This is a quick run down on not only the Acer Aspire One but also of the newer breed of Netbooks that have appeared and how they can benefit the average user. First of all the Acer was not that expensive. $479 with a $50 cash back. Not too shabby. This baby has an LED (not LCD) screen with a sharp image on a 10.1" screen. Much better than other first generation Netbooks I've seen previously. It's also got it's own 160G hard drive. This is perhaps one of it's biggest draw cards. Other netbooks have a Flash internal drive or no drive at all relying totally on SD cards. Other features are wi-fi (g network not n network) and Bluetooth connectivity. Also it has a half decent webcam inbuilt.
For the most part I was happy with this unit. It's actually for the other half and not so much for me. It's main use will be for typing out essays. We've installed Open Office into it and it handles that with no problems. The Aspire One we purchased came with XP installed. We were warned to wait till Windows 7 comes out but the missus is only interested in writing documents out and not in the complex issues involved in other PC related tasks. So with this as it's main goal the Acer has hit all goals and then some.
Netbooks are the fast food variety of PC's with people lugging Laptops about with CD/DVD drives and 17" screens when all they want is email, Facebook, internet etc. You DON'T need the fastest PC to do all that. But this is where this netbook surprised even me. It takes one minute to go from a cold start to being on the net surfing away. I was so impressed by this speed.
I'm now sold on Netbooks. I wasn't too keen on them leading up to my wife wanting one but now I'm warmed to the idea of a machine that just does the basics well. With Google Chrome OS on the way these Netbooks are going to be more than a challenge for Laptop producers to compete with. Expect to see more mini sized PC's to be dragged out on the trains and bus stops across the city!
Pros:
- Crystal clear LED 10.1" screen
- Webcam inbuilt
- Inbuilt Wi Fi and Bluetooth
- Quick boot up time
- Ridiculously light and thin.
Cons:
- XP not Windows 7 (but that's only as it's still not officially out yet)
- Keyboard is small and takes getting use to
- Mousepad can be somewhat tricky to negotiate (USB mouse can be used though)
- Great battery life with approx 3 hours usage on full charge and possibly longer with Wi-Fi off
- No real software. You'll have to scrounge the net to install the basics.
