January 30, 2009 Slutsker Vyacheslav 0

Do you want to always be in touch and have a computer at hand, but at the same time you absolutely do not want to carry a laptop with you due to its bulkiness, and a telephone, smartphone or communicator is not suitable due to the inconvenience of use and, often, limited functionality? If “Yes,” then we bring to your attention a compromise - a laptop smaller than a notebook and weighing about a kilogram - a netbook from Acer - Aspire One.

Nowadays, surprising someone with a laptop is almost impossible. In terms of performance, some laptops are already capable of replacing desktop computers, and the difference in price between personal computers and laptops tends to zero over time. Moreover, by the price of a personal computer I mean the price not only system unit, but also a monitor, keyboard and mouse, which, in fact, laptops do not need.

However, despite the availability and high performance, the mobility of laptops, although it exceeds the mobility of desktop computers, still does not allow you to always take it with you. Moreover, the point here is not only the weight of laptops, which sometimes reaches 3 kilograms or even more, the point is rather that most laptops, even despite their portability, have quite impressive dimensions, primarily due to the diagonal monitor.

Thus, constantly carrying a laptop with you is beyond the capabilities of not only the fair sex, but also burdens most men. Until recently, only those who most needed to have a computer always at hand carried laptops with them, but not so long ago everything changed. Time passes and laptop manufacturers, well aware of the shortcomings of their creations, offer users so-called - essentially the same laptops, but much smaller in size and weight, which allows you to carry them with you anywhere!

Acer Aspire One

One of these netbooks came to us for testing - meet us, Acer Aspire One. As far as I understand, I won’t have to represent the company - it is already very, very well known, especially in the laptop market. Russian users mostly value products for their good price/quality ratio. Let's hope that there will be no exception to this rule.

Acer Aspire One | Specifications

To be honest, then specifications for the vast majority there is practically no difference. All of them are currently based on processors that are specifically designed for low-cost and compact devices aimed at working on the Internet. Thus, the only differences in the technical equipment of netbooks are the screen size, hard drive, amount of RAM and various built-in utilities such as web cameras, card readers, Bluetooth models, and so on.

Moreover, if the range of RAM volumes is small: from 512 MB to 2 GB, then the range of volumes installed in netbooks hard drives really surprising - from 4 GB to 120 GB. However, small hard drives have an undeniable advantage; the fact is that hard drives installed in netbooks and not having large volume, are SSD drives. This begs the question - why are they better than regular hard drives, since they are installed, despite the fact that their volume differs from the volume of hard drives by an order of magnitude?

Acer Aspire One – all the advantages of an SSD

The main advantages of SSDs compared to conventional HDDs are: low energy consumption, light weight, small size, absence of mechanical components and, as a result, complete absence of noise from moving parts and cooling fans. All of the above are very useful in small and portable devices such as netbooks, and even more so, SSD drives with a capacity of more than 250 GB should appear in the near future, although little is known about their price yet.

By the way, since we have noted the advantages of such drives, let’s go over their disadvantages. The main disadvantages are: the high price of each Gigabyte and the relatively low recording speed. The user will have to decide for himself what is more important to him - large recording capacity and speed, or light weight and longer battery life of the netbook. I agree that this choice is far from simple, but I note that if you use a netbook only for correspondence and communication, and not store everything on it, then 8 GB should be enough. In addition, no one has canceled flash drives or portable hard drives.

Acer Aspire One 110-Ab

Came to us Acer Aspire One 110-Ab, he is not alone in the lineup, there are other modifications of the version 110 , there is also 150th series. It is important to note that the only netbook in this line is Aspire One AOA150-Bk equipped with an additional high-capacity battery. Plus, just recently updated Aspire One, which already has a 10-inch display. So there is clearly plenty to choose from.

Since we are talking about technical characteristics, I would like to tell you a couple of advantages that it has in this regard. Aspire One 110 compared to other netbooks. The first difference is the presence of active cooling - a tiny fan is hidden behind a small protrusion at the bottom of the netbook. Thus, the manufacturer reduced the weight of the device, however, despite the low noise level of the fan, it can still be heard in complete silence, especially when the laptop is heavily loaded and therefore overheats.

The built-in camera and microphone won’t surprise anyone now, but it’s still nice. But the presence of two card readers may surprise you. Moreover, if one of them simply allows you to read and write data to memory cards of the most common formats, then the second, when using the operating system Linpus Linux Lite, allows you to automatically expand the capacity of your hard drive, although I’ll talk about this a little later. And now we move from theory to practice - we pick up a box with a netbook.

Acer Aspire One | Packaging and kit

Acer Aspire One comes in a very neat small box. The box has a carrying handle, which, in addition to its light weight, makes it extremely convenient to transport the netbook without a special bag.

The design of the box deserves special attention. Despite the absence of any bright colors, it attracts attention quite strongly. The front and back sides are depicted in different colors, and if the white model flaunts against the background of snow-covered fields, then the model with a blue body is located against the backdrop of a seascape. On one side of the box all five color colors of the cases are drawn Aspire One(I will list the colors a little later), and on the opposite side you can see information about the technical characteristics of the netbook.

After opening the box, what appeared to me was a set that was not very rich by “laptop” standards.

• Netbook.
• Accumulator battery.
• Charger.
• Instructions.
• DVD - recovery disc.

I suggest looking at the elements of the kit in more detail. Actually, we are most likely more interested in the netbook itself, so let me first say a few words about all the other elements of the kit Aspire One, and then I’ll go directly to the culprit of the review. Regarding the charger, I would like to note that the Aspire One it is very light compared to chargers for laptops - its weight is slightly less than the weight of the Aspire One, and it weighs only one kilogram. Battery Acer Aspire One 110-Ab lithium-ion 2200 mAh.

