Acer Aspire One AO522-BZ897 10.1-Inch HD Netbook (Diamond Black)

by Acer

• Enjoy smooth streaming Internet video on the Aspire One AO522 Netbook featuring an AMD C-Series Processor and ATI Radeon HD Graphics.
• The AMD C-Series Processor is designed to deliver the balanced performance you need to enjoy your favorite applications.
• The AO522 boasts impressive ATI Radeon HD 6250 Graphics delivering the performance you need to take your high-definition experience to the next level
• Access your email and browse your favorite websites wherever you are with integrated 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED network connection and fast Ethernet LAN.
• Windows 7 Starter makes the things you do every day easier and with Office Starter 2010, experience new ways to deliver your best work!. Complete your PC. Buy full-featured Microsoft Office 2010.

Product Description

Amazon.com

Skillfully combining a sleek and stylish look with outstanding performance to help you enjoy an all-round HD experience while on the go, the Acer Aspire One 522 (model AO522-BZ897) can efficiently handle everyday tasks--such as Internet browsing, streaming online HD video, e-mailing, chatting, photo viewing, and document editing--even with visually intense, high-definition applications.

Enjoy smooth streaming video on the Aspire One AO522 netbook with the AMD C-Series processor and ATI Radeon HD graphics.

It's equipped with an AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), which is engineered to deliver rich, sharp and lifelike HD Internet entertainment. The Aspire One 522 also integrates AMD Radeon HD 6250 graphics to provide sharp HD video with support for the latest graphics standards including Microsoft DirectX 11, 1080p video output via HDMI, real time image processing with auto color and contrast adjustment, and edge sharpening.

With a 10.1-inch display, built-in Wireless-N Wi-Fi networking, a 250 GB hard drive, and up to 6-hours of battery life you'll have everything you need in a travel light design so you can stay connected on-the-go, enjoy more of your media and tackle your everyday demands with ease.

Thanks to HD playback capabilities, this netbook easily integrates into the home entertainment environment. And to provide a seamless experience, it is equipped with an HDMI port to easily connect to HDTV or video-projectors and share Hi-Def video content on a big screen at a larger 1080p resolution.

The big keyboard for fast-paced comfortable typing is complemented by the multi-gesture touchpad, perfect for scrolling documents, rotating images, zooming and browsing, all with fingertip convenience. This highly efficient netbook complies with Energy Star standards, is mercury free, and ensures 22.2 percent power savings compared with standard netbook displays courtesy of the LED backlit panel.

Pipe HD content to an external monitor or big-screen HDTV via a single HDMI cable.

 

Engage in face-to face communication anywhere with the 1.3-megapixel HD webcam.

This Aspire One comes pre-installed with the Microsoft Windows 7 Starter operating system. You'll also experience new ways to deliver your best work with Office Starter 2010.  Complete your PC. Buy full-featured Microsoft Office 2010.

Key Features

• Up to 6 hours of battery life with included 6-cell battery (4400 mAh)
• 10.1-inch LED-backlit CrystalBrite screen (1280 x 720 resolution) for native 720p high-definition resolution
• 1.0 GHz AMD C-Series processor C-50 (1 MB L2 cache) is designed to deliver the balanced performance you need to enjoy your favorite applications.
• 250 GB hard drive (5400 RPM)
• 1 GB DDR3 RAM (1066 MHz; 1 GB maximum capacity with Windows 7 Starter)
• ATI Radeon HD 6250 graphics provides the performance you need to take your high-definition experience to the next level by combining the power of desktop graphics with mobility so you can experience smooth viewing of rich content built from popular sites like Hulu.com or YouTube.
• Wireless-N Wi-Fi networking capability provides up to five times the performance and twice the wireless range using 802.11n-compatible routers as you would with 802.11g networks. It's also backward compatible with 802.11b/g networks (commonly found at Wi-Fi hotspots and in older home routers).
• Multi-gesture Touchpad for circular-motion scrolling, pinch-action zoom, and page flip. (Learn more)
• 1.3-megapixel webcam integrated into the display bezel for easy video chats and conferencing (1280 x 1024 resolution).
• 84-key FineTip keyboard, 93 percent of standard-size with bigger keys for easy typing.
• Mono speaker
• Microsoft Windows 7 Starter operating system (Learn more)
• Preloaded with the Microsoft Office Starter 2010 free software offering with selected functionality of Word and Excel for your text and spreadsheet tasks. Plus, if you decide you want the full suite, just purchase a product key to activate an ad-free version that also includes the latest Outlook, PowerPoint, and Publisher programs.  Complete your PC. Buy full-featured Microsoft Office 2010.
  
