Acer - Aspire One Netbook with Intel® Atom™ Processor N270 - Blue

For $369 ~ $399 you can order the White Acer Aspire One 150-1126 Atom N270 1.6GHz CPU with 1GB RAM and a *** 160GB HARD DRIVE *** (model # LU.S040B.162) or the Black version: Aspire One ( Model # LU.S410B.024 ) I was considering the MacBook Air - but at that price I expected a lot more hardware - so I bought the Acer Aspire One with the 160 GB hard drive. I was surprised to find Microsoft Works fully installed, as well as the latest Microsoft Office 2007 - 60 day trial. No junk software - just productivity, media player, and internet explorer in Windows XP home, service pack 3, plus internet and virus protection included. MS Office works great. Great machine - very long battery life - 6 Hours when you set the power setting in control panel to MaxBattery. Some reviewers say the fan is loud - if power setting is set to Always On, the CPU runs at full speed creating more heat. MaxBattery will only speed up the CPU when you need it - and the fan runs quiet as the machine runs cooler by using less power. Right out the box it started right up and found my wireless network, I applied the latest Microsoft updates and virus protection updates quickly and easily. After installing iTunes and QuickTime - I copied over my music and videos from my old laptop wirelessly over the network, no problems. The keyboard is almost full size and is easy to type on, while the mouse pad takes a little getting used to because of the smaller size. Video playback is sweet! Rich colors and excellent playback. The speakers are weak, the sound is closer to that of a good cell phone, not a small laptop. So when watching a movie I plug in mini PC speakers for full sound. Bose headphones also make the music sound excellent. The ports include 10/100 network jack, 2 memory card slots, power, headphones and microphone jack, and 3 USB connectors. The first memory card slot is an SD slot meant to be used for increased storage - the second slot is multi-format - taking a variety of memory cards to work with most Cameras. The Aspire one includes a WebCam and Microphone for video chat. The camera works very well - even in average office light. Add your favorite chat client software to talk with your friends and contacts... I added on a USB cellular modem from Cricket for internet on-the-go. There is no DVD/CD player included - if you want that - buy a 12" mini-notebook with a DVD/CD drive. I have found adding on extra equipment this / that adds bulk and is more trouble than just having a built in CD drive. All in all an excellent netbook for you briefcase or purse - surprisingly powerful in a small package. I recommended it for those who want something small to be a companion to their camera, iPhone or iPod, or to save and send their photos and documents on the go.

What I have read of those who have given this bad reviews is that they did not research the product before they bought it and expected it to do something which it was never designed to do. I love this little netbook. It runs well and does exactly what I want it to do. It boots up in 30 - 40 seconds and shuts down in 20. If you want to optimize Windows XP then do a little research on the web and you can see exactly how to do it. When this is done the response time is better than my desktop with more memory and a faster processor (I have not optimized windows on that machine). I have installed Word and Excel on the machine and they run great. When you install programs remember that there are 2 'disk' drives. Point the install directory to the 'D' drive to save space on the 'C' drive for Windows (it is a pig and this is Microsoft's fault, not Acer's). The smaller keyboard is a little awkward and took a short period of time to get used to. I still miss letters at times, but that is to be expected with a smaller keyboard and my fat fingers. The wireless is fast. If I want '3G' then I would spend hundreds more to get a laptop with it. Or, I would buy a USB 3G modem. You cannot expect everything for this price. I occassionally think about the small disk space, but then I am not going to be saving video and music to this computer - not the purpose. If I was going to do that then I would spend several hundred more for a different machine. If you know what you are looking for and want a VERY functional little laptop which is smaller than a large Bible, then this is it. It is great for internet, word processing and general computer usage (what 90% of the people use their computer for). It is not a music machine (not enough disk space - get an MP3 player) and it is not a DVD player (get a portable DBD player). It is a very functional computer with plenty of room to run what I need. Again, optimize Windows XP using the research you can get from the internet (there are step by step guides for the Acer One out there). If you want the hard drive, spend the extra 50 - 100 bucks and get the extra weight as well (as well as additional drain on the battery). The two compalints I have: 1) The shiny finish is terrible for finger prints. This finish appears to be popular now, but it only aggravates me - I use my HDTV screen cleaner on this regularly. 2) The battery life is marginal. For my current usage it is fine, but if I was to take this on a trip I would spend the 60 - 70 bucks to buy a 6 cell battery and get 5 - 6 hours of battery time. I gave it 4 stars just because it is not perfect (not easy to upgrade, but for what I use it for it probably does not need it). Also, it is not perfect, but for the price I should have probably given it 5 stars - Really, 4.5 stars.

I wasn't in the market for a netbook, but when I saw this model on the Best Buy Outlet site for the bargain basement price of $239 I had to have one. Luckily, the local Best Buy had this model in stock and I was able to compare it against its significantly more expensive competition. It held up amazingly well against the competing Dell, HP, and Asus models both in terms of features and construction. I actually found the Aspire One's keyboard to be superior and much easier to type on than any other model I tried. Once home, set up was a breeze. I was on my Wireless G network in minutes, and every piece of software I installed worked flawlessly (OpenOffice for productivity, GIMP for graphics, Audacity for sound, Truecrypt for drive encryption, Notepad++ for development, and much more). The Aspire came with Mircosoft Works and McAfee antivirus, as well as a trial of Microsoft Office Home and Student -- all of which I removed to make space for my own software. The display is beautiful; for it's small size of 1024x600, the screen is clear and crisp and easy to read. Sound isn't as impressive, but the unit does have earphone and microphone jacks. It also has a built-in webcam and mic, making it a great portable Internet communication platform. Another nice feature -- the dual SD slots. One is designated as additional storage, but both slots can be used interchangeably. With two 32GB SD cards, you now have 72MB -- getting close to hard drive capacities. Battery life could be a bit longer -- I am getting about 3 hours, which is low compared to newer 6 and 9 cell batteries.