The instructions are also worthy of praise - it is completely Russified and contains enough information so that a user of any level can quickly understand the netbook, or rather its unusual operating system. By the way, the disk included in the kit contains exactly the same operating system, which, by the way, is called Linpus Linux Lite.

So, most of the kit has been described, all that remains is the netbook itself. In nature Acer Aspire One found in five different colors - white, blue, pink, brown and black. Thus, the manufacturer expanded the circle of its consumers from female representatives, who would most likely prefer white and pink models, to male representatives, who would like the remaining colors. Moreover, the number of colors Aspire One reduces the likelihood of meeting a netbook exactly like yours, which is important, because a netbook is also largely an image thing. As you can see from the photographs, I received a neutral blue model - I will describe it to you.

Acer Aspire One | Appearance

Housing Aspire One does not contain sharp corners - all the lines are only smooth, and is made of very pleasant plastic, and its assembly is also excellent - no squeaks were detected during use. The laptop lid is decorated with a gray logo Acer and quite heavily varnished.

On the one hand, this is great, since the device looks glossy and pleases the eye with its shine, on the other hand, every touch of this glossy surface inevitably leaves a mark on it... Agree, it is quite difficult to open a netbook without touching its lid, so to remove fingerprints from the device, you will have to constantly wipe it. Here is another example of the fact that beauty requires sacrifice. Regarding internal surfaces Acer Aspire One, then they also leave fingerprints with enviable ease, however, here the plastic is not so heavily varnished, so it looks decent even without regular wiping.

The underside of the case is black, without any frills, however, there is a small bulge on it, behind which there is a fan for active cooling.

In addition to describing the appearance of the case, I would like to note the rather stylish silver logos located around the perimeter of the device, as well as the red rings that are on the hinges connecting the two parts of the netbook.

The placement of ports and connectors deserves special praise. On the back side, where, by the way, the battery is located, there is not a single connector, but on the sides there are Aspire One there is everything you need, namely, on the left side: a connector for connecting to the power supply, VGA- output, connector RJ45 to connect to local network, one USB port and card reader for SD/MMC kart.

And on the right side: a Kensington lock slot, another card reader for cards SD/SDHC/MMC/MS/xD, two USB- port , headphone jack and microphone jack.

The presence of USB ports on both sides will clearly appeal to most, but the presence of two card readers will definitely surprise. Why are there two of them? I’ll allow myself to answer this question a little later, but now let’s finally open the lid of the netbook.

Acer Aspire One V open form becomes even cuter. Moreover, if in the closed state the device differs little from most netbooks, and outwardly stands out, in fact, due to the shiny coating and smoothed lines, then immediately after opening the lid its individuality appears. As you can see in the photographs, the screen hinges are made in a very unusual way. This arrangement allows you to see the LED indication even when the lid is closed. And the red rings on the sides of those same loops simply attract the eyes of others to them.

What do we see? Screen! Before us appears, again, a glossy lover of storing prints on itself - an 8.9-inch display, above which, by the way, there is a built-in web camera and a hole behind which the built-in microphone is hidden.

Acer Aspire One | Controls

We look just below - a touchpad with a keyboard that is quite wide for such devices.

The keyboard itself is black, the inscriptions are white. At first, it seems that she is the most ordinary, but upon closer inspection, it turns out that not everything is so simple. Do you think that if the device is very small, then the buttons should be very small? The engineers will clearly disagree with you. Due to the fact that the group of arrow buttons is lowered slightly lower than the rest, it was possible to at least slightly expand the space for the keys, and, therefore, more space is allocated to each of them.

The result is a very comfortable keyboard, although, I must admit, I didn’t expect this from a netbook - it’s really nice and convenient to use - the keys don’t play, don’t wobble and have a very pleasant and smooth stroke, and this is very important for those who are going to do a lot of typing on the netbook.

Naturally, like the vast majority of laptops, the keyboard Acer Aspire One there is a button Fn, clicking on which in combination with others allows you to quickly change the screen brightness, adjust the sound volume, disable the touchpad and much more.

Speaking of the touchpad Acer Aspire One. It's as good as the keyboard. Relative to the surface of the netbook, it is slightly recessed downwards, and the buttons are located not as usual - under the touchpad, but on the sides. It would seem like such a small thing, but the result of this transfer is a very convenient control element. I would like to add that the touchpad buttons, just like the keyboard buttons, do not play, and this is very nice.

Finishing the conversation about controls Acer Aspire One, I will mention two more. The first of these is the on/off button, it's located in the top right corner, right above the keyboard. The button itself has a small oval cutout, behind which there is a green diode that lights up when the device is working. The last control is a small sliding button, which is located on the side of the netbook closest to the user, right under the keyboard. The button is responsible for turning Wi-Fi on and off. By the way, to understand whether it is turned on or not is simple: if Wi-Fi is active, the yellow diode next to the button lights up.

Acer Aspire One | Linpus Linux Lite

As I already said, on the netbook we got to me, the operating system was installed Linpus Linux Lite, specially tuned for this netbook. Let's figure out together how successful the choice of the manufacturer turned out to be. So, we turn on the laptop - the first pleasant emotions are brought by the loading time Linpus Linux Lite-about 10 seconds from the moment of switching on to full readiness for work - to be honest, you won’t see this everywhere, but in the case of operating systems Windows, it's practically impossible.

The laptop has booted up - there is a desktop in front of us, but it looks very unusual. It is worth immediately noting two more advantages - the first is the excellent Russification of everything software, the second is the very nice appearance of the operating system as a whole.

