There’s a new breed of small notebook computers hitting stores recently, which buck the bigger and faster trend for something more reasonable, mobile and in my opinion, practical. They call these netbooks, which is kind of a misnomer as they’re not merely Web machines. The Acer Aspire One profiled here, is one of the latest of the small, light, and affordable computers to hit the streets.
The Aspire One is extremely compact without hitting the impractical level of miniaturization seen in the (one-pound) OQO2 PC . At 2.2 pounds with an 8.9-inch 1024 x 600 LCD screen, it’s comparable to some portable DVD players, yet it’s a full-fledged Windows XP machine (a Linpus Linux version also available) with a 120GB hard drive, 1 GB of RAM and an Intel 1.6 GHz Atom processor. There is no built-in optical drive (DVD or CD), but there are three USB ports and two memory card slots—one for SD only and the other supporting SD, MMC and Memory Stick. You also get an integrated Web cam and mic as well as Wi-Fi. This package would be a lot more complete with built-in Bluetooth, but the $399 price tag (more like $350 at many retailers) makes up for that lack.
The One is designed to be a compact mobile companion, and during my evaluation period, I treated it as such by lugging it around in my shoulder bag and using it on daily train commutes. The size and weight make it a perfect joy for weary shoulders compared to larger laptops. Its diminutive nature only became a detraction when I needed to use my knees as a mobile desk–a larger computer can be a bit more comfortable on the lap, but will have more trouble fitting on airplane trays.
I was worried that the small keyboard might be difficult for my hands to get used to, but that didn’t prove to be a problem. In fact, the keyboard feels slightly roomier than other netbooks or UMPCs. The mouse pad was another issue though—while large enough, the mouse buttons are placed on either side of the mouse pad, rather then on top or bottom, making holding and dragging awkward. You get used to it, but it could have been designed better.
The screen, while barely bigger than the screen on a portable DVD player, is bright and sharp. You won’t be comfortable juggling multiple screens at once.
Acer claims the battery on the One will go for three hours. Under normal usage—normal for me—I got just under three hours. An accessory six hour battery is also available.
The lack of a DVD drive makes adding software a small challenge compared to full-size notebooks. However, you can easily connect an external drive via one of the USB ports or just download any applications. A DVD drive would be nice for watching movies on the road or ripping CDs, but again, most media can be found online anyway.
I found the Acer One to be an excellent mobile companion for composing documents, basic image management, basic youtube-level video editing and of course Web and email. My machine came loaded with MS Works and a trial version of MS Office. This is essentially a computer for text composition and Web access. It’s not a heavy-duty gaming or imaging machine. I wouldn’t recommend this as an only computer for anyone except students. It’s an excellent secondary computer to compliment a home system, especially if coupled with an external back-up drive that allows you to sync data between computers.
The Aspire One, and netbooks like it are perfect of students who need an inexpensive computer to take to class or working travelers who need a second PC for on the road.
I have an offer for a Acer Aspire One ZG5 netbook – 8.9in screen, fully-fledged Windows XP with a 120 GB hard drive, 1 GB of RAM and an Intel 1.6 GHz, and Atom processor. £265 . Is that a good offer. I am at present using an Aver 2303, and use it only for writing or such.Watch movies sometimes. How this fare with me ?
My Acer Aspire One came with MSN, ISP, however, "MSN Device Missing" stops me from connecting to the server.I’m a first-time buyer of a notebook… Please help..
Absolutely love it. Order mine Acer Aspire one from this Shop for a price of 289$. Since 10-inch models are out, 8.9” version is a real bargain.
The Aspire 2000 mobile series boasts a huge 15.4" panoramic display and the powerful feature set of Intel Centrino mobile technology. The wide-screen 15.4" WXGA (1280 x 800) display offers improved viewing angles – 130 degrees horizontally and 100 degrees vertically. But the Aspire 2000 is much more than a great way to watch movies while on the go. Viewing multiple files simultaneously is easy on the panoramic display, allowing you to accomplish more in less time. If a big part of your job involves working with Microsoft Excel files, you’ll wonder how you ever managed with an ordinary notebook display. The wide screen and high resolution will help to make your job easier. Most remarkable, perhaps, is that the Aspire 2000 packs in so many features yet tips the scales at a modest 6.6 pounds.
