Customer Reviews

Acer AO532h-2406 10.1-Inch Garnet Red Netbook - Up to 10 Hours of Battery Life

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The Acer Aspire One 532h is a lovely little netbook, for the price it is fantastic but like all things it isn't perfect. Let's begin shall we?

The netbook is a great simplistic design, very lightweight and compact, perfect for traveling or school. It has an SD card slot for your Digital Camera, etc. 3 USB 2.0 ports, a VGA-out port (great if you wanna use the netbook with a projector), a Headphone and Microphone port, and a kensington lock slot (great if you wanna physically lock up your computer).

The keyboard is a chiclet key style, although this looks nice, the keyboard is forgettable, and by that I mean there is no way to physically remember what key your fingers are touching. This is definitely a shortcoming for the device.

The trackpad is pretty cool, it has your typical tracking area and vertical scroll off to the side, but what makes this interesting is Acer has bundeled software which lets you use multi-touch gestures. a two-finger swipe to the left will act like the "back" button, two fingers in a circle would be "refresh", it's nifty, but the lack of speed on some commands makes it more of a novelty.
The screen is bright and beautiful, of course at maximum brightness, its an LED screen so it doesn't use alot of battery power.

The computer comes with Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), a built-in microphone, and a 0.3Mp camera. Although the camera's specs aren't great, it still looked good when testing with Ustream and Google Video chat.

The other thing you'll want to remember is this IS windows 7 Starter, so you do get some nice features that come with Windows 7 Home, Pro, etc. You are missing some basic functions. If you want to change the desktop background... you can't, personalize the sounds... nope. It's definitely a starter, and if you want a more "full" experience, you will have to fork out some more cash to upgrade.

The computer maxes out the processor when more than two windows are active, this makes it difficult to multi-task. One easy way to remedy this is to give your processor a break, install more RAM in the computer (1Gb to 2Gb extra of 200-pin 667MHz SODIMM RAM should suffice). The last thing is this computer is light, so light that you will find that the computer will want to tip over in your lap (not enough weight in the front), just something to mention.

So let's cover the key things I've learned...
*Beautiful LED screen
*Webcam is good
*computer is pretty powerful and gets basic tasks done quickly
*wakes up from standby in less than 3 seconds
*Battery power is great and could last an entire work day without a recharge

#Chiclet styled keyboard is forgetable and a mediocre experience
#multi-touch trackpad is sort of nice, mostly a gimmick
#computer isn't properly balenced
#you'll want to add some RAM if you expedt to get the most out of the device.

Exciting
For the first time in 25 years of portable computing, I have no worries -- zero -- about running out of power during a working day. This is amazing. The battery lasts and lasts... you never have to plug it in, either in your office or at customers... just at night, like a cell phone.

Excellent
As a multimedia designer, I work with words, pictures, motion graphics, and lightweight web code. Programs I use at work run perfectly on this small computer: Framemaker, Xara Xtreme Pro, an older version of Photoshop, Open Office, Audacity, and Soundslides for rapid presentations with audio. If you are a writer or an illustrator, you can do a lot with this device... anywhere you go. Everything works as advertised... the wifi is easy to use, screen quality is great, and, as a non-touch-typist, the keyboard suits me just fine.

Elegant
This PC is beautiful right out of the box. A lovely, simple, slightly rounded plastic shell. And Windows 7 Starter is a kick -- it is faster and easier to use than Vista or XP. All my old programs (except Ultraedit, a text editor) installed right away. Including a contact/filing program I've been using since Win 95! Talk about backward compatibility! Windows 7 Starter's only drawback: it won't let you change the desktop background, but the default blue color works well for me.
This is the perfect way to deliver a presentation. It has a plug for a projector... but, for sales, you can sit with a prospect (anywhere) and just go through your show on the bright screen and never worry about the battery failing.

P.S.
Decided to buy this right after the Apple iPad demo, where I found out that the iPad couldn't run Flash graphics (hey, I make motion graphics!)... and I can tell you that Apple's HTML5 idea is nonsense... HTML5 is still on the standards drawing board, and will use H264 videos rather than interactive content. Also, turns out the iPad can run only one app at a time, can't do copy-paste operations, and won't run any of my work programs. Am going on about this because if you pay $$$ for a PC, you'll be asking 'how long will it take for this tool to earn back my money?' ... and the iPad seems to be snarled up with monthly connect charges, iTunes content charges, etc. -- a lot of proprietary, non-open-source costs that can really reduce your profit margins.

Highly recommended. Hope this helps.

