When we reviewed Acer’s Aspire 8920G notebook in May 2008, we loved its elegant design, innovative six-speaker audio system, and dazzling 18.4-inch display. With the Aspire 8930G ($1,699), you get all that, plus a processor upgrade, for almost $1,000 less. You don’t get a Blu-ray drive, however.

As with the 8920G, the Aspire 8930G sports Acer’s sleek Gemstone Blue finish with the backlit Acer logo on the lid. Beneath the shiny lid is one of the most beautiful notebook displays we’ve ever laid eyes on: a massive 18.4-inch panel featuring wide color technology and a 16-to-9 aspect ratio. Because the screen has a 1,920×1,080 resolution, it can display content in full HD (1080p), and it shows movies in their native aspect ratio without stretching or scaling. The wide color panel, which displays 90 percent of the NTSC color gamut, delivered brilliant colors, crystal-clear image quality, and a nice wide viewing angle.

Speficications

• Processor: 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9400
• Memory: 4GB RAM
• Storage: 320GB hard drive
• Optical Drive: DVD±RW
• Screen: 18.4 inches
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9700M GT (512MB)
• Weight: 9 pounds
• Dimensions (HWD): 1.7×17.4×11.8 inches
• Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit)

This display practically begs for a Blu-ray drive, but unfortunately, this model comes with a standard DVD multiformat drive. Still, The Polar Express on DVD looked fantastic on the big screen, and it sounded great, too, thanks to Acer’s unique Tuba CineBass sound system, a six-speaker configuration that delivers full 6-channel Dolby-optimized audio. A subwoofer built into the hinge assembly gives the system a much-needed bass boost.

Above the display sits Acer’s Crystal Eye Webcam and two microphones, which can be used along with the included Webcam utility to capture video clips and stills. It also works with Acer’s VCM software, a Skype-based utility for setting up and conducting video conference sessions. Image quality is adequate for video Skyping and e-mailing pictures but too grainy for keepsake photos.

The full-size keyboard is roomy, with big, comfortable keys and a dedicated numeric keypad, but the textured touch pad is a tad small given the size of the keyboard deck. Still, it provides smooth cursor control. A biometric fingerprint reader nestled between the two mouse buttons uses Acer’s Bio-Protection Fingerprint Solution software to provide enhanced security; use it in conjunction with Acer’s FingerNav utility to scroll through Web pages and documents. A triangular “e” button above the keyboard launches Acer’s Empowering Technology applet, where you can change power schemes, tweak audio settings, and create a backup plan from a single portal.

Instead of the usual strip of media player controls, the 8930G features the CineDash panel, a touch-sensitive controller located on the left side of the keyboard deck. The white, backlit panel sports a circular volume control that uses the swipe method of raising and lowering the volume; it’s a bit finicky and can be frustrating to use when you’re trying to obtain a specific audio level. The requisite DVD/CD player controls for fast-forwarding, rewinding, and skipping tracks are also included. A hotkey takes you into the Acer Arcade applet where you can launch your DVD movie player, access media files on your home network, play video clips, and view photos. You’ll also find a Hold button and Mute keys at the top of the panel.

The 8930G offers a good selection of I/O ports, including HDMI and VGA outputs, four USB ports, an external SATA (eSATA) port, as well as headphone, microphone, and line-in jacks. It also has a DispayPort connector, which is not widely used yet but promises to be the next big video/audio interface and possible successor to HDMI. Expansion slots include a six-format card reader and a 54mm ExpressCard slot. The 320GB hard drive comes with Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit) and the Acer utilities, as well as a handful of trial applications.

Powered by a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo CPU (T9400) and 4GB of RAM, the Aspire 8930G performed quite well on our productivity benchmarks. Its score of 3,988 on our Futuremark PCMark Vantage test trumped the Sony VAIO AW170Y/Q by more than 800 points. It also outperformed the VAIO on our Windows Media and iTunes conversion tests, but just barely. HP’s HDX18 Windows Media encoding times were slightly faster than both the 8930G and the VAIO, however. The 8930G’s Cinebench 10 score of 5,125 bested the Toshiba Qosmio G55-Q802 by more than 1,000 points but trailed the VAIO by 94 points.

