Also, the arrow block is combined with the and keys, which can sometimes cause them to be accidentally pressed. Well, and most importantly - the size of the keys is still smaller than that of laptops. So typing on the Aspire One is not very convenient, at least at first. However, this is the “ailment” of most netbooks. The touchpad is quite compact. Due to the limited area, its buttons were located on the sides, and not on the bottom, as is done on all other laptops and netbooks. It may seem uncomfortable right away, but you get used to this arrangement very quickly. Additional buttons for Acer Aspire One is not - there is only a button to turn the netbook on and off, combined with an orange LED. Netbooks do not have a lot of communication connectors. And the Aspire One is no exception. On the left is the power connector, D-SUB, RJ-45, USB and the Storage Expansion slot. The latter is an ordinary SD card reader, but according to Acer's idea, it is worth inserting an SD card into it "permanently", making it an addition to the main HDD or SSD. On the right, there are audio jacks, two USBs, a card reader. On the front, on the beveled edge, there are ventilation holes, and a little higher on the right is the switch for the Wi-Fi controller. The rear panel is completely dedicated to the battery. It is extremely difficult to install large speakers and a subwoofer in a netbook - the dimensions do not allow. Therefore, in the Aspire One, we found only one small speaker. So if you want to listen to music (listen, not hear), it would be better to connect headphones or even external speakers. The screen of Acer Aspire One is very pleased. Despite the cheapness of the netbook, the manufacturer has equipped it with a matrix with LED-backlight. As a result, the picture turned out to be saturated. Pleased with a good supply of brightness, as well as good viewing angles.

Specifications Acer Aspire One:

• Screen - 8.9″ / 1024x600
• Processor - Intel Atom N270 (1.6GHz, 512Kb L2)
• Memory - 1024 MB DDR2-667
• Chipset - Intel 945GME + ICH7-M
• Video card - Intel GMA950
• Hard Drive - 120 GB (5400 rpm, SerialATA)
• Communication Capabilities - 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, Atheros AR5007EG (IEEE 802.11a/b/g)
• Ports - 3x USB2.0, D-SUB, audio out, microphone in, RJ-45
• Other features - Storage Expansion slot, 4 in 1 card reader (SD/MS/MS Pro/MMC), 0.3 MP webcam
• Battery - 2200 mAh, 3 cells
• Power supply - 30 W
• Dimensions - 248x170x28 mm
• Weight 1.26 kg

Price for Acer laptop Aspire One fluctuates in the range of 9,000 ~ 16,000 rubles (depending on the configuration and OS).
P.S. Acer Aspire One is a good netbook that will be able to compete with the entire already almost vast ASUS Eee PC family, as well as analogues from other manufacturers. Among its positive qualities, we can name a configuration that is not bad by netbook standards, a variety of available modifications, an excellent screen, and also a relatively affordable price. I was also pleased with the leather case included in the package. The touchpad on the Aspire One isn't very large and has a slippery surface, which makes the pointer position a bit confusing. It's a pity that the Acer netbook cannot be updated by itself. Well, there is little time battery life, for which all the fault lies with the low-capacity battery.

Netbook hardware options

As a rule, netbooks are sold in most stores as laptops. At best, the price tag indicates that this is an ultraportable laptop. Unfortunately, this often misleads inexperienced users who purchase a netbook, coveting its low cost and portable size, just as a laptop. Alas, in this case, the netbook can only bring disappointment to its owner.

Despite similar appearance, netbooks cannot be classified as laptops (even ultraportables). The fact is that netbooks are designed to solve other problems than laptops, and in this sense they form a new class of mobile devices. A laptop allows you to solve all the same tasks as a netbook, but by no means vice versa. Therefore, it is more correct to classify netbooks as digital gadgets. Before moving on to the tasks that can be performed using netbooks, let's look at the possible configurations of these devices.

In general, if we talk about the distinguishing features of netbooks, then there are three of them. First, they look like ultraportable laptops. Secondly, in comparison with laptops, their cost is significantly lower. Thirdly, netbooks, again compared to laptops, have very low performance. Actually, exactly poor performance limits the scope of their application and does not allow them to be classified as laptops.

All modern netbook models are based on the same hardware platform. And it does not matter whether we are talking about ASUS Eee PC, or MSI Wind, or Acer Aspire One, in all cases there will be the same hardware platform inside, including one single (on this moment) Intel Atom N270 processor model and motherboard based on the Intel 945GSE chipset ( south bridge ICH7M).

The Intel Atom N270 processor (codenamed Diamondville) has a die size of 22x22mm. This single core processor clock frequency 1.6 GHz is made using a 45-nanometer process technology. The L2 cache size is 512 KB and the FSB frequency is 533 MHz. The Intel Atom N270 processor supports Hyper-Threading Technology, EIST (Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology), and SSE2 and SSE3 instruction sets. In addition, the Intel Atom N270 processor supports 64-bit EMT64 extensions (however, why this is needed for netbooks is completely incomprehensible).

The distinguishing characteristic of the Intel Atom N270 processor is its low power consumption. Thus, the TDP of this processor is 2.5 W, and the average power consumption is only 0.6 W.

If we talk about the performance of the Intel Atom N270 processor, then it is comparable to the performance of the Intel Celeron 600 MHz processor, which has long been discontinued.

The Intel 945GSE Express chipset (ICH7M southbridge), which is part of the netbook platform, can only be used in conjunction with the Intel Atom N270 processor.

In essence, the Intel 945GSE Express is a stripped-down version of the Intel 945G Express chipset. It has an integrated graphics Intel core GMA 950 hardware-accelerated 720p and 1080i HD video. However, this function is not in demand in netbooks, because, firstly, the screen resolution still does not allow viewing HD-video, and secondly, netbooks do not have a built-in optical drive.

Compared to the Intel 945G Express chipset, the Intel 945GSE Express chipset consumes significantly less power. Thus, the power consumption of the Intel 945GSE Express chipset is 9 W (the power consumption of the north bridge is 6 W, the south bridge is 3 W).

The Intel 945GSE Express chipset supports 400 and 533 MHz FSB, and the northbridge of the chipset has a single-channel DDR2 memory controller. Supports the use of DDR2-400/533 memory up to a maximum of 2 GB.

In addition, the Intel 945GSE Express chipset has PCI Express bus interfaces, USB Host and USB Client, SDIO, etc.

All modern netbook models do not have an optical drive, there are three USB interface 2.0, built-in card reader (SD, MMC, MS and MS Pro flash cards are supported), webcam, RG-45 network interface, VGA connector for connecting an external monitor, microphone and headphone jacks. In addition, all netbooks are equipped with a module wireless communication WiFi 802.11b/g.

As for the connectors present in netbooks, then, in principle, they are quite enough for comfortable working conditions. Of course, the lack of an optical drive somewhat limits the netbook's ability to install software. However, the software can also be installed from a flash drive. Of course, if you need to install the Windows XP operating system, then doing this using a USB flash drive is not so easy, but still possible. We will tell you how to install Windows XP on a netbook from a flash drive.

