All about the Acer Aspire one series netbook. Acer Aspire One: the most stylish of netbooks
Acer netbooks: review best models
At the same time, few people will be surprised by a reader today, and besides, the cost of a good e-reader is approaching the cost tablet computer or even a laptop computer.
Acer netbooks bring joy
It is the latter that will be discussed in our review today. There are a number of reasons why a device in the netbook form factor can be considered one of the best options for a New Year's gift, we will not list them all, because such a task is not worth it, it is better to take a look at the Acer line of netbooks, and everything will become self-evident. Let us make a reservation right away that we will not consider any single the lineup, but several devices, quite different in functionality, configuration and internal architecture, in order to cover the widest possible range of devices (as possible within one review).
Acer Aspire One 725
We will start our review with a netbook, for the simple reason that this device enjoys the greatest popularity among users, and I must say that this popularity is well deserved. This netbook can be called a compact, cute mule among its fellow netbooks, which are often leisurely donkeys.
Acer Aspire One 725
The Acer Aspire One 725 is built on the AMD APU Fusion platform. Fusion APU series processors are specifically designed to work in netbooks, laptops and all-in-one desktops. Thus, it is easy to guess that installing a processor of this series on a netbook makes the latter a fairly powerful and functional device.
To be precise, the CPU on the Aspire One 725 is a dual-core C-60 processor with clock frequency 1 GHz operation and the ability to overclock in Turbo Core up to 1.33 GHz. The Aspire One 725 also has 4 GB of DDRIII RAM and HDD drive volume 320-500 GB.
The implementation deserves special attention graphic solutions netbook. Integrated graphics are installed as a video card on the Aspire One 725 AMD Radeon HD 6290 Graphics with 256 MB of dedicated memory. Thus, this netbook is not just portable device, and also a good solution for lovers computer games, because with such graphic equipment, even simple 3D games will run on it without any brakes.
The Aspire One 725 case makes a good impression
In addition, we cannot ignore the visualization solutions used in this netbook. The Aspire One 725 is equipped with an 11.6-inch Acer CineCrystal LED TFT LCD display with a resolution of 1366x768, which is characterized by wide viewing angles, image clarity and color depth. In addition, in certain configurations, the netbook is equipped with a NON GLARE matrix, which increases image clarity and makes the netbook more suitable for use in open spaces.
An ergonomic, full-size island-type keyboard allows you to work with text or graphics for a long time without feeling tired.
Of course, if you consider the Aspire One 725 netbook as a New Year's gift, you cannot ignore its appearance. Perhaps, only one thing can be said here: the design of the device is made with five plus marks. The netbook body is made in two colors: strict black and quite playful blue. The lid of the laptop has a glossy finish, while the wrist area is made of matte material, which creates a certain contrast, and besides, the matte surface of the internal areas of the device is not so easily soiled, fingerprints practically do not remain on it, so the netbook will always look neat.
As for functionality, the Aspire One 725 holds a good mid-high level. This is exactly the case when the manufacturer’s stated characteristics - “devices for daily performance of everyday tasks” - are fully justified. Working with text, images, surfing the Internet and using multimedia functions - there are no problems with anything. The netbook works quite quickly, and there is no strong heating or noise from it. Aspire One 725 has support wireless networks Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0+HS.
Interfaces and connectors Acer Aspire One 725
Of course, we should not forget that one of the the most important characteristics such a device as a netbook - mobility. Aspire One 725 is equipped with a four-cell lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 2500 m/Ah. The battery life is just short of 6 hours.
Thus, we can summarize: the Aspire One 725 can be a fairly serious New Year's gift for a person looking for a powerful enough mobile device that he could always take with him, but without losing functionality due to the form factor.
Aspire One D270
Next in line is the netbook. Consideration of this model should be divided into two groups, since the design of netbooks in this line is divided into two different branches: some of the devices have a rather strict appearance, enclosed in monotonous colored cases, and some have a cheerful design, with multi-colored bubbles on the lid And touchpad. Unfortunately, there is no space here for such a detailed analysis, and in terms of hardware, netbooks have no differences, so in support of the spirit of the holiday, we will simply keep in our mind’s eye a netbook in a colorful, cheerful case, and, accordingly, consider it as excellent a gift for a cheerful girl who easily goes through life with a conceptual Aspire One D270 under her arm.