Driven by Nvidia’s GeForce 9700M GT graphics engine, the 8930G managed a Futuremark 3DMark06 score of 6,297 (1,024×768), handily beating the HP and Toshiba scores of 3,248 and 4,956, respectively. Still, it couldn’t touch the scores produced by some of the more robust gaming systems we’ve recently reviewed, such as the Alienware M17 and Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q708. Similarly, its Futuremark 3DMark Vantage score of 1,848 using the Performance preset was nearly 600 points higher than that of the HP system but paled in comparison to the X305 and M17 scores. A lowly score of 8.9 frames per second on our Company of Heroes DirectX 10 test confirmed the obvious: The 8930G can handle casual gaming as long as you use low detail settings, but if you want all the eye candy enabled, this system is not up to the task. We did manage to get 1 hour and 59 minutes of juice–slightly above average for an 18-inch notebook–from the battery on our DVD rundown test.

With its solid performance and high-end video and audio components, the Aspire 8930G is among the top multimedia notebooks we’ve seen. Although it is relatively affordable compared with other 18-inch notebooks, this particular model does not come with a Blu-ray drive. If Blu-ray playback is a deal-breaker, you can spend $900 for a different configuration altogether–or opt for the $2,199 HDX18.

Price (at time of review): $1,699

Review Video:

Acer is, in many ways, the sleeping giant of computing. It might lack a little of the brand recognition of Dell or HP, but in recent times it has snuck up upon both to grab a convincing third place in the personal computer market and is the market leader in many territories. A lot of this success can be attributed to some seriously competitive pricing since, if you’re looking for a bargain, an Acer is always a good place to start.

As is the case with its latest effort, the Aspire 6935G; a Centrino 2 refresh for its Gemstone Blue range that launched in April. Based on a 16:9 aspect ratio 16in display, the version we have here manages to cram every conceivable feature into its desktop replacing frame, including a Blu-ray drive, a digital/analogue TV Tuner and Dolby Home Theatre audio while still slipping comfortably below the £1,000 barrier, costing just £910 after the VAT cut.

This is a pretty good effort and it’s not as if Acer has skimped on other features, either. Powering it all is an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 running at 2.26GHz. This is backed by 4GB 800MHz DDR2 RAM and there’s a fast 7,200rpm 320GB hard drive. Graphics come courtesy of an nVidia 9600M GT with 512MB dedicated memory, which powers the 1,366 x 768 resolution display that, being 16:9, is ideally suited to watching films and other content intended for TVs.

You also benefit from all the usual trimmings, including Draft-N Wi-Fi courtesy of Intel, Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth 2.0+ EDR. Also included in the box is a remote control. This isn’t the ExpressCard style effort we seen in some laptops, but a proper fully fledged media remote. This is obviously ideal given the machine has a TV Tuner, making armchair use that bit easier. It’s a good remote, too, with a logical layout and a particularly good four-way pad with a very positive button mechanism. This is true throughout so this isn’t the kind of included remote you’ll be replacing straightaway, quite the opposite in fact.

The remote is joined by something we’ve seen before when we reviewed the Acer Aspire 8920G, the 18.4in variety of this range; the Acer CineDash. This rather lofty title is given to the slightly intimidating backlit media controls that sit to the left of the keyboard. These are well tailored for controlling Media Center, are responsive and in some ways quite intuitively arranged, especially the volume arc. However, we’re still not totally convinced that they’re needed. Eye-catching it all may be, but when sitting at the machine why wouldn’t one use the cursor keys and the Enter key instead of the CineDash and couldn’t something simpler do the job just as well?

This is particularly relevant given that its presence means an ever so slightly off centre orientation for the keyboard. It’s something one gets used to, but if you’re forced to accept something like this we’d sooner have a useful feature, like a full numeric keypad. Happily the keyboard itself isn’t too bad. Keys feel firm and positive while the layout doesn’t feature any of the annoying quirks we often cite on notebooks.

In terms design nothing much has changed since the inception of the Gemstone Blue line. There’s the rather fetching dark blue and black ‘gemstone’ lid, while inside the body is finished in combination of glossy black plastic, matte plastic covering the speakers and a soft-touch textured palm rest and touchpad area.

