The good guys at Dynamism have sent me an Aspire One netbook for review; have a look at the unboxing shots (if that is your thing), and read my initial impressions below.

Aspire One Unboxing

Initial Impressions

As I opened the box to take a first look at the Aspire One I was immediately impressed with its design. They went with a very minimalistic approach and they did a really good job. Lots of curved edges make this netbook look really smooth, and it is apparent that they took their time making the device look nice. I don’t think the average person would realize that this is a only a $449 piece of hardware. The red/orange metallic looking highlights near the hinges provide a well balanced contrast between the otherwise minimal tone. For some reason it bothers me that the red/orange rings aren’t actually part of the hinge, even though they appear to be when the lid is closed. Well I suppose it doesn’t actually bother me, but it is perplexing.

The unit is really solid when it is closed and the screen hinge is just tight enough. There is a webcam and microphone in the top of the screen’s bezel. The screen does not wobble easily, and the battery also sits snug in its holder, leaving no wiggle room, which is always an indicator of good build quality. The mouse pad is a bit larger than the Kohjinsha SH8’s and is very usable… if you configure it correctly. The keyboard’s layout is pretty much standard, so there is no need to learn where keys might have been relocated to. Dark blue symbols on the keys are Fn functions; the blue symbols on white keys look good even if it is a very subtle effect.

I’ve been enjoying the device more than I had expected to for the last few days, keep your eyes peeled for the full review coming up in the next week or two. Drop a line in the comments if there is anything in particular you’d like to know about the Aspire One.

Golem.de have done an excellent detailed review of the Aspire One 110. Good pictures too. It’s in German so I’ve picked out a few key points here and summarised them below.

• Battery is 26.6wh and lasting 3.25 hours in Wifi-on, medium backlight tests. (Minimum 1hr and 46 minutes under a 3DMark test.)
• Fan noise is more than Medion Akoya Mini / MSI Wind but still less than most standard notebooks.
• Glossy screen is a problem outside.
• Smaller than MSI Wind. Larger than Eee PC 900.
• The first intuitive clicks on the mouse buttons will miss!
• Bright backlight
• 134 dpi on the screen is ok. [Up to 180 is usually OK for most people – Chippy]
• CPU steps down to 800Mhz under certain condition. [Same as other N270 devices – Chippy]
• 4.8Gb of the 8GB Phison SSD is free on the Linux version.
• SD card reader is SDHC capable
• Wifi module does not support Draft-n
• 19 second boot time
• Firefox version 2, not 3 installed. [Should be available by upgrade from the repositories I guess. Chippy]
• Included Media Mater software plays MPEG-2 (DVB-T, DVD) up to 8mbps. [Good enough – Chippy]
• Return from standby – 10 seconds.
• SSD Write speed. 7.7MBps [Very poor – Chippy]
• SSD Read speed – 26MBps [Acceptable, not impressive though – Chippy]
• Processor speed test results is 10% faster than a Celeron 900. [Exactly as expected – Chippy]

Highlight is that there doesn’t appear to be any show stoppers and that the battery life is over 3 hours. Lowlights are the glossy screen and a slow 7.7mbps write-rate on the SSD.

Source Golem.de. Thanks for the tip Hanno

Jumping on the jolly 3G Bandwagon (the more the merrier) along with ECS and Asus are Acer. A positive review at Chip.de mentions the following.

Im dritten Quartal folgen weitere Modelle mit UMTS/3G-Modul und den Farben Pink und Braun.

My translation: In the third quarter follow further models with UMTS/3G and Pink and Brown colours.

This is excellent news because, apart from a lack of Bluetooth and touchscreen, the device is shaping up nicely as an Ultra Mobile solution. With the 6-cell battery you’ll reach 6 hours battery life (possibly more when Linpus switch over to the Moblin core) in a smaller package and 30% lighter weight than the MSI Wind with 6-cells. Chip.de are reporting a bright screen and quiet fan too. If the 3G version comes with 8Gb of fast flash then it’s even better!

Via EeePC News.

Two of the hottest upcoming netbooks have been taken apart and had their insides revealed. If you are the kind of person who likes to mod your computers, be sure to check these out so you know what you have to work with.

