Aspire One shipments on pace to beat Eee PC

Acer's Aspire One has been somewhat overlooked in the face of a relentless barrage of Eee PCs and other netbooks, but slow and steady tends to win the race -- Acer says it's on track to ship six million machines this year, which is ahead of ASUS's target of five million Eees. Acer's mostly pulled into the lead due to its size and ability to push the Aspire One globally, while ASUS (which less than half the revenue) has been building the Eee market by market. Of course, that doesn't mean ASUS is going down without a fight -- we've already seen some aggressive ads, and Acer doesn't have anything to match machines like the S101. Looks like the netbook market is starting to get heated -- it'll be interesting to see how this all shakes out over the next few months.

[Jay @ Nov 1st 2008 12:35AM]

That's because the Eee PC just isn't all its cracked up to be. Look at how cool the Acer looks! Thats what it's all about.

[chris @ Nov 1st 2008 12:11PM]

That's one of the funnier youtube videos I've seen in a while. who is that kid?

[jay @ Nov 1st 2008 12:13PM]

haha his name is DJ. he's hilarious.

[JerkfacedFed @ Nov 1st 2008 3:00PM]

that video is not funny at all, youre a bitch and and that kid is disgusting and flabby

netbooks are for poor people

[Cellien @ Nov 1st 2008 6:23PM]

I had an Eee PC 701 (4 gb) for the wife. We sold it for $250 and got the Acer One with the 120 gb HDD and 1 gb RAM for $350.

[Chin-Poh @ Nov 1st 2008 11:31AM]

One reason is because of its very competitive pricing. I like the $400 SKU here in the U.S where I can get it with a 160gb and 6-cell battery and Asus and MSI have taken note and are putting larger HDDs in their notebooks and 6-cell batteries as close to the $400 mark as they can.

Competition is good, its not keeping Asus complacent, just as ATI has shaken up Nvidia with their excellent Radeon HD4000 cards.

[Fanfoot @ Nov 1st 2008 2:02PM]

Agreed. Acer pushed the price down pretty hard, while ASUS has been trying for a long time to keep prices up. Maybe (shocking I know) the primary factor that defines a netbook is a price under $400? Huh? Maybe?

Netbooks like the S101 have their place, and they'll take a certain market share, but the vast majority of netbooks will sell based almost completely on price. I can't imagine the average user even notices the differences between the models other than the basic things like the color of the chassis and the size of the screen.

This may not bode well for the HP Mini 1000, which is clearly too expensive...

[htd @ Nov 1st 2008 4:34PM]

eeepc 1000HA is $429.99 with 160G HD and 6 cell(6600mA), 10" screen/keyboard is more usable, though the battery life is shorter. MSI wind is too expensive.

[Andy TGD @ Nov 1st 2008 5:20PM]

Excellent points. I'd like to add that the Aspire One's presentation in terms of the GUI and overall design probably pushes it ahead somewhat compared to the Eee PC. It looks a lot more polished than its rival (in my opinion at least). Bought one myself - lovin' it. :)

[Mike Cerm @ Nov 1st 2008 6:02PM]

There are some Eee PC models that come close to the Aspire One on features/price, but the one thing that no Eee PC has is a decent keyboard. Even the 10" Eee PC, which is larger than the Aspire One, has a terrible keyboard.

[CosterMonger @ Nov 1st 2008 10:56PM]

that pretty much sums up what I was going to say
Acer grabbed a big market share based on proper realistic price point, others were up selling cheap components because the product was 'newish'

[SteveS @ Nov 1st 2008 11:35AM]

If I was in the market for a 8.9" netbook I would have already gotten an Acer as they have been very competitive in terms of price/performance in that segment. However since it looks like they have no interest in a 10" Aspire One I have to look elsewhere...

[Windzilla @ Nov 1st 2008 11:39AM]

By interesting I'm hoping the dual-core atom, lower prices and (not necessarily concomitantly with price) touch tablet versions.


by the way, woot.com has a nice little deal today on the aspire one, sub $290 if anyone's looking.

[Brian @ Nov 1st 2008 11:42AM]

WWW.WOOT.COM --> $289 for the Linux Aspire One (yes, you can load Windows on it)

I'd buy one, but I'm sure I'll see a better deal on the ASUS 901 before the end of the year.

[Ayman @ Nov 1st 2008 11:55AM]

Sigh.. I purchased the acer one from Amazon... first one had a defective touch pad, so Amazon replaced it, 2nd one the microphone doesnt work, now they tell me they're Sold out and all i get is a refund and a broken heart

[ice_cold_irony @ Nov 3rd 2008 9:29PM]

Probably driver issues because Linpus is a piece of crap, my little brothers keyboard didn't work out of the box in Linpus and theres really nothing you can do without a keyboard. Ended up putting Ubuntu onto it and ended up with wireless problems out the ying yang. These are probably great with xp but linux is always a bitch apparently.