The cheerful Aspire One D270 gets into the holiday spirit
To make the life of our imaginary heroine seem even more cloudless, and the operation of the netbook to remain stable and fast, the manufacturers equipped it with a processor Intel Atom N2600 with an operating frequency of 1.6 GHz. The netbook's RAM capacity is 2 GB. When looking at such indicators, of course, there is no particular admiration, but they are quite sufficient for stable and generally fast operation of the system. In addition, it is worth remembering that in this case we are talking about a device that has been on the market for a long time, i.e., it is completely established and has already proven its viability. Consequently, the Aspire One D270 has a decent number of grateful users.
The device is equipped with a rich set of interface connectors: on the left side of the netbook there is USB 2.0, an HDMI connector, a VGA port, a standard RJ-45 and a connector for network adapter. On the right: a universal 5-in-1 card reader, a standard audio jack, a microphone input and two USB 2.0 ports, with a Kensington Lock connector in the very corner. The front and back edges are free of any interfaces. On the top panel, above the screen, there is a black peephole of a webcam with a resolution of 0.3 MP, which provides standard video communication capabilities.
The Aspire One D270 keyboard is quite ordinary
The Aspire One D270 is equipped with a 10.1-inch diagonal screen with LED backlighting and integrated Intel GMA3600 graphics. The maximum screen resolution is 1024x600 pixels. The resolution, frankly speaking, is not maximum, but one thing that cannot be taken away from a netbook is excellent viewing angles. When deviating left and right, the image does not fade or become distorted. The same goes for downward deflection. The only visible distortion appears when the vertical axis deviates upward, which is a characteristic feature for all devices in general.
Another argument in favor of the fact that the Aspire One D270 is a more acceptable gift for a girl is the size of the keys. Frankly speaking, they are not large, especially the arrow block, so the keyboard is not the most comfortable for men’s hands, but for the light fingers of our hypothetical user it is just right. But we had no complaints about the touchpad of the Aspire One D270. The matte surface is pleasant to the touch, the cursor clearly responds to touch. The touch vertical scroll bar does not act strangely or jump around. The touchpad buttons are merged into a single key, the press is tight, noticeable, but without a loud click.
Time battery life The Aspire One D270 is slightly smaller than the previous model, but also quite decent - 5 hours in moderate use, i.e., viewing images, working with text, surfing the Internet and other simple tasks.
Appearance is the undeniable advantage of the Aspire One D270
Thus, we have before us a nice little netbook with a full set of necessary functions and a fairly long battery life. life cycle away from the power grid.
Acer Aspire One 756
A netbook is quite a “dark horse” and, oddly enough, not many users can boast of being familiar with it. The strange thing is that this netbook comes in a fairly diverse configuration, which should arouse interest among those who like to experiment with hardware. On this moment Acer laptop The Aspire One 756 is available in the following configurations: based on Intel Celeron 87.887 processors clocked at 1.4 GHz. The RAM capacity is 4 GB, expandable up to 8 GB via two SO-DIMM modules, or 2 GB RAM.
Acer Aspire One 756
The storage capacity can also vary from either a 320 GB HDD or a 500 GB HDD.
Appearance this laptop It is quite strict, despite the fact that it comes in four different colors: black, blue, red and silver. The dimensions of the Acer Aspire One 756 are 285 x 202 x 20.95-27.35 mm, and the weight is 1.38 kg. The indicators are quite normal for an 11.6-inch device, but they fully meet the requirements for a device that is always with you.
The netbook is equipped with all the connectors and interfaces necessary for fruitful work, such as a reader and writer of SD and MMC memory cards, stereo speakers, a microphone, a web camera that allows you to record video with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels (like the One 725, this netbook can be equipped with a NON GLARE matrix), communication modules, RJ-45 and a Wi-Fi module that supports 802.11b/g networks.
Acer Aspire One 756 has good screen performance
This model would be quite suitable for a prudent user who perfectly understands the purpose of a netbook, its functionality and capabilities.
Packard Bell dots
And for a snack we were left with a very interesting Packard Bell dot s model. In general, Packard Bell devices have always been of particular interest among casual users. I think with this device the situation is absolutely the same. Packard Bell dot s is perfect for those who want to emphasize their own individuality without falling into an absurd addiction to flashy colors and kitschy design.
Packard Bell dots
The lid of the netbook seems to be chaotically cut with transverse textured stripes. Regardless of the color of the cover, and it can be black, white or purple, the netbook body is made of black plastic. On the one hand, it seems that there is nothing supernatural in the design of the netbook, but at the same time it is obvious that the device has a certain charm and attractiveness.
