Customer Reviews

Acer Aspire One AO722-BZ454 11.6-Inch HD Netbook (Espresso Black)

5 star:		(101)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

UPDATE 8/23/11: For details on how to upgrade this netbook, check out the comments posted below. Just click 'Comments (#)' at the bottom of this review. The further you read into the comments thread the more in depth the questions get. Feel free to read through and post any questions that have not already been answered. If you have any new tips or tricks others might benefit from, please contribute. Thanks so much!

REVIEW: I was looking for an 11"-13" small laptop or netbook that could web surf, blog, and run MS Office. I also wanted to be able to handle basic, on-the-fly photo editing & design using Adobe CS5. Lastly, I needed something that could run for at least 6 hours on battery and had a full-size keyboard. Going with the Acer Aspire One 722 was a good choice price wise and provided a power efficient option that met my needs while on the road. Hopefully, you find this review helpful.

After testing it without any upgrades for a week, it was way faster than the Atom netbooks I've used in the past and faster than my old 11.6" Acer AS1410 Core2 Solo from last year. However, I wanted a bit more grunt power and speed. Upgrading the hard drive and memory seemed like a good decision, and it has turned this entry level PC into something on par with most mid-range desktops. Here are the upgrades I made:

* Crucial C300 2.5" 128GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

* G.SKILL 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3-1333 PC3-10600 Unbuffered Non-ECC

Being that this is a review for the Acer Aspire One 722, it's only fair to give you the PROS and CONS without factoring in the upgrades.

PROS:

* Amazing keyboard - Huge buttons, nice click and very little flex. Buttons are where they should be.

* Dedicated graphics - Video streams via YouTube and Hulu in HD without stuttering. 1366x768 resolution means I can run Photoshop natively. 256MB of dedicated graphics memory, means I can flip through web pages without waiting for it to catch up.

* Battery life - With the original hard drive, I was getting 4.5-5 hours on the "balanced" power setting. 7 hours on "power saver"

* Windows 7 64bit with an AMD C-50 processor

* Brand name - This is my 4th Acer PC. There are a lot of great options out there, but IMHO Acer is the best bang for the buck.

* Charger cord - Something I've grown to appreciate is how compact the charger cord is. It is only one cord, as opposed to the usual two part cord included with most laptops. It's a whopping 8 feet long and comes with a Velcro strip pre-attached to neatly store the coiled cord. The charging block is at the plug-in end. Also, the prongs can be rotated 90 degrees so it doesn't block any more of a powerstrip or outlet than it has too. Nice job!

* Webcam - Very clear webcam. It's only a 0.3 MegaPixel, but when I'm traveling my misses says it's crystal clear on Skype.

CONS:

* Glossy black lid - Not a deal breaker, just a matter of preference. Wish it was matte. I do like the embedded ripple. Kind of groovy.

* BEEP - If you plug-in or unplug the power cord while the netbook is ON, the computer lets out a loud beep - just loud enough to make you flinch. It reminds me of my very first PC from 20 years ago. This can be disabled in Control Panel > Device Manager > click on the "View" menu at the top > click "Show Hidden Devices" > click the + sign next to "Non-Plug and Play Devices" from the list of devices > double click "Beep" > go to the "Driver" tab > choose "Disabled" in the Startup drop down menu.

* No Bluetooth - Using a mini USB Bluetooth adapter to resolve that.

* Trackpad size - You can kind of expect this on a laptop this small. I prefer a wireless mouse anyways. Other than size, the pad feels perfect and is very responsive. The trackpad buttons are the best I've ever used.

* Linux users - As of 6/14/11, the graphics card, web cam, and wifi drivers are buggy on Linux. I tested Ubuntu 10.04, 11.04, Mint 11 and Joli 1.2 and was experiencing system freezes and resolution issues.

AFTER UPGRADING THE MEMORY AND HARD DRIVE:

* Boot time - Before the upgrade: 1 minute 35 seconds. After the upgrade: 32 seconds.