In fact this is subject to the only real change because whereas the first generation of this line had light grey palm rests, the 6935G has a darker more metallic looking finish. It’s only a small change but it instantly lends the machine a more attractive and cohesive appearance compared to the slightly jarring mixture of previous models.

Inset into this palm rest is the touchpad. A dip signifies the extremities, while a slightly elevated vertical line cordons off the vertical scroll zone. We found the touchpad particularly nice to use thanks to the soft-touch finish and dimpled texture and the buttons below it produced no complaints. Like a few consumer notebooks of late there’s a fingerprint reader wedged between the two buttons, too.

No complaints can be made of connectivity, either, since the 6935G features more or less everything you’d demand from a desktop replacement and entertainment PC. There’s an HDMI output, an S/PDIF capable audio output, an infrared sensor for the included remote and a combined USB/e-SATA port among four USB ports in total. Another nice touch is the lock slot that’s integrated into the hinge section of the machine, something that also houses a sub-woofer (aka Acer Tube CineBass) and an air intake.

Being an entertainment machine it should come as no surprise to discover the 6935G makes a feature of its audio. Unlike the larger 8920G it only features two, rather than four, drivers along with the sub-woofer, but they still manage to produce a mildly convincing soundscape and no discernable distortion at high volumes, thanks in no small part to Dolby’s virtual surround technology – something you still benefit from if you plug your own speakers in. As is our habit, we must also mention the benefits of Dolby Headphone; it never fails to improve our experience of film watching with even an average set of headphones.

Continuing the cinematic emphasis is the 16:9 aspect screen. At 1,368 x 768 it’s not Full HD, but arguably you wouldn’t see the benefit of 1080p at this size and this effort is plenty sharp enough to enjoy a Blu-ray film, or a DVD, with good clarity. Colour fidelity is pretty good, too, though viewing angles are a little shallower than we’d ideally desire. This is less of a problem with a more personal machine like the 6935G – 16in being little more than 15.4in when you think about it – but as witnessed on the Toshiba Qosmio G50-115, it is a problem if more than two or three people want to view the same screen at the same time.

Beyond the frippery of looks and features, you should encounter no qualms with how the 6935G performs. In PC Mark Vantage it compares very well to both the HP Pavilion dv7-1000ea and the Dell Studio 15, mainly due to the boost provided by that faster 7,200rpm hard drive. This is reflected most in the in the Music, Gaming and HDD tests and though our in-house tests showed the Studio 15 pulling out a small advantage, this line has since been updated to use the exact same processor as found in the 6935G.

Battery life, on the other hand, isn’t a strong point. In the productivity segment of MobileMark 2007 the 6935G managed a below-par two hours and 28 minutes and it didn’t even manage more than three hours in the lower intensity reader test. Both these results fall well below either the 17in HP or the Dell Studio 15, though the Acer does claw things back somewhat in the DVD playback test with a result just under two hours, only four minutes less than the HP.

You should be able to play some games at reasonable settings as well. In TrackMania Nations Forever it manages to produce frame rates in the mid-thirties at medium detail settings, so you should be ok with most titles provided you disable any anti-aliasing and post processing effects.

All told we can find very few reasons not to recommend the 6935G. It might lack the elegance of offerings from Dell or HP, but the basic specification and design are strong and the feature set is superb given the sub-£1,000 price point. This makes it ideal as an all-round desktop replacement that won’t completely dominate the room, as an 18.4in does, as well as providing some level of portability so you can enjoy your entertainment anywhere in the home.

Verdict

Acer’s Aspire 6935G does all the things you could demand of an entertainment notebook at a very attractive price, making this one of the sounder purchases one can make this Christmas.

The Aspire One is a brand new product and, despite its size, it is not just another notebook: it is a stylish all-new digital device designed to deliver continuous access to the internet no matter where you are.

Let’s get connected

Small and smart, the Aspire One takes you wherever you want to be and keeps you connected when you get there. The Aspire One comes with 802.11b/g WiFi built-in as standard for easy access to available wireless network. The result is always the same: you are online in an instant and can stay there as long as you want.
In addition, Acer Signal Up technology ensures maximum quality and stability to the wireless signal.