Like previous netbooks, the Packard Bell dot s comes in two different configurations. By choosing the junior model of the Packard Bell dot s netbook, the user receives a device equipped with a 10.1-inch display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 WSVGA and LED backlight, 0.3-megapixel webcam, Intel Atom N2600 processor, hard drive with a capacity of up to 320 GB and a full-size keyboard. It would be more correct to call the netbook's touchpad a multi-touch control panel. Packard Bell dot s carries adapters on board wireless communication Bluetooth 2.1 (or Bluetooth 4.0 optional) and Wi-Fi standard 802.11b/g/n, HDMI port plus a six-cell battery that provides up to 8 hours of battery life.
The Packard Bell dot s design is familiar to many fans of casual products.
It is also worth noting the presence of a full Ethernet port and a multi-card reader.
The eldest Packard models Bell dot s configuration of external ports and interfaces is the same as the younger one, but the internal architecture is slightly different. The older model is based on an Intel Atom N2800 processor with a clock frequency of 1.86 GHz and 2 GB of RAM, versus 1 GB of RAM for the younger model. This configuration is naturally more powerful.
As graphics system in the older and lower configurations there is an Intel GMA 3600.
Packard Bell dot s configuration is sufficient
As mentioned above, Packard Bell dot s will be an excellent gift for a casual user in the best European traditions.
Bottom line
To summarize all that has been said, we can only note that by turning to Acer netbooks you can easily solve the problem of a New Year's gift for people of completely different social status and position. The presented lines can satisfy the tastes of almost any user.
Indicators such as mobility and performance will always be valued by users, and Acer products fully meet both indicators, and, importantly, do not require extremely high financial costs, since each of the presented devices can be classified into a segment budget models regardless of high quality products. It is also worth noting a large number of possible configurations, which not every manufacturer provides today. For example, the Aspire One 725 and Aspire One 756 netbooks are available not only with different drives and processors, but also with different screen finishes (matte anti-glare or “glossy”).
Also, the arrow block is combined with the and keys, which can sometimes cause them to be pressed accidentally. Well, and most importantly, the key sizes are still smaller than those of laptops. So typing on the Aspire One is not very convenient, at least not at first. However, this is a “disease” of most netbooks. The touchpad is quite compact. Due to limited space, its buttons were located on the sides, and not on the bottom, as is done on all other laptops and netbooks. It may immediately seem that this is inconvenient, but you get used to this arrangement very quickly. The Acer Aspire One has no additional buttons - there is only a button to turn the netbook on and off, combined with an orange LED. Netbooks don't have a lot of communication connectors. And the Aspire One is no exception. On the left there is a power connector, D-SUB, RJ-45, USB and a Storage Expansion slot. The latter is a regular SD card reader, but Acer's idea is to insert an SD card into it "on permanent basis", making it an addition to the main HDD or SSD. On the right are audio connectors, two USB, and a card reader. There are ventilation holes on the beveled edge at the front, and a little higher on the right there is a switch for the Wi-Fi controller. Back panel completely dedicated to the battery. It is extremely difficult to install large speakers and a subwoofer in a netbook - the dimensions do not allow it. That's why we found only one small speaker in the Aspire One. So if you want to listen to music (listen, not hear), it would be better to connect headphones or even external speakers. I was very pleased with the screen of the Acer Aspire One. Despite the low cost of the netbook, the manufacturer equipped it with an LED-backlit matrix. As a result, the picture turned out rich. I was pleased with the good reserve of brightness, as well as good viewing angles.
Acer Aspire One Specifications:
- Screen - 8.9″ / 1024x600
- Processor - Intel Atom N270 (1.6 GHz, 512 KB L2)
- Memory - 1024 MB DDR2-667
- Chipset - Intel 945GME + ICH7-M
- Video card - Intel GMA950
- Hard drive - 120 GB (5400 rpm, SerialATA)
- Communication capabilities - 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet, Atheros AR5007EG (IEEE 802.11a/b/g)
- Ports - 3x USB2.0, D-SUB, audio out, microphone in, RJ-45
- Other features - Storage Expansion slot, 4 in 1 card reader (SD/MS/MS Pro/MMC), 0.3 Mpx webcam
- Battery - 2200 mAh, 3 cells
- Power supply - 30 W
- Dimensions - 248x170x28 mm
- Weight 1.26 kg
Acer Aspire One laptop price fluctuates in the range of 9,000 ~ 16,000 rubles (depending on the configuration and OS).
P.S. Acer Aspire One is a good netbook that can compete with the entire ASUS Eee PC family, as well as with analogues from other manufacturers. Among its positive qualities we can name a good configuration by netbook standards, a variety of available modifications, an excellent screen, and a relatively affordable price. I was also pleased with the leather case included in the package. The Aspire One's touchpad is not very large and has a slippery surface, which makes pointer positioning a bit difficult. It's a shame that you can't update your Acer netbook yourself. Well, there remains a short battery life, for which all the blame lies with the low-capacity battery.
