00 and included a little USB mouse but no sort of sleeve or case.
One of the complaints I frequently read about this model regarded the sensitivity of the touch pad and it's attendant right and left click buttons. When I tried out the touch pad on my client's Acer I could get neither the right and left click buttons to work nor the tap on the touch pad. He always uses a mouse and was unconcerned about it but for me, that was pretty major as I generally don't use a mouse. I can report that my Acer touch pad and buttons work perfectly. The placement of the right and left click buttons, to either side of the touchpad, takes a little getting used to.
The display is clear and bright and I had no trouble adjusting to the smaller-sized screen. It is very shiny so, in the right light, glare could be a problem. The sound system is pretty weak, as is the case with most laptop-style computers. I understand that the Acer's speakers are actually located on the bottom of the system, making them pretty muffled. It does have an earphone jack. I plugged some earbuds into it and the sound was fine. I'll be traveling next month and plan to download and watch a movie on the plane and don't think I'll have any trouble.
The Acer comes with 1.0 GB of RAM, 0.5 GB of which is actually soldered to the systemboard. The other 0.5 GB can be replaced with a 1.0GB chip, bringing the total to a 1.5GB maximum. The process for changing out the memory on this netbook is ludicrous. I watched a video on the process on YouTube and it basically consists of dismantling the entire machine, which also voids the warranty. It is my understanding that this piece of poor design has been rectified on the 10” model so that in order to access the memory all one has to do is open a little door on the back and pop out the chip. In the week or so that I've had my netbook I haven't felt the lack of more memory so, for the time being, I intend to leave things as they are. As an aside, the Asus has very easy-to-upgrade memory.
My 8.9” Aspire One came with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 160GB hard drive, a built-in webcam and microphone and had Windows XP Home SP3 pre-installed. Alternatively, you can chose an 8GB SSD harddrive, which, although much smaller, is a lot faster, and Linux Lite as the operating system. Like the other netbooks, it has no built-in CD or DVD Rom drive. You can purchase an external drive. I shared a drive across my network from one of my other computers and will use that if the need arises.
I purchased a very cool cover from CarryMobile and am looking forward to a happy mobile computing experience. I definitely recommend the 8.9” Acer Aspire One.
At some point I began seeing and hearing about netbooks everywhere. People were raving about them and they were flying off the shelves. My sister got an Asus EEE pc for Christmas and loved it. (Read a review of her Asus here.) Hmm...maybe there was something to this new toy after all. I started thinking about how handy it would be to have a really little laptop to take on trips. Although my Vostro is pretty small, it can get weighty when you're dragging it through the airport. This thing would actually fit in my purse! In spite of my initial hesitation, a netbook became the top item on my “want” list.
I started to do my research. Keeping in mind that my primary use for this thing was probably going to be writing, it was important that the keyboard be comfortable. Everywhere I looked the Acer got high marks. Some of the netbooks scored better in certain areas but were also more expensive. My choice came down to the Asus or the Acer and, because I'd had the opportunity to try out the one my client has (and frankly, I loved the metallic blue color), I decided to go with the Acer. My client renewed his willingness to pay for it and the deal was done. Now, he says, I can take my work anywhere!
I love my little Acer. Because I already have a 13” laptop, and my major concern was portability, I decided not to go with the newly released 10” model and stuck with the 8.9”. I also decided that the extra battery life (from 5 to 7 hours) of the 6-cell battery was worth the extra weight that came along with it. All told, it weighs 3.2 lbs. I bought my Acer Aspire One AOA150-1784 8.9-Inch Netbook - Sapphire Blue
from Amazon and, with the 6-cell battery, the total price was $330.00 and included a little USB mouse but no sort of sleeve or case.One of the complaints I frequently read about this model regarded the sensitivity of the touch pad and it's attendant right and left click buttons. When I tried out the touch pad on my client's Acer I could get neither the right and left click buttons to work nor the tap on the touch pad. He always uses a mouse and was unconcerned about it but for me, that was pretty major as I generally don't use a mouse. I can report that my Acer touch pad and buttons work perfectly. The placement of the right and left click buttons, to either side of the touchpad, takes a little getting used to.
The display is clear and bright and I had no trouble adjusting to the smaller-sized screen. It is very shiny so, in the right light, glare could be a problem. The sound system is pretty weak, as is the case with most laptop-style computers. I understand that the Acer's speakers are actually located on the bottom of the system, making them pretty muffled. It does have an earphone jack. I plugged some earbuds into it and the sound was fine. I'll be traveling next month and plan to download and watch a movie on the plane and don't think I'll have any trouble.
The Acer comes with 1.0 GB of RAM, 0.5 GB of which is actually soldered to the systemboard. The other 0.5 GB can be replaced with a 1.0GB chip, bringing the total to a 1.5GB maximum. The process for changing out the memory on this netbook is ludicrous. I watched a video on the process on YouTube and it basically consists of dismantling the entire machine, which also voids the warranty. It is my understanding that this piece of poor design has been rectified on the 10” model so that in order to access the memory all one has to do is open a little door on the back and pop out the chip. In the week or so that I've had my netbook I haven't felt the lack of more memory so, for the time being, I intend to leave things as they are. As an aside, the Asus has very easy-to-upgrade memory.
My 8.9” Aspire One came with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 160GB hard drive, a built-in webcam and microphone and had Windows XP Home SP3 pre-installed. Alternatively, you can chose an 8GB SSD harddrive, which, although much smaller, is a lot faster, and Linux Lite as the operating system. Like the other netbooks, it has no built-in CD or DVD Rom drive. You can purchase an external drive. I shared a drive across my network from one of my other computers and will use that if the need arises.
I purchased a very cool cover from CarryMobile and am looking forward to a happy mobile computing experience. I definitely recommend the 8.9” Acer Aspire One.
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3 comments:
The blue is SO CUTE!
(hah.. girly)
I saw your sister's and your netbook in person and I must admit although I really prefer my HP Mini 1000, the price is really tempting on the Acer and Asus...
I also reviewed how to upgrade the RAM and my head spun. Forget it. I did that on my Macbook because it was dead easy, but for this HP I'd rather leave it at 1GB = it's enough.
Interesting! At yesterday's conference, the speakers used these nifty little devices to put up webpages on the screens. Pretty neat...they're so small and light, the speaker could carry it around, and when one speaker, a Macinoid, had difficulty figuring out how to get turn on the sound in Windows, someone in the audience was able to take the computer and track down the speaker function in seconds.
If you travel a lot or are a student, these things would be wonderful. Even a small laptop does get heavy after you've been hauling it around for a while!
I love mine and find more uses for it everyday. I really can't wait until I take my first trip with it, where I expect it to really make itself worthwhile!
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