* Battery life - I get about 5.5-6 hours with the power management setting on "balanced". 8+ hours on "power saver".

* Photoshop CS5 64bit - Opens in 7 seconds now as opposed to 16 seconds previously.

* Multitasking - I'm able to multitask a couple web pages, streaming music, Outlook, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Bridge and Camera Raw simultaneously without a prolonged hourglass. That's good enough for me.

I've had this netbook about a month now. I spent a couple of weeks looking up different netbooks to do basic stuff like handle Adobe Flash on the web, type a paper, but most importantly, have HDMI output to play 1080p videos. My budget was in the $300 range and this was the perfect choice after taking everything into consideration.

The netbook itself is very thin and light and has a good keyboard that is a little bigger than your typical one on a 10" netbook. It has a 250GB HDD, standard webcam, mic, and card reader. Another thing I should mention is that it has two speakers on the bottom (left & right) and is louder than other Acer netbooks I've had that only have one speaker.

I wiped the HDD when I got it and installed Win7 Ultimate x64. I liked that it came with 2GB RAM as most netbooks in this price range only come with 1GB, but even then, this netbook runs even better when you upgrade to 4GB RAM. The CPU may run at 1GHz, but don't be fooled as it handles well, has great benchmarks, and is comparable to other netbooks I've had with Intel Atom CPUs that ran at up to 1.66GHz. That's mostly because it has the killer ATI Radeon HD 6250 video card that can play any video or flash game I throw at it with no hogging up a lot of the CPU (be sure to install proper codecs like k-lite).

The screen is a good size at 11.6" (not too big, not too small, I think) and is really bright and vivid with 720p resolution (1366x768) so you don't have to deal with cramped up desktops and web surfing like on other netbooks. It outputs 1080p video perfectly and I am able to watch a show or movie on my TV via HDMI output and be surfing the web or be typing a document at the same time with no noticeable lag. I also love the battery life on this thing: ~7-8hrs on power saver with low brightness.

Something else I should mention is that this netbook does not run hot and will not burn your lap or hand. It has a vent on the left side, and is the only spot that may occasionally only get warm, even when I'm using it outside in 100F+ weather.

Yes, it beeps when you plug or unplug the charger, but that may be considered useful to some people and is easily muted like other reviewers have mentioned. As for ripple design on the cover, I thought it looked cool and that it was neat it wasn't just another black cover like other netbooks I've owned and seen. Even when I've gone out with it, I've had several friends comment on how much they liked the design (as well as the netbook as a whole). Overall, this is the best netbook with HDMI I have seen in this price range.

Pros:

- Thin & light

- Cool cover

- Webcam & mic (though pretty standard nowadays)

- Card reader

- Nice and large keyboard

- 2GB RAM (not 1GB)

- ATI Radeon HD 6250 graphics can play any video or flash

- 1080p HDMI output

- 11.6" screen w/ 720p resolution

- 7-8hr battery

- Doesn't run hot

- 2 speakers

Cons:

- 2GB RAM (upgrade to 4GB)

I bought this from another website, but I wanted to leave a comment on here specially since the netbook seems to be getting hammered on here for reason that make no sense.

1) Cosmetic: The appearance is actually kind of nice. The ripple effect on the case is actually quite attractive, all my friends who have seen it(I have the espresso black) really thought it was interesting to look at versus the standard flat black cover most netbooks have. My only issue is the slick shiny plastic they use is somewhat of a finger print magnet, but nothing a simply cloth wiped crossed once or twice wont fix. It is also extremely light and easy to carry will fit in most backpacks and slingbags with ease.