Unlimited 8-hour battery life and built-in wifi adapter, will allow you to stay online throughout the day. You can chat with your friends using the new Crystal Eye webcam and built-in microphone.
Taking Acer Aspire One netbook with you you won’t even feel its weight. Its thickness is 24 mm and its weight is only 1 kg. Enjoy a vibrant experience with the 25cm WSVGA display with 16:9 resolution. The comfortable keyboard and multifunctional touchpad of the Aspire One will complement your experience with this device from the company
Acer continues to rapidly conquer the world with its devices. New gadgets are becoming more and more productive and are finding their admirers. The Aspire One series has proven itself to be a thin, light and reliable assistant for work and play. The compactness of the devices in this series allows them to be used in any accessible place - on vacation, on a business trip or travel. One of the brightest representatives of the series - the Acer Aspire One D257 netbook - embodies all the characteristic performance of the line, coupled with compactness and mobility.
Appearance
Color solutions for netbooks Acer company offers four. The device can be made in red, white, black or blue. The netbook body is made of plastic, but is assembled with high quality. At first acquaintance, users did not notice any defects or extraneous creaks.
On the lid of the netbook there is a signature relief of the Aspire One series in the form of waves radiating in circles from a fallen drop. Its thickness when folded is about 2 cm, which is a good indicator of compactness for this type of device. True, this design feature resulted in the abandonment of a standard CD reader.
Input and output devices
The widescreen CrystalBrite screen is responsible for displaying information in the Acer Aspire One D257 netbook. Screen backlight technology is LED. A diagonal of 10.1 inches with a resolution of 1024 by 600 allows you to conveniently browse websites on the Internet, work with office programs or even watch a video.
The keyboard of the model is designed in such a way as to accommodate all the necessary keys as much as possible and create a comfortable working environment for the user. The netbook's buttons are quite large, but after switching from a regular home PC keyboard, you still have to get used to its keys.
The touchpad of the device is standard and has good sensitivity. There are two hidden keys. To use them, a soft and smooth pressure is enough.
In general, the ergonomics of the device are excellent. You can work comfortably even for long periods of time. At the same time, neither hands nor eyes get tired from work.
Performance
For its size, the Acer Aspire One D257 netbook has good performance. The entire computing load is taken over by the Intel Atom N570 processor with a clock frequency of 1660 MHz. It is enough for loads such as office applications, surfing the Internet and simple games.
Acer Aspire One D257, which has 1 GB of RAM, can run several light office applications at the same time. To store information and install the system, the device has HDD 250 GB in size. This should be enough to install Windows 7, Windows 10 or one of the popular Linux distributions on the Acer Aspire One D257.
The screen of the device is equipped with a 10-inch matrix. You can watch movies, videos on it without any inconvenience, and also read comfortably.
Responsible for drawing and displaying graphics Intel video card GMA 3150. The declared amount of RAM is 256 MB. However, the architecture of the video processor is such that it will not allow running resource-intensive tasks like modern games or high resolution video. But for solving everyday problems, this card will have enough power.
Acer Aspire One D257: peripheral specifications
It is worth considering that the standard configuration does not include a CD drive. Operating systems can be installed from external devices, such as a flash drive. You also need to know that many netbook configurations are equipped with free version Linux.
Providing wireless communication is achieved through the use Wi-Fi module. By finding the nearest point, the netbook can easily access the Internet in a few clicks. If the user wishes, he can use the classic method of connecting to the Internet via an RJ-45 connector, which provides a maximum throughput of 100 Mbit/s.
Expanding the main screen and outputting data to a larger additional screen occurs by connecting an external monitor to the VGA port, which the developers carefully placed on the netbook body.
Video communication is available thanks to the built-in camera and speakers. The camera is built into the lid in such a way that it is convenient to communicate with friends and family online.
We should also talk about the autonomy of the Acer Aspire One D257 netbook, the characteristics of which were excellent here too. It is equipped with a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 4400 mAh. This reserve is more than enough for continuous operation for 3-4 hours.
Scope of use of the Acer Aspire One D257 netbook
The device will be appreciated by people who work on the go and constantly move from place to place. Compact sizes will allow you to stay focused on work anywhere, be it a cafe, train, plane or car. Bloggers, writers, freelancers, journalists - all these specialties will find positive points in working with a netbook.