In the lower right corner of the screen, in tribute to tradition, there is a system tray with a clock and many useful icons. The upper right corner is dedicated to the search bar, both local and global. In a place familiar to users Windows, the "Start" button has a button with an icon with a blue house, clicking on which does not display any menu, but minimizes all windows.

Most of the screen area Linpus Linux Lite is divided into four sections, which, according to developers from Acer, reflect the basic functionality of the laptop, and at the same time the user’s needs. These are the sections “Connect”, “Work”, “Entertainment”, “Files”.

In each such section there are three large icons responsible for launching the corresponding applications, as well as an arrow, clicking on which opens the entire section with all the icons related to it. In chapter "Connect" located: Browser - aka browser, IM - client - which is unknown reasons does not support ICQ, programs for viewing email and reading RSS feeds, as well as icons for quick access to such popular, according to the manufacturer, resources as Wikipedia, google maps and Hotmail.

Chapter "Job" in fact, it contains most of the necessary office applications for working with texts, tables and presentations - in short, it is installed here Open Office. Also available in this section is a convenient calculator, calendar, and programs for storing contacts and notes.

The entertainment section allows you to access a program for viewing multimedia data, a program for viewing photos, games, a Web camera, as well as a simple graphics editor.

In its turn "Games" are also an independent section, in which there are about ten simple, but quite beautiful and colorful toys, some of which, unfortunately, are paid. For example, in checkers in free mode you can only make a certain number of moves, which simply cannot be enough to win, and a large number of people are unlikely to want to pay 442 rubles 80 kopecks for them (that’s how much the license costs). In general, the presented mini-games can help kill extra time - just like the “immortal” Tetris.

In chapter "Files" icons are collected that allow you to quickly open folders with the desired content, for example, clicking on “My Images” will open the corresponding folder on the disk. All the buttons presented in this section launch a file manager, which will not be difficult for a user of any level of training to understand.

Having discussed the sections, let's return to the desktop for a moment. In the lower right corner, just above the system tray with the clock, there are two buttons "Settings" And "Reference". Clicking on the second one entails opening a file with documentation and therefore is not very interesting to us.

But as for the settings, there is something to look at. By clicking on “Settings”, the user is taken to a separate section in which he has access to options for screen, power supply, network connections, calendar, sound, touchpad, connected printers, language, updates. Here you can also call up information about the system, as well as change the user password.

At first it seems that Acer Aspire One everything you need is already installed. Judge for yourself, here you have a completely Russified, neat and “nimble” operating system, installed and office applications and a media player and browser and even a few games, but at some point the user may want to add some other programs - the same graphics editor or a program for communicating via ICQ, what should I do in this case?

Frankly, I have been looking for a long time to get to the “real” settings of the operating system, in which, for example, there is access to installing and uninstalling programs. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find it in the settings section. I had to look for the command line - something without which it is difficult to imagine an operating system Linux. This task also turned out to be not so trivial, but I still managed to find access to the command line from the file manager.

To get into the system settings I used the command xfce-setting-show . After a little manipulation, I finally managed to get into the “real” operating system settings. From where I was easily able to install the necessary programs, so in the end I received a full-fledged operating system with everything I needed, as well as the ability to increase functionality by installing additional programs, of which, by the way, there are simply a huge number of them under Linux.

enjoy Linpus Linux Lite It’s really convenient, it works quickly, and all the necessary controls are always at hand. I would especially like to note the speed with which the netbook running this operating system connected to the Internet, both via cable and wireless connection.

After installing the network cable, the Internet became available in one second, and in the case of a wireless connection - in less than 10 seconds. The best part is that it is not installed on the netbook Windows, then it is practically not susceptible to viruses, Trojans and similar infections, which, combined with competent Russification, allows it to be used by users of any level of training, including children.

Acer Aspire One and Windows XP

operating system Windows XP was placed on Aspire One with only one goal - to run all the necessary tests and benchmarks on the netbook; you can see the results just below. However, I understand perfectly well that many users will decide to install Windows XP instead of Linpus Linux Lite, guided by their own interests or for the sake of compatibility with any applications they need that have no analogues for Linux. Therefore, especially for such users, I will describe the installation process a little Windows XP on Aspire One.

The netbook lacks Acer, like the vast majority of its competitors, the built-in DVD/CD-ROM undoubtedly made it a little difficult (there was no external DVD-ROM at hand) and slowed down the installation process, but, strangely enough, the media player came to my aid, which was just was tested by us, and was easily identified as an external optical drive.

The installation took a relatively long time, after all, being a DVD drive is not the main job for a media player, but an hour and a half after the installation began, I still saw a desktop familiar to absolutely everyone Windows XP.

Immediately after installing the operating system, which clearly did not have all the necessary drivers, I had to get these drivers. I was thinking of finding drivers for Windows on the DVD included in the kit, but they were not there, but on the official website www.acer.com everything was found. After installing the drivers, all the “insides” of the netbook were identified Windows XP no problem.

Apparently because I first used Aspire One With Linpus Linux Lite, use on it Windows XP I wasn't very happy. Moreover, it’s not even a matter of loading speed, which Linux Lite at unprecedented heights, the point is most likely that using a netbook as regular computer, for which it is intended Windows XP, in my opinion, not the best idea.

8.9-inch screen, as well as fillings Aspire One is unlikely to be enough for professional and convenient photo editing, working with videos or running any demanding games and applications; a netbook is more suitable for checking email, communicating in the same ICQ or Skype, Internet surfing, video conferences, watching movies or editing documents. In this connection, if the listed capabilities are enough for you, I definitely recommend using an OS specially adapted for a netbook Linpus Linux Lite.

