I have refrained from buying a netbook because the low resolution and poor performance prevents me from multi-tab web browsing, not to mention continuous scrolling with Office documents. When I first saw this notebook, I was very excited because it has something the older generation netbooks have lacked:
- Decent resolution (1366×768)
- Decent performance
- Even better battery life (6 hours)

Except, it actually exceeded my expectation.

LCD Screen: Very sharp, and very bright. I am amazed that Acer can squeeze 1366×768 into an 11.6 inch screen, and still keep it so sharp and clear. It is very comfortable to view, and I do not feel any different from viewing my old 14 inch LCD.

Performance: In terms of word processing, web surfing and installing software, it has been as smooth as my old dual-core laptop. This notebook has upgraded the CPU and chipset from the previous generation netbook, which contributes to the performance I am seeing.

Keyboard/touchpad: It’s full size keyboard, and it’s comfortable to type on. I am still trying to get used to some of the key placement, and the lack of home/end buttons. But it’s definitely no worse than my other laptop’s keyboard. Acer has also learned the lesson from Aspire 751h, so the touchpad is centered to the touch-typing keyboard, and has two buttons. However, the touchpad edge is difficult to distinguish.

Battery: From what I read, one Acer hour is usually shorter than one Asus hour. This notebook has proven me wrong. I run it on high performance mode, and it still gives me about 6 hours of battery life. Running company VPN and remote desktop seems to reduce it to about 5 hours.

Size: While slightly bigger than the prev-gen netbooks, I don’t feel it’s bulkier. At 3 lb, it’s very light, but can still stand to lose some weight.

Temperature: It doesn’t heat up much, you can use it on your lap the whole day.

Other Pros: 250 GB HDD, 2 GB RAM, 1 Gb LAN, 802.11n, webcam, microphone, no-latch lid

Cons:
- Lack of separate Home/End buttons. Unfortunately I think most netbooks have to make this sacrifice.
- Battery charging is slow (I estimate about 4 hours). On the flip side, the charger is small and light.
- Still requires a fan to dissipate heat, albeit quiet.
- Others: lacks bluetooth

As I said, the moment I started using it, all I could say was “Wow”. I could not believe Acer could come out with something that outshines Asus (and the rest of the computer industry). For all the laptops I have owned (5), none of them have impressed me as much as this one does.

Update 2009-09-07:

I went on a business trip right after getting this laptop. It’s proven to be very mobile. I charge the laptop at night, and take it to work with me in the morning, without the charger. The keyboard feels very natural, and overall work is smooth sailing.

At night I use this laptop to play demo games and watch a few videos (I had the foresight to rip a few ISOs). Most DVDs play great, but there was one that does not play smoothly, so I guess it depends on the DVD encoding.

Overall love this laptop’s portability. The battery life ensures that the laptop is always ready when I need to use it.

Pros:

1. Very thin and light. Just a bit bigger than today’s netbooks
2. Much faster than Atom based netbooks
3. Bright and large screen with true HD aspect ratio. Very useful resolution.
4. 4g upgradeable memory cap.
5. Great webcam and good microphone
6. Amazing battery life even with Core2solo CPU. Last longer than my other netbook with the same capacity battery.
7. HDMI out! wow
8. Wireless N and Bluetooth
(Edited:8/31/2009) No Bluetooth! My bad assumption from the bluetooth switch and LED indicator on the laptop. Sorry…
9. Multi finger/gesture touch pad like iPhone
10. Very usable keyboard
11. Quiet fan and harddrive
12. It does not get hot like my other netbook
13. Great speakers!
14. Centrino architecture seems to be faster in network response compare to Atom based netbooks
15. Inexpensive for the quality laptop with all the features
16. (Added on 8/29/2009) Spacious 250G HDD
17. (Added on 8/29/2009) Free upgrade to Windows 7 from Acer. Nice! (However, it was little tricky to register using Chrome. I had to use IE. They may have fixed the issue though…)
18. (Added on 8/29/2009) The lid opens up wider (deeper?) than my netbook. This is kind of important to me while using it on my lap.