However, we should not forget about home use. Those for whom the screen diagonal is not particularly important can easily replace their netbook with a home computer. But if the diagonal is no longer enough, then you can always connect an external monitor to the device. This is especially true for watching movies, showing presentations or photos.
Children can use the computer to study and search for answers to their questions on the World Wide Web. The power of a netbook, of course, is not enough to run high-performance games, which can protect the child from them and force him to do only study and useful work.
conclusions
Acer, as always, was able to please with a solid, high-quality development. The excellent ratio of performance and compactness was well received by the IT audience and ordinary users. The level of autonomy is simply incredible, and it’s unlikely that anyone will be able to repeat such success for that kind of money.
Some Acer Aspire One D257 models come with different types and battery volumes, so you need to pay special attention to this when purchasing. The longest operating time obtained during the reviews reached 8 hours, which is impressive.
A variety of colors will allow you to choose a netbook to suit your taste, which will please the eye every time you work and inspire you to achieve accomplishments. Compactness will allow the device to always be within reach. It will not take up much space either on your desktop or in your travel bag.
- Netbook Aser Aspire One (AOA110-Ab)
- Case
- Battery (2400 mAh)
- Power adapter
- Description, quick guide user
- Recovery DVD (Linpus)
Russia, according to the latest data, is recognized as the leader in the growth of Internet users among European countries. It is not surprising that more and more companies are striving to introduce users to the “global web.” It doesn’t matter what kind of device it is: a phone with a built-in browser or an iphone/ipod touch with one of the most convenient mobile methods surfing the net.
Laptop manufacturers are also interested in this sector, they want to become a guide to the world wide web for buyers, a kind of guiding star, providing a device that is always connected to the network and guarantees a pleasant pastime. This device could be a netbook.
4 months have passed since the publication of Artem Lutfullin’s material. During this time, the market, including the Russian one, has been replenished with several models of netbooks from various manufacturers. And the very concept of “netbook” is assigned to small book-sized devices, the main purpose of which is to work on the Internet and with text, as well as moderate use multimedia capabilities devices.
The differences between the models on the market are not particularly large. They mainly relate to different amounts of RAM, storage space (HDD or SSD), as well as the operating system installed in the netbook - often Windows XP or one of the subtypes of Linux.
Founder Asus EEE The PC 70x series showed two important points: the screen size should be more than 7 inches, and the resolution should be 1024x600 or higher, the keyboard installed in the Asus EEE PC 70x was also very small, and it was simply inconvenient to type large text on it.
Asus continued the EEE PC series with models 900 and 901. The first of them was not much different from the netbook that Artem described in his article: only the screen size and, accordingly, resolution increased; the keyboard has not changed - the size of the keys remains the same. The next model, 901, had a very important innovation, namely the Atom processor, which later became the de facto standard; other manufacturers produced their devices on this processor (with rare exceptions).
Competitors soon followed Asus and presented their netbook models: MSI U90 and Acer Aspire One. Slowly, models with 10" screens are starting to appear on sale - Asus EEE PC 1000x and MSI Wind (U100), however, we will not touch on them today; the dimensions and, most importantly, the weight of these devices are somewhat larger, which means a different level of compactness.
Let's finally move on to talking about the Acer Aspire One.
Positioning
The presentation of the Aspire One, which I was able to attend, was aimed at clarifying the positioning of the device and explaining the differences between this netbook model and its competitors.
Acer emphasizes its interest in the proper presentation of its new device. The company really doesn’t want the Aspire One to be on the shelves in the same row as “large laptops” and recommended to those customers who don’t have enough Money on full-fledged laptop. Acer really wants to achieve a correct understanding of the essence of the device: an additional element in home network, but not a replacement desktop computer or laptop. Not the least role in the product-customer connection is played by store sellers or, in extreme cases, resources like mobile-review.
The netbook as a class and the Aspire One in particular is a device, a faithful assistant that is always at hand and at the same time light and compact, has a larger screen than modern phones, PDAs and communicators, and allows you to satisfy all your needs regarding working with the Internet. Aspire One is designed for communication, work, study, entertainment and storage. As a consumer product, this device can become the very first computer in the family and introduce the user to the Internet, multimedia and office editors, or it can become a second computer, functionally located between the PDA and the main computer/laptop in the family.
Possible configurations
The laptop will be supplied in two configurations: the older one (index 150) and the younger one (110, which we tested).
110 : Screen 8.9"" CrystalBrite WSVGA (1024x600), Intel processor Atom N270 (1.6 MHz), RAM 512 MB DDR2 (soldered into the motherboard), 8 GB SSD, LAN 10/100, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, OS Linux system(Linpus Lite).