However, set to Aspire One family operating system Windows it is possible, and it will naturally work, although not as quickly as we would like. In defense Windows XP we can also say that the netbook under her leadership ran on battery power for only a few minutes less than under the control of Linux Lite.

Testing Acer Aspire One

Then on Aspire One tests were installed to evaluate the performance of both the entire system as a whole and individual components, and the time battery life laptop, both under full load and without it.

So, in the test 3DMark 2003 netbook earned modest 710 points, the test was run at 1024x768 resolution with anti-alising disabled, optimal texture filtering and vertex shaders, and maximum anisotropic filtering 4.

Affairs in 3DMark 2005 things were, naturally, worse, here the netbook only typed 243 points.

As for the operating speed of an SSD drive, the average read time is about 35 MB/s, but the write speed, alas, does not exceed 15 MB/s. The last digit greatly distinguishes this SSD drive model from classic SATA hard drives.

We did not forget to measure such an important indicator as the time to fully charge the battery, which for the tested model is approximately 87 minutes.

Acer Aspire One | conclusions

During use Acer Aspire One I came to the following conclusions. We won't talk about performance Aspire One compared to other netbooks due to the fact that they all currently have almost the same hardware. So the user has a unique opportunity to focus on the user experience when choosing this type of device.

A definite plus Aspire One is its appearance and ergonomics of controls. The keyboard is very comfortable and good-looking, and the touchpad also deserves all sorts of praise. The operating system also deserves special envy from users of other netbooks Linpus Linux Lite, which not only looks very unusual and beautiful, but also works quickly and reliably. All this, of course, is true only for the average user, if professionals do not have enough functionality Linpus, no one forbids installing any other “penguin” distribution on a netbook.

The idea of ​​using two card readers, one of which allows you to expand the space of the system disk (I promised to mention this in more detail), for a device with a memory capacity of 8 GB is very successful, especially since memory cards are now cheaper than ever. True, restrictions on the total capacity of memory cards located in both slots, amounting to 8 GB, somewhat reduces the possibility of “unlimited” expansion of the volume hard drive via SD cards.

Lack of built-in Bluetooth module for many users can be a significant disadvantage, especially for those who want to connect to the Internet via GPRS/EDGE, using their phone as a modem. However, a netbook version with a 3G modem (there is space for installation in any Acer Aspire One) makes the presence of Bluetooth not so critical.

An important characteristic for this type of device is weight, it is also at a decently low level, only 1 kilogram - and the dimensions are small, therefore, it can be worn Aspire One You can take almost anything with you.

Now, as for battery life. According to this characteristic Aspire One at least a little, it is inferior to its competitors, however, three hours of operation at minimum load and a full battery charge in one hour and twenty-three minutes is a quite decent result and, in theory, will be enough for many. Theoretically, battery life can be increased by using an additional battery, but this will inevitably entail an increase in the final cost and weight of the device.

Acer
for the netbook provided for testing Acer Aspire One

• Netbook Aser Aspire One (AOA110-Ab)
• Case
• Battery (2400 mAh)
• Power adapter
• Description, quick user guide
• 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 of the multimedia capabilities of the device.

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.

The founder of the Asus EEE 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, 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 for a full-fledged laptop. Acer really wants to achieve a correct understanding of the essence of the device: an additional element in home network, and not a replacement for a 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 Atom N270 processor (1.6 MHz), RAM 512 MB DDR2 (soldered into the motherboard), 8 GB SSD, LAN 10/100, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Linux operating 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 there will always be users who like to dig around and find non-standard moves, sacrificing appearance. 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 1,800 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, Windows operating system (Home Edition).

Both models come with a 2400 mAh lithium-ion battery, which lasts for 2.5-3 hours of operation. It takes 1 hour 20 minutes to fully charge.

A high-capacity battery will also be produced - 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 an installed 3G or WiMax module. 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 ten days using Asus EEE PC 701 Aspire One came into my hands. 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.

Netbook Aspire One does not have a single right angle, all body lines 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, but the additional space is used to increase the number of 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 expanding the internal memory, supporting SD cards \SDHC.

WITH 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 2.0 ports, a 3.5 mm audio output and a 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 activated Caps Lock and Num Lock 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 of a standard keyboard), which allows you to type large amounts of text 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 top row there are F-buttons, half of which, using the Fn modifier, allow you to put the netbook to sleep, switch between the built-in and external display, mute the 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- Mozilla web browser Firefox versions 2.0.0.14 (you cannot update to version 3.0 in the usual way)

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):

1. Go to http://rpm.pbone.net
2. In the search bar, search for Firefox
3. Select Fedora 6 from the search results
4. Once downloaded, run the 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 office applications OpenOffice package 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 the 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 addresses and TCP\IP.

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. The three thousand rubles that are asked for the older version - read twice the amount of memory and the installed operating system from Microsoft - is 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.

Acer netbooks: review of the 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

Built Acer Aspire One 725 based on AMD platforms APU Fusion. 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, as a CPU processor on the Aspire One 725 dual core processor C-60 s clock frequency 1 GHz operation and the ability to overclock in Turbo CORE mode up to 1.33 GHz. The Aspire One 725 also carries on board 4 GB of DDRIII RAM and a 320-500 GB HDD drive.

The implementation of graphic solutions for the netbook deserves special attention. As a graphics card, the Aspire One 725 has integrated 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 wireless support Wi-Fi networks 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 most important characteristics of a device such as a netbook is 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 fairly powerful, mobile device, which you could always take with you, but at the same time not lose 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 an Intel Atom N2600 processor with a 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 a stable and generally fast work systems. 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.