By size, all netbook models can be divided into two categories: netbooks with a screen diagonal of 8.9 and 10.2 inches. And there are simply no other options. In both cases (both 8.9- and 10.2-inch netbooks), the working resolution of the LCD matrix is ​​1024x600 pixels. Speaking about the screen resolution, we note that a typical situation for netbooks is when working with dialog boxes, a height of 600 pixels is not enough. The fact is that many standard dialog boxes have a height of more than 600 points. When such a window is opened, the buttons located at the bottom remain inaccessible and it is simply impossible to click on them with the mouse. You have to guess for a long time and painfully, until using the keyboard, the focus is transferred to the desired button in order to click on it. This is, of course, extremely inconvenient. Moreover, you need to be prepared for the fact that such a situation will arise when working not only with standard Windows windows, but also with dialog boxes in various applications.

If we talk about the difference between the configurations of various netbook models, then it can only be in the amount of installed random access memory, as well as in the amount and type of hard drive.

In netbooks can be used as solid state drives based on flash memory, and regular 2.5-inch form factor HDDs. Netbook models with SSD drives are cheaper, but the amount of SSD drives used in them, as a rule, does not exceed 8 GB. Well, the typical amount of HDD in netbooks is 80 GB.

As for the amount of DDR2 RAM, it is either 512 MB or 1 GB.

In addition, netbooks may differ from each other in the type of pre-installed OS. They can be preinstalled with Windows XP Home or an OS based on one of the Linux variants. As a rule, Windows XP Home is preinstalled on more expensive models with an HDD and 1 GB of RAM, and free Linux versions- for budget models with SSD and 512 MB memory.

Note that different manufacturers netbooks use various versions Linux-like operating systems, and we are not talking about original distributions, but about modified versions.

Purpose of netbooks

Having considered possible options hardware configuration of netbooks, let's define the purpose of these devices. So, what tasks can be solved with the help of netbooks?

First of all, a netbook is a mobile means of accessing the Internet. Actually, effective Internet surfing is the main task solved using netbooks. As noted, all netbooks other than the traditional wired network interface Fast Ethernet, have a built-in 802.11b/g wireless controller and can optionally be equipped with a WiMAX and 3G controller (however, netbook models supporting WiMAX and 3G networks are not yet delivered to Russia due to the lack of appropriate infrastructure). In addition, almost all netbooks have a built-in webcam, which allows you to organize video calls over the Internet using, for example, such a popular application as Skype.

However, it would be wrong to say that a netbook can only be used as a means of accessing the Internet. In this sense, the possibilities of netbooks are wider than those of MID devices (Mobile Internet Device). A netbook can be effectively used as a typewriter (and not just a simple one, but with Internet access). However, you need to keep in mind that netbooks are inconvenient to use for everyday work with office applications. The fact is that the portable size of netbooks impose restrictions on the size of the keyboard. If you're used to working with a full-sized keyboard, then it will be quite difficult to adjust to work with a netbook keyboard. That is, if we are talking about typing a small text (for example, communicating in ICQ or working with mail), then the netbook keyboard is quite suitable, and if regular work with text or about typing large amounts of text, then in this case a netbook will not be the best choice.

In addition, the netbook can be used for entertainment. You can listen to music and watch movies on it. True, netbooks do not have an optical drive, so watching movies is only possible from an internal hard drive or from an external drive connected via a USB interface. In addition, keep in mind that the maximum screen resolution of a netbook is 1024x600 pixels.

In principle, netbooks can be used for games - however, no modern shooters and even just dynamic games with 3D graphics will work on them. But logic games with 2D graphics are welcome. It is quite possible to play checkers, chess or paint a game of preference with a netbook.

Another option for using a netbook is to store and view digital photo albums, that is, use it as a digital photo frame. You can always take such a digital photo album with you on a visit to show the photo to your friends. But as for editing digital photos using applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, then for this better fit complete laptop. Theoretically, you can install Adobe Photoshop on a netbook. But for effective work with it, the screen resolution of the netbook will not be enough, and the performance is too low for such an application.

In summary, we emphasize once again that the scope of netbooks is limited. A netbook can be considered as a kind of addition to a full-fledged computer, but this device, of course, cannot act as the only home PC.

Netbook Acer Aspire One 110

Currently, Acer offers two models of netbooks: Acer Aspire One 110 and Acer Aspire One 150 in different colors. Both models have an 8.9-inch LCD screen (working resolution - 1024x600 pixels) and differ only in the type of hard drive, the amount of installed RAM and the pre-installed operating system. The more expensive Acer Aspire One 150 uses a 120 GB HDD, 1 GB RAM and comes pre-installed with operating system Windows XP Home.

Main characteristics

The Acer Aspire One 110 netbook is based on the Intel Atom N270 processor, and the motherboard is based on Intel chipset 945GSE Express (ICH7M southbridge) with integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics controller.

Netbook Acer Aspire One 110 is equipped with 512 MB of integrated RAM DDR2-667. It uses an 8GB NAND flash SSD for storage.

In addition, this netbook has two built-in card readers. One of them is only for SD cards, which are used as an extension of the SSD drive. By inserting a 16 GB SD card into this slot, you can use it as a second flash drive. It is noteworthy that SD-cards installed in this slot completely go into the netbook case, and do not stick out of it, which is extremely inconvenient if the SD-card does not need to be removed often from the netbook. The second built-in card reader is multi-format. It supports the main card types: SD, MMC, MS and MS Pro.

The communication capabilities of the Acer Aspire One 110 netbook are provided by the presence network controller based on Realtel RTL82102E chip (10/100 Mbps) and 802.11b/g wireless module based on Atheros AR5007EG chip.

To connect peripheral devices, the netbook has three USB port 2.0. In addition, there is a built-in webcam and microphone. The netbook is also equipped with a VGA connector for connecting an external monitor or projector and an RJ-45 connector for connecting to a segment local network. The laptop's audio subsystem is based on the Realtek ALC888S codec.

We also add that the Acer Aspire One 110 netbook is equipped with a three-cell lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 54 Wh.

It remains to be added that the Acer Aspire One 110 netbook is preinstalled with the Linpus Linux operating system, complete with various applications, and we are talking about a modified version of this operating system.

Model Features

For many users, a netbook is not a tool, but a kind of toy. In childhood, many had a designer. So, for most users, a netbook is also a kind of constructor, only for adults. Therefore, after getting acquainted with the Acer Aspire One 110 netbook, the question involuntarily arises of how to improve its configuration.

The first thing that comes to mind is to replace the 8 GB SSD with a normal HDD of 160 GB or more and, of course, add more RAM. Indeed, an 8 GB disk size imposes serious restrictions on functionality netbook. With such a volume of the drive, you can’t download a lot of films on it, or you can’t install programs.

There is another problem with SSD drives. Netbooks that use SSD drives are inferior in performance to netbooks that use HDD drives. The fact is that, firstly, these disks have a low write speed, and secondly, when accessing an SSD disk, it is heavily overloaded and already not very good. powerful processor. As a result, even the usual procedure for installing a program on a netbook takes a very long time, and everything depends not on the speed of writing to an SSD, but on a 100% processor load when working with an SSD.

Alas, in terms of upgradeability, the Acer Aspire One 110 netbook can only disappoint, since this procedure is not provided at all. The cover of the netbook, having contrived, can be removed, although the procedure is not easy and, without having enough experience, we do not recommend doing this. But even removing the cover of the netbook will not work. The fact is that 512 MB of memory are soldered on the netbook board, and there is simply no slot for installing an additional memory module. In addition, the SSD drive is not replaceable. That is, there is no traditional SATA connector for connecting a disk, so it is simply impossible to install an HDD disk in an Acer Aspire One 110 netbook.