The RAM can be expanded by purchasing an additional stick and installing it in the slot yourself (you can get to it only by disassembling the entire laptop), the warranty is not lost. But the 8 GB NAND-flash, on which the system in the lower model is installed, cannot be easily replaced with a full-fledged HDD - the layout of the devices will not allow this. On the Internet, some craftsmen were able to connect an HDD, but it looks unpresentable, but users who like to dig around and find non-standard moves, sacrificing appearance, however, there will always be. If you still really want to increase the capacity, you can buy an SDHC card and insert it into a special Storage Expansion slot, the system will automatically expand your system space using the card. A good option, considering that SD cards cost pennies these days - for 1800 rubles you can buy a 16 GB drive.
Model 150 has the following configuration: Screen 8.9" CrystalBrite WSVGA (1024x600), Intel Atom N270 processor (1.6 MHz), RAM 1024 MB DDR2 (of which 512 MB is soldered into the motherboard, the second 512 MB are installed as a strip), 80 GB HDD, LAN 10/100, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Operating Windows system(Home Edition).
Both models come with lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 2400 mAh, which is enough for 2.5-3 hours of operation. It takes 1 hour 20 minutes to fully charge.
A battery will also be produced increased capacity- its charge, according to preliminary information, will be enough for about 7 hours of operation. Estimated cost - 3000 rubles. It is also possible that future Aspire One configurations will immediately include a high-capacity battery.
As you may have noticed, Bluetooth is not implemented in any of the configurations - the manufacturer believes that there is no urgent need for the module, but if the user really needs this type of data transfer for his needs, he can purchase it in the form of a USB key fob.
In the future it is planned to release a configuration with installed module 3G or WiMax. This will be carried out in an alliance with one of the telecom operators, tentatively before the end of this year.
The configuration with a 3G module will be about 1000 rubles more expensive.
Equipment
In the colorful box you can find: a leather case. a substitute, a compact power adapter and the netbook itself. In addition to the brief and detailed description Recover Disk for Linux is also available.
The case is a very ordinary one, designed only to prevent scratching the glossy surface of the netbook when carried in a backpack or bag.
For comparison, Asus EEE PC 701 adapter
The adapter is really very small; one would expect this size from a charging device for mobile phone, but not for a laptop. If you're going on a trip and need to bring a charger, you don't have to worry about carrying something bulky with you all the time.
Design, dimensions
After using the Asus EEE PC 701 for ten days, I came across the Aspire One. Subjectively, I like the Aspire One better. Glossy surfaces, mercilessly overgrown with fingerprints, however, give a more austere look to the device. The matte and rough material from which the EEE PC 701 is made leaves the impression of a certain “budget”, an inexpensive device, during the development of which a lot had to be saved.
There are four body color options: Golden Brown, Coral Pink, White Shell and Sapphire Blue. The first to go on sale were models with white and blue body designs. Pink and brown netbooks will appear later this year.
The back surface of the cover (the half with the screen) and the area around the keyboard, including the touchpad, are painted in color. Blue and brown models have a black-painted keyboard as well as side edges; in the white and pink models, these elements are painted white. Regardless of the main color, the screen edge remains black.
The Aspire One netbook does not have a single right angle; all the lines of the body are rounded. The designers highlight the orange rings located on both sides, next to the hinges, as a special design element. However, this step is not repeated anywhere else, except in the design of the Recovery disk.
The size and weight of the device are still one of the most important parameters of a netbook. Aspire One is moderately compact and light: physical parameters are 249x170x29 mm, weight - 977 grams. Naturally, the 150 model, with an 80GB hard drive, will weigh a little more; Also, the dimensions of the device will increase when installing a high-capacity battery.
The difference in size with the Asus EEE PC701 is not so great, however extra bed used to enlarge keyboard buttons. We'll talk about this later.
The Aspire One will fit into bags of various sizes without any problems, but if you are used to carrying a backpack with you, then most likely you will not notice the presence of a netbook in it at all.
Housing, build quality
The plastic of the case is painted with a fairly high quality, no scuffs or scratches appeared during use - the coating inspires confidence. But the outer side of the netbook lid, due to its gloss, constantly collects fingerprints. The interior around the keyboard is painted in the main color of the device, but with a splash of glitter.
The build quality is not satisfactory. The body parts fit tightly together; I did not notice any play, bending or wobbling.
