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Acer Aspire One

UK Price: From £180 to £270
US Price: From $299 to $399

Brief Description:
Thanks to Acer's marketing savvy and global distribution network the Aspire One is the best selling netbook in the world. Built around an 8.9in display its chassis is slightly wider than that of an Eee PC 901 to accommodate a better keyboard. It's also among the cheapest netbooks available with prices starting at just £180 for the entry-level Linux model. One unique feature it boasts is a secondary memory card slot that, when used, merges the internal memory with the inserted card into one virtual drive.

• CPU: Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz
• Memory: 512MB DD2 or 1GB DDR2
• Storage: 8GB SSD or 120GB HDD
• Display: 8.9in, 1,024 x 600
• Ports: 3xUSB 2.0; VGA; Headphone & Microphone; Ethernet; Memory Card Reader; Internal Memory Expansion Slot
• Internet: 802.11b/g; 10/100 Ethernet
• Bluetooth: On Selected Models
• WebCam: 0.3 Megapixel
• Operating System:: Linpus Linux Lite or Windows XP
• Dimensions: 249 x 170 x 29mm
• Weight: 995 grams
• Colours: White & Blue
• Battery Life: 2hrs 20mins (3-cell)

• Small form factor and very light
• Reasonable keyboard
• Very cheap
• Linux OS is intuitive and thorough
• Extra memory card slot is a neat innovation
• High capacity batteries available for around £50

• Cheap price means cheap build quality
• Touchpad buttons are either side of touchpad and take some getting used to
• Gap between screen and body is visually jarring
• Higher specified models offer poor performance and value

• Very poor battery life from standard battery

What We Think Now
This is a difficult machine to judge. It is, not unreasonably, considered among the cheapest feeling netbooks around and its standard three-cell battery isn't up to much, but both these points are reflected in the very low price. Indeed, the entry-level Linux model with only 512MB of memory and an 8GB SSD is ideal if all you really want is the very cheapest and most portable netbook you can find. It should have no problems dealing with the usual netbook tasks and high capacity six-cell batteries can be had for around £50. More expensive configurations, however, begin to fall too close to stronger 10in efforts and offer about a third of the battery life of a similarly priced Eee PC 901.

The Bottom Line
If cheap as chips is what you're after then the Acer Aspire One is the machine of choice. It's not so sophisticated as some recent efforts but it offers good value, though not battery life, out of the box, and does it in a very portable and usable chassis.

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