The only thing that can be done with the Acer Aspire One 110 netbook is to increase the storage capacity by using an additional SD card.

After getting acquainted with the Linux Linpus operating system pre-installed on the acer Aspire One 110 netbook, the first thought that comes to mind is how to demolish this OS and install something normal. Indeed, the pre-installed version of Linux Linpus is a very stripped-down version, and it is not very clear who it is aimed at. Sophisticated users and adherents of Linux will not be satisfied with the capabilities of this version of Linux Linpus. It does not even provide a command line interface. Well, for those users who have so far worked only in operating systems of the Windows family and are unaware of the existence of other operating systems, Linux Linpus is unlikely to be able to replace the usual Windows interface. So there is only one way out - to demolish Linux Linpus and install a normal operating system.

The only question is what to put instead of Linux Linpus. If we are talking about the OS of the Windows family, then there is only one option - Windows XP, but if we are talking about the OS of the Linux family, then there can be a lot of options - whoever likes what.

Installing the Windows XP operating system

As we have already noted, the Acer Aspire One 110, like all other netbooks, lacks an optical drive. Therefore, when installing programs or operating systems, you must use either an external drive with a USB interface or a USB flash drive. Actually, if there is an external optical drive, then there are no problems with installing the Windows XP operating system. But installing an operating system from a USB flash drive is not an easy task, so we will consider this option.

So, to install the Windows XP operating system from a USB flash drive, we need the operating system distribution itself, a 2 GB USB flash drive, and several special utilities, which will allow you to prepare a USB flash drive so that you can install the OS from it.

You can, of course, install an Acer Aspire One 110 netbook and a full version of Windows XP, however, given the limited size of the SSD drive, and not too much high performance device, this is not recommended. Still complete Windows version XP is a little heavy for such a small thing as the Acer Aspire One 110. Therefore, first of all, you need to prepare a Windows XP distribution using the well-known nLite utility. This will remove all unnecessary, that is, those Windows XP components that we do not need, and at the same time integrate all operating system updates into the distribution kit. In the future, we will tell you how to prepare a Windows XP distribution, using the example English version Windows XP Pro.

Preparing Your Windows XP Distribution

To prepare the Windows XP distribution kit, we need a disk with the Windows XP Professional SP2 operating system or an ISO disk image, as well as the nLite 1.4.8 utility. (www.nliteos.com).

In the case of an ISO disk image, you must first unzip the disk image into a folder, such as WinXP (this folder is best created in the C:\ root directory). To unzip an ISO image, you can use various specialized utilities such as Ultra ISO or the WinRAR archiver.

After that, we launch the nLite 1.4.8 utility and, having selected the interface language in the welcome window (in our case, we chose Russian), go to the window Location installation files Windows, in which you must specify the path to the folder with the unzipped ISO image (С:\WinXP) or, if you are using a disk with the operating system, the path to optical drive. After that, the utility will scan the contents of the specified folder and display information (name, version, language, size) about the distribution kit of the operating system (Fig. 1). In our case, an ISO disk image with SP3 (Service Pack) already integrated was used, but if you are using the Windows XP Professional SP2 distribution, then, of course, information will be displayed that SP2 is integrated into the distribution.

Rice. 1. Specifying the path to the folder with Windows distribution XP

The next dialog box will display the settings (presets) of the OS distribution kit implemented earlier using the nLite utility, which can be loaded so as not to repeat them again. Since we assume that the distribution has not been created before, feel free to skip this dialog box and move on to the next one.

This window (Fig. 2) is very important. It should indicate all the actions that will be performed with the distribution of the operating system (integration into the Service Pack distribution, integration of updates, drivers, selection of OS components, installation automation, etc.). We recommend that you select all transactions except Drivers(driver integration).

Rice. 2. Choice of actions to be performed
with Windows XP distribution

In the next dialog ( Service pack) it is possible to integrate SP3 into the OS distribution kit, for which you need to specify the path to the SP3 file (WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe file) by clicking on the button Select(Fig. 3). The WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe file can be downloaded from the Microsoft website.

Rice. 3. Integration of SP3 into the operating system distribution

In the next dialog ( Fixes and service packs) you can specify all updates and additional Windows components that you want to integrate into the distribution. To do this, by clicking on the button Add, you need to specify the path to the corresponding files. We specifically downloaded several Windows updates XP that are not included in SP3, as well as a component such as Internet Explorer 7 (and update to it) to integrate them into the operating system distribution (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Adding Windows updates and features to the OS distribution

The following dialog box - Compatibility- prompts you to specify (mark) those Windows components that you need to work in order to prevent the possibility of removing the corresponding drivers, applications and services. You can leave nothing in this window (Fig. 5).

Rice. 5. Specify Windows components that cannot be removed

The following dialog box - Components- is the most important. It allows you to "lighten" the operating system by specifying applications, directories, services, drivers, etc. that can be removed from the operating system distribution. The fact is that initially the OS distribution contains a lot of all sorts of "junk", the existence of which you do not even suspect, but which will take up disk space, and therefore it is advisable to get rid of it.

However, you should not get carried away, otherwise you can “lighten” the operating system in such a way that it simply turns out to be inoperable. The main principle in this case is "if you're not sure, don't delete it." This is especially true for services, special OS components and hardware support.

On the left side of this window, the components of the operating system are grouped in a tree structure. Expanding the item Applications(it is not the first in the tree structure) and mark those applications that can be removed from the distribution (Fig. 6). We recommend marking the following applications for removal:

Rice. 6. Selecting applications that can be removed from the OS distribution

• screensavers;
• Internet games;
• pinball;
• briefcase;
• view the exchange folder;
• backup in NT;
• special abilities.

Next, expand the item Drivers and boldly select all drivers for removal (Fig. 7). We do not need the drivers built into the distribution kit, because, firstly, they take up space, and secondly, we will still install drivers for all devices separately. Removing the drivers will not affect the performance of the system in any way.

Rice. 7. Selecting drivers to uninstall

Next, expand the item Hardware support(Fig. 8) and mark all those items of hardware support for devices that we do not need in a netbook. When choosing items hardware support to remove, you need to be careful, because if you make a mistake and remove an extra component, this can affect the system's performance. Items are marked in red and black. Deletion of items marked in red should be approached with particular care. At the same time, we definitely do not need many of these items. For example, you can safely remove the hardware support for the AMD processor (AMD CPU) and much more.

Rice. 8. Remove device hardware support

• CPU Intel;
• Intel PCI IDE Controller;
• IEEE-1284.4 (Dot4) devices;
• Microsoft Color Management (ICM);
• Secure Digital host controller;
• USB video capture device;
• battery;
• video capture;
• logical disk manager;
• USB audio support;
• support for multiprocessor configuration;
• printer support;
• ports (COM and LPT);
• AGP filters.

Next, expand the item Keyboard and mark for deletion all keyboard layouts, except for United States-International and, of course, Russian. Similarly, by expanding the item Language support, remove support for all languages ​​except Russian (Russian), - fig. 9.

Rice. 9. Remove support for unnecessary languages

Going to point Multimedia(Fig. 10), we mark for removal all components, except for the following:

Rice. 10. Select media components to remove

• ActiveX for streaming video;
• DirectX;
• Windows Media Player;
• Windows Media Player 6.4;
• voice services;
• Intel Indeo codecs;
• ACM core codecs;
• MIDI support;
• OpenGL support;
• image and fax viewer;
• standard CD player.