Bought three Aspire One (ZG5 from Walmart) notebook computers. All three have failed dure to battery self-discharge. Leaving computers on the shelf for 3 weeks after initial charge-up allowed all 3 batteries to sag so that charger will not restore them. (Battery status light flashes yellow) Computers will work only when plugged into AC power. New batteries solved problem, but two have failed again due to shelf storage for 3 weeks.
hey mine had the battery discharge problem.
i fixed it on my own. you got two choices either take it out for a bit 20 mins put it back in (battery).
try to charge over night (may need to repeat a second time for it to start charging),
if it is not charged by morning put the battery in a ziplock and put in freezer for 12-14 hours. take out make sure to remove any condensation. let battery reach room temperature then it should charge. gotta love lithium ion batteries. they just need a lil "reset"
i formatted my laptop acer aspire one zg5 and i installed all its driver but my sound card doesnt work?what will i do to restore my sounds?i had a hard time playing with out sounds and i cant talk to my parents abroad..i hope you will help me…tnx^^
I almost love my Aspire One.I have the ZG5 model and have been using it for a month. I need to check the BIOS because I can’t get an external monitor to work. Fn F2 doesn’t work. I don’t know if it is the keys or what. Any ideas?
Okay, now I’ve done it!! I have a Aspire one ZG5 which kept shutting down on me like approx 30 seconds after turning it on, thought maybe your general functions of F8 could fix it, NOPE it still turned off approx 30 seconds again no matter what, I even tried ALT+F10 (eRecovery) but still it turned off??? WTF! Somebody mentioned that it may be this internal battery (idk) on the motherboard thats bad?? Dont know what to think here ppl, I started it also just using the powercord alone (without the 3-cell battery connected) yet still it shut down??? Where do I start trouble shooting this? To make matters worse, I messed with it from trying to attempt to get it back up and running, now I’m getting "NTLDR is missing" error? Any help about in dilemma would help a lot, I’m getting pissy!!!
I’m having battery problems,batt. wont recharge,go online for help cant get any for this model.Just shows models aoa-110-aoa-150
The netbook of the year!
awesome computer, small and convienient, however there is no mp3 portable player available, so transfering music becomes a nightmare.
i bought an acer aspire one laptop(ZG5) but my drive c: memory keeps going down badly even when i store smalll documents and i also can’t locate the hard drive(HDD) in my computer and anything i add 2 my system keeps going 2 drive c(acer c:)(SSD) and i learnt acer aspire one ZG5 has up 2 120GB on HDD and drive c: 8GB so how do i store things on the hard drive(HDD).cos when i go 2 my computer on my system i only see acer C: and my SD/mmc so where is the HDD yall pls check urs and let me know. pls help me if u can (ejirookogu@yahoo.com)
I have an Acer Aspire the keeps rebooting randomly. has anyone else experience that and how have you fixed it?
I bought my AcerAspire One with Linpus Lite install as an knock down x dispay model from Comet for £130 real bargain at a grudge, was told by Comet unless I paid over £100for insurance I could not bring it back to them if went wrong because my contract was with Acer. A direct sale of goods illegal claim, had a problem after trying to update when there was a fault due to update gone wrong but restore CD worked well. This was my first Linux experience. Also the reset password was a problem that no one in Linux community could answer but I found it in the bios, since then future updates have gone well and have even managed to get my 3 mobile modem working. This is a little gem for a bargain price, I love the simplicity of Linpus Lite and am now looking into ubunto as dual boot for my desktop. But to everyone out there Linpus Lite is simple, easy and so obvious in its simplicity, even children would love it, it just has everything there at your fingertips. And with the wonderful Acer Aspire One being so light and portable I just love it, especially to carry abroad where you can connect wifi networks in your hotel and other hotspots as its so light to carry much better than a laptop.
mine was bought last nov 28, 2008. i was lucky that the display failed during the warranty period so no cost to repair. However, it is disappointing because I seldom use the unit and it failed how much more if I was using it daily and hardly. another problem I get is it always hangs up when using the media player just for songs take note.
Acer aspire one laptop ZG5 is showing the problem of NTLDR file is missing. and i boot from the CD and repair but still having same problem. i have only C drive in that i have all my data, and i dont want to format. how can i resolve my issue. please let me know.
my home page text is so smallI can’t read it.
