AA1 on XP - my first impressions

Hi,

Well after several weeks of deliberation over various brands of netbooks and whether to go Linux or XP (see my thread in the Beginners section) I can finally comment on my shiny new Aspire One under XP (1Gb RAM, 120Gb HDD).

I really love it already

I've found typing to be no harder than on my old full size laptop (certainly I don't seem to be making any more mistakes than usual :lol: ) and the screen size & clarity is really very good.

Build quaslity too is very sturdy, yet it's amazing how light this machine is. I won't have any qualms about putting this in my bag if I'm going away anywhere, especially if it's inside the slipcase that came in the box. The fan makes a very small hum and only seems to kick in when necessary, which is great after my old laptop which used to sound like it was taking off most of the time!

Set-up took the usual hour or two as I've come to expect of Windows - I immediately uninstalled the trial version of McAfee and put on ZoneAlarms and AVG, as well as Google Chrome. My one gripe with Chrome as my browser (it's fault not the laptop's) was that in order to import my bookmarks and saved passwords from Firefox on my old machine I had to install FF again, but that's no biggy as it's handy to have

Oh yeah, I also uninstalled the 'Acer screensaver' - not sure what it's there for and I didn't bother finding out as I don't normally use a screensaver anyway!

The wireless picked up my network immediately and seems fast and excellent connectivity wise too. Even iTunes 8 downloaded in less than 5 mins (I know, I know, I really should use something other than iTunes, but it'll sync easily with my iPod and play the few DRM albums I've bought! )

I've even tried playing around with a few Object Docks, though i found I prefer the standard windows taskbar - especially on the small AA1 screen.

My only gripe so far is with the trackpad. Noy because of the size or button layout, but because firstly there was a slight 'hump' of plastic on it which I kept on catching my finger on, and secondly because the pad seems slightly 'rough' to the touch and not as smooth as my old Acer or my daughter's Advent laptop. I'm sure I'll get used to it over time though.

All in all, full thumbs up to the AA1!

Andy

 

Just a query what is the boot time for XP ? On Linpus atm but may put xp on !

 

It seems pretty fast - I haven't timed it exactly but less than a minute I'd say. Not sure if it's just my machine but once the desktop's booted it does 'black-out' the screen for several seconds when loading, but still boots very quickly!

Andy