Aspire One by Acer
Never Be Alone Again!
The Aspire One by Acer is a small laptop in the generation of “netbooks.” Netbooks are small mobile laptops with minimal features that are designed for surfing the web, email, chatting and video chat. They usually do not come with lots of memory or DVD drives. But they are built to be tossed around in a back pack and to connect on virtually any WiFi network.
Purpose for Purchase:
The reason I was interested in purchasing this unit was to use in my garage. Yes, my garage. I sell a lot of different items out of my converted office/garage. Even though I have locked the garage and secured the door making it nearly impenetrable, I still did not want to leave a computer in their for safety reasons. So I decided to purchase a small laptop that could handle excel. I did not know where to look, all I knew was that I wanted a small cheap laptop. So looked on eBay for a refurbished unit or a used older laptop but the prices were around $300 for a decent one and I thought that was too high for a second hand electronic unit when a new one was $500.
I then moved on to Amazon to see what deals where to be had. I found the Acer Aspire One. The price was around $400 at the time for the cheapest version. I read several posts that people were waiting for the Dell-E or Inspiron 910. I decided to wait as well. Dell dangled nothing around the web for weeks and finally I decided to stop waiting and purchase the Aspire One. Luckily Acer decided to drop the price by $100 to help stave off any sales of Dell units that were coming soon. So the wait paid off, I got a unit for a total of $335 including overnight shipping and no tax (I love the Internet). The good news, Dell just came out with the 910 this past week and the cheapest option compared to the Aspire One is $100 more. So Acer is definitely the best deal for a netbook.
Now lets move on past why I purchased the unit to the real meat of this article:
The Experience
In the box is the laptop, the battery, the small power adapter, a manual and a free slipcover for the laptop. Plop the battery into the laptop and within 10 seconds you are online. Of course you need to set the date and location but the rest is simple.
I purchased the Linux version for several reason. One, I wanted something more reliable than Microsoft. Second, I wanted to try something new. The news from Acer is that Linux Linpus Lite loads in half the time of Windows, and boy were they right. The laptop loads effortlessly in under 10 seconds, which Acer likes to call “instant on.”
Beware, Linux Linpus Lite is different than Windows so there will be an initial shock of where to start. Calm down and start over, read the manual – it will only take a few minutes. Soon you will realize that the Linux Operating System is simple and much more user friendly than Windows. It has everyting separated out by Work, Games, Internet, etc. Best of all the software is all Open Source or GNU and works seamlessly. It comes with word, excel and presentation made by OpenOffice.org
Solid State Drives are just like flash drives, or as I like to call them “thumb drives.” No moving parts so they last longer and have fewer ways to break. To increase the hard drive space just ad an SDHC card (8 GB runs ~$25 on Amazon).
I could go on, but to make this review short I will say the following. This laptop is excellent for kids in school and older people who know little about computers and want something that works on the Internet and email. It is also ideal for business professionals who do not want blackberry-tunnel on their thumbs. The laptop is also equipped standard with a web cam and video conferencing software. You do have the ability to increase the RAM up to 1.5 GB. You can stick in extra hard drive space as well. There are three USB ports which should be plenty. It is quite frankly ingenious and well the best deal ever. For about $30 you can buy an external DVD drive.
Specs:
Processor: Atom 1.6 GHz
Installed Memory: 512 MB (DDR2 SDRAM)
Hard Drive: 8 GB Serial ATA
Display: 8.9 in. WSVGA TFT Active Matrix with Touchscreen
Operating System: Linux
Mobile Technology: Wi-Fi Certified
Platform: Linux
Expandability: 1 x SD Card Slot, 1 x Memory Stick Card Slot, 1 x MMC Card Slot, 1 x Memory Stick PRO, 1 x xD Card Slot
Expansion Ports: 3 x USB 2.0, VGA out, RJ-45 (NIC)
Security Features: Slot For Cable Lock
Special Features: Integrated Video Camera
Input Method: Keyboard · Touchpad
Width: 9.8 in.
Depth: 6.7 in.
Height: 1.14 in.
Weight: 2.19 lb.
Cons:
This is not however, for video gamers or people with current medical problems with their hands. The keyboard is smaller than a standard keyboard but it has all the function keys, unlike the Dell. I use a full size keyboard in my garage, so as to not aggravate any carpel tunnel that may be lingering.
In the End:
It is well worth the money. It is causing great grief to Microsoft, why might you say. Well, this laptop does not have Internet Explorer. It does not Have the Microsoft Suite nor does it operate on Windows Vista. Which means, they are cut out of the loop on a commercially distributed laptop that is selling millions. This is sold out in all the stores and is only available at the moment on Amazing (at least in Northern California).
With airlines now offering Internet access this will make International travel a lot easier. Especially if you have a netflix account so you can watch streaming movies. I will try to update the review as time goes on, but in the end, buy it. You can only loose $300 and in the end you could probably sell it for $300 in six months from now on eBay and get all your money back.
And if you are scared to try something new, for $100 more you can get a version with Windows and a little more memory.
Regards, JBhut
