Thursday, July 24, 2008
Fun with the "netbook" laptop class
¶ 9:10 AM 
I picked up an Acer Aspire One "ultraportable netbook" last week, and have been quite impressed. From Acer Aspire one UMPC launches in US :
Meant to compete with ASUS’ Eee PC, the Aspire one uses Intel’s 1.6GHz Atom CPU in all of its variations, along with an 8.9-inch, 1024×600 (WSVGA) display with integrated webcam and Intel’s Media Accelerator 950 graphics. While information and specs on the basic system were already known, Acer has revealed two other variations of its first mini laptop.The basic one comes with 512MB of RAM memory and an 8GB solid-state drive. The flash drive’s storage space is expandable via an SD card reader. A 4-in-1 card reader lets users transfer large files to and from the nearly 2.2-pound UMPC. To keep the price low, the OS is Linpus Linux Lite, and a three-cell, roughly three-hour battery is in place. Accessories connect to the mini notebook via three USB 2.0 ports.
This hit the sweet spot for me: $380 for a 9" screen and usable keyboard weighing in at under 2.2 pounds. The Linpus Linux Lite distro is tuned for the hardware and based on Fedora 8 (making it simple to install other packages using yum). Usability was given a week-long test by my wife, and she was able to use it for her web email and flash/java games with no problems. It's available now from Newegg
I'm guessing that in a couple months something will come out that could beat it on the price/performance curve, but I'm happy with it now.
