If you’re interested in portable nettop/netbook computers, you may be wondering which is better between the Eee PC 901, Eee PC 1000H, and the Acer Aspire One.
I’ve used the Eee PC 901 extensively, and this week, I bought an an Acer Aspire One. Using a crafty coupon at Best Buy, I walked out the door with it for $267 with tax. That’s about half what I paid for my Eee PC 901 less than a month ago.
Now, you might think that would be enough to return my Eee PC on its own. But, this is my first Acer computer… and I’ve heard bad things about Acer from around the watercooler at MechaWorks. So, I charged it up and booted it for the first time.
The first thing I noticed, was the keyboard. It is vastly improved over the Eee PC. The keys span from side to side, leaving all of a centimeter on the edges. The result? The keyboard is actually usable.
The trackpad however, is far from good. It’s bad in all new ways. The buttons are on the sides, which is a nice change from the Eee’s thumb-cramping buttons. However, the surface of the trackpad itself is just plain bad. I managed to greatly improve the performance by going into Synaptics’ control panel and increasing the sensitivity level (or rather, lowering it, so a harder press of the trackpaid is used to signal a response). I don’t know what Acer was thinking with the defaults… it made the trackpad into a mouse, and not the kind you plug into a computer.
Also, the Aspire One lacks Bluetooth. For half the price, and the base constraints of the Atom platform… I can see why they did this. Still, it’s going to hurt them in winning over the tech savvy. Dongles are so 20th Century.
However, the Apire One has its advantages too. The 120 GB hard drive flies past the Eee PC’s offerings. And, in addition to the SD slot on the Eee PC family, the Aspire One has two SD card slots. And, the second SD slot on the Aspire One does double duty, supporting Memory Stick (M2, Micro, and MS Pro).
Probably the most irksome problem, is the lack of bundled recovery discs. Today, systems normally come with an option to burn your own recovery discs, using a disc image included on the recovery partition. Not so on the Aspire One. The recovery partition has had the option to burn a Recovery DVD disabled. Granted, the Aspire One has no optical drive… but why prohibit users to burn with an external DVD?
Worse, I don’t even think they can do that per the Microsoft license. What if I want to repartition my drive? Legally, I don’t think I’m obligated to pay shipping and handling for Recovery DVDs (I know, this is an age old debate, but I’m putting my foot down). If I have to pay for the DVDs, I plan to dispute the charge with my credit card company.
But, getting away from all that, I would take the Aspire One over any Eee PC sold to-date. The Aspire One just works better. It just looks better. It just feels better to use. I know this is a surprise considering I’ve spent half the comparison bashing the Aspire, but I want Acer to know just what they need to fix on it.
For most users, none of what I had to point out (aside from the trackpad defaults) will affect the typical user. And, my phone has Wi-Fi to sling the web… no Bluetooth required.
In all, look past the Acer name, and go get the Aspire One. Even at the new full retail price of $349, it’s the best netbook I’ve ever used, factoring in the price,
What probably surprised me the most, was the Aspire One’s utility. I actually find myself reaching for it, instead of my MacBook Pro when I go out. Most of the places I go day-to-day, that I would want a laptop anyways, are usually coffee shops, diners, or my car. Here, the Aspire One usually beats my MacBook Pro. I don’t have to tote around the utter width and weight of the MacBook Pro. This is often why I’ve rallied Apple for a 12-inch MacBook Pro.
Now, Apple might want to call in the MacBook Air into the discussion. I wouldn’t if I were them. I’m having trouble finding much benefit, and nothing that would justify the Air’s additional $1,250 cost. The Aspire One even beats the MacBook Air in the hard drive department, offering a 120 GB drive. With the Air, I only get an 80 GB.
As I finish this review (which has been written entirely on the Aspire One), it’s really simple; if you want a netbook, go with the Asprie One. There’s nothing better on the American market right now.
I was lucky enough to find one of these in Best Buy today. I was stunned at the hardware specs and the low price tag. $349.99 is very good for such a nice ultra portable machine.
I own a Macbook Air too…now I’m scratching my head at what advantage it has over this little guy. Outside the Apple logo, I don’t believe there is one. Well…..Leopard is a big one.
TJ
The Aspire One can run Leopard too. We’re just waiting for the courts to rule it legal or not 🙂
MacEee.com has already shown the viability of Atom-based notebooks with Leopard. And, from a quick look at the Aspire One’s internals, it looks like the Wi-Fi card is the only thing that would work. Luckily, it’s easily replaceable.
Do tell on the Best Buy coupon!
The Linpus(8GB) version I tried at Circuit City booted much faster than the XP(120GB) version I tried at Best Buy. What I would like to do is to buy the 120GB version, partition, then install Linpus as a dual boot, giving me the best of both worlds. Has anyone out there done this, how hard is it, does it work?
The Best Buy coupon is the $100 for signing up for internet service (AT&T DSL, or Comcast). It’s good for $100 off any laptop, including the Aspire One.
I believe it expires on Sunday. And yes, you can cancel the internet signup and simply not do the installation of service. So, you’re out nothing.
To David, partitioning and installing Linux is not hard. You may want to set aside half a day if you’ve never done it before. There are countless great guides that can show you how to do it, much better than I can here.
I just picked one of these up. I had the Eee 4G black, but it had major issues. The Acer is good thus far. Much more usable. I’m writing this comment using it.
FYI, the Linpus version is probably faster due to the SSD drive versus the standard 2.5 inch HD in the 120 GB. I have the 120GB, but will probably swap it for an SSD when they have more space available.