Rice. 11. Selecting Windows XP components to remove

• .NET Framework;
• Jet Database Engine;
• Out of Box Experience (OOBE);
• audit of library resources;
• administrative templates;
• "Dr. Watson";
• additional fonts;
• command line tools;
• application compatibility fix;
• data access components (MDAC);
• group policy management console;
• file system filter manager;
• setting local policy security;
• Visual Basic 5 environment;
• Visual Basic 6 environment;
• disk cleanup;
• support for 16-bit applications;
• support for Visual Basic Scripting;
• support for disk formatting;
• manual installation and updates;
• certificate management systems;
• Service pack messages;
• login notifications;
• core Internet Explorer.

In the next step, expand the item Net and select the network components that can be removed (Fig. 12). We recommend not marking the following components for removal:

Rice. 12. Selecting network components that can be removed

• H323MSP;
• IP video conferencing;
• MSMail and MAPI
• Netmeeting;
• bridge MACa;
• Internet Explorer browser;
• support for TAPI applications;
• support for telephone connections (Dial-up) (can be removed if VPN connections are not used);
• viewing vector graphics (VML);
• Active Directory service.

Next, it is necessary to mark those system services that will not be used, and therefore, they can be deleted. To do this, expand the item Services and mark those that are to be deleted (Fig. 13).

Rice. 13. Selecting system services that can be removed

• SNMP;
• Telnet server;
• automatic update;
• IPSEC policy agent;
• secondary login;
• source uninterruptible power supply;
• annunciator;
• task Manager;
• IMAPI COM CD Burning Service;
• indexing service;
• error logging service;
• message service;
• terminal services;
• fax services;
• removable memory;
• volume shadow copy;
• remote registry;
• host of generic PnP devices.

We just have to expand the point Folders and mark all folders for deletion (Fig. 14).

Rice. 14. Selecting folders to remove from the distribution

By going to the next dialog box, you can automate the installation process of the operating system by pre-setting serial number OS distribution kit, indicating the name of the PC, time zone, etc. Actually, it is proposed to perform all those actions that are traditionally performed at the stage of installing the operating system. It all depends on personal preference. For example, when we create our own OS distribution, we indicate the serial number and determine the localization of the PC. All other dialog boxes (and you have to go through a few more windows to get to the final stage) are less significant, and you can not change anything in them. At the final stage, the nLite utility will create a new OS distribution in accordance with our settings in the same folder where the distribution's ISO image was originally unzipped (in our case, C:\WinXP). Moreover, the size of the new distribution will be approximately 240 MB. In order to create a new distribution in the form of an ISO image, in the last dialog box boot imageISO click on the button CreateISO(Fig. 15).

Rice. 15. Create an ISO image of a new distribution

However, for our further work, the ISO image itself will not be needed, so you don’t need to create it.

So, our new distribution is ready and you can start preparing the USB flash drive.

Preparing the USB flash drive

In order to install the Windows XP operating system on a computer (netbook) from a USB flash drive or from an SD card, it must be prepared in a special way. On the Internet, you can find a description of several ways to install the Windows XP operating system from a flash drive, however, as it turned out during the testing of these methods, only one method really works, the description of which we provide.

So, to prepare a USB flash drive, you will need three small utilities: usb_prep8, PeToUSB 3.0.0.7 and Bootsect.exe, which are easy to find on the Internet. Unzip these utilities to the appropriate folders (they are downloaded from the Internet in zipped form) on your computer (for example, in the C:\ root directory).

Insert a 2 GB USB flash drive or SD card into your computer. Next, the PeToUSB.exe executable file from the PeToUSB_3.0.0.7 folder must be copied to the usb_prep8 folder. Then in the usb_prep8 folder we find the batch file usb_prep8.cmd and run it. After opening the cmd console window, press any key to continue the process of preparing the flash drive. After that, the PeToUSB utility should start and the corresponding dialog box will open (Fig. 16).

Rice. 16. The main window of the PeToUSB utility

In this dialog box, you only need to check that the USB flash drive previously inserted into the computer is selected. Without changing anything else, press the button start.

Having confirmed twice that the flash drive needs to be formatted, we are waiting for the end of the formatting process (Fig. 17).

Rice. 17. Waiting for the end of the process
flash drive formatting

After formatting is completed, close the dialog box of the PeToUSB utility (button close), but leave open (this is important) the console window that opened after running batch file usb_prep8.cmd.

Rice. 18. Run the file bootsect.exe

After executing the bootsect.exe /nt52 X: command, we go to the usb_prep8.cmd console window, the contents of which should have been updated after the PeToUSB program was closed. The menu will prompt you to select one of the seven actions (Fig. 19).

Rice. 19. The contents of the usb_prep8.cmd console window after execution
bootsect.exe /nt52 X commands:

Initially, select item 1 (Change XP Setup Source Path, Currently) and in the dialog box that opens, specify the path to the OS distribution folder (C:\WinXP). Further, after updating the contents of the usb_prep8.cmd console window (item 1 should look like this: Change XP Setup Source Path, Currently [С:\WinXP]), select item 2 and specify the letter for virtual disk, which does not match any media (the default is the letter T - you can not change it).

Go to step 3 and specify the letter corresponding to the flash drive installed on the computer to which the OS distribution will be copied (in our case, H :).

Next, go to step 4 and confirm the start of the process of creating a bootable flash drive (if a warning appears about the loss of all data after formatting, we agree by typing Y). When the formatting process is completed, the screen will display Pressanykeytocontinue... Accordingly, we press any key, which will lead to copying the installation files to temporary media (in our case, T :).

At the end of the copying process, the message will appear again. Pressanykeytocontinue..., and after pressing any key, the process of copying files to the flash drive will begin. True, at first a dialog box will appear with a warning that the copying process will take approximately 15 minutes. By clicking the button in this window Yes(Fig. 20), we will start the copy process.

Rice. 20. Confirmation of the start of the process of copying the installation
files to a flash drive

At the end of the process of copying the installation files to the flash drive, a dialog box will appear (Fig. 21) asking if the USB flash drive will be used as bootable. We answer Yes.

Rice. 21. Dialog box asking if there will be a USB flash drive
be used as a boot

Rice. 22. Window asking if you need to unmount
virtual disk

Then press any key twice in response to the inscription Pressanykeytocontinue... in the usb_prep8.cmd console window, which will terminate the usb_prep8 utility and close the console window.

Installing Windows XP on an Acer Aspire One 110 netbook

So, the bootable flash drive with the Windows XP distribution kit is ready. Now you can proceed directly to installing the OS on the Acer Aspire One 110 netbook.

To do this, insert the USB flash drive into the netbook's USB connector, turn it on and go into the BIOS. In chapter Boot choose download USBHDD(this type of download must be the first one). We save the settings made and boot. When booting from a flash drive, a screen with a boot menu will appear, in which you can choose from two items:

• GUI Mode Setup Windows XP, Continue Setup + Start XP;
• TXT Mode Setup Windows XP, Never unplug USB-Drive Until After Logon.

IN this menu item must be selected TXT Mode Setup Windows XP, Never unplug USB-Drive Until After Logon. After that, the normal installation process of the Windows XP operating system will begin. During installation, you will need to delete all existing partitions on the SSD and create one partition with file system NTFS.

