Just got an Aspire One!

Hey all,

I've been trying to acquire an Aspire One for the last few weeks now but unable to get one because virtually all the local retailers were out of stock. Even the local Future Shop store told me they weren't going to be getting any more Windows XP versions until close to Christmas. Yikes! I was reluctant to order one online, because I hate waiting and paying the cost of shipping too!

Yesterday afternoon, I was checking out the latest Best Buy flyer. Lo and behold, they were advertising the Aspire One for $379.99CDN. Hmm, that's interesting, I thought. Dare I hope that they actually have some in stock?

Before I headed off to get one, I checked their website. Amazingly enough, it indicated that both stores in my area had some in stock. Finally! Yippee!

So I whipped out to the store and found that they only had white ones available. Of course, the keyboard is white. I was leery about getting it because over time, the keyboard will get a dirty, smudged look that can never completely be wiped off. I bought it anyway, thinking that I'd better snag one rather than take a chance and wait, knowing they might run out again.

Then the sales guy said they were getting some black and blue ones in today. There, problem solved. All I have to do is return the white one and exchange it for a black one. So that's what I did today. I even found a portable DVD player case that fits the Aspire One perfectly. Meesa happy. :mrgreen: A friend of mine has an Aspire One, and he really likes it. I'd considered getting the HP 2133 Mini-Note instead for its longer battery life and better keyboard, but couldn't justify spending almost $300.00 more demanded.

Just a couple of hours ago, I unboxed the Aspire and slapped in the battery. I thought I'd boot it up to see how quickly it would start up. Surprisingly, the battery seemed to have a fair bit of charge in it. No drama with the installation, even if it was unsurprising in the sense that it's as molasses-slow as it is with desktop PC's.

I had a chance to play with it a bit and I was struck by what a big finger oil magnet it is. But it's light and compact and should do well for surfing the web, e-mailing and light word processing. I'm an amateur radio operator and plan to eventually get a terminal node controller I can hook up to the Aspire so I can get into APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System) and packet radio. This is far better in a mobile setting than a standard 15.4" laptop which is a whole lot heavier and bulkier.

The keyboard is a tad smallish and will take some getting used to. But I don't envision a problem with that, since I type using the two-finger, hunt-and-peck method anyway.

So far, I'm looking forward to having a few happy years with it - it seems like a real gem of a subnotebook. What I find so striking is how Acer managed to cram so much capability into such a small package and get the price down so far. Three years ago, you couldn't even touch such a machine for less than $1500.00 - $2000.00.

Cheers for now -

Steve

 

I know the feeling. After always saying I wanted a smaller laptop, I always bought the standard 15.4 because they were always more affordable. This was the era that 12 inch was the smallest going around and normally had a $1000 price tag.

I seen the Eee series come and I was excited about it. Ultimately, I was unimpressed with the HD size, thinking I would always have to have a second computer for storage which would defeat the purpose.

When I seen the Acer Aspire One into Staples with 160 GB HD, 1 GB of Ram running windows for 379, I went to the store to play with it. I said on the spot that I will have this. I sold some things on eBay, got some bday money, and a week later went in on the last day of the sale to purchase. Unfortunately, the only thing they had was the display model. Reluctantly, I bought it. Other than a little ding on the case and an on again, off again bright spot the size of a qtip top, I am satisfied. This is the machine I always wanted (and heck, wish I had getting my BSW after lugging my 6 pound wonder all over campus) which does wonders for work. I am very glad with my purchase.

Lets hope it stays that way, LOL.

 

3-cell Primary Battery Up to 2 hours 15 minutes
6-cell Primary Battery Up to 4 hours 30 minutes

Hp Stats^

Ermm...Thats not more then the AAO is it?

 

I looked at the HP too, the problems were:
- Poor battery life (worse than the AAO for sure)
- Slow processor which isn't supported by OS X
- Too high pixel density, never thought I'd see the day, but the screen size is just too small for the resolution

 

It's GPU is even worse...and that is saying alot