I’ve recently noticed that I’m getting quite a lot of visitors who have been searching for information on the Acer Aspire One (AAO) and its capabilities, so thought it would be useful to write a review of my experiences to date to address some of these queries. If you would like any further information or want me to test something on the AAO please e-mail me and I’ll do my best to help.

I’ve had my AAO (A150-Bw model) for a few months now and have tested it in a number of different circumstances. I’ve taken it to my study school in Aberystwyth, used it at conferences, on the train, at work and at home.

from Aaronage at Flickr.com

Good points

Portable

OK it’s an obvious one but it really is very portable, it fits in a small bag although the power pack makes it a little bit more of a hassle (having said that the power pack is also a lot smaller than regular power packs). Now I can easily take my laptop to work with me and I don’t even mind carrying it around in case I use it. Previously it was a major rigmarole to bring my laptop to work and involved a big laptop bag; the AAO fits into my Body Shop bag along with a couple of textbooks and my lunch, brilliant.

Connections

It has plenty of connectors (USB ports, memory card slots etc.), and of course wireless network which I live on (although more on this in the bad points).

Software capabilities

I’m not really a hardcore gamer so I haven’t made many demands on my machine, however I have been using Photoshop and Dreamweaver CS3 on there with no problem at all (except for the small screen which can be frustrating when you have too many panels open!). It brings up a warning when opening Adobe Bridge CS3 that you don’t have a recommended processor, but you can choose to ignore the warning and it seems to work fine.

I’ve also had a go of Second Life on there, which again runs well. The rendering takes a little time which is to be expected really, and it’s far better than the laptop I was using previous to this one.

Most of the stuff I do now is web-based and of course this is what the netbook is designed to do so it’s great for things through the browser. I’ve been experimenting with using Chrome on my netbook too, I’ll hopefully get round to writing a post about Chrome another time.

Bad points

Wireless issue

A couple of months ago I lost my wireless signal. I tried to repair it on the connections menu (which sadly I had become accustomed to as it seems to lose connection every now and again if it’s been in hibernate mode), but it wouldn’t work. I then realised that this was because it couldn’t even see my wireless card. Oh dear. First I panicked, then argued with my boyfriend about whether or not this had anything to do with the fact that I had to change a lot of settings to get onto the network at Aberystwyth in September. A quick internet search seemed to show that it wasn’t anything to do with that and that others with AAO’s have had the exact same problem. It seems to be the fault of the wireless card as it is happening to both Linux and XP models. After a few times shutting down and booting up again, it suddenly reappeared and starting working again. It’s been fine since, until yesterday when the same thing happened again. This time I followed the advice I found on the Acer Aspire One User Forum which told me to uninstall the card (scary!) and then search for it again. It now has two copies but the second seems to work. I also downloaded a new driver for the card and am hoping that might fix things.

No CD drive

Yes, I know it’s obvious and I bought the netbook knowing full well that it didn’t have a CD drive, however it can be difficult without one. Things like a simple task of installing software suddenly become a major task. Luckily, my boyfriend has recently set us up with Windows Home Server and a dedicated server PC so it’s been made a lot easier with that.

Battery life

The battery performance isn’t great and is often criticised – mine lasts for around 2 hours which is OK, but not great if you have a long train journey or are at a conference – a little bit more battery power would be good. You can upgrade to a better battery if it really is an issue but I’m not so bothered that I think it’s worth buying a new one (plus the battery is bigger and thus not as portable).

Would you recommend it?

Yes definitely. Particularly for anyone who, like me, spends a lot of time on the net. It would also be great for anyone who does a lot of travelling. We took it to America with us and used it every night to upload our holiday photos to Flickr (using the hotel’s free wireless connection – God bless America!). It’s not a replacement for a desktop or a main laptop, but for portability and convenience it’s great.

Netbooks in libraries

I’ve noticed that more and more students are also using netbooks to bring into the library with them. It’s ideal for students; they are relatively cheap machines, easy to carry round with all your books and paperwork, and provide quick and easy access to the internet. I think in the future we will be seeing a lot more of these, particularly in University libraries. I’ve heard about some places that have laptops just for use within the building, and I think netbooks would be great for this. You could move around the library to wherever your resources are or where you prefer to study and still have access to all your electronic resources as well as your documents and the internet, what more could you want?!

The post below was actually written on Monday but I’ve been without internet access (shock horror!) and haven’t been able to post it until now:

I’m currently sitting on a train to Aberystwyth with hundreds of sheep around me (it never fails to amaze me just how many sheep there are in Wales despite living here for three years!), playing with my new gadget.

I’ve been after a new laptop for a while now and kept telling myself that I would save up and get one when I start my dissertation. My previous laptop is over 6 years old now, and as much as I loved it, I’ve hardly used it since I left University, choosing instead to use the desktop as the laptop just isn’t fast enough (it also has less storage capacity than my iPod Touch!). I have also been fortunate to be able to borrow laptops from work when I have needed them and have been using a work one throughout my course which has been great.

But I always thought I’d get one when I started my dissertation to keep everything on one portable machine which I could always have with me. I’m on my way to my dissertation study school now so it was time to get one. Thankfully, laptops have come down in price massively over the last couple of years and more recently there has been the boom of “Netbooks” – extra portable laptops.

OK, so they’re designed mainly to access the net (hence the name) but some of these machines have some great specs. The one I went for in the end, an Acer Aspire One A150-BW has 1GB memory and 120GB hard drive and runs XP (I may be a bit of a geek but I’m not hardcore enough to move to Linux yet!). At just under £300 it’s also very reasonably priced and the portability is a huge plus point (it’s also very pretty – I went for white):

Despite concerns due to lack of stock, I managed to order one on the phone last week which arrived on Wednesday. 5 days later and I am officially hooked, it’s a great little device. I’ve got Adobe Creative Suite running on it and have used PhotoShop and DreamWeaver with no problem at all (apart from the fact that the DreamWeaver editing screen is a little cramped!). It’s got a trial version of Office 2007 although unfortunately doesn’t include Outlook. I’ve just spent about an hour and a half working on my latest assignment in Word 2007 – some reviews have criticised the Acer Aspire One due to battery power but with wireless disabled it lasts a good 2.5-3hrs which is plenty for me as I’m usually near a power supply anyway. It does run down quite quickly with wireless on, you might only get 2hrs out of it then. They do however have a larger capacity battery should you need it.

The size of it still amazes me, it fits into my little rucksack no problem and is so light too. The keyboard is I believe full sized, and I’ve certainly not had any problems with it which I know some other netbooks have been criticised for. The mouse buttons are to the left and right which takes a little getting used to, but I’ve adjusted to it very quickly.

All in all, a great little device and I can’t recommend it highly enough if you are after a capable machine which is portable enough to carry around without an extra bag.