[RockDoctor @ Nov 27th 2008 10:30AM]

ice_cold - wireless on the AA1 under Ubuntu 8.10 works fine with the ath5k driver. Ubuntu didn't include it in the linux-generic package because it causes problems with some wireless cards (on other machines). You need to install linux-backports-modules and blacklist the ath_pci driver

[FOREX @ Nov 1st 2008 11:57AM]

I've been using my Aspire One since a little after it came out. At $350 it beat the eee's hands down in price, and frankly, when every netbook is pretty much the same (8.9 screen, 1.6ghz atom, 1gb ram, xp, etc) price is the only thing that really matters. This product is, after all, a second computer.

[BigTeebo @ Nov 1st 2008 12:28PM]

I bought a 701 in march, the display conked out, so I bought an Aspire one(120 gig model) last week.It blows the 701 out of the water in terms of features(display, 2 mon support, memory, etc).. To think it is the same price I paid for the 701($349). I'm quite happy with it, and hopefuly it won't conk out in less than a year(but I bought a plan).

[Yem @ Nov 1st 2008 12:29PM]

See, ASUS? Price counts.

[Mike @ Nov 1st 2008 12:33PM]

The secret of the Aspire One's success? It doesn't have that shitty Eee logo on it.

[yegon @ Nov 1st 2008 12:59PM]

Cracking little machine. Completely on impulse, picked up the hdd Linux version for £148 from Tesco - they'd mispriced it by £100! Only bummer is that it ain't great for installing Leopard on it - replacing the wlan card is very doable, but sleep doesn't work, an utterly essential feature of an ultra portable imo.

[volley @ Nov 1st 2008 1:00PM]

I almost bought the Acer but bought the 10" EEE 1000 w/ linux for 449 from NewEgg. 40G SSD, 6-cell battery... 802.11n... really, that's the best deal... and it works absolutely fabulously. I am so happy with it. The ONLY thing I don't like is the itty bitty right shift key. The acer has the full shift and that's awesome.

volley

[Fanfoot @ Nov 1st 2008 2:09PM]

Which one did you get?

The 1000, the 1000H, the 1000HD, the 1000HA, the 1000HV, the 1002SA, the 1002HA...

[Cybergypsy @ Nov 1st 2008 1:10PM]

Saw it at my sons work, could get the XP one for 299.00 was very well made.

[dotAaron @ Nov 1st 2008 1:23PM]

Its clear why this thing is catching up, ASUS are making too many textbook errors :) Too many variants in there range, they seem to have a price premium for being part of the "eee" brand etc. etc. :)

I love my Acer One :D Can't fault it in a any way :)

[thazlett @ Nov 1st 2008 1:23PM]

and i just ordered 1 of these badboys! ..a150.

[Tom @ Nov 1st 2008 1:26PM]

I have one with the 6-cell batt and 160GB drive. It's one of those satisfying purchases where you actually feel like you got more than you paid for, which is rare with electronics these days. Congrats to Acer for making a sweet little machine.

Plus...it's a total conversation piece. Chicks seriously dig it.

[Neal and Bob @ Nov 1st 2008 3:23PM]

Agreed-- it's the one small thing a man can have that the chicks can't wait to get ahold of. She'll never complain that your aspire one is too small.

[Adam H. @ Nov 1st 2008 9:47PM]

I have the 120gb with the 3-cell, love it. And yes, it is quite the conversation starter, girls love the portability of it, and are always surprised at the low price, I got mine at 349, although I am trying to find a place to get the 6 cell battery so I can last through all my classes without needed to charge.

[Ryan @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:07AM]

Huh, now that you mention it, my netbook attracts a lot of girls as well... I'm pretty sure I've sold Lenovo's Ideapad S10 to three girls from work, as well as a friend-of-a-friend.

Why is it that females enjoy netbooks so much? Is it the "cute" factor?

[Spike @ Nov 1st 2008 1:29PM]

Now if Acer would give us Canadians a choice of US keyboard, instead of the butchered bilingual layout.

[Jefflered @ Nov 1st 2008 1:46PM]

Just install it as US keyboard, I have a Canadian Billingual One myself.

[Tom @ Nov 1st 2008 1:30PM]

One more thing. The mic/camera addition is really sweet on a machine of this size and price. I tethered the Aspire to my Verizon Blackberry. On the EVDO network, I made a video call to my sister while I was driving around town. (via Skype). Awesome.

[Ryan @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:09AM]

While you were driving? That just sounds stupid!

[will pillar @ Nov 1st 2008 2:06PM]

Nice to know that I picked the right one!

[yelohbird @ Dec 9th 2008 6:50AM]

This doesn't say that it's the "right one"...it just means you picked the one more people picked.