The battery life of the Aspire One D270 is slightly less than that of the previous model, but also quite decent - 5 hours in moderate use mode, 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 a nice little netbook with full set necessary functions and long enough 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. At the moment, the Acer Aspire One 756 laptop is available in the following configurations: based on Intel Celeron 87.887 processors with a clock frequency of 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.

The appearance of this laptop 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 type and LED backlight, a 0.3-megapixel webcam, an Intel Atom N2600 processor, a hard drive with a capacity of up to 320 GB and 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 older Packard Bell dot s model has the same configuration of external ports and interfaces as the younger one, but interior architecture somewhat 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 provisions. 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 as a budget model segment, regardless of high quality products. It is also worth noting the 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”).

12 function keys; 4 cursor control keys; Windows key®; "Hotkeys; digital block
Power button with indicator
Key quick launch: WLAN
Quick Launch Key: Bluetooth
I/O ports 3 x USB 2.0
1 x external monitor port (VGA)
1 x External Speaker/Headphone/Line Out
1 x microphone jack
1 x Ethernet (RJ-45) port
1 x AC adapter connector

Software
Programs:
Acer Recovery Management
Microsoft® Works Work SE 9 with Office Home and Student 2007 (trial)
Google Toolbar™
Google Desktop™
Google™ Setup
Adobe® Reader® 9
Adobe® Flash® Player 10
Microsoft®.NET Framework 2.0
Internet Explorer® 7.0
eSobi
Carbonite backup online
McAfee Internet Security Suite 60-day trial
Acer Game Zone
Programs for communicating over the Internet:
Acer Video Conference Manager 4.0
Windows Live™ Essentials - Wave 3 (Mail, Photo Gallery, Live™ Messenger, Writer)

Note: This model does not support a built-in 3G/WiMAX modem. Actually, nothing prevents you from using an external USB modem, as I do, or installing an appropriate modem or, for example, a board for HD-Video decoding in the existing mini PCI-Express slot. The description and equipment are given specifically for my version. Detailed information about models and equipment can be obtained on the website Acer Aspire One D250

Appearance, design and ergonomics
I received a white and black netbook, the so-called Seashell White color. Top panel glossy white with ACER logo. Despite the gloss, fingerprints are not very noticeable:

The bottom part of the netbook is made of white matte plastic; fingerprints are not noticeable on it at all, but if you grab the beech with dirty hands, it will quickly become scratched:

When the netbook is open, the picture is different. The working surface with the keyboard, touchpad and indicators is made of black plastic with a “metal” look, the frame around the screen is glossy, black - it collects fingerprints well when opening the netbook or adjusting the screen position:

In general, the appearance of the netbook is closed:

and in the open state:

Leaves a good impression. At least the Aspire One doesn't feel cheap. The maximum opening angle of the screen is about 135-140 degrees, which in my opinion is quite enough.

My copy was equipped with a matrix manufactured by Samsung, model SEC554E. The coating is glossy and easy to peel. But the colors are quite rich and vibrant. In principle, it’s fine for watching movies, office and gaming. Enough is enough. Only the average viewing angles are disappointing. Although it’s normal for personal work, no one will watch a movie or play on such a baby with the whole family anyway. Because it smacks of perversion.

On the left side of the netbook are:

RG-45 port built-in network 100 Mbit
Ventilation grill
D-Sub 15 connector for connecting a monitor
USB 2.0 connector
Microphone input
Headphone or speaker output

The front edge is nothing special and not remarkable:

It contains only a battery charge status indicator, visible even when the lid is closed, and a wireless network card control slider (the WiFi status indicator is not visible when the lid is closed). The speakers and ventilation grille are located on an oblique cut of the front edge and the speakers practically sound into the table, i.e. the sound reaches the ears as a reflected sound.

On the right side of the device are:

The card reader is carefully covered with a plastic removable plug
Two USB 2.0 connectors (located quite closely, for example, my Kingston flash drives are quite thick and interfere with each other)
Power supply connector
Kensington lock slot

There is nothing at all at the back except the battery. Therefore, there is no point in stopping at the rear panel.

The device's keyboard left a fairly pleasant impression (especially after testing the keyboards on ASUS and Samsung netbooks).
The top row of F-buttons is slightly compressed in width and height, but does not cause any particular discomfort. I don't need them that often.

The main keyboard keys, in my opinion, are the optimal size for such a baby. Getting used to the layout takes 1-2 days, and then you can work blindly with a minimum number of errors. The play of the keyboard panel is noticeable only when pressed hard enough; the short stroke of the buttons clearly responds to pressing, responding with a slight tactile click (or more precisely, resistance).

In the left top corner The keyboard contains LED indicators: hard drive activity, NumLock, CapsLock (with green backlight), as well as a Bluetooth power button with a built-in power indicator (lit blue). In some models, despite the presence of a button, the built-in bluetooth may be missing.

In the upper right corner there is only a mirrored power button with green backlight in a small recess.

As you can see, it is especially sparse and the netbook does not have any additional buttons. In addition to special keys that work in conjunction with a pressed button "FN"

For example*:
FN+F2 - opens the "System Properties" window
FN+F3 - call the power control panel
FN+F4 - putting the device into sleep mode
FN+F5 - switching display modes on the built-in or external screen, or on two at once.
FN+F6 - turn off the screen backlight
FN+F7 - disable/enable touchpad
FN+F8 - mute/unmute sound

OS, Drivers and other software
Initially, the netbook comes with pre-installed Windows XP Home Edition SP3 and a set of various software (including trial ones). But Windows 7 was somehow dearer to my heart. Actually, it was installed from a specially prepared flash drive. Drivers for the "Seven" are present in the corresponding section of the manufacturer's website, so there is no need to crawl through all the sites to search for suitable versions. Installation of the OS and drivers was quick and painless. All the software I needed also installed quickly and calmly. The installation was carried out with external drive Western Digital Essential 250GB via USB ports.