• Weight: 2.87 pounds
• Warranty: One-year parts and labor limited warranty with concurrent International Traveler's Warranty
• Energy Star certified

Ports and Connectivity

• 3 USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI high-definition audio/video output allows a single cable to transmit uncompressed high-definition video to your digital TV or LCD
• Fast Ethernet (10/100)
• VGA video output
• Multi-in-1 memory card reader compatible with MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, and xD-Picture Card (optional adapter supports optional Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo, miniSD, microSD, and Reduced-Size MultiMediaCard)

What's in the Box

This package contains the Acer Aspire One AO522-BZ897 netbook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions

Learn More

The Acer Multi-Gesture Touchpad A Multi-Gesture Touchpad allows you to pinch, flick and swirl your fingers across the touchpad for more natural photo and video viewing as well as intuitive navigation of websites. The Multi-Gesture Touchpad enables you to scroll, zoom in and out and flip through Web pages, photos, spreadsheets and more. The TouchPad can also be disabled with a one-touch button, eliminating accidental cursor movement with palms and wrists when using an external mouse.

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Microsoft Windows 7 Starter

Your PC, Simplified.

Windows 7 Starter makes small notebook PCs easier to use because it puts less between you and what you want to do--less waiting, less clicking, less hassle connecting to networks. And Starter combines the latest in reliability and responsiveness with the familiarity and compatibility of Windows.

See larger image.

Windows 7: Your PC Simplified

Simplifies everyday tasks, works the way you want, and makes new things possible.

• Improved desktop navigation features like Snap, Peek, and Shake, make it easier to manage all of your open windows.
• Creating a home network has never been easier. You can even share files and printers with all the PCs with Windows 7 on the network.
• Find virtually anything on your PC--from documents to songs to email--just by typing a word or two with Windows Search.
• Designed to make your PC sleep and resume quicker.
• Watch, pause, rewind and record TV with Windows Media Center to watch whenever and where ever you want*.

Create, Connect and Share with Windows Live

Windows 7 and Windows Live bring it all together for free. Get the free set of programs that make it simple to create and share amazing photos and movies, organize mail, and stay connected with your closest friends.

• Get 25 GB of free online storage with Windows Live SkyDrive.
• Sync files on your PCs automatically with Windows Live Mesh.
• Share photos during video chats with Windows Live**
• Easily edit photos and combine the best parts of multiple photos into one perfect photo with Photo Fuse.

Windows Live is available for free at download.live.com.

Complete your PC Experience with Microsoft Office 2010

• Microsoft Office Starter 2010 includes reduced functionality versions of Microsoft Word and Excel with advertising. (Note that PowerPoint or Outlook are not included.)
• Purchase Office 2010 today and get the most out of your new PC.

* Additional hardware may be required. Not available in all countries. (See windows.microsoft.com/products/windows-7/system-requirements/ for more information.)
** Requires a compatible microphone, speakers or headset, webcam, and broadband connection.

