Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Mini Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, XP Home, 6 Cell Battery) White
- 1.6GHz Atom N270
- 1GB DDR2 SDRAM
- 1.3 Megapixel camera, SDHC and multi-format media readers
- 802.11b/g, Ethernet, three USB 2.0, VGA, and 3.5mm audio out
- One free mini PCI slot for WWAN, 160GB hard drive (2.2 pounds)
Acer redefines mobile connectivity with the Aspire one, a netbook (or mini-notebook) packed with fun and powerful computing features in a diminutive 8.9" form factor weighing as little as 2.2 lb. Aimed at business professionals, students and world travelers, it offers a choice of operating systems, wireless connectivity and Internet access. It's time to simplify your life with the Aspire one.
Amazon.com Product Description
A great choice for business travelers who like to travel light as well as those who need extra-long battery life, this affordable ultra-lightweight Acer Aspire One (LU.S040B.162) weighs just over 2 pounds and is packed with a 160 GB hard drive and Windows XP operating system. It has a vibrant 8.9-inch CrystalBrite WSVGA LED backlit display, integrated webcam for easy video chatting, and Intel's latest mobile processor--the Atom. Offering a cool deep blue hue, the netbook's smooth surface is comfortable to touch, and it's accented with distinctive details, such as the attractive orange hinge ring.
 A great choice for light-packing business travlers, it comes with Windows XP Home, a 160 GB hard drive, and a 6-cell batter for up to 5.5 hours of battery life. |
 The integrated webcam at the top of the screen's bezel provides easy access to video chatting. |
 Weighing just 2.17 pounds, the stylish Acer Aspire One goes anywhere with you. |
It comes preinstalled with the Microsoft Windows XP Home operating system, which offers more experienced users an enhanced and innovative experience that incorporates Windows Live features like Windows Live Messenger for instant messaging and Windows Live Mail for consolidated email accounts on your desktop.
Processor
The Intel Atom processor uses a brand new design structure that packs in 47 million transistors into a single chip sized at just 22mm (0.87 inches), and it uses just 2.5 watts of power--less than 1/10 of the 35 watts used by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor--for excellent battery management. This 1.6 GHz Atom N270 processor also includes a power-optimized front side bus of 533 MHz for faster data transfer on demanding mobile applications and a 512 KB L2 cache (which temporarily stores data).
Storage
This version of the Aspire One comes with a 160 GB hard disk drive (5400 RPM), which offers enough to room to hold a digital audio library of over 26,000 songs and still have room left over for movies, games, and a large collection of software. This Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive also quickens the pace with a higher speed transfer of data--akin to Firewire and USB 2.0.
Memory
The 1 GB of installed RAM (512 MB onboard memory and one 512 MB DIMM, 533 MHz) can be expanded to a maximum of 1.5 GB of RAM,
DVD/CD Drive
Because of its size, the Aspire One does not come with an integrated optical drive, but optional CD/DVD read/write drives can be connected to the laptop via one of the three USB ports, enabling you to create your music mixes, burn movies to DVD, and more.
Connectivity
This Acer Aspire One notebook has an integrated 54g wireless LAN (Acer InviLink) that's compatible with 802.11b and 802.11g networks and offers Acer's SignalUp technology for enhanced antenna efficiency. This notbook provides the following connections:
- 3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
- Secure Digital (SD) card reader, also compatible with MultiMedia cards (MMCs)
- Multi-in-one card reader supports SD, MMC, Memory Stick/Memory Stick PRO, and XD Picture Cards
- 1 VGA monitor port
- 1 headphone jack and 1 microphone jack
- RJ-45 port for 10/100 Fast Ethernet connection
- 56K modem port (V.90)
Screen, Video and Audio
The 8.9-inch screen has a WSVGA resolution (1024 x 600) and support for up a 262K color depth. Video is powered by the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, which uses shared video memory with the main memory. Acer's CrystalBrite display technology guarantees the best possible visual experience by preventing the diffusion of surrounding light and internal ray. Compared to normal TFT LCDs, Acer CrystalBrite technology is able to read color coordinates more accurately, thus minimizing distortion and creating high-fidelity colors in all environments.