Let’s get organized

The Aspire One is great for getting things done: whether you are checking your mail, managing your online bank account or chatting with friends, the Aspire One offers a simple, intuitive Linux or Windows XP® Home interface that clearly organizes everything you need to surf, work or simply have fun. The Linux pre-installed software is separated by functions and presented in 4 distinct areas on the screen – Connect, Works, Fun and Files – that is so simple it’s impossible to get confused: the easier it is to get things done, the simpler it is to enjoy life.

Ergonomics and reduced dimensions do not mean the view isn’t spectacular: the Aspire One has an 8.9” CrystalBrite LED backlit display with a resolution of 1024×600 pixels. Integrated in the top of the screen is the unique Acer CrystalEye webcam for live video streaming, video chats and conferences.

Choose your Style

The Aspire One uses colour to combine connectivity with inimitable style. Available in sapphire blue and seashell white – the Aspire One gives an individual and quite distinctive look and feel that matches the style and personality of its lucky owner.

Bits & bytes for data freedom

The Aspire One is equipped with Intel® Atom™ processor, Linpus™ Linux® Lite or Windows XP® Home, and comes with 512MB or 1GB of RAM memory installed.
There are two alternatives for data storage: a NAND flash module of 8GB or a 120GB internal HDD. In addition the Aspire One reads 5 different types of memory card – Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, xD-Picture Card – for absolute data freedom.
To increase storage capacity, the Aspire One features the unique Smart File Manager, a simple solution that instantly and seamlessly merges extra storage from any SD card inserted in the 2nd SD card slot into the memory available to the user.
Expanding your available storage has never been so easy.

Simple, Sophisticated Software

Acer has worked hard on improving the user experience by designing a friendly, easy-to-use and comprehensive interface that simplifies interaction between users and the Aspire One by taking a more natural approach to screen layout and functionality. The Linpus™ Linux® Lite version is the result, guiding and accompanying even novice users through the Internet in an intuitive, “virus-safe” and super-responsive Linux environment. The Aspire One features the One Mail software suite that lets you manage up to six of your email accounts with a single application interface, including your office accounts. A small icon to the right of the message quickly and clearly shows the appropriate mail account. Nothing could be simpler to replace push e-mail services without using a corporate server. The Aspire One uses Messenger for Instant Messaging, an application that allows users to simultaneously access Skype, Microsoft Messenger and various other instant messaging services. The software can be used with the integrated video camera for instant video-chats and video conferences. The Aspire One series comes preinstalled with Linpus™ Linux® Lite version or Windows XP® Home. Furthermore, additional software such as OpenOffice 2.3, One Mail, Messenger, Acer eRecovery Management, Acer Launch Manager, Adobe® Reader®, McAfee® Internet Security Suite Trial Version, Microsoft® Office Trial 2007 are also installed.
The Aspire One comes with a 1-year carry in warranty which can be extended to 2 years with Acer Advantage.

Review Video:

I bought this laptop at walmart for 500$ cad. I did not research any laptops before buying this one as it was an inpulse buy, i did not want to get hp as my roommate bought one and hp did not have drivers for windows xp. i bought the laptop for its size, low weight and nvidia chipset and video card. I was disappointed acer usa and acer canada does not have drivers for xp only vista. thankx microsoft.
however acer china has all the drivers for xp thankfuly. i downgraded to xp immediatelly. The change in os made the laptop run much faster. great value for the money it, plays all my games, bf2, call duty 4 etc. i was also happy to find that i can upgrade this laptop by swapping the cpu for a faster one.
manual states the computer can only support max 2.3 ghz x2 turion cpu which is amd socket s1 638pin . i bought amd tl68 cpu x2 2.4ghz on ebay for 220 Usd, it worked great no prob. i also upgraded hd 160gb to 64gb solid state ocz core , which has improved my sustained data transfer from 43mb/s and 12 ms to 120 mb/s at .03 ms. for another 200 $usd

I have also upgraded 2gb ram to 4gb ram for 60$usd for the total cost of 600$cad this laptop rules,… it runs really fast now IT BOOTS UP IN ABOUT 15 SEC. for 1100|$ i spend in total on this value laptop it tops 1100 $ units found in staples by way of specs and speed.
In addition my battery life has increased from measly 1hrs and 20 min to 4 hrs even on full charge.

