Acer Aspire One (Windows XP)

I have been eyeing for a netbook for a while now.

Basically, i want a small portable, lightweight laptop, that does word processing like it suppose to do. It really bugs me that i have to carry around my (not-so) potable Toshiba portege every time i go to school.

Another reasoning, I need to install Visual Basic 6.0 for my subject.
VB 6.0 does not run in Vista. Thus, I need Windows XP to get the job done. I figured that 1.6Ghz solo from a typical netbook is sufficient to run this sucker properly.

My decision was down to Asus eee PC or Acer Aspire One.
And, sure enough, i surrender to Acer Aspire One..
I have to admit that Acer has made a lot of powerful and affordable products troughout the year. My dad has just bought an Acer Travelmate to do his work, and he is very pleased with it.

Specification
Processor: 1.6Ghz Intel Atom
Display: 8.9' Acer Crystalbrite display
OS: Windows XP Service Pack 3
Memory: 512MB Onboard SDRAM + 512MB SDRAM
Storage: 120GB HDD
Wireless: 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth: No

How is it?
This netbook blew me away.
I was not expecting much when i bought this netbook. i just need a casual word processing device that does wifi every now and then, when i sit around with my coffee at the cafe.

I was quite surprised that they include a 30days trial of Windows office 2007.
i was questioning the compatibility of this machine to run such a heavy word processing software. I was planning to go with open office or a 2003 ultimately. but since it came with 2007, i thought i gave it a shot. Turns out to be that AAO (acer Aspire One) runs office 2007 smoothly. Only took a few seconds to open the program.

Even more surprising, i tried to install iTunes 8.0 in AAO, and it runs beautifully.
It only took less than 7 minutes to install the program, and after i load some movies, in it, I was also blown away by the graphics. Acer Crystalbrite is a stunner.
Of course it is not Macintosh-stunning, but it is pretty good for a netbook.

AAO is very lightweight. It is barely a kilograms. 0.92kg to be precise.
i got no complaints. perfect!

Battery
AAO bundeled with 3cells battery which gives you 3 hours of battery life.
I was hoping they had bundled it with 6cells.
*edit*
6cells bundle is available on amazon.uk (dammit)

Any Cons?
Bluetooth, battery and faster wireless!
Asus eee pc came with bluetooth, 6 cells battery and a 802.11 b/g/n out of the box.. but AAO does not. This is a bummer.. really.
BUT, Acer offers the device in affordable price.

Some customers complain about screen flick (on the low brightness) and excessive fan noise. I do experience these problems, but it does not bug me that much. If you really want to get rid of these problems, there is a BIOS update for this.

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