Product Description

Acer AO522-BZ897 comes with these high level Specs. AMD C-Series Processor C-50, Windows 7 Starter, 10.1" HD WXGA LED-backlit Display, AMD A50M Fusion Chipset, ATI Radeon HD 6250 Graphics, 1024MB DDR3 Memory, 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM), Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED, Built-In 1.3MP Webcam, 3 - USB 2.0 Ports, HDMI, 6-cell Li-ion Battery (4400 mAh), Up to 6-hours Battery Life, Microsoft Office Starter 2010, 2.87 lbs. | 1.3 kg (system unit only), Complete your PC. Buy full-featured Microsoft Office 2010.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice little netbook, flat keys, low speaker volume January 25, 2011

By J. Donaldson VINE™ VOICE

We picked one of these up at Fry's Electronics on Sunday Jan 23. We have three laptops but no other netbook experience so it is hard to make comparisons. Also my son-in-law took it with him so I only had a couple of hours to play with it. Given those disclaimers...

It is a nice little netbook and were I looking for a new computer today I'd pick up one of these for myself. It is light, small, and the battery life is pretty good. With three USB ports and an SD card reader it is nicely equipped. The thing that made the sale for us was the 1.3Mp webcam because we want to make Skype video calls with our son-in-law. The video quality was great. The screen is very bright, we actually had to dim it a bit for comfort. The single speaker, located under the front left side, didn't have much volume and was rather "tinny" sounding.

Speed is something I'd find hard to describe. It certainly is slow compared to our other computers, but not something I couldn't live with. Video worked great. I tried a Netflix streaming video and a youtube video; both worked great.

My biggest complaint are the flat faced keys. A little contour would have helped a lot. It would take me some adjustment to type quickly on that keyboard. However the keyboard layout is good. It isn't full sized but not so small as to be a big adjustment. The size would be easy to adapt to. The cursor keys, given the limited space, are well designed.

The track pad worked well, doesn't have the rough surface that so many complain about (why do they do that?), however none of us use a track pad in this family. We all choose to have wireless mice. Having three USB ports is nice because we were able to stick one of those really small mouse receivers in one of the USB slots and leave it there all the time. The track pad mouse buttons are a single bar (why do they do that too?) but that didn't hinder our use of it when we tried it out.

With Windows 7, which I like, starter version installed it doesn't allow the wallpaper to be changed. That drove my son-in-law crazy but he'll have to learn to live with it.

It would be nice if it got 8 or 10 hours on the battery instead of 6 but hey, six hours is double what any of our other laptops achieve!

The lid is a total fingerprint magnet being smooth and shiny (Why do they do that also?)

I went to remove all the bloatware from it for my son-in-law and guess what? There really wasn't any that I wanted to delete. They had preloaded Skype and a few other useful tools that we would have loaded but there wasn't the usual pile of stuff to delete.

In my opinion I think this is a pretty neat little computer for a quite reasonable price.

Jan 27. I called Acer technical support and learned max RAM is 2GB and it is DDR3. The telephone support person didn't yet have detailed information so couldn't tell me how to access the ram (but said it was through the bottom of the computer), nor could he tell me if there was a single RAM slot or two.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Adequate as stock, better with more RAM January 28, 2011

By Christina Z

Amazon Verified Purchase

My ancient laptop started begging for retirement around Thanksgiving, but with Sandy Bridge (supposedly shipping right after the announcement at CES) around the corner, I figured it best to wait. Pushing towards a month later, all the fabled wonders of awesome new notebooks have yet to really appear, and my lack of a laptop was getting me to start considering dropping way too much cash on a previous generation machine. When I saw this pop up for sale, I made a quick decision to give it a whirl. My basic wants were for streaming Netflix, and Skype video chat in a lightweight portable (better battery life was also a plus). Netflix streams flawlessly (full-screen, even over my wireless connection) and the webcam looks like it'll do just fine. The screen is just gorgeous and lives up to its marketing name of Crystalview or somesuch.

Unfortunately, despite the dual core CPU, web browsing felt sluggish so I checked the RAM. Despite being billed as having 1gb memory, the dedicated video format siphons off a quarter of that, only leaving 768mb available. It -is- a netbook, and they're not known for their speed, so if your needs are modest, this may just be fine. But I had other plans in mind...