After installing all the software, according to the Task Manager, there was still about 500MB of free RAM left. Which is nice considering installed Windows 7 Maximum, Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 and a lot of other software that took up most of the space in the tray.

The system pleased me with its responsiveness and speed of operation, even with 1GB of memory installed. There are plans to check speed and power consumption with 2GB of RAM installed. The processor load during normal, not too loaded work does not exceed 20-25%. At higher loads (with 10-15 simultaneously open applications) it can rise to 60-70%. For a single-core processor with a frequency of only 1.6 GHz and HyperThreading support, this is simply an excellent result. I’m not interested in watching movies or playing games on it; for this house I have a very powerful unit with a 22" NEC monitor. Because what I need from it is portability and autonomy for work, which is exactly what they are intended for. That is documents, work on the Internet anytime, anywhere.

Network, 3G and WiMAX
Since this model already contains a 100Mbit network card made by Atheros, a WiFi wireless network card from Broadcom and a Bluetooth module from the same Broadcom (works great with standard Windows drivers). Let's look at some features:

1. Lack of 3G/WiMAX module. In principle, nothing prevents you from installing any 3G/WiMAX modem there, especially since for operation in GSM/EDGE/3G networks there is a window under the battery compartment for installing a SIM card. True, the holder itself is also missing. If you have direct hands, this problem is easily solved. For now, I limited myself to purchasing an external USB modem from a three-letter operator. Because WiMAX will come to us unknown when, and apparently we won’t be able to wait at all for 3G network operators.

2. Follows from paragraph 1. Since the wireless network is apparently hard-wired, no antenna wires were found near the mini PCI-ex connector. In principle, on the same EBay.com there are also WiFi/WiMAX boards based on Intel 5150/5350 chips, including those with antennas included.

For home use The cable connection option was rejected immediately because: there are simply no free ports on the “home gigabit toad”, and secondly, I didn’t want to be tied to wires. So our choice is WiFi, fortunately it is dual-band 802.11b/g. At home I connect via a D-Link DWL-2100AP+ point (with WPA2-PSK encryption and a MAC address filter, of course). The modem gives me the address, linked to the MAC. Those. the address is the same. For other networks, I have several WiFi connections configured that are connected automatically if a suitable network is detected and the required address is assigned. In short, there are no problems with WiFi support in the Seven. The signal remains stable even in the conditions of reinforced concrete panels of a house from the 80s of the last century.

The cable connection option also does not cause any problems in use. This uses the NetSetMan utility with installed profiles for the networks I need. Incl. for a domain network at work and with connection the necessary printers. In a word, a solid "five". At the same time, having “only” a 100Mbit card is more of an advantage than a disadvantage. 1GB is a real overkill for a not-so-powerful machine. Because Netik simply cannot copy/write files to a disk with a rotation speed of 5400 rpm.

Power consumption, battery, temperature
It’s probably not worth even saying that the energy consumption of this “baby” is at a very low level. Netik is content with only a compact 30W power supply made by HiPro, which is even smaller in size than my Nokia N70, although a little thicker, and is equipped with a capacious 52W battery.

By the way, in economy mode, the beech automatically reduces the screen brightness by about half, and the seven also disables some of the Aero effects. In this case, the comfort of work does not suffer much, especially since no one forbids raising the screen brightness using hot keys. This is partly due to the LED backlighting of the screen.

The only thing that causes some concern is the temperature of the “baby”. Still, you should not work with it while lying on the sofa or bed, because... most of the ventilation holes will inevitably be blocked. The most comfortable positions are: sitting at a table, on your lap, or a netbook on your hand (quite comfortable, given the protruding battery, which is very convenient to hold the beech in the “on your hand” position).

conclusions
Overall, the netbook left only positive impressions. At least I got what I wanted from him. High mobility and autonomy from power supply, plus compactness. And in this case there is no point in nitpicking about minor shortcomings; this is due to the desire of vendors to bring the above mentioned properties to the forefront.

Don't have a DVD drive? Personally, I have never needed it yet.
Can't handle modern games and movies in HD quality??? For this purpose there is a powerful home computer with a cinema.

Well, I personally don’t need any of this on it.

But on the plus side: low price netbook, high battery life, small dimensions. And in my work bag I have to manage to fit a bunch of CDs, a tool kit and a laptop. There are no problems with a netbook in this case.

Leave your comments

Acer Aspire One netbook review

Acer Aspire One – 9-inch netbook on the Atom platform

If you don’t already know, this is a special class of miniature laptops, characterized by low cost and focus on performing the simplest everyday tasks. Netbooks, initially considered just as an affordable and simple product designed to introduce the broad masses of the population to computer technology, unexpectedly became a new fashion trend in the field of mobile technology. netbooks

As it turned out, netbooks were exactly what users were missing all these years. Yes, a traditional laptop is powerful, functional and productive, suitable for performing all the tasks for which we use personal computers. But it is heavy, bulky and fragile; it requires a special bag or backpack. A netbook, comparable in size to a small book, easily fits in a briefcase or handbag and does not burden its owner at all. And even if its capabilities are modest by today's standards, it is still a full-fledged x86-compatible computer, which costs less than a prestigious cell phone.

The inventor of the netbook class should be considered ASUS company, which, with the support of Intel, released the Eee PC model. Even before its birth, the mini-computer became a real hit - a source of genuine interest from users and the black envy of competitors who themselves did not think of it or did not believe in the success of the idea. And as soon as it became clear that the product had “taken off”, a real boom began - clones, analogues, accessories “in the style of Eee PC”, components “for Eee PC”, etc.

