Acer Aspire One user reviews (XP Home, White)

4.5 stars

"An Amazing Little NetBook" on August 16, 2008 by ESUNintel

Pros: Small, lightweight, bright LCD, nice keyboard, nice web cam quality, 2 memory card slots, 3 USB, nice audio, VGA, CAT 5/6, 120GB HDD

Cons: Small mouse pad, battery life needs work, shiny finish prone to finger prints, full of trash software (trials), no FlashCompact slot, noisy at times

Summary: I liked the design and look of this NetBook from the first day I saw it MicroCenter, but was iffy about buying cause its an Acer, and I've always been an Apple/Sony fan. I figured I'd give it a try since it only $400, and that I'd replace my 600MHz Samsung Q1 UMPC. I think I made a great choice, right out of the box this little PC crushed my Q! as far as performance. I expected to open the box and be greeted by a super slow PC that would get stuff done but no way close to a real PC, I was wrong! IT features 1GB of RAM and 120GB Hitachi hard drive, as well as a 1.6GHz CPU that feels like a real PC processor and pretty nice graphics with HD Audio quality. The PC gets all I would want done, it runs SQL and Visual Studio 2008 with no issues, Dreamweaver and Photoshop run smoothly, I can play Spore Creature Creator, and watch iTune video's with out issues. With the available VGA output, I can plug it into any LCD/HDTV, and it looks great!! The LCD is only capable of 1024x600, but when plugged to a Samsung 650 it adjusts to 1080P like quality, so it is a pretty powerful built in graphic processor by Intel. It has 2 memory card slots, one for extra storage, and one for reading a regular SD/MemoryStick card; I stuck a 16GB Class 6 SD card into the extra memory slot to run iTunes from, and it does a really impressive job. My only complaints are the small mouse pad, REALLY bright LCD with low contrast ratio (you need to sit in front of the PC, doesn't look good when viewing from an angle), short batter life (about 2-3 hours), and noise. The PC can be a bit noisy at times, I'm not sure if it's the CPU fan or the HDD, but it'll be silent at times, and sound doesn't bother me. Than what's pretty sweet is that you get all this for $400!! I got the blue one, and it is prone to finger prints, but that's ok. I'd hate to say this, but it beats my MacBook Air in that it has a 120GB HDD, 3 USB connections, and all in a 2.2lbs package (although my Air looks nicer). I'm super happy with this new little toy, and hapy I got it over the ASUS/HP or another UMPC. I can't wait to see Acer's new redesign when the new duel core Atom CPU comes out, and once they start using AT&T's 3G build in card (notice the Acer has a slot you can open on the bottom). ...so if you have $440 (taxes ...I know, sad) sitting around and need a not so advanced laptop, go ahead and give this PC a try!!

Updated on Sep 19, 2008

I installed Windows Vista Business on the computer, since I needed to upgrade to either XP Pro or Vista to take full advantage of SQL. The upgrade to XP Pro would have been easy; however, the Vista upgrade causes drivers to stop working, and your ethernet/wireless stops working as well, which would be crucial to install the new Vista updates and drivers. If you upgrade to Vista, be sure you have a Sprint/Verizon usb wireless adapter, or even any USB wifi adapter would work, you'll just need a DVD drive to install the drivers for that wireless device. After all that is done, and you install all needed Microsoft updates and recommended updates, Vista works well. The only exceptions are you will loose your webcam, and of course start up takes about twice as long, but I'm ok with that though. The Aspire one handles the Aero interface well, and Vista gives the computer an overall of 2.7. Vista Scores:CPU gets 3.0, RAM 4.4, Graphics 4.1, Gaming graphics 2.7, hard drive 5.1

Updated on Oct 31, 2008

Yesterday I opened up the Acer Apire One, removed the included 512MB stick of RAM and added a 1GB stick of DDR2-667, and it worked great!! The BIOS and Vista recognized it without issues. The motherboard will not support a 2GB stick, so keep that in mind. The task was fairly easy, but it might be a bit challenging for first timers, just type in "Acer Aspire One RAM upgrade" on youtube to get a video on how to upgrade. Now I really love this NetBook!!

4.0 stars

"Decent Netbook" on August 19, 2008 by anthonydesu

Pros: Small and lots of hard drive space

Cons: Shorter battery life than I like

Summary: To be honest, I am not sure who is really giving the cnet review because it seems as if they cut and pasted everything from the other Aspire One. This one DOES come with a full 1gb of memory. So I don't see how that can be the bad part!

5.0 stars

"IMPORTANT REVIEW!! PLEASE READ!" on December 9, 2008 by Piz7777

Pros: Tons of storage, great battery life with the new 6-cell battery that comes with the 160gb XP version, better Webcam then on the previous Acer One (Which is the one C-Net review, they need to put up an updated review) 0.03mp compared to 1.3mp.

Cons: Easy to finger-print it's glossy surface! Very shiny (I actually love the shine!)... Other then that, there is really nothing I can think of, I love this little PC!!!

Summary: CNET seriously needs to learn how to update there reviews and stop being lazy by putting the "Linux Acer One" review and labeling it as the same review for the "XP Version of the Acer Aspire One"! In "The Bad" part of there review for the "Acer Aspire One" they mention 3 thing... Battery life is not great, they mention it only has 512 MB of Ram, which is not TRUE as the XP version of the Acer One has 1gb of Ram! They also mention no blue-tooth, which is the same for the XP version.