This is a netbook. It's mainly supposed to be used to surf the net. That's what it does for me. I bought it because I am using it as a digital book reader. It's got color and the space I want. You also can't beat that it has a solid state drive. It cost less than the other digital readers out there that and I am not limited to their websites to buy books. I am happy with my purchase. It has the space and memory I want and I can use flash drives if I need to. My only issue is that sometimes surfing the net it starts to become slow and bog down. I took off most of the stuff that was put on the netbook and only left on what I needed. As with the battery life I don't mind having to be near an outlet alot. Everyone is complaining that there isn't enough drive space. I would like to point out if you want drive space go buy a regular laptop. It's small and convenient for me. I can put it in a neoprene case with its cord, pack it in my purse and off I go. It does take some getting used to when typing on the smaller keys. It is very portable which I think is a huge plus. I have been using it for well over a month and I wouldn't trade it in. If my husband could steal it from me I am sure he would.

I'm am respectfully disagreeing and am amazed at how easily some of you guys give up and how fast you are to complain. Although I do appreciate a cross section of opinions and reviews. Here's where I disagree: Small keyboard, what!? - It's a notebook! It's supposed to have a small keyboard! To me, that's like buying a Smart brand car and complaining that the steering wheel isn't as big as a Mack truck. It's a non sequitur. Small storage space? No big deal. (pun not intended) Just get an external hard drive if you want more space. Some of you will complain that that defeats the purpose and I can understand that. But external hard drives are so compact these days that who cares if you have to add it? It only takes up a small amount of space on your desk or wherever you use it. Although, if you do use this on your lap, I can see where an external drive would be cumbersome, if not impossible to maneuever. I'm a senior citizen and have owned PCs since the mid 1970's and maybe am and old fuddy duddy, but I'm surprised at the lack of appreciating history here. Even in the 90's this amount of RAM and hard drive space (even without an exernal drive) and speed would have been touted as a pretty nice desktop computer! Just because something new and faster comes out it's as if anything old is relegated to junk status.........Like I said, I appreciate the reviews so far, but as an old man who has owned a lot of computers through the years, I am amazed and delighted that such a little powerhouse can be made so cheaply and compactly today.

Overall, its a pretty darn good little comp for what u pay for it. I went back to California for the holidays and saw this there, and the price is single handedly what sold me on it. I only use it for internet. Things like Myspace and instant messaging, and checking up on NASCAR news. I DO NOT use it for gaming. Thats what my PSP and XBox 360 are for. Really the biggest problem I have is it is rather slow, although sometimes (not very often) it can be quick. Also, if I have more than one thing going at a time, it will freeze up on me almost all the time, but usually it will come back after a few seconds, as long as once I see its stuck, I leave it alone for a moment. It came with an 8GB memory card and so far I have not tried to use it so I do not know how well that works, but I do have a mobile broadband card and it doesnt have any trouble with it. I did remove some programs I never will use from it, but it did not seem to help the issues with speed or freezing, but did not seem to hurt either. Overall, I am pretty happy with it. Oh and the webcam aint too shabby

Got this a few weeks ago and so far pleasantly surprised. It was this or the next one up for $50; also, at BB, the Netbook Extended Warranty costs far less than the Laptop Ext. Warranty- it's $130 for ANY of the lower end laptop ext. warranties; the Acer and HP netbooks, on the other hand, are a mere $60 commitment. Long story short, a $350 HP laptop in fact would've cost me $480 plus sales tax, coming out to about $520. This is why I was primarily tempted to go for the netbook. With this Acer the final cost for the entire op ended up at under $400, including a 2 year ext. warranty. This netbook has obvious limitations (no CD/DVD drive, small keyboard) from its size, but it doesn't take a mighty hit on your wallet and it's even easier taking around than a laptop. Also you can attach an external burner (I'm eying the LG 8x slim burner).

This is an excellent 2nd computer or for any student. This particular model is the one to get because it has SSD making it boot up very fast and will be easier on the battery. The 3 Cell gives about 2 hours but you can get a 6 cell, which does make it a little bigger and heavier but will get you about 7 hours. This does require a bit of work though. Because it's SSD storage, you will need to make some tweaks since XP is really designed for standard hard drives. Also XP has a lot of wasted storage space and wastes a lot of memory on stuff you will never use like a Smart Card. A few minutes on Google and a couple hours of hacking got my C: drive down to 4GB with all the apps I need. Use the included 8GB SD card to store portable apps and only install the bare essentials on your C: drive. My only other complaint is that the shiny surface really tracks fingerprints. All in all this was a very satisfying purchase. Fast boot up, allows me to surf the web (no it's not slow to web surf on it), and is so light and compact that you will never take your regular laptop with you on the go again.