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.
posted Nov 1st 2008 11:20AM
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.
That's one of the funnier youtube videos I've seen in a while. who is that kid?
haha his name is DJ. he's hilarious.
that video is not funny at all, youre a bitch and and that kid is disgusting and flabby
netbooks are for poor people
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.
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.
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...
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.
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. :)
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.
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'
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...
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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).
See, ASUS? Price counts.
The secret of the Aspire One's success? It doesn't have that shitty Eee logo on it.
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
Which one did you get?
The 1000, the 1000H, the 1000HD, the 1000HA, the 1000HV, the 1002SA, the 1002HA...
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.
Saw it at my sons work, could get the XP one for 299.00 was very well made.
and i just ordered 1 of these badboys! ..a150.
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 :)
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.
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.
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.
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?
Now if Acer would give us Canadians a choice of US keyboard, instead of the butchered bilingual layout.
Just install it as US keyboard, I have a Canadian Billingual One myself.
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.
While you were driving? That just sounds stupid!
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...)
Nice to know that I picked the right one!
This doesn't say that it's the "right one"...it just means you picked the one more people picked.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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....
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.
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.
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.
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.
Are they going to refresh this thing soon?
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!
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/
I almost bought the Aspire one.. But while researching how to mod it up with touchscreen, bluetooth, etc.,.. I found the Gigabyte M912M.
N270 Atom, 1GB Ram, 160GB 2.5" sata, 8.9" 1024x600 LED backlit LCD TOUCHSCREEN, 802.11b/g, bluetooth, SDHC, Expresscard 34 slot. It's also converts into a tablet. The screen spins 180 degrees and folds back down against the keyboard.
It's pricer upfront, but cheaper after considering what i would've spent upmodding the aspire one.
I don't know why gigabyte chose not to sell it in the US though. I had to order mine from Europe and have them ship it to me in Alabama..
That said though.. I do like the Aspire One's keyboard better and I'm glad they are fighting ASUS to keep prices sane..
The Acer Aspire One is hands down a better looking netbook than any of the EEE pc's- The only thing that has stopped me buying one is the poor battery life. I want one that ships with a 6-cell battery before I'd commit to buying one.
One thing people should note- although identical looking the SSD version is slightly smaller than the HDD based one. So if you plan to buy the cheaper SSD version with an eye to upgrading it with a 2.5" HDD at a later date it will not fit.
You do know that the 160gb HDD AA1 ships with 6cell battery. I get around 5 and a half hours watching videos on the go.
I picked one up for $299 on sale about a month ago. It really is good. Reason I went with the Aspire instead of an EEE was mainly because I was not about to compare all models of EEE they had at the store. I saw the specs for the aspire, the specs for the similarly priced EEE, and bought the former.
$349 - Acer Aspire One 8.9" Mini Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1.0 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, XP Home) White
http://12tb.com/lookup/PCHardware/541966/B001DL2BUM/Acer_Aspire_One_8.9-inch_Mini_Laptop_(1.6_GHz_Intel_Atom_N270_Processor,_1.0_GB_RAM,_120_GB_Hard_Drive,_XP_Home)_White
I bought a blue one a couple of weeks ago from Walmart for the same $349.00
I like it very much.
I actually did quite a bit of comparison research between the Acer Aspire One, MSI Wind, and Asus Eee PC 1000H and decided to go with the Asus Eee PC. I agree that cosmetically, the MSI and the Acer actually look slightly more attractive. However, based upon reviews I read and watched at youtube, I chose the Asus Eee PC because the hardware appears slightly higher in quality -- such as the Dolby Sound Room speakers and the wider touchpad and individual touchpad buttons on the Eee PC, which I think are nice touches. Plus, at the time I bought mine, the Acer and MSI netbooks were actually more expensive.
I know two friends who have gotten themselves a A1 in the last month. These things are selling like pops out of a vending machine.
Well, I went and picked up one of these up, and though it certainly wont touch my Q6600 4 gig gtx 260 equiped home pc in terms of power haha...I am amazed at what this little rig can really do. Runs Win XP nice'n'fast...today I used it to skype with my buddies in the UK with nice full screen video...I surfed a while, listened to a few tunes, worked on my websites and then played deus ex and diablo 2 for a bit, all very smoothly. For such a small unit I was fairly amazed at how little I missed my other larger laptop and (other than playing fallout 3...WOOT!) my tower. Even managed to watch a bit of an HDDVDRIP of Transformers while my son played Spore on the other machine...WOW is all I can say. I have many little electronic things in my life, but after just two days of using it I think this little system is SWEET!
P.S. the xp model kicks @ss IMO
I just got myself one at Walmart last week for like $330. I absolutely love it. Runs XP without a hiccup. Have even started using it as main pc at home, jus plug in usb mouse n keyboard, and pluggin in my big widescreen monitor to vga port gets me perfect 1440x900 screen with no noticeable slowdown at all.
You're all idiots.
All I ever hear is people rubbishing the EEEPC for having a smaller keyboard, The device is small, that is the whole point. If you want big then you can get a 15" laptop that doesnt weigh much more and costs $100 less than the cheapest 9/10" netbook.
And what are these superior specs that others have? They are all almost the same internally! Asus has simply chosen a different direction for certain models offer a small light and low power/temp SSD, instead of a larger HDD. Also the Aspire One has half the battery life, less networking options, no bluetooth, and the most mocked trackpad I've ever read reviews for.
Then you notice the Aspire One is an inch wider and has the same sized screen, that's just cheap/bad design. The lid could have housed a screen 3-4cm larger with no effort at all. Anyone that buys this device has no standards. If they did they would look at this blatant design flaw staring them in the face every time they opened the lid and feel disappointed with their inferior product.