Cons (I do not really care about these cons, but here they are)

1. Vista. I like XP myself
2. Shiny LCD screen is too reflective. This may be just me.
3. HD movies from Vimeo and Youtube are bit sluggish (not because of network bandwidth. It is more like not enough CPU power for Flash based HD movies.
(Added on 8/29/2009) Even though the movies are cached all the way, the CPU hits 100% with Flash based HD movies. SD movies are just fine. I can kind of watch HD Flash movies better with this laptop than my Atom netbook though.
4. All the pre-installed applications that I removed.
5. My wish for the laptop design to be somewhat like macbook or HP Mini series.
6. I thought the CPU had hyper-threading like Atom. Task manager shows only one thread. I know it is “solo”, but Atom shows two threads.
(Added on 8/29/2009) The CPU does not have HT (Hyperthreading). I had some wrong info there. Even without the HT, this little laptop performs much faster than my Atom netbook.

Although I listed cons, they are very least items that I wish for. Of course, It does not perform like Intel i7 CPU based desktops. However, for the size and usability, this is a champ of all laptops and desktop PCs I have ever owned. I will use the i7 desktop for Video and photo editing. That may be only 5% of all my computer usage. The rest, 95% of tasks can be done with this little laptop for me. I cannot talk about the durability yet, but it seems to be well built. Anyway, this is a great laptop with very reasonable price tag!

(Added on 8/29/2009) Some usual stuff that I did to make the laptop even better.

1. Usual Vista tune ups like turning off Aero and other graphic intensive features.
2. Removed many pre-installed apps mainly Office trial and Anti-virus software.
3. Turned off unused start up programs

(Added on 8/30/2009) Some tests
1. HDMI out to HD TV
1080p resolution worked perfect including sound with not much config. 1080 resolution gets everything too small to read for my setup. I switched to 720p. My TV does not adjust automatically, so I had to adjust the size using Intel TV wizard software (This app cannot be used with Dual monitor config. Switching to Digital TV only mode enables it.). I adjusted using the app to 720p. The app works, but the screen refreshes every time the adjustment button was clicked, I had to press the adjustment button very slowly and patiently. When I clicked too fast, the app froze with 100% CPU for a long time like 10 min. I had to restart. Other than that all worked perfect!

2. Web cam and digital microphone using Skype
I wanted a small laptop with webcam, so I can put it right next to my baby and show her to my parents in Japan via Skype. My other netbook kind of worked, but in low light situation, the video was so dark that they could see only my white eyes. Mic was also giving them echo. When I tried with this laptop, it was literary day and night. This laptop webcam is optimized for low light. They could see my baby clearly. The mic was clear and no echo. The only minor issue is that the image is bit white tinted with default setting. My wife thought I was smoking… haha. I had to tweak a bit in config. Nonetheless, the webcam and mic worked great for Skype. FYI: It does not perform like high resolution after market webcams, but the built-in webcam satisfies my needs very well.

Let’s go over the specs:

CPU: The Core 2 ULV SU3500 is a great CPU choice and far more powerful than the Atom CPU found in most Netbooks. This is a single core (as opposed to the two core “Core2 Duo”) Ultra Low Voltage cpu running at 1.4GHz. Depending on the exact application this CPU is about 3-6x more powerful than the typical Atom Processor. It also has 3 MB of cache (cache is a form of on-chip high speed memory) vs the Atom’s 512 KB. With 6x the cache of the Atom this CPU is going to spend a lot more time running instructions and a lot less time waiting on the memory sub-system. It also helps that the Core 2 ULV SU3500 memory bus is about 25% faster than what you will find on an Atom. The Core2 is technically more power hungry than the Atom but when running applications the difference isn’t significant (5 watts for the Core2 vs 1.5 watts for Atom). The main difference happens when in standby or sleep mode where the Atom will use much less power than the Core2 (because the kind of transistors on the Atom “leak” less power than those used on the Core2 when in those modes). So if you need long battery life while carrying your computer around in standby with brief periods of activity you might prefer the Atom based Netbooks (say for sales calls on the road). I think most users will probably prefer the Core2 - I know that I do. Update: there may be a dual core version of this coming out soon. It’s on the list to arrive where I work but that doesn’t mean it will be sold in the US.