1. Now there are 3 different versions of the "Acer Aspire One" (CNET, with there 3 stars, put all 3 versions (Which are all different) in the same POT!) There is the Linux version which has 512mb of Ram, a 3 cell battery that last between 2 and 3 hours, and has an 8gb Hard Drive, which retails for around $350.00.

2. There is the XP version of the "Acer Aspire One" which is the much better version (Which CNET does not review, as they put the Linux review for the XP review! How lazy can they get!???), the XP version has 1gb of Ram, the same as many bigger laptops, it obviously uses Windows XP instead of Linux which is much preferred by most, and it also has a mega-sized Hard-Drive at 120gb compared to the much smaller 8gb Linux version! The XP version does still only come with a 3-cell battery for 2-3 hours of life.

3. The last version of the "Acer Aspire One" is the "updated" Windows XP version (Acer Aspire ONE A150-1570 - Atom N270 1.6 GHz - 8.9"), which has a massive 160gb hard-drive for mass storage, the built-in WebCam was upgraded from the previous versions and now has 1.3 Mega-Pixels compared to the previous version which only had 0.03 Mega-Pixels, and also the New XP Version comes with a 6-Cell battery which can last up to 6 Hours on a single charge! Not to mention you get all of this, the new features, battery life, much bigger Hard Drive, supports SDHC Cards, etc, all this for only $30 more then the previous version ($379.00 compared to $350.00)!! This Netbook also holds the crown for the highest customer rated netbook on CNET (4and a half Stars!), and this is out of "ALL NETBOOKS"! http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/acer-aspire-one-a150/4505-3121_7-33244475.html?tag=mncol;lst

Now if CNET reviewed this version (or even the original XP version) there would only be "ONE" thing in "THE BAD" part of there review, which is "No Blue-Tooth"! And in-return would have and should of received a higher rating.

It is sad that review sites like CNET cop-out like this. What CNET done is no different the me putting the label of the very first Batman that came out back in 89', and slapping that label on "Batman: The Dark Night's" Box! You simply cannot do it, they are totally different VERSIONS, SAME AS THESE ACERS!!!

I set out to settle the score here, as this is not the first time CNET has done this with a different version of a product. They gave the Linux version of "Acer One" 3 stars, with 3 bad points about it. The new "Acer One" fixes what problems CNET had with the previous and in return at-least deserves a separate "Star" review instead of just changing the name of the product but putting the same written review.

Main reason I typed this was to inform the consumer, as it took me much research to figure all this out on my own, which I should not of had to do as CNET should have addressed this with a separate review.

By-the-way, I LOVE MY ACER!!! I owed the 120gb XP-Version at first, but traded it in the the 160GB XP version (Black). I no longer have to run around town carrying a hefty laptop around, this thing does it all , and at half the price and half the weight of my 1,000 dollar HP! Also , no worries about no Disk-drive on these Netbooks, there are many ways around it by linking Net with computer, etc. Or you can buy one seperate DD if you wish at a reasonable price. Personally I don't and never used my Disk-Drive on my HP laptop, so to me it was never an issue.

Take Care


Paul

Updated on Dec 9, 2008

The latest version of the Aspire One does support Bluetooth (From further review), so this now leaves CNET with nothing!

4.5 stars

"FANTASTIC Laptop" on August 21, 2008 by holcomb57

Pros: Please Read Review

Cons: Not very much

Summary: I am a very technical guy, I do a lot of work with computers on a daily basis and this is actually my FIRST laptop EVER and what a great one to start with.

THE GOOD: The machine I have is configured with Windows XP, 120 Gig HDD, 1 Gig of RAM and a 6 cell battery.
1) Keyboard: Even though to most of us, it looks small, and I did have my doubts about the keyboard... but when I started typing it was amazing how natural it felt. My hands didn't feel cramped at all and I had an good experience actually typing.
2) Processor: One of the main reasons I got this netbook is because of the processor. The ATOM processor is amazing and I truly mean that, INTEL has done a great job with this new technology. My computer runs extremely fast and smooth having no problems processing large amounts of data or applications.
3) Size: Now, from the beginning I was recultant about the size of the machine, but as I began to use it, I could see the true potential of these new Netbooks, I think these will revolutionize the way people use and see laptops. This has a very great portable form factor with amazing performance.
4) Screen: The screen uses all the realestate it has available, very nice use of Acer's Crystal Brite Technology and Widescreen. I can see all the websites I visit very well and the screen has no problems adjusting to different website styles.

THE BAD:
1) One thing that will definitely take getting used to is the Mouse. Obviously most laptop mouses have the track buttons at the bottom of the track pad, but this Netbook has them at the sides, which isn't a bad thing... but I guess a new style and feel. It does take some time to get used to, but to be quite honest it's really not that big of a deal.
2) Battery Life: Right now... I haven't done a full review, but as I can tell... its not bad. Since I have a 6 cell battery its pretty good. The average time is about 4 hours, but thats doing a bit more than the average browsing and chatting. Otherwise you should get about an average of 5 hours of battery life.

Now, for the most part, I use my laptop to remote into my Linux Server, thats one of the reasons I got this little netbook; I wanted a computer that would be portable but also one with good performance and enough harddrive space, so that way if I wanted to ftp files from my server to this little netbook I could. Not to mention I do the normal chatting, browsing, video watching, etc.

Overall, this computer is an excellent one. Like I said, this is my first laptop and I love it. Great value, I only paid $404 with shipping, so the deal I got was AMAZING! I would highly recommend this laptop, but that choice I leave up to you.