85 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What all netbooks aspire to..., July 3, 2009
This review is from: Acer Aspire One 3G 10.1-Inch Netbook, Black (AT&T) (Wireless Phone)
After my good ole faithful HP Pavilion laptop went to the great cyber-resting place in the sky a month ago, I was loaned an Acer Aspire 1 Netbook (one of the much earlier models) to use until I got a replacement laptop. I fell in love with its tiny size, speed, and the fact it didn't heat up anywhere near as much as my old laptop, so I decided to get one.
At the store, I was told there was a much newer model, with 3G and Bluetooth, so I went for it. What a stunner, smaller than an A4 sheet and incredibly skinny. First thing I noticed on opening the small and nice looking packaging was the inclusion of a nice black padded neoprene sleeve made by Targus, no less. Also supplied was a 6 cell Li-ion battery (which does project out at bit at the rear, but still fits snuggly into the supplied case), good for 7 hours, at least according to the quick guide supplied. Well, from use, I would say 5 and a half hours is a more realistic estimate, which is fine by me. No more being tethered to a power point at airport lounges. Total weight (with battery included) is 1.15kg.
The netbook is finished in a nice matte (so it isn't the smudge/scratch magnet the earlier models were) with the acer logo in nice raised silver. The keypad is also matte finished.
With 1GB RAM (which can be expanded up to 2GB, simply replace the SODIMM module which is easily removed), an Intel Atom processor, and 160GB hard disk space, the netbook boots up rather fast, just under a minute. The 10.1" LCD (1024x600 pixel resolution, and a nice glossy bezel around the LCD) is large enough for what I use it for; browsing, updating my iTunes, Microsoft Office, and Autocad. Multitasking doesn't appear to affect performance speed. Also, the netbook operation is very quiet with hardly any discernible movement of parts.
The touch pad is wide, with a single bar below for left and right clicking. The touch pad is rather clever and reminds me a wee bit of my iPhone touch screen; flicking two fingers left or right moves you from say one image to the next, spreading ones fingers outwards or inwards magnifies or reduces image/webpage size, while circular finger motion scrolls up or down. Double tapping on the touch pad is the same as a mouse double click. The keypad is well sized for a netbook this miniscule, I have absolutely no problems typing but then again, I don't have huge fingers. The spacebar can be a bit testy though.
The 0.3 megapixel webcam is optimized for low-light video chatting. Does this work? Very well, I must say. I have used it in dimly lit environments and images are astonishingly clear, if a bit grainy. When well lit, images are sharp.
There are two memory card slots; one is a multi in 1 slot which accepts SD, MMC, MS, MS PRO and xD cards, while the other is a dedicated SD slot. This extra slot acts as storage expansion, meaning you can easily and cheaply expand the 160GB already present. The notebook will incorporate any SD memory card into its file system through an application it calls Smart System Management, showing the joint storage devices as a single unified space. Pretty clever!
The pair of speakers are located to the right at the front, pointing downwards. On a solid surface, the sounds seems to spread and is sharper, and on a softer surface (on your laps, for example), the sound is more recessed and muffled. Sound quality (as with most netbooks/laptops) is ok, much better though with headphones or good external speakers. There is a headphone jack and a microphone jack.
Loaded is Windows XP, a 30 day trial McAfee anti virus, and a 60 day trial version of Microsoft office. You will need an external CD/DVD drive and discs to create recovery discs, the netbook will remind you of this each time you use it until you comply. However, it is possible to restore the notebook to its original settings without recovery CDs (D2D recovery, it is called). This is fully described in the included User guide (different from the Quick guide).
For connectivity, there are 3 USB ports, ethernet port, VGA port, Wi-fi, Bluetooth, and 3G (the 3G sim slot is located beneath the battery), the latter very useful where Wi-fi is unavailable. The Wi-fi and Bluetooth both have individual switches which enable and disable each, which I like.
There you have it. I tried to write my review more from the user experience, as Amazon does a rather good job of listing the specifications and more technical details. I hope you found this review useful.
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