[Fanfoot @ Nov 1st 2008 2:11PM]

The only obvious advantage I've seen for the ASUS machines is for upgrade potential, since they were first out there. If you want to upgrade to an SLC flash SSD or whatever, the ASUS has more third party support, more videos of how to modify it, etc.

Not a big enough market though, price still wins.

[Shakapooi @ Nov 1st 2008 2:24PM]

My favourite is the MSI Wind U100-420, 1.6 Atom/120gb/1GB Ram (upg to 2GB)/10" backlit screen/bigger keyboard/bla bla. Screen is gorgeous, it's zippy and my sister loves it (wanted the pink one but all i could find was black). Loaded it up with all relevant software for school and she's loving it. Picked it up for $399

The Wind gets overlooked quite a bit but i'll take it over the EEE anyday.

[Fanfoot @ Nov 4th 2008 12:10AM]

Overlooked?

For quite a while it was seen as the best netbook by far, and was on the way to becoming very popular. Maybe a little too expensive, but worth it to a lot of people.

Then they switched trackpad vendors and screwed the whole thing up.

[The Engadgeter @ Nov 1st 2008 2:31PM]

I picked up an Aspire One from Costco Wholesale for $350, including XP, 120GB HDD, 1GB RAM, 2 SD slots, 9" screen, 1.6ghz atom. I'm in love with this little 2.2 lb. machine and I can't believe how cheap it was and how well it runs.

[Jash Sayani @ Nov 2nd 2008 4:11AM]

Wow! I was just looking for the same thing... 1.6Ghz Atom, More than 80 Gigs of HD.... However, Can I get 2 Gigs of RAM instead of 1 ??

Are there 2 RAM slots or I will have to replace the RAM..?? And I guess 2 Gigs is definately compatible....

[Stephen Ingraham @ Nov 1st 2008 2:50PM]

I have both the Asus EEE PC 900 (16G) and the Aspire One...long story...the EEE PC has, maybe, a bad SSD and while waiting for the repair, I bought the Aspire One (150, 120G HDD) on impulse at Staples. Speed is one big difference...though the Atom/HDD verions of the EEE PC probably do as well. The One has a better (sharper) screen, and, biggest surprise, a far superior keyborad. I can type almost as fast as on a full sized laptop. With the two finger scrolling extension the track pad even works as well (though the 900's trackpad was really good). All in all, the One is just a better machine at that $350 price point.

(Of couse it took driver updates and a bios flash to get wifi running reliably...but then...)

[Valicore @ Nov 1st 2008 3:37PM]

Damn, at one point people were really excited about the Eee - I seem to remember at one point every other story was good press about it. But unfortunately ASUS decided to put the Eee name on every crappy little product they could and screwed themselves over. That combined with the fact that there are now better netbooks for less money relegates them to the hall of shame.

[Neal and Bob @ Nov 1st 2008 3:39PM]

And also, I think it should to be brought to attention that one of the reasons the Aspire One is going to be moving so many units is because of it's wide and prominent availability at Wal-Mart. I'm sure by now we're all familiar with the One Laptop Per Child initiative... Think of Wal-Mart availability as the OLPT (one laptop per trailer) movement. Acer could easily sell 14 million of these within a year and a half as long as their deal with Wal-Mart holds. The fact that I saw one of these on display there is the main reason for me buying one... they're just so astonishing and breathtaking to see in person for the first time that for $348, I wasn't afraid (rather, actually kind of excited) to purchase on the spur of the moment without regard to reading any reviews or knowing anything about it first. Great job Acer! Asus paved the way, but Acer is playing a smart game right now. That my dime's worth.

[Will Static @ Nov 1st 2008 6:13PM]

This is not surprising... The Acer has sleeker looks and I believe a nicer looking screen... the Asus eee screen look less vibrant to me... I write this on one of my two Aspire ones.

[FiL @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:32AM]

I actually prefer the matte screens on the EEEs to the glossy ones on the Aspire (and on almost every full-sized laptop I see these days). The reflections and glare on those glossy screens would drive me nuts. I also prefer a 10-inch screen to an 8.9-inch one.

I'd buy an EEE 1000HA in a minute if it weren't for that lame right shift key. I might be able to get used to it, but really, I shouldn't have to. It really boggles the mind.

[changturkey @ Nov 1st 2008 8:14PM]

Are they going to refresh this thing soon?

[Anthony Smith @ Nov 1st 2008 9:06PM]

Posting this from my new Acer Aspire One (acquired via Craigslist for $250.00)
8GB SSD
1.5GB RAM

Just installed XP on it and it runs like a champ. Love absolutely everything about this machine (except for the speakers...they are unforgivable).

Highly Recommended!

[tnkgrl @ Nov 1st 2008 9:13PM]

The Acer Aspire One really is a little gem... It's very affordable ($299 shipped from buy.com with $10 off coupon) and it's extremely hackable:

http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/modding-the-acer-aspire-one-hsdpa/