Dual core, with discreet graphics? World of Warcraft has pretty low system requirements... could it maybe work? With only 768mb of ram, just barely, if you were desperate. With graphics set to a mix of low/fair, it was okay (mid 20s) in isolated areas, but populated towns (like Orgrimmar or Stormwind) turned into a slide show -- I spent a lovely minute with the frames per second pegged at 0.4. Okay, so what about more memory?

Unfortunately, new products are too new for reliable information. Acer's website didn't acknowledge the model existed, Crucial's memory tool couldn't suggest an upgrade (and worse, when I emailed them, their response recommended a 1gb DDR2 chip -- for a computer that runs DDR3). Another user has reported being able to upgrade this model with 4gb of ram, but my research said that Windows 7 starter wouldn't be able to see/use more than 2gb, so that was all I ordered. With a leap and a prayer, I ordered Amazon part number B001KB6Z2U (a 2gb DDR3 chip from Crucial) after I determined there was only one ram slot on this netbook. For one of the better demonstrations of how to access the ram slot, check on YouTube for "HOWTO Update your Acer Aspire One 533 from 1GB to 2GB of RAM" - the plethora of model numbers for Acer's netbooks make it hard to trace product lines, but the 533 seems to mirror what I found inside my AO522. Ignore any videos that suggest there are screws under the rubber feet - there aren't on this model. Despite having built my own desktops for the last 15 years, prying apart the tiny, flimsy bits inside a netbook was utterly nerve wracking. Yes, I scratched up the little tabs while prying up the keyboard (which you sadly have to do to access the screws holding the back panel on) -- but the results were worth it. (And a sharpie will make the scratches disappear.)

My Acer Aspire One AO522 now has 2gb of ram and it zooms. Web browsing is zippier, but my happy dance is mainly over the gaming improvements. World of Warcraft isn't blazingly fast, but it's definitely playable. Populated areas slow down to fps in the teens, but it isn't laggy, and every where else it's easily into the 30s (with video settings massaged from "Fair/Good"). I wouldn't raid on it, but for casual play it should be fine.

While I was waiting for the extra memory to arrive, I tried finding netbooks with 2gb of ram and nice web cams, but even as prices crested $500, nothing brought as much to the table as this Acer Aspire. The "up to 6 hours" of battery life seems optimistic, but 4-5 may be doable, and at under three pounds, it's barely noticeable in my backpack.

The cons that keep it from 5 stars:
- 768mb ram leaves it meh. RAM is cheap and the upgrade is a substantial pain for the average consumer.
- the tiny speaker (located on the front left, by the bank of indicator lights) is minimally adequate for system alerts. Given that one of the touted features is being able to stream HD internet, you'll want either headphones or a set of external speakers.
- The heat vent is also on the left side and it can get pretty toasty over there. My laser thermometer showed 120-125 degrees F (51 C). Thankfully, for all that heat dissipation, it still manages to be very quiet under load.

60 of 66 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Comments on AMD "Fusion" C-50 That Powers This Netbook January 29, 2011

By MWebb TOP 500 REVIEWER

This is a review of the brand new AMD "Fusion" series C-50 APU that powers this netbook (I own the Acer 5253 15.6" notebook with the same APU) NOT a review of the Aspire AO522 which has the same APU - I opted in this case to get the notebook edition from Acer instead of the netbook edition. So I can't comment on screen quality (although Acer netbook and notebook screens have been excellent) or on build-quality (recently excellent on my 255 netbook).

BUT _do read_ these comments if you are wondering if a meager-sounding 1.0 ghz processor is enough, or if you are wondering whether there is finally a solution to the woefully poor graphics performance of prior netbooks. There is presently very little information available on the new AMD chipset powering this netbook since the chipset was only introduced this month (at CES in Las Vegas), and Acer has been incredibly fast to market with both netbooks and notebooks based on the new chip (within 2 weeks after the show!). I have taken the time to include links to what early tests and benchmarks are available, and in addition I just purchased a C-50 powered notebook from Acer, so these comments are very relevant, imho, to this netbook.

