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Acer Aspire One 751 reviewed by LaptopMag

David Gonzales — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:50:15 +0000

You may have read our Acer Aspire One 751 first impressions article earlier and are now looking forward to the netbook’s full review. Well, we’re still prepping up our own, but in the meantime, you can check out LaptopMag’s version of an AAO 751 netbook review. They give the netbook a rating of 3 and a half stars, identifying its strong points as long battery life, slim profile, comfortable keyboard and bright hi-res display. Of course, it isn’t without weak points, and these include the single touchpad button (which I quickly ranted about earlier) and its relatively subpar performance scores. Read the full Acer Aspire One 751 review at the link below.

Via LaptopMag

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Acer Aspire One 751 reviewed by LaptopMag

Acer Aspire One 751 hands-on

David Gonzales — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:54:33 +0000

Did you hear? 11.6-inch is the new 10-inch, and as such, one of Acer’s newest “top-of-the-line” models sports an 11.6-inch screen instead of the usual 10-incher. You’ve seen it unboxed, but in case that’s not enough, we’ve been able to get our hands on one recently and thus, we put it through a quick hands-on test to see how it fares.

The Acer Aspire One 751 moves away from the usual netbook specs of just a few months ago and carries an Atom Z520 processor, Windows Vista, and a very slim and sexy exterior. It has so far proved to be much slimmer than any other netbook I have put against it (except perhaps the 1000HA). It is also quite light considering the size and the 11.6-inch screen really shows a noticeable difference in size compared to other models.

Since the Aspire One 751 is equipped with a fairly larger screen, Acer was able to put in an even larger keyboard than usual, with wider keys and a lot of travel and tactile feedback. I even feel like this netbook’s keyboard has been the best that I have ever used. Its keys are comfortable to type with, and the increased width really helps a lot for touch-typists such as myself.

Key placement has not been a problem at all, and there are still indicator lights just above the keyboard for added convenience. After using keyboards on both 9-inch and 10-inch netbooks for quite some time, the difference of this 11.6-incher’s keyboard is really noticeable in terms of usage.

Acer has equipped the Aspire One 751 with a wide multi-touch trackpad that has a single left/right click button. I used to not care about this feature (multi-touch) at all but after learning how it actually works and what it does, I’ve found that it actually is, in some ways, better than using a mouse. The fact that the trackpad on the Aspire One 751 really helps. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the one-button clicker. In usage, it feels like I’m making things hard for myself. Perhaps, one will be able to get used to it after time.

Apart from the fact that it is larger, the Acer Aspire One 751’s 11.6-inch screen seems to bear the same characteristics as the screens found in all other previous Acer netbook models. It is a glossy screen, so inherently it is quite problematic to use outside or anywhere with a lot of ambient light. Otherwise, it is a fine screen with lots of brightness and color.

The jump from 10-inch to 11.6-inch is even bigger, and the resolution is bumped to 1366 x 768 pixels. While it only really offers an inch and a half more screen real estate, the resolution helps make things even better.

Ports-wise, it offers the usual, 3 USB ports, mic/headphone jack, built-in card reader, etc. Its main difference when it comes to this aspect of being a netbook is basically its slimmer profile. It is a lot slimmer than many other comparable netbooks before it, and that’s saying something. Even with its 6-cell battery, it is not quite as heavy as other netbooks I’ve been able to hold in my hand.

And speaking of the battery, Acer claims that the Aspire One 751 can reach up to 8 hours of computing easy. This, of course, really depends on how you use the netbook and what you use it for, but we’ll see how it really performs in real life tests once we finish setting it up for a review. As far as performance goes, it works OK. Not really blazing fast, but I didn’t notice any noticeable slowdowns in a unit equipped with 2GB of RAM and the aforementioned Atom Z520 processor (clocked at 1.33GHz). We’ll be prepping up a full review of this netbook to be published soon, but for now take another look at it in the gallery below.

