Acer Aspire One

Netbook is One step behind the competition




THOSE WHO HAVEN'T YET TRIED OUT A NETBOOK-the new category of cheap ultraportable laptops that have quickly followed on the heels of the Asus Eee PC's runaway success-may need only a few minutes with a model like the Acer Aspire One to understand the reasons behind their popularity.

Like others in the genre, the $329 Aspire One is a featherweight (2.2 pounds that's perfect for throwing into a bag or backpack or for typing away in bed. And like the original Eee PC and the new MSI Wind U100, it uses Linux to keep startup and shutdown times short, and it offers a Windows XP option.

The Aspire One probably won't disappoint its target audience of students or users looking for an inexpensive, highly totable second system, though the 8GB of solid-state storage is a real liability. (The Windows XP version comes with a conventional hard drive.) Both version of the Aspire One do offer a dedicated SD memory-card slot, an additional multiformat memory-card slot, and three USB ports, which you can use to attach external storage.

The glossy lED-backlit screen on the Acer has good viewing angles and is more than fine for everyday use, but it gets washed out in bright light and suffers from a moderate amount of glare. Speaker volume is decent, though audio lacks warmth becaue there's almost no bass output.

The Aspire One uses Intel's new, low-power Atom mobile processor, but because its Linux OS needs fairly meager system requirements to run, the Acer comes with just 512MB of memory. (A $349 Windows XP configuration comes with 1GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drve, and Acer also offers a $399 XP version with a 160GB drive and an extended-life battery.) We didn't experience any hiccups doing everyday tasks like word processing and Web browsing at the same time. Bootup time was indeed impressive, taking only 20 seconds to get the main interface screen. It did take another 30 seconds, however, for the device to find and connect to our wireless network.

As you might imagine, a laptop that measures just 1.1x9.8x6.7 inches (HWD) doesn't have a full-size keyboard, but it is large enough to make touch-typing possible. We suffered the occasional spelling mishap with the slightly cramped keys, though, and had problems with the touch pad, even after we turned down its sensitivity.

Acer has gone to great lengths to make sure that the Linux underpinnings have ben gussied up enough for consumer accustomed to a Windows-based GUI. The main interface is divided into four sections-Connect, Works, Fun, and Files-under which the Aspire One's apps are grouped. The home screen also features an Internet search bar to further speed up jumping online.

Free software is plentiful, including Firefox, a universal instant-messaging client, an e-mail client, an RSS reader, and direct links to Google Maps, Microsoft Hotmail, and Wikipedia. The free office suite OpenOffice.org helps fill out the Works quadrant; you get apps for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, calculator functions, calendaring, photo and paint apps, a utility to utilize the Aspire Pne's built in Webcam, and a number of games. Files houses icons that let you access your documents, music, photos, videos, downloads, and miscellaneous files.

In addition to its memory-card slots and USB ports, the Aspire One offers VGA out, an Ethernet port, and headphone and microphone jacks. It ship with a three-cell battery, but because it doesn't feature an optical drive, we couldn't normally test its stamina with our DVD-playback benchmark. In our everyday use, however, it lasted roughly 2 hours and 20 minutes per charge. That duration doesn't reall jibe with the idea of the netbook as an ideal traveling companion-if you're looking for the Aspire One to say juiced fo a cross-country flight, you'll need to secure the optional six-cell battery separately.



With its availability at Best Buy and Circuit City stores, the Aspire One is going to be successful. That doesn't make it the best choice in its category-particularly this configuration, with its puny amount of onboard storage-but it does have an appealing price, and it largely succeeds in showcasing the (albeit limited) charms of the netbook, a laptop that can finally serve as a lifestyle accessory for the masses.-Sean Portnoy

Computer Shopper November 2008