Cooling system, heat dissipation
The cooling system in the Aspire One is active - the fan at the bottom of the case starts working only when the system is under heavy load (when running resource-intensive applications).
The case practically does not heat up; if you hold the netbook on your lap, you do not feel any discomfort.
Controls
The arrangement of the elements is quite standard for laptops: on the left side from top to bottom there is a socket for connecting the power adapter, an output to an external display (VGA), a small hole for the cooling system, an Ethernet port, 1 USB and a Storage Expansion slot for expansion internal memory, supporting SD\SDHC format cards.
On the right side there is a Kensigton Lock connector, then there is a card reader that supports SD, MMC, RS-MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD standards, below there are two USB port 2.0, 3.5 mm audio output and microphone input.
On the bottom of the netbook, in the right corner, there is a slider that activates Wi-Fi.
On the front panel, in a small recess, there is an on/off button with a built-in indicator (the indicator lights up green when the netbook is running, blinks orange in standby mode, and lights up orange while charging).
Above the display is a Crystal Eye camera for video conferencing with support for 0.3 megapixel resolution. A little to the left there is a small hole - this is the built-in microphone.
The speakers are located at the bottom of the case, in its lower part. Their volume is average; it may be suitable for background sound, but for deeper listening to podcasts, music and movie dubbing, I recommend using headphones.
The operation indicators are located on an oblong cylinder located at the very top of the lower half of the body. When the lid is closed, the cylinder is exposed, so that the indicator lights remain visible. The first of them notifies you about the battery charge, the second blinks in time with the operation of the disk drive, the next two indicators light up when Caps Lock and Num Lock are activated, respectively.
Screen
The TFT display has a diagonal of 8.9"" (195x114 mm), it has a good brightness indicator, uses Acer's proprietary CrystalBrite technology and is equipped with LED backlight, has a resolution of 1024x600 pixels and supports 262,000 colors.
Thanks to the increased resolution, there is no need to use horizontal scrolling when viewing Internet pages.
Horizontal viewing angles do not cause any complaints, but vertical ones could be better. However, you won’t have to search for the optimal angle for a long time - just tilt the lid of the netbook as far as possible (which is 155 degrees), in this state the colors are not inverted.
Keyboard
Keyboard Aser Aspire One
Keyboard Asus EEE PC 701
The keyboard includes 84 keys with a travel of 1.6 mm. Their implementation in the Aspire One is superior in all respects to that in the Asus EEE PC 701, primarily due to the size of the buttons (89% of the size standard keyboard), which allows you to print large texts without much effort. This article, like several others, was printed on the Aspire One. You quickly get used to the location of the buttons. It's not very convenient to use only cursors - the buttons in the lower right corner are very crowded, and your finger often touches Pg Dn or Pg Up, which are located next door, almost right next to each other.
Many may find it inconvenient to put symbols on buttons - Cyrillic and Latin have the same color and size, and only numbers (activated using Num Lk) are blue. Personally, this circumstance does not bother me at all.
In the top row there are F-buttons, half of which, using the Fn modifier, allow you to put the netbook to sleep, switch between built-in and external display, mute sound, etc. You can also use the Fn key and cursors to change the sound volume and screen brightness.
The touchpad on the Aspire One is extended horizontally. Despite the low height, vertical scrolling works, although the stripe is not applied to the surface. The keys are located on the sides of the touchpad, and not under it, as is most often the case. It seemed to me that using them is not very convenient, but you can get used to their work.
Platform, performance
So, we have come to the most ambiguous, I would say even ambiguous, aspect of the Aspire One.
The thing is that all attempts to make working with a netbook convenient are cut short in the bud “thanks to” Linpus Linux Lite installed on the model under test.
Acer tried to make the interface intuitive by dividing the “desktop” into 4 zones, which include the main motives for future work on the Aspire One.
Let's briefly go over the contents of the sections:
Connect
Reviewer- web browser Mozilla Firefox version 2.0.0.14 (update to version 3.0 in the usual way it is forbidden)
I.M.- a communication program that supports the MSN Messenger, Yahoo mesenger, Google Talk, AIM protocols (Skype support is missing, although it was promised; ICQ support is also expected “soon”)
Email - mail client with support for up to 5 accounts. Also contains a contact book and calendar.
RSS feeds- a simple program for reading RSS subscriptions
As you can see, the manufacturer tried to implement most of the popular Internet services, but due to shortcomings and a rather unfriendly shell, the customization possibilities were reduced to nothing.
The biggest surprise for me was the lack of Skype support in applications, despite the fact that the fact of its presence appears in almost every brochure. The absence of ICQ is explained by the unavailability of the protocol for the Linux platform, but it is not clear how the application can be updated.