This notebook includes an integrated audio card with Microsoft DirectSound compatibility, and it includes two stereo speakers.
What's in the Box
This package contains the Acer Aspire One notebook PC (AOA150-1126; LU.S040B.162), rechargeable 6-cell lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a limited warranty for parts and labor for one year from date of purchase.
Excellent mini laptop (2008-10-25)
After spending several days checking out all the mini notebooks on the market I chose the aspire and have never been happier. The keyboard is perfect for my hands which I did notice most of the other mini laptops keyboards were sometimes awkward. I have windows xp 160gb very light laptop perfect for traveling which I do every week.
I highly recommend this computer!
Excellent little laptop (2008-10-25)
This is one of the best purchases I ever did. I give it a full 5 stars, due to fantastic price/performance ratio. Of course, a mini laptop that costs 2K is going to be better, but most people will find this works great for their uses.
Some notes:
*Excellent battery life. Haven't been able to drain it completely yet.
*Surprisingly nice screen. That said, you have to expect more scrolling that on say your 20"monitor. Native res is 1024x600, which works well with most apps.
*Noise levels are quite acceptable to me at least.
*I am blown away at how responsive the pc is. It boots up VERY fast, and most software runs very smooth, plus explorer etc is very responsive. I am being proactive, not installing a bunch of software on it though, and found that most of the stuff I used exists in portable version (i.e won't clutter up the system with more dll's, register edits etc). They are normally meant if you want to keep your software on a usb stick, but works just as well from the harddrive of course.
*keyboard is a bit small for my fingers but can't hold that against it, since I wanted such a small device...won't write novels on it, but I am writing this review :)
*hooked it up to an external monitor through a kvm and found some ghosting. My other laptop also hooked up through the kvm exhibits no such problems. It's still quite usable though. By the way, I tried to get it working with 1680*1050 and finally got it working. Download the drivers from intel that specifically note they support this res. Also, I had to use powerstrip, and did a lot of messing around, including manually updating the graphics .inf file, before it finally started working well.
I am still blown away at the power of this little device :)
If you plan on playing back highdef video, that may require some tweaking for 720p (tried with my standard codecs and it is choppy, but I believe I can get around this with some tweaking). I don't think there is any reason to hope for smooth 1080p playback though, since it isn't a ati or nvidia graphics solution.
Great buy, not perfect but best thing available in it's class. (2008-10-24)
Great little computer. Light weight, usable keyboard (many are too small to type on such as the EEEpc). The version with the regular hard drive runs faster than the SSD models, don't get the SSD unless you really need one.
The 6 cell battery sticks out and makes the machine bulkier and a little heavier. So far it's never said it holds over 3.75 hours even at full charge, but I haven't timed it to see if it actually will last that long. On the plus side shutting the display will cause it to hybernate so you don't have to save and close everything all the time (with casual things) and you can just pick up and go real fast.
I absolutely hate the glossy display. The display is good, colors are rich and good, there's a button to turn the display off which is really nice when plugging in an external monitor or TV to watch movies. The glossy thing though, it reflects EVERYTHING. I don't understand why glossy is popular at all.
The video card (or something) seems to be kinda slow. The computer will display externally at 1920x1080 to a full HD monitor (or TV with PC hookup) but it seems to slow the video down a bit. It works out okay when the file is already on your hard drive, but when you're streaming large shows from the internet the system seems to lag more than most. Sadly. It works better when not streaming, or when not using the external monitor.
The hardware is specific so if you plan to install your own OS you'll need the drivers. XP drivers can be found pretty easily but not on the main ACER site. The European site has the drivers, though one of the links was broken and I had to get it elsewhere. I had some trouble with the sound drivers. I recommend configuring the mouse drivers to taste as the muse was a little hard to work with out of the box. Now I think the mouse is great. I really like the scroll bars and tapping since the click pads are really inconveniently located.