2.) Functionality: It comes with Windows 7 64bit so pretty much it is a fully functional little laptop, it will run just about any movie or YouTube out there, currently I have been watching HBOGO and other movies on it. I cannot speak of it for gaming even though it is DX11 compliant, I have not installed any games on it since that was not the reason I purchased it. My only issue so far is the 2 Gigs of ram that it comes with installed. Acer installed Windows 7 64bit which will allows the Operating system to recognize more then 3.5 gigs of rams at one time. That being said, I'm not sure why Acer did not just install a 4gig stick of ram from the factory. I realize this might have raised the price by $20 to $30, but imho it would have been worth it.

Overall a really great netbook for the price, I would have loved the extra ram and would have really loved for Acer to release a netbook with the C-350 APU chip instead, but for the most part this will handle pretty much anything I need at the moment and is comparable to most 2-3 yr old laptops that you might have now.

I bought this computer to replace a netbook I had been using for about a year. This computer is not intended to be a full powered notebook, so it is best to compare with netbooks. With that in mind, I have found it to be faster than my prior single-core netbook, I like the slightly bigger screen than a standard and overall find it to be a reasonably good upgrade from the netbook.

Two big cons in my case: 1) the first one I received included a screw rolling around on the inside. Even though it was there the moment I opened the box, customer support at Acer indicated that if I sent it in for service they may not honor the warranty if they determined it was user abuse. OK, I understand this, but really, I called the same day I registered the product - play nice. Instead, I just returned the product and got a new one. Customer support was not very good or helpful.

The second one I got had a strange intermittent error. When you type on the keyboard, every so often it would change and make the keys become sequential numbers. It wouldn't matter what key you hit, it would just type the next number. So, if you typed "asdf" the computer would enter it as "1234." I contacted their customer support again, and found out this is a known error with some bloatware they are including on the computers. After deleting the bloatware (guardid, I think was the name), the system worked again.

The other trade offs in this machine make it a nice balance in terms of price, weight, battery life, size and speed. If you want something fully functional and fast, go elsewhere and pay more; if you want something that will work for basic functionality, you can carry anywhere and its at a price that you can easily afford, this is a good unit.

I am not impressed with their customer support, but I think that might be normal for all PC makers these days - they don't really like their customers anymore.

I thought performance might be lacking on this model, but I was looking for extended battery life and decided to take a chance. Have had it about 2 weeks now and couldn't be happier. AMD's C-50 APU combines the CPU & GPU for power efficiency and it hit the sweet spot with this model. While the CPU alone is marginal (1.0GHz X2), it really gets the job done when combined with the HD6250 GPU. Besides basic office/browsing/email, I wanted to be able to watch HD movies on a decent sized screen without having to plug in, and it really excels at that. Even streaming HD movies look great (no stuttering) and I routinely get 6-7 hours of battery life with screen at about 75% brightness (which is still very bright). I like the size of the 11.6" screen - had a 10.1" net-book, but that was just a little too small for me when watching movies. Plus has resolution up to 1366 x 768.

Was thinking of going tablet, but this puts them all to shame re performance, and is much cheaper, not much bigger, and it has a keyboard (a big plus for me). It also has 3 USB ports, Ethernet port, HDMI out and multiple format card reader. Maybe I'm missing out on the coolness factor, but with this and my 4.3" screen smartphone, don't see myself needing a tablet anytime soon.

The only complaint I have is that the speakers could be a little louder, but not a serious issue for me.

Overall, this model is perfect if you're looking for mobility, extra-long battery life and good HD video on a very nice screen. Also comes at an excellent price!

I am going to be traveling to China soon and have been looking into getting a netbook for easier travel (my main computer is a hunk and too heavy to carry for a long period of time). I actually gave up on finding a netbook because the reviews for the the ones available in my price range were too inconsistent, plus I'm not really into electronics and don't know what to look for!

I was given this as a surprise gift and I have to say, I love it so far! Here are my initial reactions:

Pros:

-very light

-charger is very compact

-big screen, for a netbook!

-web cam seems great

-FAST! (my boyfriend's mom also has an Acer netbook and her's is a lot slower than mine)

-sleek look, love the ripple on the front

-keyboard is big, I don't think it is quite as big as a regular computer but is much bigger than other netbooks I have typed on.