Here, for example, is a description of how you can update installed Firefox up to version 2.0.0.11 (quote from the user manual):
- Go to http://rpm.pbone.net
- In the search bar, search for Firefox
- Select Fedora 6 from the search results
- After downloading, run rpm package-Uvh firefox-2.0.0.11-.1.fc6.remi.i386.rpm
This procedure cannot be carried out using standard means, through a browser.
If updates appear for the installed software, you will probably have to use the method presented above. Why it needs to be so complicated is beyond me. Most likely these are operating system limitations.
Job
Text editor.
Spreadsheets- standard three applications from office suite OpenOffice 2.3.
Presentations.
The calendar is the same calendar that is part of the email program.
Contacts - contact book also from the mail program.
Calculator - can be displayed in both simple and engineering form.
Notes is an application for taking small notes.
Entertainment
Media Master- multimedia player
Photo Master- image viewer
Games- 11 easy games
Web camera- video recording from the built-in camera
Artist- analogue of Paint
The system does not have audio and video codecs installed, which makes watching your favorite videos, trailers, and listening to music almost impossible. The method for installing codecs is a bit similar to the process Firefox updates, which I cited above, with the only difference that the codecs still have to be registered.
Files
My Documents
My music
My images
My videos
My downloads
My files
The last item launches a simple file manager, the rest are links to the corresponding folders.
An unpleasant feature of the shell is the inability to add shortcuts to your programs. That is, if you download Skype yourself and install it, you will have to launch the program using command line, which, you see, is very inconvenient.
All the restrictions boil down to the following: if you are not satisfied with the capabilities provided by the built-in software (and this happens in most cases), then you will have to start “dancing with tambourines” or immediately “demolish” the local Linpus and install a more familiar OS.
Personally, I finally decided to install a lightweight Windows version. However, the method tested on the EEE PC 701 did not work with the Aspire One. I gave the device to Artyom Lutfullin, and he managed to adapt the netbook to Windows. True, according to Artem, in this configuration (110) the Aspire One noticeably slows down, subjectively the work is even slower when compared with the Windows OS installed on the EEE PC 701. However, this is a topic for another discussion. In the near future, expect new materials on netbooks on our website.
Setup menu
This menu contains the following items:
Screen- allows you to select the method of displaying images from different displays (external, internal).
Energy Center- power management when running on mains or battery power, selecting and setting three profiles: “performance”, “balanced” and “energy saving”, as well as the ability to create your own profile.
Network Center- connection manager for setting up and creating an Internet connection. Allows you to select the encryption method, set a password, configure DNS and TCP\IP addresses.
Sound- adjust the volume of sound and microphone.
System- basic information about the system.
date and time- setting date, time and time zone.
Touchpad- adjust the sensitivity of the touchpad touchpad: touches and scrolling.
Live Update- system component update service.
Printer- search and configure connected printers.
Input language, Keyboard- add and manage different keyboard layouts.
User and password- setting a password.
Conclusions. Prospects. Competitors
The fact that netbooks have found their buyer has already been shown by the high sales of Asus EEE PC 701, as well as the excitement with which they await the release of each new model. The main competitors offer devices with a screen diagonal of 8.9 inches; they do not have many differences from the Aspire One. In this case, I advise you to look first of all at the size of the buttons and the ease of use for you personally - try typing small text in the store.
I also advise you to talk to the seller before purchasing and personally try out the operating system installed on the netbook. Even in a short time you can understand how easy it is to communicate, how easy it is to make updates and other important points.
In the wake of the increasing popularity of netbooks, Acer plans to sell an impressive number of copies. The main motives for the promotion will be the fame of the Acer brand and the vast successful experience in producing laptops. Launch planned advertising campaign together with one of the Wi-Fi providers, this will happen closer to autumn.
Sales of Aspire One have already begun. Acer has set the following recommended prices: 11,990 rubles for the younger model and 14,990 rubles for the older one.
The price is quite competitive for both the younger and older models. However, I would recommend turning your attention to the second option, since the familiar Windows turned out to be more user-friendly than Linux Linpus. Acer launched a special website on which they promise to have programs for Linpus, but at the time of writing, nothing has appeared there. Three thousand rubles that are asked for the older version - read twice the amount of memory and installed operating system from Microsoft - not such an impressive amount for additional comfort.
If, as a result of this article, you are undecided whether you need a netbook, namely the Aspire One, then I recommend waiting for the next article, which will examine competitors’ offers available for free sale in our country.