After the first reboot of the netbook, the screen with the boot menu will again appear, and in it you will need to select the item GUImodeSetupWindowsxp,Continuesetup +startXP. Next, you need to wait for the installation process of the operating system to finish. After that, you can remove the bootable flash drive and select boot from disk in the BIOS.

Well, about the last step that needs to be done to complete the OS installation process. The fact is that after the described installation procedure, when loading a netbook, it will always appear boot menu, offering the option to boot from a flash drive or from a disk. To avoid this, it is enough to correct the boot.ini file by deleting the item in the section that suggests booting from a flash drive (we leave only the item multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /noexecute =option /fastdetect).

After installing the Windows XP operating system on a netbook, you can proceed to the traditional procedure for installing all the necessary drivers that are downloaded from the Acer website.

After the installation of the Windows XP operating system is completed, it is recommended to configure the system to maximum performance. Still, even a cut-down version of Windows XP without additional settings will be too heavy for such a crumb as an Acer Aspire One 110 netbook. Of course, no tuning will make Windows XP “fly” on a netbook, but you can make the OS a little faster.

There is another point that needs to be paid attention to. The fact is that we have removed support for all unnecessary languages ​​​​from our distribution. If in the process of setting up the operating system, implement regional settings in the dialog box RegionalandlanguageOptions and on the tab Advanced in Group languagefornon-Unicodeprograms specify the Russian language (Russian) (otherwise, programs with a Russian-language interface will not correctly display Russian letters), then you will need to access a file that is not in our distribution kit or in the directory of the installed operating system. The only way out is to unzip the original one again Windows ISO XP, copy the i386 directory to the flash drive (the desired file is located in it) and, when necessary, specify the path to the directory with desired file and the path to the i386 directory on the flash drive.

That, in fact, is all. After that, the OS setup process can be considered complete. It remains only to install all the necessary software. In this case, it is not worth getting involved. Choose only those programs that you really need. For example, you can put the package Microsoft office 2003, but not all, but only those applications that you really need (Microsoft Office 2007 should not be installed, since it is more demanding on the hardware configuration of the PC).

In conclusion, we note that for netbooks, of course, Linux family operating systems are more preferable, which work quite quickly even on weak PC configurations, such as ASP Linux 12, SuSE 11 or Ubuntu 8.0.4. This is not to say that there are no problems with them. So, there are problems with the lack of drivers. For example, our experience of installing an operating system on an Acer Aspire One 110 netbook Ubuntu systems 8.0.4 revealed that this distribution does not have a driver for the Atheros AR5007EG wireless controller and it is not so easy to find it separately. However, installing a Linux operating system on a netbook from a flash drive is a topic for a separate article, and we will definitely return to it in the near future.

Many of us are used to the fact that netbooks are installed Intel processors. The Intel Atom and 10.1-inch laptops became something of a "Wintel platform," as the "symbiosis" of PC-type computers and Microsoft's operating system was called for several years. But as the time of the obsolete "term" has gone, netbooks based on AMD chips also began to appear.

It was the single-core Athlon Neo MV-40, which was a CPU based on the K8 architecture, which had a greatly reduced power consumption - up to 15 watts. It was paired with the M690T chipset with the already outdated Radeon X1270 integrated video card.

In the summer, the Congo platform followed, within which the first dual-core AMD chips with a TDP of no more than 18 W appeared. A little later, they were joined by the M780 chipset along with the faster Radeon HD 3200 graphics core. But this solution did not gain fame either.

The Nile platform, released in the spring of 2010, has become much more popular. The new 45 nm energy-efficient processors received a good M880 chipset with a Radeon HD 4225 accelerator. more manufacturers, including Acer. She's one of the few who dared to release a 10.1-inch netbook based on the Nile - the rest were often limited to 11.6-inch and larger models. It is this very almost “experimental” Acer product that we will consider in this article - the Acer Aspire One 521.

But before proceeding to the description of the netbook, it is worth mentioning the Brazos platform, presented in January 2011 at CES. It is used by many more manufacturers, and some (including Acer) even announced tablets based on new processors. However, while we got our hands on a laptop based on the previous platform.

Design

Making an original netbook is quite simple, even though it is the smallest of the “classic” mobile computers. Their 10-inch screen is downright "hulk" compared to 4-inch smartphones, where there is even less room for "decorations", but even they manage to differentiate by appearance. Another thing is that not all manufacturers care about this very important component. But this does not apply to the Acer Aspire One 521.

The Acer Aspire One 521 netbook isn't new, but the company hasn't given the current models a very different design – the old one has only been slightly modified. And we understand why this was done - the Aspire One 521 looks pretty good. In principle, Acer was not particularly sophisticated - everything is somehow quite ordinary and ordinary, but at the same time stylish and elegant. The body shape is classic, rectangular. In some places there are smooth bevels, but the corners are sharp - it turned out immediately strictly and softly - just like a stylish business laptop.

The look is primarily attracted by the design reverse side screen covers. It is completely flat, but slightly sloping on the sides. But this is common, while the pale brown color is much less common. However, the most important touch is the texture with small sketched and hollow rectangles. They are applied to the right side of the cover and gradually break off. In general, it turned out not pretentious, but original at the same time - this design option gives the Aspire One 521 its own personality, while the all-black Aspire One 522 looks much more boring.

Plus, the lid is covered with a lacquered coating, which glares in an interesting way, but practically does not collect fingerprints. And if they collect, then on a light background they are very poorly visible. However, the "real" gloss was found on the edging of the screen - black and easily soiled. I am glad that there it is only necessary to take on the upper edge of the cover in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe camera.

Inside, the Aspire One 521 is fairly austere, but that's more than enough. The keyboard looks very solid - its keys seem large, as if they were from a full-fledged laptop. This, by the way, is not far from the truth. The area of ​​the working area is small, so even if the designers left it empty, it would look pretty good. However, in addition to the touchpad, two stickers are glued there, which gives the device a “complexity”.

Well, it remains to mention a very unusual design of the on/off button located on the left above the keyboard. No, it performs its function more than standard, but it is made of silicone and has the shape of an unfinished circle. As a result, we managed to make it a beautiful backlight - along the circumference, part of this light penetrates the button itself.

And finally, about the build quality. It is, as we expected, very good. We did not notice any creaking or play of the body parts, everything was well fitted to each other. Production material - high-quality and durable plastic. Aluminum, of course, would be more reliable and solid, but also more expensive - you rarely see it in netbooks.

Equipment

Acer Aspire One 521 comes in a small, stylish box made of good cardboard. The box has a photo of several Aspire Ones in different colors.

Inside we found a more than ordinary kit: a quick start guide, a booklet with information about the warranty, a CD with drivers, a power supply and a cloth for cleaning the case. The latter is not so much needed by the laptop in question, but still its presence cannot be called superfluous.

By the way, the power supply is made quite unusual. It resembles a large phone charger, rather than a typical laptop or netbook bracket. Such a small size allowed it to be made with a power of only 40 W (19 V, 2.15 A), but the larger Aspire One 521 is not required. Plus, the plug is made removable, which makes it easier to transport the unit, and at the same time to replace it, if you are suddenly brought to an “unusual” country.