I am thinking of putting Ubuntu on this unit. Would also love to have OSX on it.
Really wish they would have left the restore CD creator functionality. Or they should have made it create a bootable USB flash or SD card. Missed opportunities to shine Acer.
How does the Aspire compare to the eee 1000H? That model sports the larger screen and keyboard, as well as some of the features you lament the absence of (most notably bluetooth). The 901 is so yesterday.
I bought an Acer Aspire One in the UK and it actually came with a Recovery DVD, which I was slightly surprised about…
The bit I like best is the 120GB hdd… whilst not shock proof, the ability to dual-boot a netbook is one of the most useful things I’ve found: linux for everyday use, and windows for those one of apps, or connecting to that odd wifi…
Dastrophy, is your Aspire One a Windows XP system, or a Linux one?
Linux, 120GB HDD, 512MB ram
is the Aspire One screen glossy or mat??
Hardly seems like an impartial review, you obviously haven’t tried Eee 1000H…
Got my Eee 1000H last week, came with XP and 160GB harddisk. Absolutely love it! Installed Ubuntu Eee as second OS, almost flawless. With Bluetooth and multi-touch trackpad. Nothing wrong with the keyboard either… ok during the 1st 2 mins I was trying to get used to the right shift key, but no big deal
Oh wait… did I mention that Eee 1000H batteries lasted more than 6 hours with music player at almost max volume, internet explorer with 6-8 tabs, msn and open office word processor running? trying beating that with Aspire One
Chris, you do realize there are 6-cell Aspire Ones, right? ASUS making that standard on all Eee 1000’s was nice, but it doesn’t make up for the price disparity.
Chris, I’ve got a 6-cell Aspire One with a 160gb HD that lasts for 6+ hours, and I guarantee that it cost a lot less than your EEE 🙂
iv got an eeePC 901 and my bro has an aspire one i can see the attraction for the aspire but the longer battery life on my eee and the solid state drives just do it for me. iv done a fair bit of modding and you can put in a 160gb hdd as well as countless other mods i dont know about modding the aspire i haven’t seen any mods on it yet. i think that the eee is for me but for the less tech orientated the aspire is probably for them. I carry my eee with me every where and i get out at night if my eee wasn’t a SSD then it would have broken by now iv even slamed my eee in to a acer notebook one time and now its HDD sounds like its on its lats legs and no damage to my eee.
Just read your review and I agree. I’m an early netbook adapter and had an Asus 701 4G when they first started coming out last year. As much as I loved having it my two main complaints was the 7″ screen and small keyboard. In my opinion, Acer’s Aspire ONE (AA1) is the most value-oriented netbook and does not get its due credit.
I even have Lenovo’s S10 and as attractive as the S10 is (10.2″ screen and easy access for upgradability) I’m staying with my AA1 for the reasons mentioned in your review (surprisingly the keyboard feels better on the AA1 than on the S10! And what’s up with the right shift key?!), the overall form factor, weight, screen resolution (still 1024 x 600 on both machines), and still no Bluetooth on the S10 (although available outside the US).
FYI: I choose the S10 over MSI’S Wind ’cause cosmetically the S10 looked slimmer. Afterward I read the Wind’s keyboard feels better than the S10. HP’s new 1000 netbook looks interesting (8.9″ form factor with a 10.2″ screen!). And I read Acer will be releasing a 10.2″ version of the AA1 in 2009. But for now I’m happy with my AA1 =-).
The eee pc is FAR superior in many ways. 1) Aspire’s finish after 10 minutes out of the box looks like toddlers used it with all the smudges. 2) the Sspire is flimsy, like a cheap Chinese toy. 3) The touchpad is too close to the button and you find your thumb touching the pad AND the button simultaneously. 4) also the button on the left is cramping my hand because my thumb is un-naturally forced too far forward to find the click button like a constant “thumbs up” to operate the pad.
All the Aspire has going for it is the nice keyboard and the color choices.
ur all nuts! i shell out 450 bucks and built myself a tablet! 12 inch touch screen wifi bluetooth 80 gig drive plus extended 2 gig ram plus x os! plus 4 uswbs a card reader.
wally mart now has the aspire one at $300 and i finally convinced the wife to let me buy one.
i’ve watched longingly as the OLPC was developed, but it never really made it to market.
then the EEE was developed and brought to market, but you can’t really find it over the counter anywhere, and the screen resolution is ridiculously small (too narrow for most web pages, too short to even show the START menu without being cramped!!), as is the keyboard, though the EXPECTED price kept me hanging on, it still hasn’t reached down to it’s $200 mark.
then out of nowhere, walmart carries, IN STOCK, a $350 netbook, with a bigger screen, better keyboard, HUGE hdd (comparatively). i was caught off guard, somehow it’d skipped my radar completely, and it was just sitting there with a price tag!!
there’s just no comparison for me. especially now that the price is only $300, hell i paid about that for the WARRANTY on my last laptop! and what’s more, the aspire one is AVAILABLE. just walk in to the store, and buy it. i still can’t say the same thing for the EEE, the MSI wind, the gBook, Dell mini9, nor the HP netbook.
this little laptop is going to be POPULAR, because it’s affordable, it works well, and it’s ACCESIBLE, in a very common store. the other netbooks may have better options, but the average person wants to walk in to a store and pick something to take home, rather than look at pictures on the net and wait for a week for it to post.
nuff said.
I love the acer aspire one. I picked up one for $315. It amazed me for the priceow great it is. I have friends that own the eee pc mini laptop and they are all frustrated with the small keyboard and the slow speed. I’m so happy with this netbook and would recommend it to anybody.