I?ve read articles where they said they are the perfect computer for kids but honestly I find that they are the perfect computer for a blogger.
This is essentially a computer for text composition and Web access. It’s not a heavy-duty gaming or imaging machine.
My AAO works like a charm: Eeebuntu 3, Puppy Linux 4.3.1, Moblin 2.1 — smooth and stable.
Oh, yes, XP runs also, in case you are wondering.
Love the size and versatility: mobile computing (reading, listening, writing, surfing, etc.) for about 2 years now.
Wherever whenever on the go I was accompanied by it. Changed my way of mobility and accessibility. Has it flaws – like me, yes. But then … got accustomed to it.
I have the Acer Aspire One , Model # ZG5 and love it, but wonder can the memory be upgraded from one to two Gig.
Thank you
I recently bought a acer aspire one. its came with just a shade under 1GB USABLE RAM (512 at X16). and a 160 GB HARD DRIVE. i have the international version with aribic and english keys. i got a deal..what can i say.
i put a full 1 GB X16 ram chip in the expandable memory slot. found deep under 3 layers of very scary parts, lots of tedious screws and small breakable parts. (theres a couple videos online on how to do this if your wanting to) make sure you know what your doing if you plan to expand. i also put my old HD from my gateway which was a 250 GB sata WD. and it adapted perfect, plus i was running vista on that HD and its intergrated flawlessly…well kinda. so far i cant find a driver for the cam. anyway all these upgrades have made a huge difference. so heres the down falls of this comp. with videos playback (avi,mp4 ect) play back was extremely chopy since theres not a “real” video card. but i was able to mostly fix this by forcing the WMP to drop frames to keep the sound sink”d. next whether you run it in XP (not recomended unless you like dinosours) or vista the load times are kinda drawn out. like 7 to 10 minutes to fully loadat start up. i have 12 mega bit internet right now so the page loads as fast as possible, but its saddly still pretty slow. the resolution of the screen dows not do vista justice, but other wise it looks awesome. i would comparing this computer to a portable DVD player, is only relevant when speaking of its size. theres is no dvd/cd drive, but so far i havent missed it. this computer will NOT play games well.. although angry birds and smaller trendy games like this look and play smoothly. i didnt like the use of a VGA port for video and an 3.5 mm audio jack for sound when using TV connectivity. why wouldn’t they put a HDMI in instead. acer prolly had a bunch laying around anyway. this fact alone was just stupid. when i opened the ascer i noticed acer could have easily the audio jacks in the front and put a HDMI in place of the VGA. the wifi card works great, have never used the memory slots. and the comp is very lite.its a little top heavy though and if it wernt for the charger being plugged in it tends to try and roll backward on you. anyway thats what i got for now. _sully p.s. acer has a glitch where if you put in a password on your user profile it changes or UPPERCASES your password. locking you out of your comp. it happend to me, and theres tons of other wibe sites claiming the same.this is what prompted me to switch the bigger drive into my acer. so i assume the glitch is XP version exclusive. since i have a working vista password. not good acer…not good!
Hello, i have had this laptop a couple of years now. I don’t know why it has started with all these different we problems when on the internet. Like not being about to comment under peoples statuses when on facebook and i can’t make any pictures for my profile. It is pretty rubbish now. ThankYou.
Carla, perhaps your machine could do with a clean install. Maxing out the RAM can also make a world of difference, though that is a fiddly job.
I’ve got XP on mine, running with 1.5 GB RAM. 512MB RAM is soldered to the Motherboard, so you can add a 1 GB module. I was lucky enough to be in Asia when I decided to upgrade, as the ACER service centre out there charged me only £5 for labour. Saved me from having to take my machine apart myself.
It went from a machine that I could not be bothered to use, to one I use in preference to my top of the range laptop whilst travelling.
I also have Ubuntu installed, so I can choose from XP or Ubuntu when I start the machine.
There is an aspireoneuser forum that may help you to solve your problems.
i have this acer aspire 0ne ZG5 notebook. the system is down. and i cant open it….do anybody have an alternative of reformatting this one, please mail at this add, my13thwiishes@gmail.com
make bootable pendrive… it work as bootable dvd of os…..!!!
application for make bootable pen drive win2flash
vreau un ecran de acer xg5