MEMORY: 2GB of DDR2 RAM is plenty and the 667Mhz memory speed is good enough (faster notebooks go up to 1066Mhz). This system runs Vista which is more memory hungry than the Windows XP or Linux found on most Netbooks so 2GB, while enough, doesn’t go as far as you might think. Still, as long as your aren’t planning on doing any really serious gaming 2GB will handle the typical office application with no troubles.

HDD: The 250GB HDD has plenty of storage given that most users don’t use more than 50GB. Serious gamers and video encoders will need a lot more space than this.

DISPLAY: The 11.6″ 1366×768 screen looks good and is a lot more useable than the 8-10″ screens found on most Netbooks. The resolution is much better than what you will find on most Netbooks and it is reasonably bright (200 nits vs 300+ nits on higher end laptop). I passed on this model because the viewing angle is limited (the manufacturer list the viewing angles as 60vert/90horiz compared to 120v/140h on a high end display) and my sons like to sit with me and watch YouTube videos. The limited viewing angles might be a selling point for somebody traveling who would prefer not to share what’s on their screen with others. So while Acer clearly saved some money here it’s still a good display: unless you need a really high quality LCD I think most people will be pretty happy with this screen (again it’s far better than what you’ll find in most Netbooks). For those few who care it’s made by AU Optronics and I think it’s model B116XW01.

GRAPHICS: The Intel Mobile GMA X4500HD graphics won’t impress any gamers but if you’re running business applications it will do just fine. Update: they loaded Autocad on this thing at work and it wasn’t pretty. It might have been a driver issue but the render times were terrible. It’s not really a surprise but don’t buy this to run your CAD software. Of course for most users this won’t be an issue.

AUDIO: notebooks are not known for great speaker sound and this notebook doesn’t break from that trend. Again it’s better than most Netbooks but not by a lot. Update: With headphones on I found the sound to be fine.

DRIVES: Like most Netbooks and Ultra-portables this has no CD or DVD drive. I recommend buying an external CD Drive. The software industry may start to switch over to USB drives soon (Windows 7 will be sold on USB drives) so this may not be a big deal for much longer. Today it’s a pain to not have a CDROM.

BATTERY: The 6 cell battery is perfect for this notebook (thanks to the low power components). This notebook is probably too small for an 8 cell to fit cleanly but the 4 cell found in most Netbooks just isn’t adequate, even for an Atom CPU. This 6 cell battery will provide about 3-5 hours of real use though with aggressive power saving modes you can get over six hours. Update: we have two of these in our hardware lab and it was just pointed it out to me that one (which came pre-release) had a higher capacity battery than the release version (5600mAH vs. 4400mAH). I’ve adjusted my battery life numbers down to reflect the release version. Interestingly the non-US version of this laptop has the higher capacity battery. I can only assume Acer was trying to bring the price down to compete in the tight US netbook market.

WEIGHT: Coming in a 3.1 lbs this is tiny bit heavier than the typical Netbook but not by much (Netbooks will range from 2-3lbs). Most regular notebooks are 6-8 lbs.

WIRELESS: The usual Intel 5100 A/G/N supports the most common standards (”A” and “G”) along with the new “N” standard. You should have no trouble connecting to wireless networks. This is pretty standard though a few laptops will support 3G out of the box.

In short: while this notebook isn’t perfect it is well built and unlike most Netbooks, actually has a decent CPU. It’s small and light but big enough that you can actually use it. If you’ve got 1K-2K to spend you can get a better Ultra-Portable notebook (I’m partial to Sony’s and Apple’s offerings in that segment) but in this price range there isn’t much competition.