It should be noted that the appearance of a typical netbook did not emerge immediately, and not all of the ideas included in the Eee PC turned out to be successful. For example, the 7-inch screen size, borrowed from inexpensive portable DVD players, turned out to be insufficient for comfortable work, and netbook manufacturers quickly switched to 9- and 10-inch matrices. Further, replacing the hard drive with a flash drive did not justify itself - the volume that can be equipped with a cheap computer is too small, and the speed increase is almost not noticeable. Therefore, most netbooks today are equipped with traditional hard drives. An important aspect was the power consumption factor: the netbook battery is small, and the standard Intel hardware platform on which “real” laptops are built is not suitable. As soon as Intel released new processor Atom, characterized by a highly simplified microarchitecture, but also extremely low power consumption, just a couple of watts, manufacturers lined up for the new platform (which ultimately led to a serious shortage of components for netbooks).

Only the laziest (or proud) manufacturer does not produce netbooks today mobile computers. Most of these devices are built according to the same scheme and differ mainly in design and some parameters, for example, the type and volume of the main drive. Not everyone decided to experiment and search for new forms - most gave this right to ASUS as the pioneer. Now ASUS has dozens of netbook models, with different functions and designs, while competitors have one or two proven options without a clear focus on a specific category of users.

Acer was one of the first to tackle netbooks. Its Aspire One netbook was not the subject of experiments - according to appearance and hardware, it resembles the second generation ASUS models.

And yet, the Acer netbook immediately attracted the attention of potential buyers who know well how this company can produce fairly reliable and high-quality machines at a very affordable price. And the price for a netbook is perhaps the most important parameter that distinguishes it from a classic subnotebook. In our review, we'll look at one of the most attractive variants of the Aspire One - the one that comes with a standard 120GB hard drive.

The model produced by Acer is conceptually no different from most other netbooks. This is a cheap sub-laptop with a small screen, designed for simple entertainment and Internet access. It is built on the new Intel mobile platform, optimized just for this class of computers. The platform is based on an economical but low-performance Intel processor Atom N270 with a frequency of 1.6 GHz, and a relatively old integrated chipset of the 945 series containing graphics Intel core GMA 950 with support for DirectX 9 (pixel shaders in hardware, vertex shaders in software). The netbook can be equipped with an SSD drive based on low-capacity flash memory (8 GB) or a full-fledged 2.5 form factor hard drive. Please note that the Aspire One case has space for a 2.5-inch mobile hard drive, the same as in the “ large" laptops (hence, it is easy to replace it with a more capacious one). The netbook does not have an optical drive; to support disks, you will need to connect an external device with a USB interface (not included in the package).

A netbook must be equipped with wired and wireless network controllers. The Aspire One has a simple Realtek network codec without support for gigabit networks and wireless card 802.11b/g from one of the well-known manufacturers. The Bluetooth radio interface module is provided by the design, but may not be installed. There is also room for a GSM/UMTS modem, but it is not included as standard.

The set of ports on the netbook is limited, but the presence of three USB, two audio and a monitor output is mandatory.

Perhaps the most important hardware difference between the Acer netbook and its analogues is the presence of two card readers at once. The first is multi-format, designed for SD, MS, xD, MMC cards and their variants. And the second is supposed to be used to increase the amount of disk space by installing a capacious SDHC card (they are the cheapest among analogues). For a netbook with an 8 GB flash hard drive this decision seems very successful, since there is a prospect of easily increasing disk space by 16 or even 32 GB. A netbook with a hard drive does not seem to need a second slot. However, keep in mind that if there is no ExpressCard slot, you can add a non-standard device only through a slot with an SDIO interface, and the Aspire One has one.

For reasons of weight and size reduction, the netbook battery has a reduced capacity (at least half the size of a typical “full-fledged” laptop battery), but due to the exceptional efficiency of the Atom processor, its charge should be enough for several hours of operation without a power outlet. We will find out a little later how long the Aspire One lasts without recharging.

Yes, the Acer netbook has its own unique design, but in fairness it should be noted that there is still some similarity with the founder of the netbook class, ASUS Eee PC. But the Aspire One netbook is not similar to other laptops from Acer - neither in the contours of the case, nor in the materials, nor in the details of design or finishing.

So, design. The outer part of the top cover, as well as the surface around the keyboard, are made of characteristic milky-white plastic with a pearlescent texture, smooth and hard to the touch. The keyboard is also white, but matte and slightly rough; the sides and bottom of the case have the same texture.

The inner surface of the lid of the Aspire One is made of glossy black plastic, which not only visually enlarges the screen, but also creates an interesting contrast transition that enlivens the design of the netbook. (However, now not only the “mirror” matrix glares, but also its background, which can cause serious inconvenience during work).

Acer offers not only the all-white Aspire One netbooks, but also variants of other colors– blue, pink and chocolate. All surfaces are painted, only the inside of the lid remains black.

Screen The netbook is an 8.9-inch LCD matrix with a resolution of 1024x600, produced by the Taiwanese manufacturer AU Optronics.

Information about the use of LED backlighting is indirectly refuted by the fact that there is a warning on the sticker on the bottom side of the case about the presence of mercury in the backlight lamps. This does not have the best effect on both image quality and power consumption. In addition, as is often the case with netbooks, the matrix has excessive brightness - only the minimum level can be used for working with documents. However, since the netbook is focused more on viewing photos and videos than on text and business graphics, this cannot be considered a serious drawback. But in general, the quality of the matrix is, of course, low: viewing angles are small, especially vertical, the contrast is rather weak, color rendering is so-so, the color temperature is too high (the picture looks blue), etc.