This netbook just amazes me. Compared to Asus and Samsung netbooks that I have owned it is the clear winner based on the fact that I am carrying it with me 24/7, literally putting it next to the bed when I get in. Added the extra ram (now at 2gb) and upgraded to Windows Home Premium. The unit is lightening fast and the keyboard is easy to adapt to. At under 3 pounds it is almost unnoticeable when carrying all day in my backpack, with my verizon myhotspot wifi device I can whip out the book and connect easily and conveniently anywhere.

The only negatives I can see so far is the lack of bluetooth connectivity but I had to return a Samsung netbook due to it losing the bluetooth and wifi connections after about an hour of surfing. Also there are no recovery discs and the user needs to burn them themselves, one for system (2 discs needed) and one for the drivers (one disc needed). Having owned Acer products before I was prepared for this and had ordered an external dvd drive along with the netbook to create them before setting up and using the unit.

I have seen comments about the screen size. Yes it is small but the clarity on the Acer is the sharpest and brightest I have seen. As a person with "coke bottle" glasses I have no problems seeing the screen.

All in all a good netbook but not a laptop. I do not game and use it only for surfing, email and music on the go (along with surfing in bed using an attached usb light). It is just what the doctor ordered for my needs.

To start off, I was very skeptical about the whole Netbook idea. I have always owned very large/heavy laptops, the whole concept of bigger is always better is what sold me the past for buying them. Now, I'm starting to rethink that strategy. After many hours of painstaking research on which one I should buy and try to sell myself on the idea of a Netbook as well. So, I finally settled on this particular model and ordered up all the extra gear to go along with it. One of the additional items I ordered for it was the 2Gig memory upgrade kit for it. I was very leery about this move after reading some of the other reviews left by other owners who had ran into problems when upgrading from 1Gig and going to 2Gigs. The trick for ordering the correct memory was to ignore the recommended memory model for the unit and go with (Crucial - CT25664AC800 2GB 200-pin SODIMM DDR2 PC2-6400 Memory Module) the next model up on the Crucial memory.

The first thing I did was open up the unit and replace the memory module with the new 2Gig unit.
Here's a little tip; do the memory upgrade first, then installing the battery pack. By doing this you're less likely to damage the Netbook and/or memory. I fired up the little Netbook and check the memory in the system BIOS and in Windows, I was seeing all 2gigs of memory.

Next I and dumped the Windows Home it came with and installed Windows 7 home premium (64bit) from a USB flash drive that I had set up ahead of time. Once I had Windows up and running, I went ahead in and took advantage of the built in SD card reader to setup Windows memory boost using a 4Gig high-speed SD card. Wow, now I'm impressed, with 6gigs of available memory to Windows and this particular Netbook is using the Atom 450 processor, It runs Windows beautifully in native 64bit with hyper threading turned on in the CPU.

I love the lightweight of the unit, the built in wireless card is responsive, the keyboard has a nice solid feel to it, the LED screen is easy on the eyes and the fact I can run the unit the entire day before needing to recharge it again is a real bonus.

So, after running around with it for the first week, I am pleasantly surprised by the unit and have changed my thinking about bigger is not necessarily always better.

Just a side note, 2 of my coworkers liked the Netbook so much they have bought ones for themselves.

THIS IS A TERRIFIC LITTLE COMPUTER WITHIN ITS LIMITATIONS. I wanted it mainly for traveling and as a backup for my Dell desktop computer. Weight was very important because I am a retired geezer and wanted to minimize what I have to lug around airports. I had gotten one of the early and tiny ASUS models which was pretty good but the 7" screen, keyboard usable only by a 4-year old's fingers and the oddball progam control were TOO lightweight for me. This Acer Aspire One 532H-2326 is just right.

I ADDED A 2ND GB OF RAM by following advice in an earlier post and installing the Crucial CT25664AC800 2GB 200-pin SODIMM DDR2 PC2-6400 module. The hardest part of installation was getting the industrial strength plastic container open without harming the memory board. HINT FOR ANYONE WHO HAS NEVER INSTALLED A MEMORY CARD: go to crucial.com and find their instructions. The main thing is to avoid static electricity and they tell you exactly how. One little screw holds the memory compartment shut and the whole operation took under 5 minutes. Despite other posts, my Acer instruction book clearly says that this model accepts up to 2GB and it's true.

THE TRULY ASTOUNDING BATTERY in this model delivers the stated 10 hours even after several cycles. It once lasted 14 hours including 4 hours of "sleep" in between work sessions. I DO RECOMMEND following the instructions and going through 2-3 complete charge/discharge cycles to season it.

