Have been interested in picking up a netbook for my travels to replace a large and heavy HP laptop. I almost pulled the trigger on a 9" Eee PC at Newegg for $300, but figured I would look around at the local stores and see them hands on before ordering. After stopping at Bestbuy and Costco, I popped into Walmart to see what they had. They were selling the small one (8.9"?) for clearance price of $248, display only. As I was looking in the locked case, something caught my eye. An Acer Aspire One, 11.6" screen. They did not have one on display, and there was no price tag, but I was able to read the specs on the side of the box:
2GB Ram
250GB HDD
Windows Vista Home Basic
To be honest, I knew NOTHING about this model. I had done some checking on the ASUS ones and was really planning on one of them just trying to decide between the 9" and the 10". Smallest size isn't that important to me and I had already planned on upping the memory to 2GB and the HD on which ever one I got (I have a spare laptop 500GB HD I was going to use). I was thinking $350 for the 10" from Newegg, another $25 for 2GB memory stick and $20 shipping, So I would be into it for just under $400, if I opted for the 9" I could save about $50.
So I figured, what would these better specs be worth? 2GB memory I knew was $25. I figured an extra 90gb on the HDD was worth $35-$40. The bigger screen, easier on the eyes, easily worth $25 more, Vista over XP? Not sure if I would want to pay more for it, but I do like Vista and there is something to be said for consistency since my home computer is Vista, I wouldn't have to switch between OS. SO I figured if it was less than $500, it might be a good deal even if it was a little more than what I was planing on spending.
I found a clerk, asked if I could take a look at it. They wouldn't let me open the box, but the specs looked good. I asked about the price, she scanned it and told me $398. I thought, hell that is a pretty good price for what you get, but since I knew nothing about it, I wasn't sure what the reviews might say. They had a sticker on it saying 15 money back return if unsatisfied and no restocking charge. I figured what the hell, if I didn't like it or was concerned about what the reviews might say I could return it. I told her to go ahead and ring it up.
That is when the problem started. Cash register gave an error "UNABLE TO SELL". The clerk was puzzled so she went and tracked down a manager. He was puzzled as well. He called someone, they didn't know what it meant. If they scanned it with their hand scanners, it registered and showed the $398 price, but if they scanned it at the register it gave the error. He went online to Walmart.com, but didn't find anything on it. Sooo, he then just over rode the code and sold it to me, for $398+ tax. I walked out of the store thinking "That was odd... will have to see what I can find out about it when I get home."
I am now home, did a little googling and found this site and info. Looks like I am not the only one to come across them, but I may be the first one to actually BUY one (at least at Walmart) AND it looks like I may have got it for a hell of a bargain. Will have to wait and see.
Just starting to play with it now, will post a review in the next day or two...
2GB Ram
250GB HDD
Windows Vista Home Basic
To be honest, I knew NOTHING about this model. I had done some checking on the ASUS ones and was really planning on one of them just trying to decide between the 9" and the 10". Smallest size isn't that important to me and I had already planned on upping the memory to 2GB and the HD on which ever one I got (I have a spare laptop 500GB HD I was going to use). I was thinking $350 for the 10" from Newegg, another $25 for 2GB memory stick and $20 shipping, So I would be into it for just under $400, if I opted for the 9" I could save about $50.
So I figured, what would these better specs be worth? 2GB memory I knew was $25. I figured an extra 90gb on the HDD was worth $35-$40. The bigger screen, easier on the eyes, easily worth $25 more, Vista over XP? Not sure if I would want to pay more for it, but I do like Vista and there is something to be said for consistency since my home computer is Vista, I wouldn't have to switch between OS. SO I figured if it was less than $500, it might be a good deal even if it was a little more than what I was planing on spending.
I found a clerk, asked if I could take a look at it. They wouldn't let me open the box, but the specs looked good. I asked about the price, she scanned it and told me $398. I thought, hell that is a pretty good price for what you get, but since I knew nothing about it, I wasn't sure what the reviews might say. They had a sticker on it saying 15 money back return if unsatisfied and no restocking charge. I figured what the hell, if I didn't like it or was concerned about what the reviews might say I could return it. I told her to go ahead and ring it up.
That is when the problem started. Cash register gave an error "UNABLE TO SELL". The clerk was puzzled so she went and tracked down a manager. He was puzzled as well. He called someone, they didn't know what it meant. If they scanned it with their hand scanners, it registered and showed the $398 price, but if they scanned it at the register it gave the error. He went online to Walmart.com, but didn't find anything on it. Sooo, he then just over rode the code and sold it to me, for $398+ tax. I walked out of the store thinking "That was odd... will have to see what I can find out about it when I get home."
I am now home, did a little googling and found this site and info. Looks like I am not the only one to come across them, but I may be the first one to actually BUY one (at least at Walmart) AND it looks like I may have got it for a hell of a bargain. Will have to wait and see.
Just starting to play with it now, will post a review in the next day or two...
:lol: 
The keyboard is fantastic; and I've been running TV news & weather streaming and playing videos beautifully- about 4 *FOUR hours battery pretty consistently. Even forgot myself (since my Desk PC drowned)-and ran several programs at once- No Problems. None. Beautiful display.Everything points to: YES, LR. you got "One Hell of a Deal!" Thanks!