Customer Reviews

Acer Aspire One AOA150-1706 8.9-Inch Copper Netbook - 2.5 Hour Battery Life

5 star:		(91)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

ACER ASPIRE ONE AOA150-1635

After one day of owning this Acer One, I can say, already, that I am satisfied with this purchase. I consider this netbook a step up from my first netbook purchase a year ago with the 7" Asus 2GB Linux model.

What I Like - Great price. The large harddrive, 160 GB in such a small netbook. The familiarity of Windows XP. Connectivity to the internet is fast, and although browsing the internet is not as swift as with my HP desktop, 4 GB memory and faster processor, it's not that slow either. The rich deep blue color which I chose is also very attractive. It's bright, clear screen and webcam are also a plus. Keypad is not as cramped as my 7" Asus and right shift key is positioned better on the Acer. Multi card reader, not just SD. Some reviewers commented on receiving a slip case with certain models which was not included with this model, but an Acer black mini mouse was in the box; a nice surprise. All in all, this netbook will definately meet the requirements for which I purchased it - mostly travel and work. Purchasing the 3-cell battery with this model was not a concern since I am nearly always able to use the power cord, and don't like how the 6-cell protrudes from the back.

What I don't like - Haven't found anything yet.

P.S. I also purchased - Mobile Edge MESSU1-10 10-Inch Ultra Portable Neoprene SlipSuit (Black) - to keep off the scratches. The outside zipped pocket stores the AC cord and mini mouse.

Recently there has been a small revolution in computing of sorts... the "netbook" or 'mini laptop'. What is a netbook? Well, they are tiny laptops that are in a new class of their own. Up until recently, the smallest class of laptops were defined as the "ultra-light" or "super ultra-light". These laptops usually had 12 inch screens and weighed around 3 pounds. Many of these ultra-lights did not have DVD or CD drives, but relied on "media docks" for these capabilities.

The new kids on the block "netbooks" are even smaller... having screens roughly 9 to 10 inches and weighing around 2 pounds. Many have hard drives that are flash based... also called solid state hard drives. So what has brought about this tiny revolution? Well, today's technology has finally made it possible to have tiny laptops that are powerful enough, light weight, and energy efficient enough to be practical. Also, the Intel Atom chip (which is a minuscule marvel that offers 1.6 Ghz of computing power while sipping electricity) is a big reason why these netbooks are even made possible. So as you read this review, keep in mind that these computers are not mere toys... but are in reality tiny little work horses :)


Review: The Acer Aspire One

This review is for the Acer Aspire One with 160GB hard drive, 6-cell battery, 1.6 Ghz Atom processor with 1GB of RAM, and Windows XP pre-installed. Please note that there are several different versions of this Mini-laptop. Some of them come with different hard drives (some with solid state hard drives), and some with different battery options (like a 3-cell instead of 6-cell), and different Operation Systems too (Linux lite). I picked this one because the 6-cell battery lasts 5 hours or more, it has XP included, and it comes with a 160GB hard drive. It also makes this version the most expensive... if you're wondering why there's so many different prices floating around for the same model laptop.

Well, I've had this laptop for few days now and I'm very impressed and happy with what it can do. It runs Windows XP very well and you can have several programs open at the same time... meaning that it can multi-task pretty well. It seems to have a very solid build, strong screen hinge, and a beautiful (glossy) high contrast screen. The colors are very vibrant and the black level looks great. I am surprised at how quickly it can load web pages and video from youtube... there is very little lag time. For example, if you're watching a video on youtube and you switch to full screen mode, it doesn't slow it down and switches quickly. And although one of the drawbacks of this netbook (or any netbook for that matter) is that there is no DVD or CD drive, it played DVD videos off the hard drive great and (oddly enough) comes with Win-DVD software pre-installed. One of my worries before buying this was that I thought that the screen resolution might look pixelated since the resolution is only 1024 x 600, but it actually looks very sharp. The only thing is that you do have to scroll down more often while viewing web pages than normal due to the smaller screen size. Another thing that surprised me about this laptop was that even when you use all of the USB ports (it comes with 3 total) at the same time, it doesn't slow this laptop down. I found this out when I plugged in a USB Mouse, external hard drive, and external DVD burner ... and burned a DVD using data off the external hard drive. It passed the test with flying colors and didn't skip a beat. The only major negative thing about this laptop is the design of it's mouse. Not only are the mouse buttons positioned badly on the sides of the touch sensor... but the size of the buttons are super thin and tiny. I think they could have easily improved this by at least making the mouse buttons larger. The bright side is that you can always use an external usb mouse if this is a major annoyance for you. Other than that, this laptop has surpassed all of my expectations. Here's a quick list of pros and cons:

Pros:
-Beautiful Screen with vibrant colors, high contrast ratio, and bright!
-6-cell battery is amazing (offering 5 hours or more of use)
-160GB HD, Runs XP great, good multi-tasking capabilities.
-3 USB ports, and the Multi-card reader can read new SDHC cards
-Built in mic and web camera (video from camera looks good)
-Built-in Wifi worked well for me and web pages loaded quickly.
-So portable and light... about the size of a small textbook.
-Runs quiet and doesn't get hot while running.

Cons:
-Badly placed and designed mouse buttons
-No DVD or CD drive (but no netbooks available offer one)
-Screen could be larger (an extra inch could go a long way)

Conclusion:

If you're looking for an affordable and portable laptop that has enough processing power to run most applications, this mini-laptop might do the trick for you. It is perfect for the student that is always on the go... especially considering the long battery life. It's probably not the right one for you if you run processing intensive software though... such as video editing or gaming software. Overall, the Acer Aspire is an amazing little laptop that is a wonder (even for us tech geeks) to see in action.

I got this in a military store because I am constantly traveling and wanted a lighter laptop to stay in touch. Startup and shutdown are quicker than on larger laptops. I'm glad there is more than enough hard drive storage but the included battery could be larger. The 3-cell is actually perfect for the form but it only lasts about 2.5 hours of heavy use. I ordered a 6-cell to become my primary battery but the back sticks out and ruins the smooth look of the form. Some people complained about the buttons being on opposite sides of the touchpad but it hasn't made any difference to the work I do since I use a mouse, which came with the computer. The only other drawback is the screen resolution. You have to be careful about loading any games that require a greater resolution than 1024 x 600. I have several favorites that can't be loaded on this. However, Corel WordPerfect Suite X3 and Microsoft Office 2007 loaded just fine. It also comes with InterVideo WinDVD but it is only a trial edition-it used to be free-so I downloaded iTunes. There isn't much bloatware so it didn't take long for me to get rid of what I didn't want. All in all, this is a great buy for a road warrior. If you think you'll be away from a wall socket longer than 2 hours, get the model with the 6-cell battery.

I love this little thing!! Small,lightweight but powerful enough to do what I need it to do for work and for personal. In addition to general word processing, I will use it to do Power point presentations for work. And I'm actually looking forward to working on it sitting on an airplane, even if I'm stuck in the dreaded middle seat! I'm recommending it to everyone I know!

Purchased this little pink gal a week ago and it will be on it's way to the Acer repair center as we speak. The fan noise that comes from the forward vent is constantly on and can get annoying after awhile (especially in a quiet room!!) I also have the Dell mini 10 and the fan is whisper quiet. We'll see if the fan noise is something they can remedy or not...Another problem I had with my particular one was my space bar sticking. As I would type, the far right end of the space bar would not move when pressed thus resulting in connected words here and there! Acer customer service is great and got on the ball with helping me sending it for a checkup...How long this will take is still to be seen (or not seen, which ever the case may be!!)
Other than that, this little one is a cutie and the keyboard is very nice to the fingers (when it's fully functional!) Very smooth!
If they can fix the problems mentioned, it will be a keeper!!
With all netbooks, do your homework because they are all quite different internally and externally!!