Oh I should note that while this model is dark blue, Acer makes this in two other colors you can buy:
Acer Aspire AS1410-8913 11.6-Inch Ruby Red
Acer Aspire AS1410-8804 11.6-Inch Black

Also if you’re outside the US this might be sold as the “Acer Timeline 1810T” locally and may have slightly different specs (such as a better battery).

The Acer Aspire One D250-1633 is exactly as advertised. A nice small netbook with an easy to read screen. Windows 7 Starter works fine. So does Office 2007. I was concerned about the 1 GB memory but Windows 7 Starter seems very lean and Word and Excel and Internet Explorer run (at the same time) with memory to spare. The keyboard certainly is smaller than normal, but I’m a hunt and peck typist so it makes little difference to me. If you’re looking for a small, light, inexpensive netbook this seems like a good choice.

WARNING: netbook specs change rapidly, as do their prices. So be sure to research any changes since the date of this review.

OVERVIEW: bright, clear screen; snappy response (based on a couple of hours of adding and removing programs, after the 31 updates to Win7 first downloaded); tolerable streaming video (ran HD Apple trailers in 480 mode fine; Hulu was sometimes “choppy”; ran “Large” non-HD Apple trailers fine; ran ABC.GO.COM tv shows tolerably well; won’t run Hulu in 480 mode or full screen; ran HQ You Tube fine). Smaller screen and smaller keyboard at a time when other netbooks are bumping up against super light laptops, but at least this is under 3 pounds WITH the charger. And you can’t beat that battery life!

WHAT COULD BE BETTER: The 11.6″ screen on some Aspire Ones is superb - more pixels = ability to see NY Times online full screen without scrolling (the 10.1″ on this one requires slight scrolling, but you are only missing “ad boxes” on the right hand anyway). HOWEVER I bought a 10.1″ because all the 11.6″ models come with downgraded Atom processors (z520 with GMA 500 chips vs. the N280 and GMA 900 on this one). SHOULD come with 2 GB of memory to match the other upgraded specs on this otherwise upgraded version, but unfortunately, doesn’t.

NOT ALL ASPIRE AOD250′S ARE CREATED EQUAL DEPT.: Danger Will Robinson! Danger Will Robinson! Danger Will Robinson! PLEASE NOTE that Aspire has put the AOD250 label on a WHOLE HOST of widely different netbooks. Things to watch out for: the N280 is MUCH faster than the N270 - not because of the processor speed (1.66 vs. 1.6, nothing!) but because of the front bus (memory) speed (677 vs. 533, a lot!). This version, as of the date I write this review, also comes with Win7 while many come with XP; comes with 250 GB hard drive instead of 160 GB on most AOD250’s; has wireless N instead of G (a LOT faster, when internet cafes and other locations upgrade); has Blue Tooth; has the 6 cell battery (AND it’s in the 5200 m.a. version, not the 4200).

WHAT I DID ON DELIVERY (ymmv so think before you leap:

1. BEFORE inserting the battery, I removed one easy screw from the middle back panel, pulled a couple of side clips off the existing memory module, and did a 5 minute total upgrade to 2GB of RAM. Super simple.

2. Install the battery, plug in the charger, boot up.

3. Wait for normal set up; enter minimal information.

4. Load Internet Explorer and click on Windows update - the computer will update soon on its own, but this speeds it up.

5. Installed 38 security updates and 3 non-essential updates. Note: Acer has its own update program to check for BIOS and device driver updates, a nice touch, I went in and changed the update frequency to monthly from daily.

6. Uninstalled the trial antivirus program. Which virus program you choose is up to you; I’ve had good luck with Panda (paid) and with AVG (free, no ads). Based on what I read since then, I decided to try Microsoft’s new, free basic protection program, Microsoft Security Essentials (Google: download Microsoft Security Essentials) and quickly installed it. It’s not supposed to be as up to date as some, but it’s overhead is low and I have some confidence that MSFT will try to make it work well in conjunction with their Win7 patches and updates. NOTE: Security Essentials has its own Malware program which replaces Windows Defender which comes with Win7. Make sure both aren’t running at the same time (make sure Security Essentials DID turn off Windows Defender).