The Acer C-50 powered notebook I purchased last week from Fry's is the 15.6" screen notebook editino - the Acer AS5253-BZ893 15.6" Notebook. If you search for this notebook on Amazon, you will find that Amazon only (presently) sells a version with the much faster, more powerful E-350 chip. If I owned the E-350 version, I wouldn't be commenting here, because the comparisons wouldn't be valid. But I own the C-50 version with the same chipset as the 10.1" netbook, so the comparisons are very valid (and are hopefully helpful to you).

Here is the AMD Fusion page on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_355142862_3?ie=UTF8&docId=1000652661&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=top-2&pf_rd_r=1ZWNPYZDTSAFRNFNNKWR&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_p=1287123942&pf_rd_i=amd%20fusion

Basically, the E-350 notebook chipset runs at 1.5 ghz with a 500 mhz integrated, same-die graphics processor (supports DirectX 11)

The C-50 chipset found in this netbook and my notebook runs at 1.0 ghz with a 200 mhz gpu which also supports DirectX 11.

Both chipsets are dual core.

According to the Windows Experience Index on my notebook running the C-50 (same apu powering your netbook), the scores are:

2.8 CPU calculations
4.9 memory operations
4.2 Graphics (Windows Aero performance)
5.5 Graphics (gaming)
5.5 Hard Drive

These are VERY good numbers for a budget machine (both the netbook and notebook qualify as bargain priced); the only "low" number in there is the CPU calculations per second. However, prior Atom netbooks ranged from 1.9-2.2 (z520/z530/N270/N450), and even N550 dual core Atoms netbooks are only 3.1, so 2.8 is actually pretty good, and phenomenal coming off a 1.0 ghz processor.

But wait, there's more!

A Dutch website has actually benchmarked the 1.0 ghz C-50 chipset - Google "review AMD C-50" or "AMD C-50 benchmarks" and it delivers nearly the performance of the N550 dual core atom in cpu tasks while blowing away the graphics in all the "stock" Atom netbooks (Ion equipped netbooks, which are fairly rare, post some good numbers too, but unless you have an "auto switching" Ion netbook battery life is severely shortened).

Some comments/translation on that review are on Fudzilla - the Fudzilla comments can be found by a search on their website or on the C-50 Google results above.

Fudzilla comments in part that "Guys from Dutch Hardware.info site managed to get their hands on Toshiba's N550D netbook with AMD's Fusion C-50 dual-core APU clocked at 1.0GHz. When compared to Intel's Atom N450 and N550, it is quite clear that those are no match for AMD's Radeon HD 6250 graphics found in the C-50."

In my experience, the AMD C-50 chipset really DOES work as promised (almost, see note below). I downloaded VLC and ran the test HD video that comes with Win 7 in the Video folder and it ran clear, sharp, glitch free (I run Microsoft Security Essentials as my anti-virus; it's free and low overhead, recommended! that's why I use VLC instead of other programs to run my videos, too). YouTube with the /HTML5 option, fine, full screen 480p fine. Hulu very smooth in browser at 480p, dropped frames (the "flicker" or "jerky" effect) full screen. Converted DVD's ran fine full screen. Windows Experience Index for Aero is 4+ (compared to 3.0 with an Atom N450 or N550) and 5+ for other video. Comparable to, or slightly better than, an Ion equipped Atom netbook, and a lot cheaper.

Video resolution on my 15.6" is actually very comparable to resolution on the 10.1" netbook, since Acer bumped up the resolution on the 10.1" screen in this iteration (it is actually the same as a white Macook now!). The C-50 in my notebook has no problem driving this higher resoluion.