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Acer Aspire One 751 hands-on

AT&T 3G-enabled Acer Aspire One to become available through Costco on May 11th

David Gonzales — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:17:59 +0000

Rumors of a subsidized 3G-enabled 10-inch Acer Aspire One going on sale through Costco have been floating around weeks ago. Now, we have even more evidence in support of these rumors. By way of leaked internal documents, it has been revealed that Costco employees are currently being trained for an upcoming launch and the reportedly, D-Day will be on May 11th. That is, when the 10-inch netbook will finally be available, not only on Costco’s kiosks, but also on AT&T’s stores. There’s no word yet on a final price, but it shouldn’t be too far from how much the subsidized 3G-enabled 9-inch model is selling these days, which isn’t much, if you don’t count the obligatory 2-year contract.

Via BGR

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

AT&T 3G-enabled Acer Aspire One to become available through Costco on May 11th

Acer Aspire One D150 unboxing and first impressions

David Gonzales — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:06:23 +0000

I’ve long waited for a chance to handle the 10-inch Acer Aspire D150. Today, I just had my chance, and for the course of the next few weeks I’m going to be all about it, this post being the first in a series that showcases the device in terms of both hardware and software. I’ve been a satisfied owner of the original Acer Aspire One, the 9-inch model, so I have somewhat high hopes for this one. Hit the jump to see our little gallery of unboxing photos and read my first impressions on the hardware.

The box contained nothing unusual. Just about everything a user would need–a power brick, cord, 6-cell battery and the 10-inch netbook itself. ‘Course, it wouldn’t have hurt if Acer included a leather pouch with this model just like they did with the 9-inch Acer Aspire One.

I felt that the Acer Aspire D150 was a great deal heavier than its predecessor. This shouldn’t be a surprise since it has a larger screen and theoretically more components (including a higher capacity hard drive and Bluetooth module, among others), but it was quite heavier than I expected it to be.

As for the outer appearance, I’d say I can describe it in just one word: beautiful. the color (red), the brushed metal casing (which is also part of the reason why there’s added weight), the rounded edges all compliment each other. To be honest, the design of the 9-inch Acer Aspire One was what first attracted me when I first saw it last year sitting next to stale-looking, generic white-colored Asus Eee PCs. This next-gen model takes the cake yet again. Based on design, I would still get this over the new Eee PC models. I don’t know, just personal preference.

All the other usual ports and connectors found on the 9-inch Aspire One, as well as other netbooks, are present. On the left side, there is one USB port, 1 VGA-out port, memory card reader (with a filler), audio in/out jacks, and an Ethernet jack. On the right side, there are two USB ports, the charger port and lock slot.

The Acer Aspire One D150’s 6-cell battery evidently bulges out round the back. This is yet another reason why the netbook is heavier overall, since it lugs on a weight of its own, but the benefit of a few extra hours of battery life far outweigh this little inconvenience. I’ll see how long exactly the battery lasts on a single full charge and include my findings in my full review.

The next two things I’m going to discuss about the Acer Aspire One D150 are among the biggest improvements. The keyboard is larger, and the trackpad is now done in a standard way where the left and right click buttons are positioned below the actual trackpad. I haven’t been able to do any long haul typing on the Aspire One D150’s keyboard yet, but from what I’ve experienced so far, it doesn’t differ much from the keyboard of the 9-inch model in terms of tactile feedback and travel.

It’s keys are somewhat larger, which makes for better typing, but graduating from the 9-inch model’s keyboard to this one won’t feel like you’ve just escaped from prison. As for the improved trackpad, while I like the fact that Acer moved the clickers below the touch panel, it would have been nice if they made it larger overall too. The more space to move my fingers on, the better. Anyway, it’s always easier to just use a USB mouse for on-screen navigation, so that’s not a problem at all (at least for me).