XP home seems to work fine and the one that's installed with the system is pre-configured to work perfectly with the Aspire One's hardware. I also installed XP separately and had a little trouble getting the sound drivers working, though this should be solvable, know that it will be harder to run an XP that's not configured for the Aspire One out of the box. The computer does not come with XP install disks! It does have a "secret" partition that will wipe the whole drive an reinstall XP if you so desire.
Dual booting with Ubuntu installed from USB DVD drive just fine, there's a part when loading the disk that seemed to not work and gave an error, but we waited a minute and it kept going.
Fedora 9 wouldn't load due to some hardware issue. It seems the install disk didn't have the right USB drivers to read the drive from install. People have worked around it I think, but it doesn't work right off the bat.
Search 'TNKGRL Aspire One' in google and you'll get tutorials on upgrading the ram and mods to the computer -which will void your warranty. Max RAM is 1.5 gigs as one 512 is soldered on and one is slot loaded. I upgraded no problem, but you will need to take YOUR ENTIRE COMPUTER apart including pulling the motherboard and disconnecting all of the various things. Kind of a pain, not for the faint of heart, or the klutz.
Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Mini Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, XP Home, 6 Cell Battery) WhiteAcer Aspire One 8.9-inch Mini Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, XP Home, 6 Cell Battery) Sapphire Blue
It works - and is exceeding expectations. (2008-10-24)
So many other reviews provide great info; I'll try not to be redundant.
This netbook is as advertised and positively reviewed. It handles all general laptop functions (except DVD-ROM), but is impressive in start-up time, display quality and compactness.
Display size takes some getting used to (my main PC has a 22" LCD), but it does the job, and web pages are displayed in full width (i.e. no sideways scrolling).
Much has been written about fingerprints on the shell. If you select white as your color, fingerprints are virtually unnoticeable on the exterior. The display bezel is black, however, and you will see fingerprints there. Don't eat potato chips while using!
Touchpad does its job well enough, but I just invested $18.99 in a wireless USB mouse from Microsoft that is truly plug-and-play: works great. I won't use it all the time, but it's nice to have when I'm on for more than a few minutes.
All in all, the One is a lot of functionality for the money, and very compact. I'm very happy with it.
"One" sweet little laptop. (2008-10-23)
I am strictly an Apple guy. But I am also a BlackBerry enthusiast who has found Apple's Boot Camp combined with Parallels to be very handy and sometimes fun to use just for the experience of playing in a Windows environment.
Recent events require that I do a good deal of flying, and as much as I love my 15" MacBook Pro, it weighs too much when schlepping from one end of a terminal to the other. Recently, I started reading about the crop of new Mini Notebooks. Sadly, Apple continues to ignore this segment of the market, so, after considerable research I decided to go with the Acer Aspire One running Windows XP and utilizing Acer's six cell battery.
This little notebook is the real deal. Obviously, there are going to be some sacrifices required to create a unit that is both small and affordable. For me the lower processor speed is the most noticeable loss, but I can live with it. The Acer does a fine job of playing streaming videos, which is about the greatest speed demand I will ever place on this machine.
The keyboard is great. It feels very solid and it suits me perfectly in terms of the amount of pressure required for a keystroke. The screen image is very clear. I don't have the best eyesight in the world, even when wearing glasses, but I have no problems reading everything. The setup is largely automatic and I was online effortlessly. With a battery that is barely broken in, I am able to get over 5 hours of use on one charge. That's impressive. Also impressive is the variety of ports that Acer managed to squeeze into this bad boy.
The Acer Aspire One meets my need for a light weight, fully functional "netbook" perfectly. I find that I am turning to it more and more at home for browsing and email, while I use my MacBook Pro for working with large TIFF,PSD and jpeg files. It performs as advertised and also possesses a very high fun factor.