7. Uninstalled all the junkware (trial Office, Norton BackUp, eSobi, etc.). Uninstalled all the excess MSFT baggage - Silverlight, Live Essentials. If you ever use a program that wants chunks of these, they will ask to download and reinstall and you can decide then. NOTE: you don’t want tags of too many programs running in memory, that slows down the computer especially video - the “load” from the antivirus can be especially significant.

8. Downloaded Quicktime; iTunes; Flash 10 (already installed - good work Acer! - but there was an incremental update since the build they installed on my hard drive.

KUDOS TO AMAZON DEPT.: I got this overnight, with the memory chip to upgrade, for only $28. Wow. I could have had free delivery by waiting a week or two with Super Saver. And they actually got the right computer to me - given how my AOD250’s variants they stock, and colors, that’s no mean feat.

WHY YOU MIGHT WANT GET THE SMALLER BATTERY DEPT.: The humongous runs forever battery is fatter and heavier. Heavy, not a problem; wider not a problem; problem is, it juts down from the body which means it doesn’t fit well in a flat computer slot. On the other hand, it elevates the rear of the deck slightly for better cooling.

YOU SHOULD GET THIS IF: You are cheap or on a budget or want a very light, very small, very functional computer for travel. If you write, blog, browse the web, watch YouTube, download to iTunes (250 gb helps).

YOU SHOULD NOT GET THIS IF: You want to watch Hulu in higher resolution and/or at full screen; if you burn a lot of DVDs; if you do Photoshop or make movies; if you play video games that make demands on hardware. Get the new white Macbook instead.

MY CRYSTAL BALL SAYS THESE THINGS WILL CHANGE IN ONE YEAR: Dual core Atom chips (already available); lower power consumption support chips instead of the ancient 945; better graphics chips (from Intel, or from 3rd parties, Nvidia already has the Ion); standard 2 gb with optional 4 gb; 11.6 as the “premium” netbook niche and 10.1 as the “standard” niche with small screens disappearing; XP disappears, finally replaced by Win7.

AND THE QUESTION YOU WANTED ANSWERED FIRST: Yes, Win7 works out of the box. Abiword works fine with it. Yes it is as fast, to my eye and hand, as XP. Yes, it will be supported a lot longer in the future than XP. NO, stay away from Vista even on a close out model. I had it one one netbook and had to return it, it was so slow. Win7 Starter has no “eye candy” for the desktop but it is FAST.

Update (17 Nov 09): After a fair amount of travel I stick by my initial rating. Construction is solid and I have had no issues, even after it has been thrown around a bit with my carry-on. Also, you shouldn’t have to worry about the “big” battery sticking out. The extra battery life is worth it and the netbook fits easy in your typical sleeve. I bought a standard netbook sleeve off the shelf for a bit of extra protection and the computer fits in with no issues. In fact, I’m able to get my travel mouse and power cord in with it, zipped up and all, which makes travel even easier.
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So I was recently in the market for a netbook for travel reasons and happened upon the Acer One. After days of reading reviews and visits to local electronic stores, I had narrowed my choices down to the Asus (10 hour battery life) EeePC and this Acer One. As luck would have it, I was in the market just as Windows 7 pre-orders began and both machines came through Amazon with the new OS. In the end, the AC adapter issues with the Asus kept me away, and I figured 10.5 vs. 9 hours of battery life wasn’t too big of a difference (and neither would live up to the claims regardless).

The netbook arrived the day after Windows 7 was released and I immediately got to work removing the “extras” that come with the computer. Surprisingly though, Acer did not load too much bloat on the machine and getting it off took no time at all. So then began the installation process. Avast, Office, iTunes, CD Burning software, VLC, Chrome, Firefox, Skype and Quicktime (the usuals) were all immediate needs and all went on with ease. I did purchase the extra gig of RAM that is recommended on most other netbooks (read around and you’ll see) as well, however, it did not come until 3 days later so I had a decent amount of time to play around with this machine with just 1g.

