Build and Design Quality

The design of the Acer Aspire One is very smooth with faintly rounded edges and a smooth glossy exterior that is comfortable to carry when shut. The look is somewhat basic, but it does possess a some chrome accents here and there which add a small amount of flavor to the look of the netbook. Glossy plastic is found on the top of the screen cover, as well as around the whole LCD. At points the reflective boarder does get on your nerves if you are in a brightly lit area with many sources of light.

Build quality looks solid for a subnotebook and the construction feels strong enough to deal with being tossed around inside a bookbag lacking much worry for its safety (well apart from the glossy surfaces). Holding it while it is folded in half is akin to holding a hard cover book, having a fair amount of stiffness to resist bend and compression. The screen cover feels especially strong, which is critical for protecting the relatively less than strong LCD panel.

From an upgrading perspective, the Acer Aspire One is a very hard netbook to upgrade. The case does not separate as freely as others to access important parts like RAM or the storage drive. While the majority of users won't tinker with the insides, it is worth noting it for the ones who are thinking on the idea of upgrading to Vista which loves extra RAM, or someone who wants to install a quicker drive. Another disappointing aspect about the Aspire One is the exposed Mini-PCIe slot which is missing any kind of connector. This area is furnished with a SIM-card port for obvious 3G capabilities, the only way too fix it is too solder on your own connector

How is the Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard is roomy as far as netbooks are concerned, since the Aspire One is a 9" netbook inside the body of a 10" model. You bear the slight disadvantage of having large screen borders, but in exchange you get more keyboard space. The keyboard is cramped compared to a full-size notebook, but is effortless to learn with sufficient practice. The typing area feels strong with no keyboard bend and specific keys feel strong with no wobble. One aspect that I really like about the keyboard design is the designated page up and page down buttons. For scrolling through long web-pages, especially with mini touchpads, page up and page down keys can provide a more accurate way of moving through a web-page or text document at good speed.

The touchpad design is pretty unique if you compared it to other netbooks and notebooks, with the buttons on either side of the touch area. The lone other notebook we have seen with this same arrangement is the HP Mini-Note 2133. The design is a kind of hard to get used to, when you click on the tough palmrest area, and try to scroll on the touchpad button. The surface is easy to slide your finger on and the sensitivity with no trouble tracks your finger even with light pressure. If you are able to work your way into getting used to the touchpad button design isn't that bad.

Speakers and Audio Quality

 

The speakers on the Acer Aspire One make cheap notebook speakers sound great. The highest volume levels are low, and all you hear are higher frequencies coming from the small speakers. Attempting to pay attention to things being said in both games and movies was hard. I recommend just using headphones with this netbook.

The headphone jack on the Aspire One worked very well, driving my Senneiser HD280 headphones to more than comfortable listening levels. No static or other clamor was noticed through the jack except the poor audio coming from the laptop.

All of the Ports and Features

The selection of ports was better than what is the norm for netbooks, with two card readers, plus the standard three USB ports, LAN, VGA, and audio jacks. The single problem was the detachable additional Mini-PCIe slot which could have been used for future 3G upgrades with no need to purchase a new computer.

What about Heat and Noise

Almost all of the Intel Atom-based netbooks fall into the somewhat warm while operating category, and the Acer Aspire One is no exception. Under average conditions such as surfing the web, typing a document, or chatting on an instant messaging client, exterior temperatures stay inside reasonable levels. The keyboard sustains a temperature a bit higher than room temperature and the bottom is faintly warmer.

Noise is the one group where the Aspire One stands out, and not in a helpful way. Almost as soon as the netbook is turned on the cooling fans starts at a low repetitive speed. It barely moves any air out of the device, but it is louder than fans found in full-size notebooks. As the One heats up and needs more cooling the fan speed increases to a very irritating level. It stands out in a busy office setting and in a quiet classroom would get even the teachers notice.

The Battery Life

With our official battery test with screen brightness at 60 percent, wireless enabled, and mild website browsing taking place, the Acer Aspire One managed 2 hours and 23 minutes before it had to shutdown. This is with the commonly available 3-cell model, which seems to be common for Intel Atom devices on the market right now. Acer does have plans to release a 6-cell model with a larger hard drive for an additional $50, which would be worth the money.