GREAT machine, with one exception, which i discovered on a trip recently when i went to use dial-up to connect to the www. THERE IS NO MODEM! don't know why i didn't notice before, perhaps because specs above falsely state there is. anyway, must buy an external (very small) usb plug in 56K modem for circa $45, i insist on having dialup capability (hey, it ALWAYS WORKS, tho slow, and useful only for email. but when your dsl or t1 goes down, dialup ALWAYS WORKS)(did i say that it ALWAYS WORKS?) BUT GREAT MACHINE, all i wanted, cool, cool, cool. no flaws and well thought out, always a pleasure to experience good design and execution (except that the damn targus external cd/dvd is 1) at $149 half the cost of the computer, thus way too high, and 2) READ ONLY, ie no writing. but this is a netbook, you shouldn't be copying CDs or DVDs on this machine anyway.) GREAT MACHINE!!!!!! BTW, they offer another acer aspire one with a 10.1" screen now, careful comparing of specs and dimensions and viewing of pics reveal same keyboard just wider and taller case by about one-half inch in toto in each dimension to get (on the diagonal) 1" more screen and to put touchpad buttons at bottom like some losers have been complaining about on this machine. slightly heavier (wouldn't be noticable) and $20 more. exact same innards and specs (incl NO MODEM). make sure you buy the right size carry case, etc. but i like this one. SWEET. also, re the "form factor" of the 6 cell larger battery, it really adds a useful handle to the machine, and ain't at all too big or protruding. i prefer it, esp considering the doubling of time you gain. GREAT MACHINE, soooo much nicer than the HP mini (and i am an HP fan). a home run, maybe with bases loaded - GRAND SLAM!

My Acer Aspire One AOA-150-1635 was delivered on time; after I set it up it worked fine for 30 minutes then the left click button gave it up and the wireless LAN started working irregularly. I called ACER customer service who had me try a variety of fixes to no avail. They then said to return it for repair not replacement and said it would take approx. two weeks.
I then called Amazon who were great! They sent me a an email with a free shipping label for the return and arranged for a new Aspire One sent the next business day all for no cost to me!
I buy from Amazom a lot and have always had good service, but this was incredible! In addition to the speed and efficiency, the service people were very personable and concerned--I will be an Amazon client for life.
PS-The Aspire One works great and is beyond my expectations--a wonderful netbook!

I just received my gem yesterday, and I'm now having trouble sleeping. I want to stay up and play with my computer all night long. The cursor pad isn't as bad as I had previously read, but I often use a usb wireless mouse anyway. The screen is small, but isn't that the point of a netbook? The smaller keyboard is really easier than I thought it would be to get used to using. All in all, this computer is a dream! I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. In fact, I'm now the envy of some of my friends! Go for it...what have you got to lose?

I cannot say enough what an excellent product this is. I absolutely love it. Let me start by saying that I have refused to buy Windows based computers for several years, buying only Apple Macintosh computers. I have had bad experiences with Windows XP in the past. However, this computer caught my eye, and at the awesome price I just had to give it a shot. It comes with Windows XP SP3, with is supposed to be much faster than Vista. When I saw the specifications on the processor and video card, I figured the computer might be kind of slow... well, it's not. It handles videos, youtube, several programs running at once, and much more without any trouble. I was blown away. I've also found this version of XP (SP3) to be much more stable and usable than earlier releases. This computer looks very attractive in white (that's the one that I have), and I have seen it in other colors which also look nice. The machine is very sturdy (it feels more solid than my Apple iBook G4... and that computer cost quite a bit more), the keyboard is nice (and not too cramped for a 'netbook'), and the webcam is a nice touch. Although the webcam image is not that great, I am still pretty excited that such an inexpensive computer with such a small, compact size has a webcam built in. I also really like the fact that this computer comes with 3 USB ports, an SD card reader, and then another card slot that can do several types of cards: it all adds up to make a very functional machine! The screen is bright--much brighter than my brother's new 17" HP DV7 (which, just like the Apple, cost so much more), and this acer netbook has caused much less headaches than his DV7. I guess it's not really fair to compare the two since they really are two different classes of computers, but I am impressed because I would have thought that a "cheap" netbook would be the one to have more frustrations, and that is not the case. Another thing I would like to add is that I know many people who are dissastisfied with Acer laptop purchases. I have seen their laptops and I usually am not impressed. However, this is not an Acer Laptop: It's an Acer Netbook! I don't know why they seem to slosh together their laptops, but whatever the case, it is apparent that these netbooks have received much more attention and care in design and manufacturing. I would recommend this product to anyone.

This little net book actually performed better than my Sony Laptop.(2.74ghz).
I don't understand it being listed as a single core processor though, because in the device manager it shows as a dual core. Deleted the McAfee in favor of an anti virus that doesn't suck up so many resources, and got rid of the "trial" programs, and this baby runs great. Not slow at all. It is also extremely easy to take it with you. Much easier than a full size laptop. Three usb ports for easy addition of thumb drive or external dvd rom drive. Overall, I would recommend this netbook.