All Acer Aspire One D150 units come pre-installed with Windows XP Home Edition, and as I booted the device on I noticed that it took a bit longer than my old Aspire One to boot. The fact that it was also pre-installed with a fair amount of bloatware might have something to do with it. I’ll discuss more of this in my upcoming full review and comparison with the 9-inch Acer Aspire One.

Well, it doesn’t look like the Acer Aspire One D150 will disappoint. Right now, there’s no way to know for sure if it satisfies in every aspect or not, but I’d say it’s promising so far. Check out the rest of the photos I took while unboxing the unit below.

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Acer Aspire One D150 unboxing and first impressions

3G-enabled Acer Aspire One only costs $79 through RadioShack

David Gonzales — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 04:14:48 +0000

It was already a good deal when it was first announced a few weeks back, but now the $99 3G-enabled Acer Aspire One only costs $79 from RadioShack. There’s no catch, only the same obligatory 2-year contract under AT&T, but besides that, the $79 AAO is all yours for the taking in case you’re interested. We’re not sure if this means we’ll be seeing free netbooks from the likes of AT&T any time soon in the U.S., but it sure is a nice prospect. Besides, they’ll find it hard to sell old models especially now that the new ones are all over the place, anyway.

RadioShack via Engadget

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

3G-enabled Acer Aspire One only costs $79 through RadioShack

Acer Aspire D150 gets an official launch in France

David Gonzales — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:56:57 +0000

Already available in numerous countries across the world, Acer’s Aspire D150 netbook just got an official press launch in France yesterday. And Netbook3G was there to snap a few photos and cover the said launch event. The Acer Aspire D150 configuration for France is still the same as it is elsewhere — 10-inch screen, 160GB HDD, 1GB RAM, 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU. It’s exactly the same. Netbook3G took the opportunity to inquire about Acer’s slimline ZG8 model during the press launch, and the company refused to give any comments regarding the said product. Hopefully, they’ll be more than accomodating next time and tell us exactly what that unannounced netbook is.

Via Netbook3G

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Acer Aspire D150 gets an official launch in France

Acer Aspire One modded to add an eSATA port

David Gonzales — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:00:18 +0000

Hardcore modders will know all about tnkgrl’s exploits with the Acer Aspire One. She’s showed thousands of people, through her blog, how to take apart the said netbook, upgrade the SSD to a higher capacity hard drive, add Bluetooth, and built-in 3G. Now, tnkgrl has posted her very last Acer Aspire One mod tutorial — how to add an eSATA port. True, not many people will be able to make use of it, and in fact maybe some won’t be familiar with it at all, but it’s a far more efficient and better way of connecting hard drives to computers than USB or FireWire. For the full tutorial on how to add this nifty port to the AAO, head on down to tnkgrl’s blog via the link below.

Via tnkgrl

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Acer Aspire One modded to add an eSATA port

Guide to customizing the Acer Aspire One’s Linux interface posted online

David Gonzales — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:03:10 +0000

While the process of installing Windows 7 on the Acer Aspire One seemed relatively easy, I’m sure at least some of you are still holding on to the original Linux OS that’s been bundled with the netbook. If that applies to you, then you might at least try to customize the interface a bit, to make it more reminiscent of the Windows UI, instead of what Acer made it look like out of the box. It requires quite a bit of hackers, but it should be worth the time and effort spent on it especially if you’re looking to make using your Acer Aspire One easier. The full guide to customizing the Acer Aspire One’s Linux interface is available via the link below.

Via Techradar

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Guide to customizing the Acer Aspire One’s Linux interface posted online

Slimline Acer Aspire One photos and specs emerge

David Gonzales — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 03:30:15 +0000

Remember that slimmed down and obviously sexed up Acer Aspire One we should you just a day ago? It’s real. Someone, a helpful anon, has actually handled the device and has let us all in on its specs and its name: the Acer Aspire One Slimline BA01. Apparently, this will really be using open source software. To see its full specs and more pics, read the rest of this entry.