-battery life, I think I've gotten around five hours

-plays videos really well

cons:

-doesn't come with the complete Microsoft, but I didn't expect it would. I will end up upgrading it to fix that.

-the mousepad is generous, but the buttons are kind of small. They are really close to the edge of the computer so I sometimes miss it, but it'll just take some getting used to.

-the bottom gets pretty warm which I wouldn't have expected from a newer computer (anyone else notice this?)

Overall, I would definitely suggest this netbook to anyone, it seems to be a great little machine!

First off-I would NOT pay full MSRP for this, or even the typical slight discount. (I got it heavily discounted in a promotion a week ago.) If it's anywhere near MSRP, I think there are better options out there. HP has a dmz1 model with a better CPU and GPU for close to this thing's MSRP (plus it's an HP). I've seen a 15" HP model for a similar price too. At MSRP, this thing just doesn't make sense.

That said, what is the 722? Well, it's a pretty typical "netbook"-that is a tiny notebook with an 11.6" screen and no DVD or Blu Ray drive. Unlike the typical "netbook", this is running Windows 7 Home Premium (not the somewhat stripped down Starter version), and comes with a much appreciated 2GB instead of 1GB, and uses AMD's low end c-50 CPU instead of the typical Intel Atom.

2GB is a solid minimum now for a system like this. (Though on your main PC I'd never recommend less than 4GB.) With a few big programs open, I was using 70-80% of the system's RAM (which also means there isn't much RAM left over for the various caches Windows maintains.) RAM's tight, but it works, whereas 1GB would have to be constantly swapping out to the hard drive.

It's worth noting here that unlike some systems (including Apple's similarly sized Macbook Air) it's easy to access this notebook's innards. A single screw pops off the bottom, giving you access to the RAM slot and hard drive. It seems to just have a single DIMM slot-meaning basically if you wanted to upgrade, you'd need a 4GB DIMM...but the system can handle that.

The AMD c50 CPU is new. AMD's 'c' and 'e' series CPUs seem designed to compete with Intel's Atom CPUs, but AMD's chips have several advantages. While Atom is basically a 'modern' version of a Pentium 1, the c/e CPUs are basically stripped down Athlon 64 chips. Dated, but still more modern designs that beat Atom when clocked at the same speed.

The e350 (used in HP's equivalent notebook) is clocked at 1.6GHz-making it easily more powerful than Intel's Atom. The lower end c50 used in this has two cores, but is only clocked at 1GHz (the GPU is clocked slower too), which apparently puts it somewhere between a single core 1.6GHz Atom, and a dual core 1.6GHz Atom.

Perhaps more interestingly, the c and e series CPUs include a low end AMD GPU-an 80 core part with 4 ROPS. That's very low end, but still much better than what you get in a system with Intel's graphics.

In THEORY the GPU should actually be good enough to run real games at lowish settings, although I haven't really tried that yet (and the CPUs are of course a huge limitation too). It is fast enough to accelerate the Windows desktop pretty well (even on my external monitor at 1920x1080), and provides video acceleration too.

In practice, I'll see one or both cores pegged at 100% much of the time, whether from browsing the web, or even installing updates. Updates that takes seconds on my (very dated) 2.4GHz Core 2 notebook take minutes on this. Scrolling through websites can feel sluggish.

Even playing a DVD (with an external drive) I saw CPU utilization hover between 15 to almost 100% of one core. I didn't try a Blu Ray, though given how much of the CPU it takes to run a DVD, I'd imagine it would really struggle with Blu Ray.

Bottom line is it feels very pokey next to a computer with a full, modern CPU and GPU, even for the basics like web browsing and using a word processor.

As such, I'd never recommend something with this CPU (or Intel's Atom) as a main system. Considering the low price though (if you get it on sale), it can be really handy as a second or third system-in my case, I've got it in the kitchen.

