Review by A reader for Acer AOD250-1515 10.1-Inch White Netbook – Up to 9 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)
Rating:
WARNING: netbook specs change rapidly, as do their prices. So be sure to research any changes since the date of this review.

OVERVIEW: bright, clear screen; snappy response (based on a couple of hours of adding and removing programs, after the 31 updates to Win7 first downloaded); tolerable streaming video (ran HD Apple trailers in 480 mode fine; Hulu was sometimes “choppy”; ran “Large” non-HD Apple trailers fine; ran ABC.GO.COM tv shows tolerably well; won’t run Hulu in 480 mode or full screen; ran HQ You Tube fine). Smaller screen and smaller keyboard at a time when other netbooks are bumping up against super light laptops, but at least this is under 3 pounds WITH the charger. And you can’t beat that battery life!

WHAT COULD BE BETTER: The 11.6″ screen on some Aspire Ones is superb – more pixels = ability to see NY Times online full screen without scrolling (the 10.1″ on this one requires slight scrolling, but you are only missing “ad boxes” on the right hand anyway). HOWEVER I bought a 10.1″ because all the 11.6″ models come with downgraded Atom processors (z520 with GMA 500 chips vs. the N280 and GMA 900 on this one). SHOULD come with 2 GB of memory to match the other upgraded specs on this otherwise upgraded version, but unfortunately, doesn’t.

NOT ALL ASPIRE AOD250′S ARE CREATED EQUAL DEPT.: Danger Will Robinson! Danger Will Robinson! Danger Will Robinson! PLEASE NOTE that Aspire has put the AOD250 label on a WHOLE HOST of widely different netbooks. Things to watch out for: the N280 is MUCH faster than the N270 – not because of the processor speed (1.66 vs. 1.6, nothing!) but because of the front bus (memory) speed (677 vs. 533, a lot!). This version, as of the date I write this review, also comes with Win7 while many come with XP; comes with 250 GB hard drive instead of 160 GB on most AOD250′s; has wireless N instead of G (a LOT faster, when internet cafes and other locations upgrade); has Blue Tooth; has the 6 cell battery (AND it’s in the 5200 m.a. version, not the 4200).

WHAT I DID ON DELIVERY (ymmv so think before you leap:

1. BEFORE inserting the battery, I removed one easy screw from the middle back panel, pulled a couple of side clips off the existing memory module, and did a 5 minute total upgrade to 2GB of RAM. Super simple.

2. Install the battery, plug in the charger, boot up.

3. Wait for normal set up; enter minimal information.

4. Load Internet Explorer and click on Windows update – the computer will update soon on its own, but this speeds it up.

5. Installed 38 security updates and 3 non-essential updates. Note: Acer has its own update program to check for BIOS and device driver updates, a nice touch, I went in and changed the update frequency to monthly from daily.

6. Uninstalled the trial antivirus program. Which virus program you choose is up to you; I’ve had good luck with Panda (paid) and with AVG (free, no ads). Based on what I read since then, I decided to try Microsoft’s new, free basic protection program, Microsoft Security Essentials (Google: download Microsoft Security Essentials) and quickly installed it. It’s not supposed to be as up to date as some, but it’s overhead is low and I have some confidence that MSFT will try to make it work well in conjunction with their Win7 patches and updates. NOTE: Security Essentials has its own Malware program which replaces Windows Defender which comes with Win7. Make sure both aren’t running at the same time (make sure Security Essentials DID turn off Windows Defender).

7. Uninstalled all the junkware (trial Office, Norton BackUp, eSobi, etc.). Uninstalled all the excess MSFT baggage – Silverlight, Live Essentials. If you ever use a program that wants chunks of these, they will ask to download and reinstall and you can decide then. NOTE: you don’t want tags of too many programs running in memory, that slows down the computer especially video – the “load” from the antivirus can be especially significant.