Really happy with this laptop now.

Even if you are not buying this laptop to upgrade its still good system for 500$

Review Video:

An affordable ultra-lightweight mobile Internet device, the Acer Aspire One weighs just over 2 pounds and is perfect for toting in a backpack or bag. The smooth surface is comfortable to touch, and the notebook is accented with distinctive details, such as the attractive orange hinge ring. It has a vibrant 8.9-inch CrystalBrite WSVGA LED backlit display, integrated webcam for easy video chatting, an instant-on feature that powers up the notebook in less than 15 seconds from when you switch it on, and Intel’s latest mobile processor–the Atom. This model of the Aspire One (LU.S020A.012) comes in seashell white, and offers the easy-to-use Linpus Linux Lite operating system and 8 GB of solid-state NAND flash memory.

Designed especially for mobile devices, the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor uses a brand new design structure new hafnium-infused circuitry–which reduces electrical current leakage in transistors–to conserve energy, giving you more time away from the wall outlet–up to 3 hours with the included 3-cell battery. Other features include 512 MB of installed RAM (1.5 GB maximum), 54g Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g), multi-format memory card reader, multiple USB ports, and built-in email, web browsing, and digital media applications.

With the Linpus Linux Lite operating system, Acer has improved the user experience by designing a friendly, easy-to-use and comprehensive interface utilizing a more natural approach to screen layout and functionality. Even novice users will be able to quickly pick up on this intuitive, virus-safe and super-responsive Linux environment. With its simple, easy-to-read interface, you’ll have no trouble finding and sharing your files. And if you run out of storage space, the Aspire One’s Smart File Manager instantly and seamlessly merges extra storage capacity from any SD card inserted into the memory card slot into the available main memory.

The Aspire One is great for getting things done, whether checking email, managing online accounts or chatting with friends. The pre-installed software is separated by functions and presented in four distinct areas on the Home screen–Connect, Works, Fun and Files. Each area has space for three applications, and you can easily personalize the applications.

Weighing just 2.17 pounds, the stylish Acer Aspire One goes anywhere with you.

The Aspire One Mail software suite lets you manage up to six email accounts with a single application interface, including office accounts. A small icon to the right of the message quickly and clearly shows the appropriate mail account. Nothing could be simpler to replace push e-mail services without using a corporate server. The Aspire One uses Messenger for Instant Messaging, an application that allows users to simultaneously access Skype, Microsoft Messenger and various other instant messaging services. The software can be used with the integrated video camera for instant video-chats and video conferences. The Mozilla Firefox web browser is optimized for the most popular web sites, and it supports full video streaming capabilities.

Perfect for students, this Aspire One model comes with 8 GB of storage space, expansion via SD and Memory Stick media, and integrated Wi-Fi.

The integrated webcam at the top of the screen’s bezel provides easy access to video chatting.

Whether you need to write, calculate or present, the Aspire One has everything under control. The Writer program is a fully functional word processing applicatnoi that is compatible with Microsoft Word, allowing you to open and save files directly in the .doc format. The intuitive spreadsheet application makes both newcomers and advanced users feel right at home. And you can create stunning multimedia presentations, complete with 3D clip art, special effects, animation, and special drawing tools.

Processor
The Intel Atom processor uses a brand new design structure that packs in 47 million transistors into a single chip sized at just 22mm (0.87 inches), and it uses just 2.5 watts of power–less than 1/10 of the 35 watts used by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor–for excellent battery management. This 1.6 GHz Atom N270 processor also includes a power-optimized front side bus of 533 MHz for faster data transfer on demanding mobile applications and a 512 KB L2 cache (which temporarily stores data).

Storage
This version of the Aspire One comes with 8 GB of NAND flash memory solid-state drive (SSD), which is adequate for students and those who want to use the laptop primarily as an email and web surfing device. Faster and more reliable, flash memory provides a rapid boot-up and quicker access to applications while improving battery life. Flash memory is also more reliable than hard disk memory, mainly because there are no moving parts. Since data is written to stationary flash memory instead of a spinning hard disk, you have less risk of hardware problems with the hard disk when you’re on the move. It’s an ideal feature for a travel notebook where knocks and sudden movements are par for the course.