I should also note that while it feels very pokey next to even an out of date (formerly) mid range notebook, if you compare it to tablets or iPods or the like, well, it can run a real, full web browser, do real multitasking, and do all of that better than a tablet...so it just depends on what you're comparing it to. From a certain perspective, it's actually quite impressive.

I should note-the c50 CPU/GPU used in this draws a MAXIMUM of 9 watts at full load.

I was VERY pleased to see that AMD's normal video drivers (that you get from AMD.com) installed without any issues at all. I downloaded the new ones, uninstalled the old ones, and installed the new ones, and they went on without issue-no hacks or anything strange, this c50 is directly supported by AMD's driver releases!

I could actually tell an immediate difference too-Windows desktop acceleration was noticeably improved, and DVD playback used a bit less CPU time.

Given the number of notebooks that CAN'T use AMD or Nvidia's normal drivers, this is actually impressive that this can. AMD seems to have really improved compatibility and stability and their driver situation in the last five years!

Regarding the system itself...as noted, it's super easy to access the internals-something that's not always the case, even on 5x more expensive systems. It has a full compliment of ports-3 USB 2.0, HDMI (which worked fine on a 24" external monitor), an audio output AND input jack, which seemed to sound as clean as my Asus 'normal' Core 2 notebook.

The screen's LED backlit, and is pretty fantastic for the price. Max brightness is lower than my 'normal' LED backlit notebook, but it's still very usable on max (and since it uses LEDs, it probably won't really ever get dimmer).

The keyboard's decent...again, not as good as my 'normal' 14" Asus notebook, but pretty darned decent.

The speaker (speakers?) are even quieter than on my 14" notebook, but solid enough. I'm just happy it has clean audio out through the headphone jack, as I've heard some high end systems that have a ton of static through those jacks.

Wifi and Ethernet worked just fine. I had no trouble jumping on my networks with either.

Battery life...well, I haven't and don't plan on using it on battery much, but as is typical, the battery life is probably around half what Acer claims. They say something like 7+ hours, in actual practice, Windows was saying I had close to 4 hours with a fully charged battery. (This was with wifi on and the screen set to max brightness. And with the CPU at max clock speed...which is to say its whopping 1GHz setting.)

The overall 'feel' of the system is nice-it doesn't feel cheap to me at all, feels well built, if anything

The system doesn't come with a clean OS disc, but it has software that will let you burn restore DVDs, or I think it'll work with a USB flash drive too. Or of course Windows itself lets you make restore discs, which is what I did. Not ideal, but hey, for the price...

It had quite a lot of extra software installed, most of which I removed. I switched to Microsoft's free Security Essentials, which (besides being free for personal use) seems to use a lot less CPU time than the included Mcafee. It's kind of annoying having to uninstall stuff you don't want, but that does help get these cheaper systems down to the prices they're sold for, so I really don't mind.

This was my first exposure to Office 2010 Starter Edition, which is free, but has a small ad in the corner of the window. I left Office 2010 Starter on, as it actually seems fairly useful-on this system though it runs very slowly. OpenOffice seems a bit faster, so I'm using that as my primary office suite.

So again-for full price, I'd go with HP's equivalent model. If you're looking for a primary system, don't get it at all-I'd get something with AMD's 'A' series CPUs or Intel's Core i3/i5/i7 CPUs, and get a GPU if needed, and a minimum of 4GB. These 'c' series CPUs and Intel's Atom are years out of date, and just too pokey to be used for a primary system, unless you absolutely have to.

All that said though, browsing the web or writing on it is still far more pleasant (and faster) than trying to do the same on one of these new (more expensive) tablets. (I actually tried both an iPod and an iPad for this location before giving up and buying this.) So this can make a really nice secondary system-maybe one used for a single task, or used in the kitchen, or perhaps used in a location where you're worried about it getting damaged, that kind of thing.