Ergonomics

We must assume that the popularity of Acer netbooks is not least due to their ergonomics. Acer has managed to make the most of the small size of its 10-inch models. Of course, working on their keyboard is not as convenient as on large laptops, but there is no obvious discomfort.

So the keyboard. Attention is drawn to the size and shape of the keys. One immediately gets the impression that they normal size which is not far from the truth. Additionally, their rounded shape enhances the effect - so they seem even larger. The size of both keys is impressive - they are more than comfortable to work with. seems relatively short, but in principle its length is enough. also had to "cut", but not much. But here it turned out to be no longer than a regular key, which is already more difficult to get used to - at first the finger constantly misses.

As for the arrow block, one of the most painful issues of most mobile keyboards, in the case of the Aspire One 521 it has both advantages and disadvantages. The first can be attributed to the separation of the block from the main layout - it is quite easy to find it by touch. As for the minuses, the keys are made twice as low as the rest, which is not very convenient. In addition, in addition to the arrow keys, the block is also “clogged” with, which does not facilitate blind cursor control.

The touchpad is not very large - the height of the working area did not allow it to be made higher, and it does not make much sense to expand it. However, the comfort of work has not suffered from this - the touchpad area is more than enough for the resolution provided by the display of the Acer netbook. As for the coating, it is slightly rough, which allows you to accurately control the mouse pointer without much effort. The buttons under the touchpad are not very tight pressing, but with a characteristic click.

There are no additional buttons on the Aspire One 521. To the left above the keyboard is only the button to turn the laptop on and off, which we described in detail above.

On the left of touch panel there are four LED indicators: netbook operation, battery charging, work hard drive and wireless controllers. And, of course, another one is combined with the computer power button.

The AMD mobile platform has always been famous for its gluttony for energy, as well as for its "hot" disposition. However, having placed it in a 10.1-inch compact case, Acer did not get another "frying pan" - the netbook heated up no more than the usual "atomic" mobile computer. And this is despite the fact that there are very few ventilation holes on the bottom (only a small row in front) and the Aspire One 521 is more powerful than most solutions on Intel-based Atom.

One of the nicest things about AMD's ultra-mobile platform is support for up to 4GB of RAM, which Intel has limited to half that amount. However, in the case of the Aspire One 521, more than 2 GB cannot be installed - there is no second slot for a memory module. But you can reach the first one without any problems at all. In addition, access to the hard drive is also open, which is quite rare for netbooks - manufacturers usually allow you to change one thing: RAM or a hard drive.

Connectors, screen, sound and camera

Netbooks on AMD platform often differ from "Intel" by one additional connector. What exactly - we will say below. The rest of the "positions" are the same.

On the left side are D-SUB, HDMI, air vents, one USB and a card reader. On the right side, there is an audio output, a microphone input, two USBs, a power connector placed in an unusual place - in the center, Kensington Lock and RJ-45. The front and rear sides are empty.

So, what is an "extra" connector? HDMI. Its absence on netbooks with Intel Atom inside is explained very simply - through the digital output, the video card built into the processor can display a picture with a resolution of no higher than 1366x768 pixels, which is not enough for HDMI. In the case of AMD integrated graphics, there is no such limitation, because all manufacturers equip even the most compact computer models with this output. Otherwise, as we said, the set of connectors is completely standard.

Acer has opted to hide a pair of stereo speakers at the front of the bottom. Under them, small holes are made in the removable cover so as not to drown out the sound. However, their location dampens it anyway, especially the mids and highs. Bass has never been born in such small speakers, so the sound quality in the case of the Aspire One 521 is not at all up to par. It would be better to connect headphones or external speakers.

As for the screen, it is equipped with LED-backlighting in modern fashion, which makes it thinner and more economical in terms of energy. As for its quality, in general we liked it. At one time, we were delighted with the display of the ASUS Eee PC 1015PD netbook, and were disappointed with the quality of the MSI U135DX screen. So, the Aspire One 521 display is subjectively worse than the first, but better than the second. Moreover, it is closer to the ASUS laptop, which is very pleasing. In general, the screen shows a very good picture and has a good supply of brightness. Viewing angles are not bad, but it can be better.

As for the resolution, it is standard for a 10.1 "diagonal - 1024x600 pixels. This option is not critical for the eyes, and there is already not enough space on the desktop. By the way, the newer Aspire One 522 is equipped with a display with a resolution of 720p or 1280x720 pixels. Here is an option for The 10.1-inch solution is much better in our opinion.

Well, a few words about the camera. The quality of its pictures is no different from other webcams built into netbooks - it is very mediocre. You can evaluate it yourself:

Camera resolution - 1.3 MP. Also standard, although netbooks often have a 0.3 MP sensor.

Configuration

If you take a laptop or netbook based on the AMD Brazos platform, then its processor configuration will not differ from any other similar product. AMD is now shipping four 40nm chips based on the Bobcat core, of which only two are actually used: the dual-core C-50 and E-350. Netbooks get C-50. They are distinguished by a low clock frequency of 1.0 GHz, and at the same time low power consumption. The situation with the previous generation of the AMD Nile platform is somewhat different - it has more processors available and, pleasantly, it also competed well with the Intel Atom. Now let's take a look at what the Aspire One 521 is based on.

If you do not look at the top of the table, then we have a typical 10.1-inch netbook, and even one of the most inexpensive ones. However, the AMD platform distinguishes it from the background of "atomic" ones. The point is primarily in the processor - its frequency is 1.7 GHz, which is quite good for a netbook. In addition, this is almost a full-fledged Athlon II, which in any way will be faster than the popular Atom N455. But we will leave such conclusions for the testing section.

Of course, the chipset and video card are different. The Radeon HD 4225 is a decent solution for a 10.1-inch laptop, although the Radeon HD 6250 integrated into the AMD C-50 processor might be better. In any case, in terms of graphics performance and functionality, the AMD platform (both past and current) is superior to Intel Atom, as we will also see.

The RAM in our copy of the Aspire One 521 turned out to be very small - only 1 GB. Windows 7 Home Basic was preinstalled on the computer, for which this capacity may not be enough for comfortable work. We would recommend at least doubling the amount of RAM.

Not happy with the hard drive. 160 GB is the level of the most budget netbooks. More expensive models are equipped with a 250-320 GB hard drive, and some of them have a spindle speed of 7200 rpm. In our opinion, this is the parameter on which you should not save.

In terms of communication capabilities, the Aspire One 521 also does not shine. Only a Wi-Fi controller with support for the 802.11n standard stands out. But the Bluetooth-adapter distinguished itself by its absence. However, it is optional and may be present in other modifications. As for Ethernet, its speed cannot exceed 100 Mbps.

The dimensions and weight of the Acer netbook correspond to a typical Intel Atom based product. However, this is already an achievement - earlier in such compact cases AMD processors have not been installed. As for the price, it is, of course, low. If desired, Aspire One 521 can be found for 9-10 thousand. However, instead of Athlon II Neo K125, a weaker AMD V105 chip (1.2 GHz) will be installed there. That is, this product clearly belongs to the budget segment itself.

Testing

To evaluate the performance of the Acer Aspire One 521, we chose two ASUS netbooks: Eee PC 1015PD and 1015PEM. Both are based on Intel platform Atom and also have some design differences. In particular, the Eee PC 1015PEM is white.

