Customer Reviews

Acer AOD250-1624 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Over 3 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Okay, netbooks don't have DVD or CD burners and generally have less memory and RAM than other laptops. That being said, this is an excellent netbook. This comes with Windows 7 Starter which is a huge improvement over Vista and is as good as or better than windows XP. This netbook is easily upgradeable to 2 GB RAM and though I haven't found any need to upgrade it performance-wise I am going to stick an extra 1GB in it. Acer is a quality brand and is very affordable and the colors of this little netbook make it cooler than the average black ones out there. If you don't mind the screen size, don't need/want a DVD or CD drive then this is perfect. Homework, internet browsing and general apps all run well on it.

I've only had my Acer AOD250 for a few days, so I can't comment on longer-term reliability or issues. Qualifications:

- I'm running Windows 7 Starter and I'm strongly resisting paying for an upgrade.
- I'm still waiting for my 2 gig RAM to arrive (grumble).
- I haven't purchased an external DVD drive yet.
- I am not a power user. Office, Acrobat, & a browser constitute about 90% of my program usage.
- It's not always possible (at least for me) to distinguish between device issues and OS issues. They do work together, so I haven't shied away from making comments that may relate as much to Win 7 SE as to the Aspire 1.

Pluses:
- Size & weight are perfect for me; not at all too heavy or large to carry with great ease, but big enough to work with comfortably.

- I love the keyboard; the smaller size is easy for me to type on and the feel of the keys is perfect.

- Start-up and shut-down are quick. (Oddly, my machine takes longer to start-up from hibernation than from just being off. Sleep is fast.)

- Nice-looking, IMO. Fingerprints aren't too noticeable, and can easily be wiped off with a soft rag.

- Computer & power converter stay nice & cool.

- Very easy to connect to new networks. (I've connected to our locked home network, a locked coffeeshop network, and a library network so far.)

- I'm running Office 2010 Beta instead of the trial version of Office 2007 or MS Works. Even with 1 gb RAM, the Acer is not slowed at all by Office 2010, and I've had no problems at all. An aside: even though I'm not usually fond of learning new versions of software, I like Office 2010 very much & prefer it to Office 2007.

- You Tube, Netflix, & Hulu run just fine. The only online image issue that I've found so far is that Yahoo mail prefers a higher resolution screen. I went back to Yahoo Classic, which I prefer anyway. All of my photographs except one look fine (not ultra-sharp but quite good), and the one just has a re-sizing problem. The resolution on this netbook is not adequate for serious photo-editing, but it's fine for an amateur like me to play with. It would also probably be useful for a photographer who just wants a place to dump, sort, & view a ton of photos without having to haul around a heavy, expensive laptop all of the time.

Cons:
- Comes with Win 7 SE instead of Home Premium. This issue has been flogged to death elsewhere.

- Though I'm getting used to the touchpad, it really is too small. I'm not sure why since there's plenty of space to make it wider, but there you are. I find that I sometimes have to touch (jab) hard to get it to work. The scrolling is pretty poor to, IMHO.

- The button for clicking is quite stiff, at least on my machine. It's difficult enough to use that it slows me down and is a psin. Hopefully I'll get more comfortable with it, but it shouldn't be this way.

- I'm getting about 2 hours of battery life surfing the web, using Word, and looking at pictures (not all apps at the same time). I'm considering a larger battery, but the weight is holding me back more than the cost. The 9-volt weighs as much as the machine!

- Speakers on the bottom, as funny as that might sound. Propping up the front a little bit helps, & the sound is decent via headphones.

- Doesn't pick up low-signal networks as easily as my full-size Dell laptop.

- Bloatware, even on a little machine like this. I wish that MS & manufacturers could control themselves in that regard, but I suppose that they get paid a lot to include the wretched stuff. As another reviewer recommended, I've removed some programs, including the redundant anti-virus trials and the games (which IMHO suck anyway.) That helped the speed. I'll probably remove Works and the Word 2007 trial as well. When I upgrade the RAM, this machine should work like lightening.

- External DVD drive required. When you set up, you're prompted to make an optical copy of the original system. While I was able to back up Win 7 Starter etc to an external hard drive with no problem, the Acer files will only write to a DVD. (Actually, 2 DVD's). No drive, no backup, no recourse if you need to do a clean install. Not nice. And yet Win 7 Starter won't let you watch DVD's, so unless you routinely burn DVD's the money for the external DVD player may be wasted.

I plan to try VLC which seems to work for many reviewers. (The Win Media Player on my old laptop running Win XP doesn't work, but VLC works perfectly so I'm optimistic.) I wouldn't have purchased a player just to watch DVD's though, as I can get all of the TV and movies that I want via the Internet.

- Lots of people have hissy fits over the inability to change the wallpaper or have a screensaver in Win 7 Starter so I'm listing this deficit, but for my part I could care less and anyway there are workarounds that are compatible with the Acer AOD250. I imported a large file of photos and had no problem running a slide show.

Conclusion:
Despite the drawbacks, this is one wonderful little machine and an incredible bargain to boot. I've seen other netbooks with apparently identical specs and lower ratings for significantly more money. I'm very happy with my Acer AOD 250 1695 and highly recommend it.