A quick background for you, I'm an IT guy. I do the computer thing 24/7, this is what I do best. That being said, I never thought a netbook would ever make its way into my life, and instead thought I would be getting a tablet.

A couple of weeks ago, I had to take a working trip to Anaheim and I needed to take the company owned netbook (which wasn't this Acer) with me. I also took my personal laptop with me, a 15" Dell XPS. I thought the Netbook was going to be extra weight that I was lugging with me between terminals, but it turned out to be one of the most heavily used systems during the trip. I found that it fit on top of our half height server rack much easier than my Dell did, and I found its performance to be adequate to what I was doing. That being said, there were a few things that annoyed me about the company netbook.

It was based on an Intel Atom processor. Standard fare really, 1.66 GHz with HyperThreading running Windows 7 Enterprise. It performed most tasks fine, but I did notice some issues running multiple apps, and things generally felt "sluggish". I thought it was typical netbook fare, but I couldn't deny the utility of the system (or the battery life.) When I returned from the trip, I made it a point to get myself a netbook for the office and home.

A friend of mine was looking for a netbook and ended up getting this very model, the AO722. He was shopping for one, and we ended up on this one since we both like AMD and Acer. He bought it, and had it in the office one day. What a big difference. It absolutely smoked the Intel Atom based company netbook.

A little background here for folks shopping for these. The AMD C-50 APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) in this netbook is a combination of AMD's new "Bobcat" processor core and Radeon HD graphics. The C-50 is an out of order processor, which means that it can run programs in whatever order they submit themselves to the chip. Intel's Atom is an in-order chip, and as such it needs to have instructions passed along in-order, which can slow things down because it needs to order them according to how it can operate. This introduces latency (lag) and can cause a chip to fall behind. This is also why you see the Atom clocked higher in most cases than the C-50. You can't look at the two based on clock speed for that reason. Don't look at this chip and go "eww, it's only 1.0 GHz, but I can get the Atom at 1.6 GHz for the same or better cost." The AMD also feels quicker in regards to multitasking. I find that AMD generally has a "smoother" experience in this regard, so it's good to see that their "Bobcat" chips haven't lost that ability. The system will hit 100% CPU during things like Windows Updates, but at least it doesn't bog everything else down to substandard speeds. Putting an SSD in this netbook will really make it shine. I am currently running tests on it using a 40GB Intel SSD, and so far, it's black lightning on ice. Very, very fast.

The other thing worth mentioning here is that Intel's graphics chips, at least in the enterprise world where I work, are known as "graphics DEcelerators." Intel just doesn't do graphics like AMD(ATI) or nVidia do. They can get the job done for most business tasks, but they tend to be less interoperable than chips from AMD/ATI or nVidia. AMD's C-50 integrates the Radeon HD 6250 on-chip, and the performance is stellar. I've never had a problem watching video or playing light games (Minecraft, World of Warcraft, even some Dirt 3) on the system. It won't throw down a solid 60 Frames Per Second, but it does a fine enough job to keep you entertained.

I also like the battery removal system and the bottom cover. The battery is removed by using a rigid object like a thin screwdriver to slide a clip that is recessed in the bottom panel, which pushes the battery out. No raised switch to get accidentally triggered while you're handling the system. The bottom cover is held in place by one screw and slides into grooves to lock it in place. To remove the panel, you take out the one screw and then slide the bottom panel toward the front of the unit where you'll find the RAM, hard drive and heatsink/fan assembly underneath. It's a setup very similar to only one other system I've used, my personal Dell laptop. Upgrades are painless and easy thanks to that setup.

I have played around with benchmarks on the system, having run HDTune on the hard drive already, and it spits out standard scores for a drive in this class. Minimum is 31.8 MB/sec, Maximum is 82.8 MB/sec, and average is around 65.5. It can burst to 76 MB/sec with an 18.1 ms access time, and the graph is pretty tight, so it stays consistent across the drive (which is important).