As you can see, both ASUS netbooks differ from each other only in one thing - the processor. The Eee PC 1015PEM has a dual-core Atom N550 chip running at 1.50 GHz, while the Atom N455 has an operating frequency of 1.67 GHz.

The results in PCMark tests are more than revealing. Acer netbook outperforms both ASUS computer, including an Eee PC 1015PEM with a dual-core Atom N550. One Athlon II Neo core was faster in all tests, and the Radeon HD 4225 perfectly complemented it.

In CINEBENCH the situation is not so unambiguous, but still significant. A dual-core Atom N550 in a render test that makes good use of the features multi-core processors, showed the same result as Neo K125 with one core. Well, there is nothing even to compare the OpenGL test - the difference of 6.5 times in favor of the Aspire One 521 speaks for itself.

It's not hard to guess who will win. graphics tests. The superiority of the Acer Aspire One 521 is obvious, and the more difficult the benchmark, the more significant it is. So in 3DMark 2006 it is almost an order of magnitude.

As you can see, AMD-based netbooks can handle old games without any problems - they have reached an acceptable FPS level. As for both ASUS laptops, they are very far behind. The two cores of the Atom N550 don't help him in any way - they obviously lack a faster graphics card.

The Acer netbook comes with a 6-cell battery (44.82 Wh; 4150 mAh; 10.8 V) that is large enough for a 10.1-inch mobile computer. Both compared products have slightly larger battery capacity.

Well, the Aspire One 521 can't beat everything. Good performance comes at the price of battery life. However, the "price" was not very high - the Acer netbook lagged behind both ASUS quite a bit, showing a very outstanding result in general. A full charge of its battery is enough for six and a half hours of reading and four hours of standard quality video playback. HD-video "eats" the battery in three hours.

Conclusion

AMD is clearly trying very hard to push Intel into the market for mobile and ultra-mobile platforms. And, it should be noted, its Nile platform last year and the current Brazos are quite successful. However, very few products were released based on the Nile, and especially 10.1-inch netbooks. In our opinion, in vain - Acer Aspire One 521 is a clear confirmation of this.

In terms of external parameters, this is the most common 10.1-inch netbook, no worse and no better than typical representatives on the Intel Atom platform. It heats up no more than them, has the same size and weight, and has a long battery life. However, its advantages include noticeably higher performance, surpassing even the dual-core Atom N550 chip. And the difference is especially visible in graphical tasks - it reaches several hundred percent.

Otherwise, the advantages of the Aspire One 521 include a fairly comfortable keyboard layout, a good screen, an unusual design, good assembly, good opportunities for self-updating. Plus, this netbook costs quite a bit today. So you don't have to worry about its obsolescence - Aspire One 521 can easily compete with modern netbooks.

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 because of its bulkiness, and a phone, smartphone or communicator is not suitable due to 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.

At present, it is almost impossible to surprise someone with a laptop. In terms of performance, some laptops are already capable of replacing desktop computers, and the price difference between personal computers and laptops tends to zero over time. Moreover, under the price personal computer I mean the price not only system block, 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 exceeding the mobility of desktop computers, still does not allow you to always take it with you. And 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 power of not only the fair sex, but burdens most men. Until recently, only the most needy to have a computer at hand carried laptops with them, but not so long ago that has changed. Time goes by and laptop manufacturers, well aware of the shortcomings of their offspring, offer users the so-called - in fact the same laptops, but much smaller in size and weight, which allows you to carry them anywhere!

Acer Aspire One

One of these netbooks just came to us for testing - get acquainted, Acer Aspire One. As far as I understand, I will not have to represent the company - it is already very, very famous, especially in the laptop market. Russian users for the most part appreciate products for a good price / quality ratio. Let's hope that it will not be an exception to this rule.

Acer Aspire One | Specifications

To be honest, the technical characteristics of the vast majority are practically the same. All of them are currently based on processors that are specifically designed for low-cost and compact Internet-oriented devices. Thus, the only differences in the technical equipment of netbooks are the screen diagonal, HDD, the amount of RAM and various built-in utilities, such as webcams, card readers, Bluetooth models, and so on.

Moreover, if the range of values ​​​​of RAM is small: from 512 MB to 2 GB, then the range of values ​​\u200b\u200bof volumes installed in netbooks hard drives really surprises - from 4 GB to 120 GB. However, small hard drives have an indisputable plus, the fact is that hard drives installed in netbooks and having no large volume, are SSD drives. This begs the question - why are they better than conventional 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 SSD

The main advantages of SSDs compared to conventional HDDs are: low power consumption, light weight, small size, no mechanical components and, as a result, the complete absence of noise from moving parts and cooling fans. All of the above is very useful in small and portable devices, such as netbooks, and even more so, in the near future, SSDs with a capacity of more than 250 GB should appear, however, little is known about their price.

By the way, since we have noted the advantages of such drives, let's go through their disadvantages. The main disadvantages are: the high price of each Gigabyte and the relatively low write speed. The user will have to decide for himself what is more important for him - a large volume and recording speed, or a small weight and a longer battery life of a netbook. I agree that such a choice is far from simple, but I note that if you use a netbook only for correspondence, 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 in model range not alone, there are other version modifications 110 , there is and 150th series. It is important to note that the only netbook in this line is Aspire One AOA150-Bk Equipped with an extra high-capacity battery. Plus, recently updated Aspire One, which already has a 10-inch display. So there is clearly plenty to choose from.

Since we're talking about technical specifications, I would like to reveal to you a couple of advantages that in this regard it has Aspire One 110 compared to other netbooks. The first difference lies in the presence of active cooling - a tiny fan is hidden behind a small ledge in the bottom of the netbook. Thus, the manufacturer reduced the weight of the device, however, despite the low noise level of the fan, you can still hear it in complete silence, especially when the laptop is heavily loaded and therefore heats up.

The built-in camera and microphone are no longer surprising, but still nice. But the presence of two card readers may surprise. 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 size of the hard disk, however, I will talk about this a little later. And now we are moving from theory to practice - we pick up a box with a netbook.

Acer Aspire One | Packing and kit

Acer Aspire One comes in a very neat little box. The box has a carrying handle, which in addition to its low weight makes it possible to transport the netbook very conveniently without a special bag.

The design of the box deserves special attention. Despite the absence of any bright colors, it attracts attention quite strongly. Different colors are depicted on the front and back sides, and if the white model flaunts against the background of snow-covered fields, then the model with a blue body is against the backdrop of a seascape. On one side of the box, all five colors of the cases are painted. 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, I saw a set that was not very rich by "laptop" standards.

• Netbook.
• Accumulator battery.
• Charger.
• Instruction.
• Recovery DVD.

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 will go directly to the culprit of the review. Regarding the charger, I would like to note that Aspire One it is very light compared to chargers for laptops - its weight is slightly less than the weight of the Aspire One and weighs only one kilogram. battery Acer Aspire One 110-Ab lithium-ion 2200 mAh.

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

So, most of the kit is described, there is nothing left - the netbook itself. In nature Acer Aspire One found in five different colors - white, blue, pink, brown and black. Thus, the manufacturer has expanded its range of customers from females, who would most likely prefer white and pink models, to males, 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 in many ways also a fashion thing. As you can see from the photos, I got a model of a neutral blue color - I will describe it to you.

Acer Aspire One | Appearance

Corps at Aspire One does not contain sharp corners - all lines are only smooth, and is made of very pleasant plastic, and its assembly is also on top - no squeaks were found during use. The laptop lid is adorned with a gray logo Acer and pretty heavily polished.