Most of the specs on this one actually haven’t changed since the original Acer Aspire One. This has Bluetooth besides Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, though, so it’s going to be a force to be reckoned with when it finally comes out.

Its specs:

Housing: 2.4 cm thick, 25.5 cm wide, 18.5 cm deep
CPU: Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz CPU: Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz
RAM: 1 GB RAM: 1 GB
HDD: 160 GB HDD: 160 GB
WLAN: 802.11a/b/g Atheros (geht mit ath5k im 2.6.29er kernel) WLAN: 802.11a/b/g Atheros (goes with ath5k in the kernel 2.6.29er)
LAN: Attansic Gigabit (geht mit atl1e im 2.6.29er kernel) LAN: Attansic Gigabit (goes with atl1e in 2.6.29er kernel)
SATA: Intel ICH7 Controller SATA: Intel ICH7 controller
Display: 25,9 cm/ 10.2″ Diagonale mit Glare Display: 25.9 cm / 10.2 “diagonal with Glare :-( (aber durch die extreme Leuchtkraft fällt das im Betrieb nicht negativ auf) (but by the extreme luminosity falls in the operation will not adversely affect)
Auflösung: 1024×600 Resolution: 1024 × 600
Sound: Intel HDA (geht einwandrei unter linux) Sound: Intel HDA (einwandrei goes under linux)
VGA: Intel 945GME VGA: Intel 945GME
Int.Cardreader: Jmicron (geht mit sdhci module nach dem Befehl modprobe pciehp pciehp_force=1) Int.Cardreader: JMicron (goes with sdhci module after the command modprobe pciehp pciehp_force = 1)
Bluetooth: integriert (Broadcom Chipsatz) Bluetooth: integrated (Broadcom chipset)
UMTS: “scheinbar” ja UMTS: “apparently” yes
KillSwitches: für Wlan + für Bluetooth Killswitch: for Wlan + Bluetooth
Touchpad: Synaptics (scrollen am Rand möglich) Touchpad: Synaptics (scroll down to the edge possible)
Akku: 3-Zellen (rund 3 Stunden Laufzeit) Battery: 3-cells (approximately 3 hours duration)
Leistungsaufnahme: “deutlich unter 10 Watt – zumindest laut powertop” “Lüfter geht sehr selten los” Power: “well below 10 watts – at least according to powertop” fan is very rare los ”

No word on a definite release date, but it should take Acer long to out this, seeing as how it’s ready for primetime, judging from the leaked photos.

Via Netbook News.de

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Slimline Acer Aspire One photos and specs emerge

Review: Windows 7 on the Acer Aspire One

David Gonzales — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:04:26 +0000

I’ve been playing with the Windows 7 beta release for a number of weeks now after installing it on the Acer Aspire One, and here are my views/thoughts on the experience. Not only will I be giving my initial impressions on the new software, I’m going to tell you how well or bad the Acer Aspire One performed with the new version of the Windows OS.

Before anything, I think it should be noted that I used the “bootable USB flash drive” method to install Windows 7 on my Acer Aspire One. Now, I’m not sure if that really does anything to goof up the software or any part of it when you’re installing, but I won’t deny that there were some hiccups before/during/after installation that I’m sure at least a few other people out there who used other methods to install Windows 7 (via external USB DVD drive, etc. if there are others) did not experience. In any case, the bottom line still is that I got Windows 7 on my AAO, and I’m here to share the details of what happened with you.

Booting up Windows 7

Before we get to the ~~boring~~ fun stuff that I did with Windows 7 on my Acer Aspire One, I’m going to tell you all about the boot up process very quickly. After pressing the “On” button on the AAO, I usually had to wait anywhere from 45 seconds to nearly a minute and a half to finally get to the desktop and have the Windows 7 Start key functioning (indicating that the whole system is ready for action). The fastest boot times I had with Windows 7 were considerably shorter than those that I got with Windows XP. So that’s a win for Windows 7, since it allows the user to get to work more quickly than Windows XP.