The screen is bright and colorful, easy to read, and doesn't suffer the size constraints of other netbooks I've used. Websites and other programs open and are fully visible on this screen, and I don't find myself scrolling all the time just to see something, or to open a program which doesn't show all of the options on the screen without dragging it around. The brightness controls on the keyboard using the Fn & arrow keys is easy to use, and offers a comfortable range of brightness. I usually run it at the lowest setting to conserve battery life, and to keep my eyes comfortable. I have run it at the highest setting, but usually only outside on the patio or in a bright office.

Battery life is averaging about 5 hours for me right now but ONLY because I don't let it run completely down. The system is good about hitting standby only when I don't need it after a while, unlike most laptops which seem to go into standby the minute you don't use them to save on battery power. Thanks to the C-50 APU and the screen, it doesn't need to go into standby as much. I usually recharge the battery around 30% or so that I can keep using the system later. I can do a full media drain-down by request.

I've used the SD card slot and found the access speeds to be good, and the 802.11-N wireless is great with long range and older router compatibility so far.

Another big benefit is that Acer's site is impressively easy to find drivers for this system. Just tell them Netbook, Aspire One, pick the model, and they tell you visually which drivers they support and then display the list below that window. At the time of this writing, it's just Windows 7, but that's all I want on here for myself. I know folks have been having problems with this unit and Linux, but as it's popularity rises, so will the driver support by the community.

So why four out of five stars? I reserve the fifth star for something completely stellar. Acer could've thrown in the C-60 APU with turbo in this price range and then I would have given it a 5 star rating, no questions asked. Don't let that sway you from this system, as it stands very well on the C-50, and is very good at meeting most tasks that an IT guy like me can throw at it.

Here's a quick & dirty Pros / Cons list for those of you who are "short sentences only please!"

PROS:

* - Great Keyboard - The buttons aren't too small, and they offer great tactile feedback. They are where you expect them to be. Touch Typers: Great keyboard!

* - Dedicated graphics - Video streams are always consistent, and the 802.11-N WiFi means you're already set up for great performance that way. The 1366x768 resolution is above that of a lot of other netbooks, objects on screen appear as intended!

* - 256MB of graphics memory helps with lighter 3D gaming and general use.

* - Battery life - 5-6 hours average out of the box. Your Mileage May Vary based on use.

* - Windows 7 64 bit is a huge deal on a system at this price point. Windows 7 OEM itself usually goes for $99 brand new.

* - Brand name - Acer does indeed offer some great systems for the money. This is one of them.

* - Charger cord - The cord is a generous 8 feet long and comes with a Velcro strip pre-attached to help you store the plug. The charging block is at the plug-in end and the prongs can be rotated 90 degrees so it doesn't block any more of a powerstrip or outlet than it has too. This is a first for me on a portable device, and others should do it too. Absolutely critical to have these days.

* - Webcam - Very clear video, and I'm impressed with the microphone pickup for Google Mail video calling. Skype should be painless as well.

* - Trackpad - The pad feels perfect and is very responsive. The trackpad buttons are really nicely placed, and the scroll ability on the right side is very smooth and VERY easy to use. They pulled that one off very well.

CONS:

* - Glossy black lid - Fingerprint attractor, but it wipes off easily

* - Slowish APU. The C-50 can hold its own, but it would've been nice to see Acer throw in the C-60 at this price for something truly outstanding

* - Arrow keys could be a little bigger, but fit the keyboard profile

* - "Only" 2GB of RAM. In the Vista days this would have been very bad, but Windows 7 does a good job with that amount. My unit came with Kingston RAM.

* - Quietish speakers

* - Comes with McAfee installed. I never let that stuff touch my systems, but it removes easily with PC Decrapifier

I am happy to run other tests or answer questions here, I've checked the box to be notified of comments, so feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to help answer your questions.