Even with 1 gig, iTunes ran smoothly, I was able to watch Hulu with no hiccups, Office didn’t lag… I was actually quite surprised. The 2 gig showed up eventually though, and things got even better. Installation was a breeze (just open the memory “door” and clip it in) and took only 30 seconds. The computer recognized it instantly. Once up and running again, the system was noticeably faster… very noticeable. Having open multiple programs is not a problem at all (something I will admit I was concerned about initially).

Along the same lines as the memory upgrade, an external DVD drive may be another buy you will want (just like with every other netbook). I did not invest in one, simply because I will not be needing it, but just a thought when pricing out your “full” purchase.

So, what is good and what is bad?

Pros:

Battery life - lives up to the advertisement (for the most part). I run it on the intermediate setting and get 7 hours easy. Currently at 45% right now and have 4 hours and 5 minutes left.

Wireless N and Bluetooth - while not “necessary” these are very nice. I can pick up signals with my netbook that other laptops in the house cannot get. Range is amazing.

Speed - A lot faster than what I was expecting and blew away all my expectations. Just make sure you spend the extra 20-40 bucks and get the extra memory. You will see a big difference (keep in mind though, she does fine with 1 gig). 2 is always better though.

Display - Very clear and easy on the eyes. Thought I might have issues with the small screen but it looks amazing.

Windows 7 - you can read the reviews about it specifically but it runs great. I’ll leave it at that.

Cons:

Keyboard - slightly smaller than some other netbook keyboards out there and can be tricky sometimes.

Touchpad - Acer, as with others, boasts a multi-touch pad (similar to an iPhone or iPod Touch). Maybe I just haven’t found the right use for it, but I find it nearly worthless and even when I can get it to “work,” it is slow and not very useful. Also, some may find the touchpad a tad too small (at least I do). Finally, the click bar on the touchpad is not broken up into two buttons, and while this is fairly common, the click bar can be tough to click sometimes and there are times I will try to click and hit the middle, which does nothing, and you don’t “know” until you look down to see what you’re clicking. I think two distinct buttons would have been better and easier.

In the end, this model (and it’s brightly colored siblings), in my view, are an excellent buy if you’re in the market. At around $400 (depending on how much you get the RAM for), this machine comes with features that you will only find in more expensive netbooks. While I’ve only had it for a week, I will say I am very pleased with my investment. If time permits, I will update this to review how it holds up with travel, etc… but based on simple home wireless use, I have very very few complaints.

I don’t plan on putting the adapter in it and there really isn’t much room for it, but you could if you wanted too…. It has a lifetime warranty and you have a choice of colors….There is no handle which suits me fine because I carry it in my backpack or pocketbook.

A must have if you own a netbook and carry it around with you. I love my purchase !!!!

I was concerned this might not be large enough. I had tried some other brands at a local store and they were tight. This is a loose fit, zips easily even with my “cooler pad” included, and protects my low profile wireless mouse interface. It is very stretchy and could accommodate the charger and the mouse, but it would be a very lumpy, untidy package. Completely meets my requirements.

I purchased the Acer Aspire One 751h-1401 and it is a great piece of art. I am very impressed with the quality and features of this Product. I purchased at Wal-Mart on special for $298.00+$20Tax, included one year parts and labor warranty. Trouble-free to set and great Key board, full size. It has a 3 cell Battery which lasted about 3.5 hours working straight on it running multi- programs. Wow, this little thing is amazing. It has all the basic programs you need to be on the go. I researched several mini net books and this one caught my eye because is 11.6″ vs. 10.1″ Screen. For the price you can’t beat it, Acer Aspire One AO751h-1401 White 11.6 2GB 250GB 3Cell VHB 11.6″ Notebook ,(Vista Home Basic) 5 in 1 digital media reader, 3 cell battery, best of all Windows Vista, most netbooks run on Win XP, which eventually will go away….. Great Product, don’t wait! Run out to get yours. You will love It.!!!!!