Acer recently updated its line of low cost netbook offerings with the introduction of its new 10-Inch Acer Aspire One AOD150 unit. This review on acer laptops intends to provide you with an overview of what you’ll get from this new Acer mini notebook unit.

Acer too, like most other vendors, is now targeting the 10-inch low cost netbook market segment. Well, to be honest, I do think that all those sub 10-inch netbooks are just way too small for the majority of users. A 10 or 11-inch would be just nice for a gadget that is supposed to fill in the gap between a regular sized notebooks and smartphones.

Specifications - Nothing New

So, lets get on with this review of the new Acer 10-inch netbook. First of all, how about a brief look at the specifications. Following is what is under the hood of this little gem from Acer.

Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 cache)
1024MB DDR2 533 MHz SDRAM Single Channel Memory
160GB SATA 5400RPM Hard Drive
Windows XP Home with Service Pack 3
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals–from digital cameras to MP3 players
Multi-in-one card reader supports Secure Digital (SD), MultiMediaCard (MMC), Reduced Size MultiMedia (RS-MMC), Memory Stick/Memory Stick PRO, and XD Picture Cards
VGA monitor port
1 headphone jack and 1 microphone jack
RJ-45 port for 10/100 Fast Ethernet connection
Kensington lock slot
Looking at the specs, this Acer unit does not seem to be any different than every other netbooks around. So, what is so special about it? Price - Hard To Beat. I’ll just be blunt up front. The thing that surely makes this Acer unit a best seller is its price. Simple. Value for money. It is more or less similar in specs and configurations with every other 10 inch netbooks.

As such, they all don’t differ very much in terms of performance. Acer is certainly pushing extremely hard to capture the 10inch market share. This new model retails at USD349. Thus, it is now the cheapest within the 10-inch range of netbooks.

Battery Life - Watch At Least 2 Movies In A Single Charge

The first wave of netbooks came with 3 cells batteries that lasts for about 3 hours or less pre charge. Today, the new models come with 6 cells batteries. They now lasts from 5 - 7 hours per charge.

The Acer AOD150 comes with a 6 cells battery. Tests have confirmed that the 6 cells battery is capable of powering the unit for about 5.5 hours or so. Not long enough still? Perhaps you should then customize it with a 5,800-mAh six-cell battery. This will power you up for an amazingly close to 8 hours. The unit comes standard with a 4,400-mAh battery.

Mouse Pad Buttons - Located Where It Really Should Be

I don’t know about you, but I am certainly not a big fan of those netbook units where the mousepad buttons are designed to be at the side. They feel utterly unnatural for heavy usage. I have yet to master the act of using the side buttons.

Thankfully, Acer decided to go back to the old tried and tested design of mousepads button at the bottom. No more awkwardness with the mousepads.

Display - Same Old Same Old.

Is 1024×600 to be the only video resolution made available for netbooks? I certainly don’t think so. HP’s latest model supports a pretty fine 1366×768 resolution.

Don’t get me wrong, 1024×600 is fine. However, it would certainly be better if we can get a little bit more pixels to play with. More screen real estate to play with.

Keyboard - 89%, Not too bad. Could’ve been better.

At 89% of a normal sized notebook keys, the keyboard of this Acer AOD150 is certainly nothing to shout about. Of course, I would’ve preferred it to be a little bigger.

I find it strange that Acer didn’t capitalize on the extra space provided by the 10-inch model. There’s plenty of room still to put in a slightly larger keyboard.

Should You Get It?

As I’ve said in the first few paragraphs, nothing much separates this unit from the others. As such, there really is no valid reasons not to get this if you are indeed looking for a 10-inch netbook. Retailing at USD349, it is certainly the best choice if value for money is your main criteria.

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Tags: 10-Inch, AOD150-1165, aspire, Laptops, Netbook, reviews