I haven't been seriously impressed by a new laptop purchase since I bought a classic off lease IBM Thinkpad T-61p. I saw Target store's promotion special for this Acer 722 and got interested. I am a computing enthusiast and heavy user since 1987. I follow the field but I'd not heard of the 722. I was skeptical when I saw Target is offering it for $249 plus a $50 gift card. I consider consumer laptops junk so I never considered buying an Acer before. I researched this 722 and got interested as Acer seemed to have assembled a knockout combination. I've been following AMD's C-50 processor developments with interest. Intel & another maker, that went bankrupt later, took computing away from the integrated processor and graphics chips of Commodore & Amiga. At last AMD saw fit to try that option again and in so doing it looks like they breathed new life in the netbook line.

Given the amazing low price and Target's solid return policy, I decided to try this Acer unit. I've been looking for a Tablet for my wife to take back and forth to work to use during business down times and haven't been able to find one yet that makes sense. There is the overpriced Apple & Motorola Toys and the Android alternatives that are good only for gadget guys like me. A truly Internet functional 3 pound, thin, 11.6" netbook with a quality screen for $250 makes sense, provided it works more like a good laptop than a smartphone with a big display like the netbooks I've looked over. Within an hour, I was impressed with the 722. I went back to Target and bought a second 722. They accepted the gift card I got with the first one, so my cost was $150 (and I got another $50 gift card for a final cost of $100!)

I have waited 15 years for a practical, portable, serious mobile computer like this 722-BX484. It is simple, easy and excellent for streaming HD movies to my LG TV, Internet surfing is flawless. By the way, I do not have the loud power source switching warning beep users mention. I have two complaints, one rates as a negative for certain users, the other is minor.

First, the Touchpad. It stinks. I would rather Acer forget the gestures and just use a simple touchpad. Trying to keep my fingers in the narrow strip in the center isn't possible and when typing its too easy to accidentally brush it and end up shifting what you are doing. Please be aware I have never tried either a touchpad or stick mouse that I like. I just turn off touchpads and use my GE mini wireless mouse. Second, this is a minor issue. I wish Acer would not ship the 722 with the goofy Win 7 desktop appearance settings that attempt to give ICON fonts a 3D look! Unless you have the right screen background (the solid red selection works well), the font is very hard to read. The hollow white-like block letters and the drop shadows stink.

The 722 ships with 2 GB Ram memory. I wouldn't rush out and drop another $50 for more RAM. Most people will not gain much from it. You get better benefit by switching the desktop to Windows classic and uninstalling the junk apps. You will also gain by going to download.com and downloading & installing a few excellent utilities --CCleaner, Auslogics Defrag, & a trial of System Mechanic. Use them to clean up the registry, first defrag, than optimize the hard drive. after you uninstall the junk apps and setup Windows.

Get rid of McAfee Security, after you download free AVG security & Netzone firewall (free). McAfee is just a trial & its a resource hog that will slow down your Acer.

If you'd like to speed up boot and shut down as well as computing consider using Linux. Want to see lighting fast? Download the PuppyLinux ISO variant FATDOG64 and install it to a 2GB or larger USB flash. Like Puppy, FATDOG loads into RAM and runs from there. Lighting fast, much faster than Windows on an expensive SSD drive. Users have mentioned Linux community hasn't caught up with the the tech in the 722. Normal 32-bit Linux versions don't work. FATDOG64 is a 64-bit version of PuppyLinux. FATDOG works beautifully. It automatically identifies and connects to wired Internet and automatically tries to setup wireless. Under Fatdog, I can use the touchpad as it does load the gesture features.

If you want a truly mobile computer that works like a solid laptop & you want it for a reasonable price, Acer 722 is a good bet.

I normally wouldn't write a review on a piece of tech equipment, as it's not my area of expertise. But, after reading the silly reviews about cosmetics, I just had to. I have had this for about a month. I had the Dell Duo, but returned it because of poor battery life and weird mouse things going on. I absolutely LOVE this little machine. It's all the good things that people have already mentioned. Don't hesitate - buy it!