Hands-on Acer's Aspire One netbook

Guess what? We're off the Eee (and your mama) and onto the launch of the competition. This time, it's Acer's Aspire One. The Atom-based, 8.9-inch, 1024 x 600 pixel laptop runs your choice of XP or Linux and packs 802.11b/g WiFi, up to 1GB of memory, an 8GB SSD or 2.5-inch 80GB, SD card slot, and optional 6-cell battery. It'll also sport an integrated WiMax module when the networks finally light up. Expected to hit the US in September for $399 (that's still unofficial) with a 3-cell, 2200mAh battery, standard. Puhlease. A few more snaps after the break, the rest at Engadget Chinese.

[cohaagen @ Jun 3rd 2008 3:09AM]

The thought of tiny laptops has never really done it for me, but this one... It's rather nice.

[Raimo @ Jun 3rd 2008 3:10AM]

3-cell battery?!?! talk about a lost cause...

[phobic99 @ Jun 3rd 2008 6:14AM]

Exactly the same thing I thought when I saw the article.

[Dillon @ Jun 3rd 2008 3:12AM]

That colour is *inserts emoticon depicting sickness*. The side profile looks much like that of the eeePC.

Quite nice design :).

[OneLove @ Jun 3rd 2008 11:35AM]

"time of the month" red

[Skullgrl @ Jun 3rd 2008 1:43PM]

I swear, things are going seriously wrong if Auntie Flow (ha I love that saying! It's so awkward.) is sparkly.

Dear god. I don't know what kind of doctor I'd see if that happened to me :S On the other hand its not a bad color (I'm not a fan of pink.) and thats not what it reminds me of.

[LTM @ Jun 3rd 2008 3:20AM]

Did someone that designed the screen part miss a meeting with the person that designed the keyboard part......and realized they created something different but decided to put it together anyway and hope we wouldnt notice?

[Hellios @ Jun 3rd 2008 3:21AM]

the keyboard material looks horrible, the screen has an enormous bezel around it, the trackpad is microscopic... and it's limited to 1gb on ram (which shouldn't be a problem if it didn't ship with XP) and the worst part is that it comes with a 2200mAh battery....

But at least it seems reasonably priced so far, unlike other small laptops.

[gad get @ Jun 3rd 2008 3:48AM]

You think maybe you're being a little bit fussy with your ultra-cheap laptops?

[Jaws @ Jun 3rd 2008 4:22AM]

the screen has a huge bezel??!?!?! Umm... have you seen the EEE pc?

I'm pretty sure ALL these ultraportables in the ultracheap category sport the massive plastic, tiny screen criteria.

:(

Its sad... but prolific.

[Zach @ Jun 5th 2008 1:17AM]

What do you mean. Windows XP with 1GB of RAM is fantastic. It's more than enough for the uses of such a laptop.

[Al @ Jun 3rd 2008 3:58AM]

The problem with this category is there it to much similar competition, and it hard to differentiate. I think one company should bring out a tablet model or something different in this class of computers to differentiate.

[Raimo @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:06AM]

the Gigabyte's entry is a tablet

[The Apple @ Jun 3rd 2008 4:01AM]

You were on my mama???
She only went to the supermarket for some cigarettes... just took longer than normal is all...


Ohhh Wait

Damn im slow

[Mack @ Jun 3rd 2008 4:51AM]

Is that the baby boy from Eee PC and HP mini?

[gad get @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:39AM]

You mean the HP Mini-Note?
Yes. And oddly enough, it's an Acer One. I would have expected an AsusP Mineee-Note.

[lance @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:39AM]

watcha u say bout my mama? don't make me open up a can of nano noodles on yo ass! I'll get my 200 lb exoskeleton on and school you boy!

[dereth @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:40AM]

Damn... looks like a bastard lovechild of Asus's Eee and HP's mini note.

http://www.dereth.org

[Christopher Wilson @ Jun 3rd 2008 7:56AM]

I like the interface on this much better than the one on the eee

[moa999 @ Jun 3rd 2008 10:34AM]

eek. battery doesn't look upgradeable either.
mind you - price point for a 9" screen is great

[jd @ Jun 3rd 2008 10:44AM]

eee's multi-touch really spoiled me. i can't get another laptop without it.

other than eee, who else has the multi-touch funtion?

[Za @ Aug 4th 2008 8:22PM]

All Apple laptops...

[qrius @ Jun 3rd 2008 12:53PM]

so, uh, you can work on this for 30 mins? what's the point of ultraportable if you have to sit next to a power outlet every time?

was this their logic?

"hey guys, look, I designed another Eee clone, and it looks good!"

"where's the battery slot?"

"Oops, I knew I forgot something!"

"it's ok, just stick in this cell phone battery!"

"alright, problem fixed!"

[Valgas @ Jun 3rd 2008 1:45PM]

After having a closer look, it looks ultra cheap too. I'll have to handle it before I'm sold, even if the specs are near perfect. The Wind and Dell's Mini Inspirion "looks" much better. I'm honestly just waiting for Dell to drop the specs on us and steal all the glory..........

puh... right.

[Willstay @ Jun 3rd 2008 2:31PM]

"cramed right shift key and learning curve to properly hit on eee Pc was steep at 90 degrees".

Looks most promising amongst ultra portables.

[Willstay @ Jun 3rd 2008 2:36PM]

"cramed right shift key and learning curve to properly hit on eee Pc was steep at 90 degrees".

Looks most promising amongst ultra portables.

[Derek @ Jun 3rd 2008 3:30PM]

This thing looks a little better from a distance. The keys on the keyboard look as cheap as the ones on the eee PC.

[nat @ Jun 4th 2008 6:37PM]

did somebody do something to the eee?

[gus @ Jun 25th 2008 11:25AM]

i'd rather pay $100 more for the HP 2133 MiniNote

[Herbie @ Jul 12th 2008 1:40PM]

Wait a minute, the keypad on my Eee has worked fine, wish I could say that about my 15" HP keyboard!
I just looked at the HP2133, it was $729 not $100 more. All the specs of their $499 15" laptop in a smaller box for $230 more?
This Acer One is priced $180 less than the Eee901 Atom...

[Ashrael @ Jul 21st 2008 3:44PM]

The Eee does not have a huge bezel, those are great little speakers with a great sound I can tell you (well for a laptop anyway)....

I still in doubt and likely to wait a little longer...

[Mario @ Aug 14th 2008 4:37PM]

On september? weird... in Mexico is on sale in pcenlinea.com

[William @ Aug 14th 2008 10:32PM]

I just bought one from Staples in Canada! I love this little machine, except for a few wi-fi issues that I'm thinking just require some updates to fix, it's pretty slick.

[Robert @ Aug 27th 2008 4:14AM]

I just bought one for my wife (she is a flight attendant) and this is the perfect travel laptop. I was almost sold on the Asus Eee, but dollar for dollar and feature for feature, this little gem STOMPS the Eee. To get the Asus with the same specs it would cost $300 more (or close to double) the $349 price tag (as of today's pricing). It's not a lightening machine, and the webcam is sub-par at best, but for basics like web surfing, working on documents, listening to music (via headphones, not the internal speakers), watching AVI movies, and other such things, this machine is excellent. We got the XP version with the 120GB hard drive as opposed to the Linux version with the 8GB SSD as it fits our needs much better. This also means that the storage expension slot is now a regular SD card reader giving it the ability to read 2 SD cards (it has a multi-reader too) leaving the 3 USB ports open. I love this little thing and have considered getting a second one for myself.