In addition, the Aspire One reads five different types of memory cards–Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO and xD-Picture Card–for maximum flexibility. The additional SD card slot seamlessly integrates with the internal NAND flash module as an added storage device. The ability to have both a multi-in-1 card reader and a SD card reader at the same time allows you to download photos from the multi-in-1 to share with others and store to the SD card as an internal storage device simultaneously.

Memory
The 512 MB of installed RAM (1 x 512 MB, PC2-5300) offers a 667 MHz speed. This notebook can be expanded to a maximum of 1.5 GB of RAM,

Connectivity
This Acer Aspire One notebook has an integrated 54g wireless LAN (Acer InviLink) that’s compatible with 802.11b and 802.11g networks and offers Acer’s SignalUp technology for enhanced antenna efficiency. This notbook provides the following connections:

• 3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals–from digital cameras to MP3 players
• Secure Digital (SD) card reader, also compatible with MultiMedia cards (MMCs)
• Multi-in-one card reader supports SD, MMC, Memory Stick/Memory Stick PRO, and XD Picture Cards
• 1 VGA monitor port
• 1 headphone jack and 1 microphone jack
• RJ-45 port for 10/100 Fast Ethernet connection
• 56K modem port (V.90)

Screen, Video and Audio
The 8.9-inch screen has a WSVGA resolution (1024 x 600) and support for up a 262K color depth. Video is powered by the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, which uses shared video memory with the main memory. Acer’s CrystalBrite display technology guarantees the best possible visual experience by preventing the diffusion of surrounding light and internal ray. Compared to normal TFT LCDs, Acer CrystalBrite technology is able to read color coordinates more accurately, thus minimizing distortion and creating high-fidelity colors in all environments.

This notebook includes an integrated audio card with Microsoft DirectSound compatibility, and it includes two stereo speakers.

What’s in the Box
This package contains the Acer Aspire One notebook PC (AOA110-1295; LU.S020A.012), rechargeable 3-cell lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a limited warranty for parts and labor for one year from date of purchase.

Review Video:

With recent entries from Asus, MSI, Sylvania, and models from Dell and Lenovo on the way, the Netbook field is becoming increasingly crowded. While many of the second-generation Netbooks are creeping toward mainstream laptop prices, we’re pleased to see the smart-looking Acer Aspire One holding the line at $379, without skimping too much on features or design.

Despite the wallet-friendly price and large keyboard, we have a few reservations. For one, the system comes with only 512MB of RAM, which limits its performance. For another, the battery life is nearly as bad as that of the otherwise excellent MSI Wind; both hover about the 2-hour mark–far too little juice for such a mobile machine. And the Linux OS of our review unit limits its mass appeal, though we’re pleased to see that an XP Home version of the Aspire One also includes 1GB of memory and a 120GB (spinning) hard drive for only $20 more.

Still, this is easily the best all-around Netbook we’ve seen for less than $400, although similarly priced upcoming entries from Lenovo and Dell may make the Aspire’s window of opportunity rather small.

Physically, the Aspire One is very similar to the slightly larger, pricier 10-inch MSI Wind, with a reasonably large keyboard that’s much easier to use than the tiny almost smartphone-like keys found on the Asus Eee PC 901 or the Sylvania G Netbook. That’s because the Aspire is a little wider than the Asus, and it’s also a few ounces lighter, thanks in part to only having a small 3-cell battery. We were please to see that it includes dedicated page-up and page-down keys, which are especially useful on devices with smaller screens that require lots of scrolling to get through long Web pages.

The touch pad is wide, but not very deep, giving it a letterbox-style look, similar to the one found on the HP 2133 Mini-Note. It’s reasonably easy to use, at least as far as the small touch pads on Netbooks go. The mouse buttons are positioned to the left and right of the touch pad–not below it–which may take a little getting used to for touch-typists.