Once I was in Windows 7, I was surprised to find out that I didn’t have to install any drivers. The display resolution was already maxed at 1024 x 600, the built-in speakers were working, the built-in webcam showed my face, and even the Ethernet functioned without any problems once I connected my DSL. I was happy because even if I didn’t install the “necessary” drivers, it “just worked.” Or so I thought. Like many others, my Aspire One’s Wi-Fi didn’t work in Windows 7. Fortunately, the guys from over at Liliputing pointed me to a solution (as did many other readers) so I fixed my Wi-Fi problems in no time. So then, everything about my AAO in Windows really “just worked.” And I did the monkey dance.

Speed, Performance, Stability

But back to reality – while all of my hardware worked, was the software itself actually any good? There was only one way to find out: do some tests.

While using the Acer Aspire One, I also had a dual core laptop with Windows 7 installed with me, and I used it to measure how well Windows 7 performed on a netbook.

I tried out the many built-in applications, including the new iterations of the Windows Calculator, Paint, and WordPad. I have to say, the new Paint was a quite a huge improvement over the old one, offering many more options and customizations to illustrations and images, albeit still being not enough for those who want to get real image editing done on a computer. WordPad too improved a lot, being more like a basic version of Microsoft Word now than something that just opened .doc files when you didn’t have Office installed.

A few other notable built-in applications that are worth using/keeping: Windows Defender, Snipper Tool, Windows Media Player, and Internet Explorer.

What’s that? You think I made a typo there in putting Internet Explorer along with the other “keeper” applications? No, actually I didn’t. Internet Explorer turned out to be pretty speedy, comparable to Firefox and Safari speedy, in the new version of Microsoft’s OS. In some situations Firefox was still the faster browser of the two, but Internet Explorer was no longer the annoying and slow browser that it used to be. And I’m sure my impression of Internet Explorer will improve even more when I get to try version 8 in Windows 7 (last time I checked, you can’t install Internet Explorer 8 RC1 on Windows 7.)

All the other programs that I tried to install worked without problems. These were also fast, although only slightly, and these include GIMP, Skype, and Yahoo! Messenger. Basically, instant messaging, image editing, and word processing (or text editing) programs that a typical netbook user uses. It’s like having your netbook given a new life. And it gets better.

Multitasking and resulting errors (or lack thereof)

I didn’t have any problems with multi-tasking on Windows 7. In fact, my 1GB RAM equipped AAO performed satisfactorily. Windows Aero was also on, by the way.

And not once did I experience a BSOD with Windows 7 on the Acer Aspire One. Some programs did crash, though, mainly games like Crazy Taxi, Grand Theft Auto, Counter-strike, and others that taxed a bit on the graphics. Turning Windows Aero off seemed to fix it a sometimes, but without a dedicated graphics chip onboard and only a small amount of RAM, games were better avoided on this netbook.

Battery Life

As for the battery life, I only got a little bit more of it with Windows 7 compared to Windows XP. With the standard 3-cell battery, I can’t say I got more than 20 minutes more battery life on Windows 7 with the Acer Aspire One. Your best bet for longer battery life would still really be an expanded 6-cell or 9-cell battery. Anyone who would use that would no longer have any qualms about battery life, for sure.

Verdict

Even though Windows 7 is still in beta stage, it already works surprisingly well, and offers a number of improvements over its predecessors, Windows XP and Windows Vista. Even on a moderately specced netbook like the Acer Aspire One, one will find Windows 7 a joy to use, and the fact that it offers some cute eye candy doesn’t hurt either. If you still haven’t tried Windows 7 on your netbook after all this time, don’t worry, for it’s expected to become officially available at retail in only a few short months. By then, all the little bugs will have hopefully been squashed, and the performance will improve even more, which is better for us users no matter which way you look at it.

Check out our gallery of Windows 7 screenshots below.

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Review: Windows 7 on the Acer Aspire One