Lid Acer netbook does not have a latch; Thanks to the cut-off lower edges, it is easy to lift, and a clear hinge secures it securely when open. Built into its upper edge Webcam with a microphone. The cover is attached on two large hinges to a cylindrical protrusion that hides the battery underneath.

The cylinder contains four LED(battery, HDD, numlock, capslock), which are clearly visible even when the lid is closed.

At the ends of the cylinder there are decorative silver “screw heads” with glossy red rims. In fact, this design element is not supported by anything else in the design, and therefore seems superfluous.

Reduced keyboard– a traditional weak point of a miniature computer. It should be noted that Acer developers have successfully dealt with this problem.

The key pitch is indeed smaller than usual - 17 mm (for standard laptops - 19 mm), the height and depth of travel are also reduced. However, the button mechanism is quite elastic, the buttons do not have much play and do not rattle. The layout is also successful - only the rightmost row was shortened, from which two buttons were made (combined PgUp/Home and PgDn/End) and placed in the area of ​​the cursor buttons. In general, you can get used to such a keyboard relatively easily, and after a very short time you don’t notice its features.

The top row of buttons is marked with hot combination symbols. Their set is typical for Acer: calling proprietary utilities, switching to Standby, turning off the screen backlight, touchpad and sound. The laptop does not have separate “quick launch” buttons, and there is no provision for controlling multimedia playback. On the right side of the front edge, wedge-shaped and quite sharp, there is a button-latch for the wireless antenna with two indicators, which is shared by the Bluetooth and WiFi controllers.

The place for it was chosen very well.

Touchpad Acer netbook has normal size and an unconventional layout - the mouse buttons are located on its sides.

This solution seemed very successful to us, since the touchpad buttons on the same Eee PC cause a lot of inconvenience. Although many users, judging by the reviews, are not happy with this decision.

Built-in speakers are located under the leading edge. Their quality, of course, is far from perfect, and the audio codec (2-channel Realtek ALC268) is very simple and has no special features.

I/O ports located on the sides of the laptop body.

On the right we will find two audio connectors (external microphone and speakers/headphones), two USB and a universal slot for cards of most formats.

On the left there is a VGA output, power socket, power adapter input and SDHC card slot.

We finish the description of design and ergonomics according to tradition temperature conditions. Alas, on this point the Aspire One, like most of its classmates, is much inferior to “full-fledged” laptops. The noise of a small built-in fan may not be audible in an office or classroom setting, but in a quiet home environment it is particularly annoying with its monotonous hum. Even when typing, the fan noise is quite annoying (it is not loud, but very unpleasant to the ear). At the same time, the surface of the keyboard remains noticeably warm, especially the near right panel, although the bottom, fortunately, warms up to a lesser extent. Unfortunately, this is a problem with all laptops with small internal displacement - it is not possible to remove all the excess heat due to air flow.

All netbooks on the Intel platform, and the vast majority of them, are equipped with the same processor (Intel does not yet offer others). Therefore, look for differences in netbook performance different manufacturers doesn’t make much sense - it can only really be affected by the type of main storage device (hard drive or SSD). Therefore, we will try to compare the performance of the Acer netbook with the most affordable and simple classic budget laptops built on the basis Intel platforms and equipped with Celeron M processors. As such, we chose two not very recent models:

Acer equips Aspire One models with a hard drive with a special version of the Windows XP Home operating system (for netbooks), and models with a flash drive - Linux system(apparently, it is less demanding on disk space). Therefore, we carried out all tests in Windows environment XP SP2 Home, using old versions of BAPCo tests - SYSMark 2004 and MobileMark 2005.

Performance. It would seem that the Atom processor has a clear advantage over the Celeron M - it supports HyperTreading and provides parallel processing of two command streams. However, let's not forget that its architecture is greatly simplified to reduce power consumption.

As a result, we are seeing a significant, no less than a third, lag behind the Acer TravelMate laptop, built on a similar platform. In a number of tests, the netbook loses to its “bigger friend” by half! Even Fujitsu laptop The Siemens, one of the slowest we've tested over the past year, easily beats the Acer Aspire One. The situation improves slightly if the netbook is connected to the power supply and the power consumption mode is set to "Always On". Windows settings(dynamic frequency reduction system does not work):

Energy consumption Acer netbook in the MobileMark 2005 test is about 8.6 W, which is 2-3 times lower than that of standard laptops of minimal cost. If this model had an SSD instead of a hard drive, this figure would be lower by another couple of watts. However, due to the low battery capacity, the Aspire One netbook still operates autonomously for no more than 3 hours, which is unlikely to suit all potential owners of this computer.

But the entry-level laptops compared to it work even less, although they have more capacious batteries.

Despite the fact that formally all netbooks are identical in configuration (with the exception of the hard drive), they have significant differences that are rarely reflected in dry official figures. In particular, the Acer Aspire One model, considered one of the most affordable netbooks on the market, also has its own characteristics. We liked the quality of workmanship and assembly, the comfortable keyboard with a key pitch of 17 mm, the side buttons of the touchpad, and the interesting design of the lid. A significant advantage for a configuration with a flash drive is the presence of a second card reader. The disadvantages of this netbook include, first of all, the unpleasant noise made by the fan, as well as the short battery life.

The cost of an Acer Aspire One laptop with a hard drive is $520-700, depending on the form of delivery

• high-quality assembly, nice materials;
• clear lid hinge;
• acceptable keyboard with a familiar layout;
• availability of a standard form factor hard drive;
• two card readers;
• interesting color options.

• unpleasant noise;
• heating of the case around the keyboard;
• not the highest quality LCD matrix;
• short battery life (no more than 3 hours).

(based on materials from the site GIGAMARK.COM)