UPDATE:
No new problems with my Aspire d250-1695. It has become my primary computer as my laptop is cumbersome to haul around. Win 7 SE is not that limited if you figure out how to find everything in the control panel. It's even faster with 2 gig RAM. I can run Office 2010, Photoshop Elements, and Adobe Acrobat with no problems at all. I can watch DVD's, customize the screensaver, and share files. I purchased a 9-cell battery & get 8+ hours (great for long flights) but it's quirky and heavy. The included battery is just fine for standard use. Sometimes I use a trackball so that I can work faster, but it isn't necessary. I am amazed that this sweet little machine has virtually replaced my full sized laptop. Unless you're doing graphics, IT work, heavy-duty gaming, or scientific work, the Aspire AOD 250 can probably meet your computing needs.

I highly recommend this. Bought it for myself. Model D250-1206 5 weeks ago. I have had a laptop and now have a desktop, but have always wanted the ease and portability of a netbook. This one fits all my needs and is great to carry around,in or outside the home.

The only thing I would like is a longer battery life; so we are going to search for one. I think there is one that gives you 6 hours - this one gives you 3; although I haven't specifically clocked it. If anyone out there knows where I can get the longer-life battery, I'd certainly appreciate the assistance.

Lynn

I ordered this Netbook for my daughter for Christmas. Apparently, we got a bad one. The display is so dark that we had to strain just to see if there was something on the screen. The brightness function doesn't work. We called Tech Support and were told that we would need to ship the Netbook to their repair facility AT MY EXPENSE. Basically, I paid full price for what will now be a refurbished Netbook. We never even got to use the netbook and we were treated as if we had broken it. Not exactly a pillar of customer service. I'm sure if we had gotten one that worked, we may have been very happy with it, but right now, I'm regretting the purchase immensly!

Use mine mainly for email, web surfing and documents. Love it! Does everything my old laptop did at half the weight and half the price. My battery lasts longer than 3 hours - a big help when traveling. Much easier when going through airport security. And, it is pretty too!

I did end up buying an external DVD drive so I could make backups, but I easily transferred files from the old computer using a thumb drive.

If you're looking for a compact alternative to a laptop, this is it ! Been using it now for a few months now and have found no problems at all...small, lightweight and dependable. Granted Windows 7 Starter has its limitations but nothing major.

I am very happy with this product. Processing is a little slow, but I'm using it for email and internet access only. I did find the battery only lasts about 2 hours, but other that, it met my expectations.

I got this for my wife as a gift. It's a nice lightweight machine. My complains are it comes with a lot of shovelware (unnecessary programs that hog resources.) Some examples of this were both Norton and McAfee were installed. I replaced those with Windows Essentials. There were some games, some acer utilities, adobe reader (i prefer foxit reader.) I removed all of that and the machine was much snappier. It wouldn't have been reasonable to expect a beginner user to do that, so if you're buying this for someone and you have some computer know how, you should boot it first to get it cleaned up to run best. Windows 7 starter is absolutely fine. The primary limitations are the wallpaper not being able to change and file sharing is minimalistic. I had no problems connecting this to a wireless printer / scanner, connecting to multiple wireless networks. I used google chrome to play netflix and hulu and they both displayed without skips or poor rendering. Google docs worked just fine. The screen and the mouse take a little getting used to but nothing that cannot be overcome.

this netbook is awsome i just got it yesterday it rocks, but it has a small touch pad though i would say this is the best netbook i have ever had. Windows 7 starter is awsome i really love it and its so much better than vista and windows xp.

First off, the color of this netbook is awesome. I get tons of compliments on how pretty it is (I have a purple one). It's very zippy, and the fact that it has Windows 7 is great. I've had mine for about 9 months now.

The keyboard is small and could be hard to use if you have large fingers. The touchpad also has this weird glossy finish that makes it hard to use if your fingers are super clean. The screen is super BRIGHT! If you like this, it's a great feature, but after a while it hurts my sensitive eyes.

I upgraded the RAM in mine from 1 GB to 2 GB recently and it makes a world of difference.

If you buy a netbook, I would highly recommend the following software. Because netbooks have so few resources, you can really slow a system down if you run too many programs.

-Productivity: OpenOffice (100% free to download). This is an suite of programs that lets you make spreadsheets, text documents, presentations, etc. It's super lite compared to Microsoft Office and it's free. How can it get better? Some netbook companies even preload their computers with it.

-Antivirus: Panda Cloud 1.1. Great antivirus, very lite and doesn't hog resources like AVG or AVAST. I love it's simple interface and set it and forget it features. Totally free.

-Messenger: Digsby. Digsby isn't as pretty as yahoo messenger or MSN Messenger, but that just means that it runs faster. It logs you into multiple different sites including Facebook, Yahoo, Aim, and ICQ. Totally free.

-Change your desktop background: Oceanis. This is a program that allows you to change the default Windows 7 Starter background (this feature DOES NOT COME WITH WINDOWS 7 STARTER!). The program is free, doesn't use lots of resources and installs in about a minute.