The MSI Wind (portal page), which was taken apart over at bit-tech.net, has no external access slot to upgrade RAM. In order to upgrade your RAM, you’ll need to open the Wind up, while normally this would void your warranty, it appears as though MSI understands that users want to upgrade their RAM and request the following:

“If a customer wants to upgrade the memory in their Wind that they register it with the MSI Notebook support team and MSI will send them a special warranty sticker to place back on their Wind”

It is good to know that MSI is paying attention to the details; I’m sure this will please some future Wind owners. Bit-tech says that contrary to the Eee PCs, there is very little room for modding due to an intricately designed interior.

The Aspire One (portal page) had its dis-assembly shown over at itechnews.net. The site didn’t really provide any commentary on the cracked open unit so garner what you will from the images.

[via Engadget]

Despite my definition of a ultra mobile PC reaching up to 10″ devices, I never call the netbooks UMPCs! Maybe it’s because the term ‘netbook’ say something about the low-end features rather than the size. In the podcasts, we’ve been talking a lot about how small the 701, 900 and 901 are compared to the other netbooks but it’s not until you see an image like this that you realise the real difference. To most people it’s nothing. Both require a bag. But if you’re on a plane, in a train or the back of an automobile, those mm’s could make an important difference.

The other problem with all this sizing talk is that if you really need to be ultra mobile, then wait a while. MIDs are coming and could be an even better solution for you. Granted, with 3G, GPS and miniature keyboard mechanisms on board, they won’t be as cheap but it might pay to be able to use the device in even more locations, without any sort of bag.

Via JKKmobile. Source Crave.

Expansys have just put up their Aspire One prices in the UK (and for delivery EU-wide) with the Linux version plus 512MB and an 80GB HDD going for just 244 pounds. There’s no mention of the SSD version yet but with the 80GB version going for that price, only those looking for ruggedness or the best possible battery life will be waiting. Prices are also available for XP and 1GB versions here. (affiliate link)

As for delivery dates, neither Acer or Expansys can fill me in on that one yet but I’m working hard on it, if only for my own order! (I’m probably going for the 1GB, 8GB Linux version when it turns up.)

Thanks Phil, Expansys.

A number of Acer Aspire One articles came to my attention last week that I have only just got round to reviewing. The first article from PC Professionale includes a video showing the internals of the Aspire One. There are a couple of important points to note (that come from a translation by Blogeee.net) which are the SIM card reader and easy-to-access 3G slot module slot. The 3G module slot definitely raises the interest level for me.

The second article is a fairly detailed in-depth review from Laptop Magazine who appear to be impressed.

• Keyboard big enough for comfortable touch typing. Bigger keyboard than Eee PC 900.
• Good low-light web cam. A web-cam that doesn’t work in low-light situations is quite often, useless for most people so it’s good to see this.
• Two SD cards slots. One adds memory to system storage in a seamless way. A great idea.
• ‘One of the thinnest and lightest we’ve tested.’ For Ultra-Mobile folks, this is important.

The Aspire One is not only the favorite on the Portal here but it’s fast becoming my favorite netbook too. The design looks good, size and weight are more ultramobile than most netbooks and the Linpus Lite build is getting very good feedback.

Finally, if you’re thinking about the Aspire One and want a final thumbs-up, check out this fairly simple overview video from ShinyMedia. Its all thumbs up from them!

Read the full story

Acer have a big advantage in the netbook race. Pre-established sales channels and partners.

The Aspire One is already showing up in price comparison engines in Germany with the base model being advertised for 329 Euro (8GB, Linux, 512MB) which is just 50 Euro more than the Eee PC 701 4G! The high-end Linux model (80GB, 1GB) for 399 Euro which is 40 Euro less than the ‘old’ and less equipped Eee PC 900. Availability looks like 4-7 weeks although one reseller is quoting 10 days.

Because of its size (smaller than HP2133 and MSI Wind,) style, dual SD card slots, availability and low-low price, I won’t be surprised if this ends up as one of the most popular netbook choices of 2008.

Source: Geizhals.