The 8.9-inch wide-screen LCD offers a 1,024×600-pixel native resolution, which is the same as found on other 9- and 10-inch Netbooks, such as the Asus Eee PC 901 and the MSI Wind. It’s wide enough to display most Web pages correctly, but you’ll find yourself frequently engaged in vertical scrolling.

The Aspire One is generous with the USB ports, offering three, but there’s no Bluetooth, so tethering your smartphone for mobile broadband is out of the question (which we’ve successfully done with the Asus Eee PC 901). Like all Netbooks we’ve seen up to this point, it lacks an ExpressCard slot, which the upcoming Lenovo IdeaPad S10 is expected to offer, making it easy to use a mobile broadband card. The dual SD card slots are handy for expanding on the 8GB solid-state hard drive, especially since Netbooks with 20GB and 40GB SSD drives are now available (although at higher prices).

With Intel’s new 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, specifically designed for low-power Netbooks, you’re not going to find the same level of performance you’d get from even an inexpensive Core 2 Duo laptop. The Linux-based system wasn’t able to run our usual suite of benchmarks (which use Windows and Mac applications such as iTunes, Microsoft Office, and Adobe Photoshop), but even the light Linux OS felt occasionally sluggish (thanks, in part, to having only 512MB of RAM) when using the preinstalled Open Office suite of productivity software, although Web surfing was generally trouble-free. For everyday use, however, our anecdotal tests showed that it offers a faster, smoother experience than another $399 Netbook we recently looked at, the Sylvania G Netbook.

The Acer Aspire One ran for 2 hours and 14 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, using the included 3-cell battery. That’s barely more than the MSI Wind, which was also saddled with a puny 3-cell battery–and the biggest flaw for both systems. MSI plans to upgrade its battery to a 6-cell version in the near future, and Acer offers a 6-cell battery that we’ve seen online for $119–a large premium for such an inexpensive laptop.

The Aspire One includes an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty, and Acer has set up a separate mini-site for the Aspire One, including a page labeled “drivers and support.” Unfortunately, that support page, and its subpages, have no content aside from a note that says, “Updates coming soon.” The regular Acer Web site has some FAQs and driver downloads, but the tech support number is impossible to find (it’s 800-816-2237), and the phone support hours are only 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT weekdays, and 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.

Review Video:

I’ve been using the 4930G for about a month now, my SKU’s spec is as follows: Intel Core 2 P8600, nVidia 9300GS, 3GB DDR2-667, 320GB HDD, 802.11a/b/g/Draft n.

I like the laptop a lot, the design is quite pleasing (though I’m not a big fan of the glossy top, a fingerprint magnet for sure), but the glowing Acer logo is a nice touch, the build is also quite solid with the keyboard is good to type on and has very little flex. Overall it’s just quite a good laptop and good value for money. I’ve found that it does come with a quite a bit of unnecessary software, but after I uninstall all that nonsense Acer Arcade/Acer Games Deluxe and all the other bloatware the computer is a pleasure to use. Bluetooth/Wifi N is a nice touch, and the Acer Empowering Software suite does a decent job of giving you control over the laptop’s function and power-saving settings. I would still recommend you dig around with Vista’s various tweaks in order to give full control of your laptop, but for non-power users, it’s decent. Overall, the laptop is snappy and my only ggripe is the low battery life on the standard 6-cell battery (just around 3 hours of casual use of office software, screen on 50% brightness and with WiFi and Bluetooth off, you’ll get less if you’re playing games or doing heavy lifting).

Specifications:

Potential users please note: Stupid Acer decided that it’s good to NOT give you recovery CDs, instead they ship the laptop with two hidden partitions, one that contains the factory-default installation of Windows Vista Home Premium and another one that contains the Instant-On Acer Media Center feature (access all your media without having to boot into Vista). This would actually be a nice feature, but if you consider the fact that the hidden partitions are Basic Partitions and you’ll realize that any given HDDs can only have 4 basic partitions, thus making re-organization of your hard drive very awkward. I personally find the instant-on arcade useless (all its features are duplicated by the Vista’s build-in media center application), so I removed the hidden partition that contains it and thus I was able to resize the remaining partitions with a little bit more breathing room (creating dynamic discs and logical partitions and the likes).

