My new netbook – Acer Aspire One

Well, since I wasn’t able to order the Wind MST and have it delivered to my P.O. box, I started doing a little shopping around to find what I could in the Ogden area.

What I found was a step up from the MST. I bought the saphire blue Acer Aspire One. It’s a beauty with 160 Gigs of hard drive, 3.5 hours of battery life, and weighs in at just about 2 pounds. For travel and the life I lead, this little marvel is perfect.

The first thing I did with it was to erase Microsoft office and download the Open Office Suite. Then I downloaded Skype and Firefox. Next I searched for an open source photo editing software and found Gimp which from the little I’ve played with it is a step up from Adobe Photoshop 7. I also installed Mozilla Thunderbird and the Filezilla FTP client. I deleted all the demo games, downloaded and installed MRU blaster, Spyware Blaster, and Spybot Search and Destroy and deleted the 30 day trial of McAfee Antivirus. I hate anti-virus but when i start going to questionable sites I will go get AVG free antivirus.

Next I transferred all my music, photos, files, bookmarks, and photos from my old Sony Vaio. I’m left with about 100 gigs of free space and a tight little lightweight computer that runs faster than the Vaio ever dreamed of. Not to mention the difference in weight and space is about 6 pounds and less than half the size of the Vaio.

The downside is that because the screen is smaller, some sites don’t seem to load up right. For instance the ghost floater that comes on at Johnchow.com sticks and doesn’t show me the x spot so I can cancel it. This might be a screen resolution issue, I’m not sure.

I am sure that at some point I will miss being able to play DVDs on my laptop, but to be honest, in the past 8 months, I’ve watched about 5 DVDs on the Vaio, so it really isn’t that big a deal. Installing software might be a little bit of a pain in the butt, but we will see.

To sum up, I’m already a huge fan of the netbook. I like the touchpad, the keyboard, and the overall size and weight. It might be the best $300 I’ve spent in years. I recommend that you get one. You’ll love it too.

Building on its line of popular Aspire One netbooks, Acer makes it even easier to stay productive while on the go with the larger 10.1-inch screen of the Aspire One AOD150-1165. A great choice for students as well as business travelers who like to travel light, the affordable Acer Aspire One weighs just under 3 pounds and has a 6-cell battery that provides up to 5 hours of battery life for extended use and productivity when away from an AC outlet. Designed especially for mobile devices, the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor uses a brand new design structure new hafnium-infused circuitry, which reduces electrical current leakage in transistors to conserve energy

A great choice for light-packing business travelers, the 10.1-inch Aspire One comes with Windows XP Home, a 160 GB hard drive, and a 6-cell battery for up to 5 hours of battery life .

Weighing just 2.95 pounds, the stylish Acer Aspire One goes anywhere with you

The integrated webcam and microphone makes it easy to connect with friends via video chats

Offering a cool deep blue chassis, the netbook’s smooth surface is comfortable to touch, and it’s accented with distinctive details, such as the attractive orange hinge ring. You’ll be able to easily video chat wherever you roam thanks to the Crystal Eye webcam integrated into the LCD’s bezel, delivering smooth video streaming and high quality images even in low-light situations. And the built-in digital microphone delivers superior voice quality keeping background noise level low and minimizing echoes.

Packed with roomy 160 GB hard drive–great for storing a mobile digital audio and video library–this Aspire One also features 1 GB of installed RAM (2 GB maximum), 54g Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g), multi-format memory card reader, multiple USB ports, and built-in email, web browsing, and digital media applications.

It comes preinstalled with the Microsoft Windows XP Home operating system, which offers more experienced users an enhanced and innovative experience that incorporates Windows Live features like Windows Live Messenger for instant messaging and Windows Live Mail for consolidated email accounts on your desktop.

Processor
The Intel Atom processor uses a brand new design structure that packs in 47 million transistors into a single chip sized at just 22mm (0.87 inches), and it uses just 2.5 watts of power–less than 1/10 of the 35 watts used by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor–for excellent battery management. This 1.6 GHz Atom N270 processor also includes a power-optimized front side bus of 533 MHz for faster data transfer on demanding mobile applications and a 512 KB L2 cache (which temporarily stores data).

Storage
This version of the Aspire One comes with a 160 GB hard disk drive (5400 RPM), which offers enough to room to hold a an extra-large digital audio library of and still have room left over for movies, games, and a large collection of software. This Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive also quickens the pace with a higher speed transfer of data–akin to Firewire and USB 2.0.

Memory
The 1 GB of installed RAM (512 MB onboard memory and one 512 MB DIMM, 533 MHz) can be expanded to a maximum of 1.5 GB of RAM,

Screen, Video and Audio
The 10.1-inch screen has a WSVGA resolution (1024 x 600) and support for up a 262K color depth. Video is powered by the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, which uses shared video memory with the main memory. Acer’s CrystalBrite display technology guarantees the best possible visual experience by preventing the diffusion of surrounding light and internal ray. Compared to normal TFT LCDs, Acer CrystalBrite technology is able to read color coordinates more accurately, thus minimizing distortion and creating high-fidelity colors in all environments.

This notebook includes an integrated audio card with Microsoft DirectSound compatibility, and it includes two stereo speakers.

Connectivity
This Acer Aspire One notebook has an integrated 54g wireless LAN (Acer InviLink) that’s compatible with 802.11b and 802.11g networks and offers Acer’s SignalUp technology for enhanced antenna efficiency. It has has one dedicated SD memory card slot as well as a second multi-in-one card reader that’s compatible with five different types of memory cards–Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO and xD-Picture Card–for maximum flexibility. The ability to have both a multi-in-1 card reader and a SD card reader at the same time allows you to download photos from the multi-in-1 to share with others and store to the SD card as an internal storage device simultaneously. Here’s the full list of ports and external connections:

* 3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals–from digital cameras to MP3 players
* Multi-in-one card reader supports Secure Digital (SD), MultiMediaCard (MMC), Reduced Size MultiMedia (RS-MMC), Memory Stick/Memory Stick PRO, and XD Picture Cards
* 1 VGA monitor port
* 1 headphone jack and 1 microphone jack
* RJ-45 port for 10/100 Fast Ethernet connection
* Kensington lock slot

DVD/CD Drive
Because of its size, the Aspire One does not come with an integrated optical drive, but optional CD/DVD read/write drives can be connected to the laptop via one of the three USB ports, enabling you to create your music mixes, burn movies to DVD, and more.

Operating System and Software

* Windows XP Home with Service Pack 3 (SP3)
* Acer eRecovery Management; Acer Launch Manager; Adobe REader; McAfee Internet Security Suite; Microsoft Office 2007 (Trial)

Dimensions and Weight
This netbook measures 10.2 x 7.28 x 1.31 inches (WxDxH) and weighs 2.95 pounds.

What’s in the Box
This package contains the Acer Aspire One notebook PC (AOA150-1635), rechargeable 6-cell lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a limited warranty for parts and labor for one year from date of purchase.

Product Description
Acer redefines mobile connectivity with the Aspire One, the revolutionary Netbook featuring a 10.1″ display and fun, powerful computing features delivering an optimal on-the-go Internet experience. Browse the Internet, check email, share photos, webcam, check sport scores, listen to music and enjoy a variety of entertainment in a small compact design that you can take anywhere.