On the one hand, this is great, since the device looks glossy and pleases the eye with a shine, on the other hand, every touch of this glossy surface inevitably leaves an imprint on it ... Agree, it is quite difficult to open a netbook without touching its cover, so to remove prints from the device, you have to constantly wipe it. Here is another example of the fact that beauty requires sacrifice. As for interior surfaces Acer Aspire One, then they also leave fingerprints on themselves with enviable ease, however, here the plastic is no longer so heavily varnished, so it looks decent even without regular rubbing.

The underside of the case is black, without any frills, although there is a slight 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 quite stylish silver logos located around the perimeter of the device, as well as red rings that are on the hinges connecting the two parts of the netbook.

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

And on right side: 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 obviously appeal to most, but the presence of two card readers will obviously surprise. Why are there two? I will 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 prettier. 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 from the photos, the screen hinges are very unusual. 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 to store prints on himself - an 8.9-inch display, above which, by the way, there is a built-in webcam and a hole behind which the built-in microphone is hidden.

Acer Aspire One | Controls

We look a little lower - 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, looking closely, it turns out that not everything is so simple. Do you think if the device is very small, then the buttons should be very small? The engineers obviously disagree with you. Due to the fact that the group of buttons with arrows is lowered a little lower than the others, it was possible to expand the space for the keys at least a little, and, consequently, each of them has more space.

As a result, I got a very comfortable keyboard, although, to be honest, I didn’t expect this from a netbook - it’s really nice and easy to use - the keys don’t play, don’t stagger and have a very pleasant and smooth move, and this is very important for those who are going to a lot of typing on a netbook.

Naturally, like the vast majority of laptops, the keyboard Acer Aspire One there is a button fn, which, when combined with others, allows you to quickly change screen brightness, adjust audio volume, disable the touchpad, and more.

Speaking of touchpad Acer Aspire One. It's just as good as the keyboard. Relative to the surface of the netbook, it is slightly recessed down, and the buttons are located not as usual - under the touchpad, but on the sides. It would seem, what a trifle, but the result of this transfer is a very convenient control element. I would like to add that the touchpad buttons, in the image and likeness of 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 is located in the upper right corner, just above the keyboard. The button itself has a small oval cutout, behind which 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 below the keyboard. The button is responsible for turning Wi-Fi on and off. By the way, to understand whether it is on or not - just if Wi-Fi is active, a yellow diode lights up next to the button.

Acer Aspire One | Linpus Linux Lite

As I said, on the netbook that came to me, the operating system was installed Linpus Linux Lite, specially configured for this netbook. Let's see 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 will not see this everywhere, but in the case of operating systems Windows, it's almost impossible.

The laptop booted up - we have a desktop in front of us, but it looks very unusual. It is worth noting immediately two more pluses - the first is the excellent Russification of everything software, the second is a 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 given over to the search bar, both local and global. In a place familiar to users Windows, the "Start" button there is 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 divided into four sections, which, according to the developers from Acer, reflect the main functionality of the laptop, and at the same time the needs of the user. Here 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 unknown reasons does not support ICQ, viewers 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 has open office. Also in this section is available a handy calculator, calendar, 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 webcam, 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 (this is how much the license costs). In general, the presented mini-games can help kill extra time - which is the same "immortal" Tetris.

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

Having discussed the sections, let's briefly return to the desktop. In the lower right corner, slightly higher system tray with a clock, there are two buttons "Settings" And "Reference". Clicking on the second one opens a file with documentation and therefore we are not very interested.

But as for the settings, then there is something to look at. By clicking on "Settings", the user enters a separate section in which screen, power supply, network connections, calendar, sound, touchpad, connected printers, language, updates. Also here you can 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 a browser and even a few games, but at some point the user may want to add some more programs - the same graphics editor or a program for communication via ICQ, what to do in this case?

Frankly, for a long time I was looking for a way out to the "real" settings of the operating system, in which, for example, there is access to installing and removing programs. But, no matter how hard I tried, I did not find it in the settings section. I had to search 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 the exit 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" settings of the operating system. Where can I easily install necessary programs, so in the end I got a full-fledged operating system with everything, everything you need, as well as with the ability to increase functionality by installing additional programs, which, by the way, under Linux there is simply a huge amount.

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

After installing the network cable, the Internet became available in one second, and in the case of wireless connection- in less than 10 seconds. The best part is that since the netbook is not installed 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 put on Aspire One with only one goal - to run all the necessary tests and benchmarks on the netbook, you can see the results below. However, I understand perfectly well that many users will still 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, devoid of analogues under Linux. Therefore, especially for such users, I will describe a little the installation process Windows XP on Aspire One.

The lack of a netbook from Acer, like the vast majority of its competitors, the built-in DVD / CD-ROM, of course, was a little difficult (there was no external DVD-ROM at hand) and slowed down the installation process, but, oddly enough, a media player came to my aid, which just was with us for testing, 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 started, I still saw a desktop familiar to absolutely everyone Windows XP.

Immediately after installing the operating system, which obviously did not have all the necessary drivers, I had to get these drivers. I, it was, thought to find the drivers under Windows on the DVD that came with 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 determined Windows XP no problem.

Apparently from the fact that I, at first, used Aspire One With Linpus Linux Lite, use on it Windows XP I wasn't very happy. And it's not even about the download speed, which Linux Lite at an unprecedented height, the point, most likely, is that using a netbook as a conventional computer, for which it is intended Windows XP not the best idea in my opinion.

The screen is 8.9 inches, 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 mail, communicating in the same ICQ or Skype, Internet surfing, video conferencing, watching movies or editing documents. In this connection, if the listed features 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, of course, it will work, though not as fast as we would like. In defense Windows XP we can also say that the netbook under her leadership worked on battery power for only a few minutes less than under the control 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, the battery life of the laptop was also evaluated, both in full load mode and without it.

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

Affairs in 3D Mark 2005 things were, of course, worse, here the netbook only scored 243 points.

As for the speed of the SSD drive, the average read time is about 35 Mb / s, but the write speed, alas, does not exceed 15 Mb / s. The last figure is extremely different from this model of SSD-class classic SATA-hard drives.

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

Acer Aspire One | conclusions

During use Acer Aspire One I have come 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 stuffing. So the user has a unique opportunity to focus on the impression of use when choosing this kind of device.

A definite plus Aspire One is its appearance and the ergonomics of the controls. The keyboard is very comfortable and good-looking, and the touchpad also deserves all the praise. Also, the operating system 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, after all, no one forbids putting any other "penguin" distribution kit on a netbook.

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

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

An important characteristic for such devices is weight, it is also at a decently low level here, only 1 kilogram - and the dimensions are small, therefore, wear Aspire One You can take almost anything with you.

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

Acer
for the netbook provided for testing Acer Aspire One

Unlimited 8-hour battery life and a built-in Wi-Fi adapter keep you connected all day long. You can chat with your friends using new webcam Crystal Eye and built-in microphone.
Taking Acer Aspire One netbook you won't even feel its weight with you. Its thickness is 24 mm, and its weight is only 1 kg. Experience a vibrant experience with the 25cm WSVGA display with 16:9 resolution. The comfortable keyboard and multifunctional touchpad of the Aspire One complete your experience with this device from the company.