(A note on the resolution bump up: now you can register your iPod Touch using iTunes on this netbook. Before - trust me, I ran into this problem on another netbook - you couldn't reach the bottom of the screen to move to the next screen. The height of the display was too short! While the physical display on this 10.1" netbook isn't any taller, in squeezed in the extra pixels side to side and top to bottom. This also results in tinier but sharper type. HP and Dell used to charge about a hundred dollar premium to upgrade to higher resolution on their 10.1" netbooks!)

For those of you who are tech-minded, there is only a single addition chip required in addition to the apu to make the basic motherboard chip - the Hudson Fusion Controller Hub (FCH), which adds support for things like SATA, USB, Ethernet and Audio. (see Anandtech's review of the Fusion powered motherboard with incidental Fusion comments, go the the Anandtech website and search for "The Brazos Review: AMD's E-350 Supplants ION for mini-ITX".

So the hardware driving my notebook and your netbook is identical, with the sole exception of the additional RAM on my notebook.

I am very satisfied with the performance of the AMD Fusion/Vision C-50 APU and wouldn't recommend ANY of the other Atom N450 or N550 netbooks. Atom N550's test a little faster on pure CPU intensive functions, but I have kept the Task Manager open and usually the processor is loping anyway. For my word processing, email, and web uses even an N450 (or miserably slow z520) is enough. This is the first processor that combines reasonable (5+ hour) battery life with decent video performance plus the promise of full screen 480p and even 720p video. But be sure not to overlook the importance of the increased resolution for a better web browser view. While some type may be small sometimes, it is easy to hit Control + and - to adjust viewing size on the fly.

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Caveat: Neither the E-350 chipset or the C-50 chipset powering my notebook or your netbook will work with Flash perfectly on Hulu right now. I base my comments on the E-350 based on the review on Anandtech of an E-350 powered motherboard, on my comments based on the C-50 base on my own personal Hulu experience. For additional details, please review the comments below this post.

Anandtech reports that a revised Flash 10.2 beta WILL run Hulu much better, and AMD blogs about the same issue on its blog - Google "AMD Fusion blog" then read the Flash article.

I was really debating whether to get the 15.6" or the 10.1", but in this instance opted for the 15.6" first due to the fact that it was only $20 more but included a DVD player/burner (with dual layer burn capability), 3 gb RAM, and of course the bigger screen. Less portable, but much better for home usek, and something I can hook up to my TV via the HDMI out.

If you find these comments helpful, please vote up. If these comments are not helpful, I intend to remove them.

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Engadget now has an article entitled "Editorial: The rise of the notbook, the fall of the netbook" which is worth reading. The interesting part is the comments on how superior the new AMD chipsets are to anything else out there.

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Netbooknews has a compilation of a whole bunch of video benchmarks for the C-50 vs. Ions, last gen AMD efforts, single cores, dual cores, just Google for "AMD C-50 Benchmarks, Gaming & Video Playback Testing."

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In mid-February 2011 (last week) two major video performance updates were released: Flash 10.2 with better use of video hardware, and a new Catalyst driver from AMD. Google Flash 10.2 for the one, and AMD Catalyst driver for the other; for Catalyst, select Notebook graphics, select C-Series CPU, select C-50 CPU, select Windows 7 32-bit unless you have upgraded your operating system. Once you have updated Flash and the video driver, you should be able to run 720p YouTube crystal clear, stutter-free, full screen (I tested Lady Gaga Born This Way on the VEVO channel at YouTube) with about 40% CPU utilization. Sadly, Hulu continues to be the worst Flash offender on the planet, and even with the software updates can't run anything sharper than 360p full screen, and even at 360p doesn't run as smoothly as it does "in browser." Full screen has improved, however, to the point where it is acceptable for desperation watching while on the road. You will need to do these upgrades yourself even if you buy your netbook later in the year, since manufacturers seldom make rolling updates to their software packages on the actual assembly line.

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April edit: Adobe continues to release upgrades to the Flash 10. Read more ›