I got the Aspire One with specific needs in mind. In ten months of ownership, it has mostly met those needs. There's already a ton of reviews, but if your needs are similar to mine, you may find something useful below.
Size: I wanted a small, take anywhere laptop. The Aspire One is super light, and great for taking on a trip. TSA doesn't give it a second glance, and it fits nicely on the tiny fold down tray on a plane. Because it is so convenient, it helps me to be more productive.
Battery: I have the six cell battery, supposedly rated for five hours of use. Based on my experiences, and the battery meter, my battery is probably good for about four hours. After multiple recharging cycles, battery life seems to have degraded slightly. The battery doesn't hold a charge that well. After a day or two of nonuse, it can easily drop down to 90 percent.
Processor and Memory: I wanted to be able to run specific programs, store files, and backup photos taken while travelling, or at an event. Based on what was available, the 160GB hard drive seemed like a lot at the time. Paintshop Pro, Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4, installed fine, but for some reason Photoshop Elements would not. Keeping the machine lean, and only loading what I really need, I have used less than 20% of available memory. There are no major issues running CS4 or Lightroom. So far, the 1.6 GHz processor has been up to the task. It's not as convenient as a photo bank, but the Aspire One is great for backing up photos while on the road.
Screen: The viewable screen area is generally wide enough, but not very high, so when viewing webpages you can't see that much at one time. Resolution is fine for viewing photos. While the screen is small, it is still decent enough to do very basic image editing. For those that are presbyopic, or need reading glasses, the default text size at 100% zoom for MS Word or Excel, is rather small, and can be difficult to read. If you don't want to wear your glasses, you can zoom in, increase your text height, change fonts or text color, or use bold text, to help avoid eye strain.
Keyboard: The keyboard feels very comfortable, and is easy to use. Like most mini laptops, some keys are half-sized, including the directional keys. Unfortunately, I have problems with this type of keyboard, and usually end up doing a `page up' when I want to go `left', and a `page down', when I want to go `right'. It's a small thing, but it costs me a ton of time. The situation would be the same for most other mini laptops, although some by Asus, Sylvania, and others, appear to have full sized directional buttons.
Miscellaneous: The ventilation fan is relatively silent, just don't block the vent, as the machine will get hot. The speakers are on the bottom, and if not obstructed, work pretty well for general use and low level music listening, although there are almost no bass tones. The standard power cord is pretty bulky, but there are aftermarket ones on eBay where the transformer is at the plug. You can also get a power cord adapter for a car lighter there. Since there is no DVD drive, you can't watch movies or burn MP3's from a CD, but many applications can be conveniently installed via the SD slot. An external mouse is essential to maximizing productivity. Sapphire blue is a very cool color. Annoying fingerprints can be easily removed with a micro fiber cloth.
Overall, the Aspire One is an excellent performer that solidly meets my needs. It can be taken almost anywhere, has a high quality display, and enough processing power to accomplish most tasks. The mini laptop segment has exploded, and I'm not sure how the Aspire One currently stacks up against the competition, but I suspect that it is still a good choice that delivers a solid bang for your buck.Get more detail about
Acer Aspire One AOA150-1126 8.9-Inch Netbook - White.