SOFTWARE: I think I am fine with the WINDOWS 7 Starter which is fast, familiar and so far totally stable, and I don't mind the one-and-only choice of Windows Blue wallpaper. I use this machine mainly for web surfing, email, simple photo work and keeping track of my daily investment losses while I am away from home. I think the included MS Works, Power Point Viewer and Adobe Reader will do fine for me. If not, a few more dollars will get me MS Office and a bigger version of Windows 7 but I figure the less overhead, the faster it will go. HINT FOR ADOBE READER: I initially had a problem getting Adobe Reader to start because the license agreement did not contain any "Accept" button. I finally figured out that I had increased the screen font size to 125% (remember, I'm a geezer). After I changed it back to the default tiny print (in Control Panel) the Accept button suddenly appeared and all is well.

THE KEYBOARD is perfectly fine for my wife. With my larger fingers it has taken me a while to get used to it. It will never equal a full sized keyboard but I can actually touch-type albeit with a few more errors than usual and I am more grateful for Spell Check.

IN SUMMARY this computer is not for dedicated gamers or heavy duty business use. It would probably be fine for most students, especially ones with small-to-medium size fingers, and perfectly suits my purpose of a lightweight travel computer for casual use. For the price you get a lot of computer.

Purchased this small 10.1" screen netbook for travel convenience. By was I happy!! Lightweight made the trip to Aruba a pleasure by not having to haul a heavy laptop on vacation. Got used to the 93& keyboard size in short order and actually like it better than the full-size version. Very fast start up from the shut down or sleep cycle. Screen brightness is a real plus while outside or on a plane. The embedded camera was perfect for SKYPE and MICROSOFT MESSENGER LIVE communications and saved us a fortune to keep in contact with home. Battery life is excellent, ranging from 8-10 hours/charge depending on functions being used. Speakers are high quality and sound volume more than adequate. Speed was excellent even with the base 1G of RAM.

I LOVE THIS NETBOOK! It is better than the description, fast, lightweight, and pretty to look at. My only complaint is that Windows 7 Starter won't let me change the wallpaper. Other than that, it is a fun, take anywhere, netbook. I can recommend it without qualification.

Once I got it working, it seems great; however, it does need the 2GB memory.
I started out with -2588 (160GB disk) and could not get it to recognize a 2GB DDR2 PC5300 chip from Kingston or PNY. I actually bought that machine from Staples, and their tech said that Acer changed the specs and it no longer takes more than 1GB.

However, reading the comments on Amazon I will return the device to Staples and I already bought the -2326 with the Crucial memory listed on Amazon. It works like a champ!! Recognized the 2GB chip immediately. Didn't need to go into setup (F2), and it seems far zippier than the 1GB machine.

However, before I tried it, I looked at the Crucial website which suggested in red to be sure that machine had latest BIOS upgrade. I asked Acer Support about this and got the following reply: "Please be informed that the memory in your system is expandable only up to 1 GB." So Acer seems to be saying 1GB only, but with the Crucial 2GB memory it seems to work well. Of note, the 2GB Crucial chip as bundled by Amazon says DDR2 but when I run CUPZ-CPUID, it says it's a DDR3 chip.

In any case, so far so good, and happy with the 2GB configuration. I wonder if the system is pushing the limits and if ACER has pulled back because some 2GB chips don't work.

But for now, I'm smiling.

Steve

After researching economical netbooks exhaustively, including HP, Dell, Gateway, Compaq etc I found this to be the best bet for buck! Amazon shipped it quickly and everything was as stated. I do also highly recommend the memory upgrade to 2GB. The recommended Crucial memory upgrade that Amazon suggests DOES work in this unit and takes less than 5 minutes to install with only a small screwdriver needed. I find it does make a difference especially running memory intensive programs. Windows 7 Starter is limited but it comes on almost all netbooks. There are freeware programs out there that will let you change backgrounds etc. People complained about movie quality. I use windows media player to watch movies that I have downloaded from Amazon. Their average $5-15 and many of them you can install on multiple units. The movie quality is excellent!!! Internet browsing is good. IE works, Firefox does but also has a few hiccups. Google Chrome I've found is best because its simple and doesn't over tax the unit. For the $$$$ this is hard to beat!!!

I bought this Acer for 2 reasons: portability and long battery life. At first I thought I would be disappointed with the small screen but it is very bright and
the computer seemed a little slow loading pages at first. I ordered a Kingston 2GB
upgrade( as is suggested ) and wow it really picked up speed. Overall I would give it an excellent rating.

I took it on my first business trip and used it extensively in the hotel room and it did the job just fine. If you are considering ordering one and it is not fast enough for you go to Kingston website and it will scan your netbook and tell you exactly what to order. It is a very simple installation for anyone and well worth the price.

This is a very nice netbook and I am most pleased.