Acer Aspire One – First Impressions

I just got a cute new Acer Aspire One Netbook. My friend, Ronni, got one also. I got pink and she got black. Just by accident our packages arrived at our jobs at almost the same exact time, so we sat on the phone and opened them together. We both sounded like we just had seen someone's new baby for the first time. “Awww, look at the little poo poo, you are sooo cute!” I have decided to call mine “Pinkie”. 🙂

My first impression is that I love the compact look of this machine. My usual laptop is a huge 17″ Dell Inspiron 1720, my Powerhouse. But truth is i don't always need all that power. Yes, I need it for heavy graphics and photography work. But if I just need to run out to meet with some clients, or carry the laptop to work with me to do a few things on lunch, carrying the 8+ lb laptop can get exhausting!

The Acer is packed pretty good. Unlike some other Netbooks with very small Solid State Drives, this one has a whopping 160 hd inside. That was one main reason I fell for it.

It's great on speed too. I have installed a few things and it went very quick.

I ordered it from HSN.com which offered a more souped up version than the default offered by Acer and sold by other sites. The upgrades include 1 GB of ram instead of 512kb, a 160 gb HD instead of 120 gb, and a 6-cell battery instead of a 3-cell. Plus it came with a 4gb USB key loaded with software that I will check out, move off of the key onto a dvd then I can use the key. Also, a mini usb optical mouse. This model actually has 2 SD card slots, one being a 5 in 1 multireader which will come in handy.

Here are the full specs of the package that I received:

Acer Aspire One Features:

• USB mouse – comfortably navigate with either mouse or touchpad
• Comes with a variety of additional software – get resourceful programs that help make your life easier and more organized
• 8.9″ CrystalBrite LED Backlight LCD Display – get a resolution of 1024 x 600
• LED digital display backlight option – provides intensely saturated colors

Key Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Atom Processor N270
• Memory: 1024MB DDR2 533MHz SDRAM Single Channel Memory (512MB onboard, 512MB soDIMM slot)
• Hard Drive: 160GB 5400RPM SATA
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home
• LCD Monitor: 8.9″ WSVGA high-brightness Acer CrystalBrite TFT LCD (1024 x 600)
• Media Card Reader: 5-in-1 digital media manager – Secure Digital (SD), Memory Stick (MS), Memory Stick Pro, MultiMedia Card (MMC) and XD-Picture Card
• Other Differentiator: 0.3 integrated crystal eye webcam, 4GB USB flash drive with 17 pre-loaded software titles, USB mouse

Additional Product Specifications:

• System Bus: 533MHz, 1.60GHz
• Cache Memory: 512KBx2 L2
• Graphics: Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• Video Memory: Up to 224MB
• Mouse: Integrated touchpad and USB mouse
• Speakers: High Definition Audio 2 built-in stereo speakers
• Ports: (3) USB 2.0, (1) VGA connector, (1) RJ45-Ethernet, (1) AC adapter connector, (1) Kensington Lock Slot, (1) Microphone-in jack, (1) Headphone/Speaker/Line-out jack
• Network Adapter: 10/100 Ethernet
• Wireless Network Adapter: Acer InviLink 802.11b/g Wi-Fi Certified
• Color: Pink coral
• Measures approx. 9.8″L x 6.7″W x 1.42″H
• Weighs 2.78 lbs.
• Model #: Aspire One
• ETL listed
• Made in China
• Comes with a manufacturer's 1-year limited warranty

Accessories Include:

• 4GB flash drive with pre-loaded PC Essentials software
• USB mouse
• 6-cell Li-ion battery
• Power cord
• Power adapter
• User guide

Pre-Installed Software:

• Acer eRecovery Management
• Acer Launch Manager
• Adobe Reader
• McAfee Internet Security Suite
• Microsoft Office Trial 2007

PC Essentials on 4GB Flash Drive:

• ACT! 2008, DrawPlus X2, Home and Business Lawyer 2008, Hoyle South Beach Solitaire Games, MyCheckBook, Organizer Pro, PagePlus X3 Publisher Professional, PanoramaPlus 3, Peachtree First Accounting 2009, PhotoPlus X2, Quicken WillMaker Plus 2009, Scan and Sort It, Secure Disk, Stuffit Deluxe 12, TaxCut Basic Federal + E-file, TurboBackup 7 and WebPlus X2

So far, I am loving it. I'm techy so I am busy fooling around with it and souping it up (More posts to come on that). Typing on that itty bitty keyboard will take some getting used to! But if I adapted to that new Mac wireless keyboard, I should be able to adapt to that one!

UPDATE: I have used this little netbook for about 8 months now and I have am still in love with it. It takes a good beating from me and keeps on going. I love that I can always have it with me just in case.  It runs very well with Windows 7. The battery life is wonderful!! It can get over 5 hours easily. A while after i got it, I cracked it open and upped the RAM to 1.5gb (that is maximum). Overall I would highly recommend this computer.