Thank god the Acer Software lets you back-up the factory default to DVDs, which I highly recommend is the first thing you should do, at least for the peace of mind.

Also, please note that the ‘factory default’ actually includes all the bloatware, so the second thing you should do after burning the factory default to DVDs is uninstalling all that crap, put on all your softwares/antivirus/personal settings then save that as your initial user backup and then burn that to DVD also, so in case something goes wrong, you can revert to your own functional system instead of having to revert to factory default and manually doing all that again.

On a side-note, the Acer eSecurity Management software that provides encryption for files and folder is glitchy and it conflicts with Check Point’s ZoneAlarm products, so if you are a user of the ZoneAlarm Firewall/Security products, uninstall this before you put ZA on your system, VERY IMPORTANT!!! I found out the hard way after two factory-default resets and finally trace the incompatibility to this. It’s a pain in the rear.

Regarding installing XP on this laptop, it is very lengthy/frustrating. Not because installing XP on it is hard, but because the devil is in the details. One of the reasons is the HDD partitioning, as I mentioned above. The laptop comes with 2 hidden partitions and 2 visible partitions, so if you don’t want all the hassle, you can have Vista on your C partition (default), install XP on the D partition, reinstall the boot loader to allow dual-booting, and then call it a day. However, I’m against keeping my data and documents in the same folder as the system folder, so naturally, I wanted to have Vista on C, XP on D and resize both those two partition to allow me two more partitions, one for my documents and the other for random crap. Problem is, the laptop comes with 4 basic partitions, so whatever way you look at it, it’s tricky (Boot partitions have to be basic partition). After much fiddling with 3 different partition manager software and even trying Vista’s built in Disk Management tool, I was able to pull it off, but not without a lot of frustrating moments and swearing at myself doing so, that’s one awkward moment.

The second gripe is drivers/software suites for the laptop. Acer does not provide XP-compatible drivers for this particular model, so basically you’re left with trying your luck with Vista drivers on XP, and most of them won’t work. After much fiddling, I have found that there is indeed XP versions of the drivers from Acer’s Chinese FTP site. Acer’s Empowering Technology suite is not avaiable in XP-compatible form for this model, but I have tried using XP-version of this suite for Acer Aspire 5920 laptop, and while not all of the elements of the suite is fully compatible, you do get the most important stuff, mainly power management utility and backup utilities… I have the links to those drivers and softwares, as well as workaround for disk partitioning problems, so you can contact me if you’re so inclined.

All in all, getting XP onto this laptop is possible, but definitely not pretty, and in some respect there are pretty significant trade-offs (e.g. the power saving features are not particularly optimized, and running in XP won’t give you significant boost in battery life at all). You’ll also have to put up with prowling through countless web searches trying to find the right drivers. Really, I don’t think it’s worth the effort. I have put XP on mine successfully, but to be honest, during the week-odd time it took me to find all the right drivers and programs, I’ve grown used to Vista and its quirks, and so now I rarely even boot up to XP anymore, it’s just there as an option. If you’re just trying to put XP on because you don’t like Vista, I’d recommend spending some time with Vista first, it does take some time to learn to tolerate, but after that, if you still can’t stand it, email me at duynguyenle(a t)gmail(d ot)com and I’ll give you a few pointers to help.

All in all, a solid laptop. Good luck with your purchases.

P/S: In case you want to install XP, please note that the HDD in this laptop is factory-defaulted to operating in ACHI mode, and you will either have to create your own installation of XP with the drivers slipstreamed into it, or switch the drive back to legacy IDE mode in order to install XP. Contact me if you need help and I’ll give you some useful links on how to do this.

Pros: Solid build, good feature set and strong hardware. Quick and snappy performance (provided bloatware are uninstalled). Elegant design and the glowing Acer logo on top is a nice touch. Some useful software included. DLNA-compatible and has HDMI and SPDIF optical output.
Cons: Glossy top is prone to fingerprints, mediocre battery life with the standard battery, The USB port on the right side is right next to the power charger port and it might be fiddly for bigger USB devices. Power and touch-buttons LED is kinda bright and might become annoying working in the dark.