8. Downloaded Quicktime; iTunes; Flash 10 (already installed – good work Acer! – but there was an incremental update since the build they installed on my hard drive.

KUDOS TO AMAZON DEPT.: I got this overnight, with the memory chip to upgrade, for only $28. Wow. I could have had free delivery by waiting a week or two with Super Saver. And they actually got the right computer to me – given how my AOD250′s variants they stock, and colors, that’s no mean feat.

WHY YOU MIGHT WANT GET THE SMALLER BATTERY DEPT.: The humongous runs forever battery is fatter and heavier. Heavy, not a problem; wider not a problem; problem is, it juts down from the body which means it doesn’t fit well in a flat computer slot. On the other hand, it elevates the rear of the deck slightly for better cooling.

YOU SHOULD GET THIS IF: You are cheap or on a budget or want a very light, very small, very functional computer for travel. If you write, blog, browse the web, watch YouTube, download to iTunes (250 gb helps).

YOU SHOULD NOT GET THIS IF: You want to watch Hulu in higher resolution and/or at full screen; if you burn a lot of DVDs; if you do Photoshop or make movies; if you play video games that make demands on hardware. Get the new white Macbook instead.

MY CRYSTAL BALL SAYS THESE THINGS WILL CHANGE IN ONE YEAR: Dual core Atom chips (already available); lower power consumption support chips instead of the ancient 945; better graphics chips (from Intel, or from 3rd parties, Nvidia already has the Ion); standard 2 gb with optional 4 gb; 11.6 as the “premium” netbook niche and 10.1 as the “standard” niche with small screens disappearing; XP disappears, finally replaced by Win7.

AND THE QUESTION YOU WANTED ANSWERED FIRST: Yes, Win7 works out of the box. Abiword works fine with it. Yes it is as fast, to my eye and hand, as XP. Yes, it will be supported a lot longer in the future than XP. NO, stay away from Vista even on a close out model. I had it one one netbook and had to return it, it was so slow. Win7 Starter has no “eye candy” for the desktop but it is FAST.

Review by T. Nolle for Acer AOD250-1515 10.1-Inch White Netbook – Up to 9 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)
Rating:
I had some concerns about a netbook. To be sure, they’re small and light, but my question was whether that also meant they were slow and functionally crippled. The Acer quickly overcame my skepticism. Despite the fact that this is a very small and light system, it is plenty fast and has a lot of good features.

The keyboard isn’t full-sized, but it’s well-designed and even for a fast typist (which I am) it’s easy to get used to and positive when you gain some experience with it. The screen is also small, but bright and easy to read. Some software does create an issue with it by not showing all of a window, so it might be a good idea to check to be sure your favorite programs have windows that can be resized, even the smaller “internal” ones used when you pick a menu item.

Windows 7 was probably my happiest surprise. The Acer with Win 7 boots very quickly, and for users of XP it’s not a major transition. To be sure, things like the Control Panel don’t work exactly the same way, but it’s not hard to figure out what the equivalent steps are. The Acer comes with the “Starter” version of Windows 7, which doesn’t include personalization touches like your own wallpaper, but despite this it connected to my home network with WiFi security without a hitch and also shared files and printers with my other PCs (still on XP). If you don’t have Windows 7 on all your home systems, pick “Work Network” when you set up because the default homenet option won’t work with XP systems.

Program compatibility is good as long as you get software that works with Vista; the Starter version won’t run the XP compatibility mode stuff. Open source programs like OpenOffice install and run fine. The Works and Office Home and Students software that comes with the system aren’t useful; the former is the anemic ad-sponsored version and the latter is a trial that will cost half the price of the netbook to convert. Microsoft’s own Security Essentials isn’t loaded (there’s a McAfee trial) but I uninstalled all this stuff and loaded my own without difficulty. Since there’s no CD/DVD drive you will need to download, use a memory stick, or copy via a home network to get software onto the device.

In all, I’m very glad I got this system. It was easier to set up and more powerful than I’d expected.