The netbook business is continuing to drastically drop its prices, and it is thus becoming increasingly difficult for companies to stay competitive amongst so many Atom-powered netbooks. Even a year ago, the average cost of a netbook was about $500, but currently, it has lowered to $300 (basic models without any extra options), thanks to Dell’s Mini 10v. Acer’s Aspire One is the prime example of a netbook for the “masses”, selling for only $350. The new Aspire One AOD250 is even cheaper, at a record low price of $298 – although this model has a slimmed down chassis.
Acer recently launched its 10 inch version of the Aspire One series called the AOD150. It was sold for $350 in February, and was labeled as a decent netbook. However, it definitely had its negative aspects – its six-cell battery caused it to be too bulky, the keyboard was too cramped in comparison to its competition, and the touch pad was quite uncomfortable to use.
On the other hand, the new AOD250 is a lot lighter and thinner than its predecessor because of its three-cell battery. The hardware of both models is exactly the same, including the CPU, hard drive, and RAM, but the AOD25’s higher portability makes it seem like it’s a better deal.
The model that we reviewed was in Ruby Red, but there are other colors available such as Diamond Black, Seashell White, and Sapphire Blue. The finish can be described as glossy, but not so much that it will attract fingerprints to an outrageous degree. The metallic-flake look gives it a nice, glowing outer shell that will surely attract those that appreciate design. Also, the screen hinge is a matte black that is pretty unnoticeable in relation to the rest of the look. It should also be noted that the screen hinge is where most of the battery is stored. The keyboard itself is black, but it is framed by metallic, red plastic finish. Most importantly, the glossy, 10.1 inch display is bordered by shiny black plastic. For a cheaper netbook, it has quite a trendy, attractive look, but it might not be fitting to be considered business casual.
Although the AOD250 has a pretty nice exterior, the truth is that it is not revolutionary in any way, unlike the stylish Asus “Seashell” Eee PC 1008HA that clearly made a statement in the netbook world. However, the Asus Seashell is $130 more than the AOD250 at $429, which is a significant difference amongst budget products.
Although the keyboard is relatively comfortable to type on, especially with its pair of full Shift Keys (without right-side compression), it is still very far from full-size. In comparison to the HP Mini 100 and the Samsung N120, the typing experience feels more cramped and awkward. In our opinion, the keyboard would have been better if it was edge-to-edge, and hopefully Acer will realize this for its next project. The touch is still as small as ever, but it is definitely an improvement – the mouse buttons are now easier to click.
The LCD display is 10.1 inches, wide-screen, and LED-backlit with a 1,024 x 600 native resolution, which is considered to be standard for its screen size. The text and icons show up to be very crisp, and the colors are vivid and sharp.
The stereo speakers are located somewhere inside the netbook – we couldn’t figure out its exact location even after searching for it. They speakers are pretty weak in both the volume and sound department, but we weren’t surprised since most netbooks require the use of headphones.
The options for the new AOD250 are very similar to that of the AOD 150. It maintains the same low-cost, standard ports of most netbooks such as three USB 2.0 jacks. The HP Mini 110 may be bigger, but it comes with Bluetooth and a larger, edge-to-edge keyboard for only $30 extra. If you are looking for 802.11n or ExpressCard slots, then we suggest that you move on to the more expensive, high-end netbooks.
The AOD250’s Intel Atom N270 CPU can be found in pretty much every notebook on the market. Its other hardware does not offer anything special either – it’s simply a cookie-cutter model of the typical Atom netbook with a 160GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM (DDR2). It can handle such basic tasks as multimedia viewing, web surfing, and writing word documents very well, but that’s the same case for other Atom N270 netbooks too. Through our benchmark tests, we were able to discover that the performance was no different than the N270 netbooks from other companies, even those that were more expensive. Atom N270 CPUs are known to poorly handle full-screen and HD viewing, so you would be better off utilizing pre-downloaded videos or streaming sites such as Hulu and Youtube.
Most netbooks are equipped with either three-cell or six-cell batteries – three cell batteries take up less space and last about 2-3 hours. On the other hand, six-cell batteries are bigger and can last up to 5 hours. Our video-playback drain test resulted in a 1 hour and 50 minute time for the Acer Aspire One AOD250, using a three-cell battery. The time was lower than average – the HP Mini 110 can last 30 minutes longer. 1 hour and 50 minutes will not give you a lot of time to work on your netbook when outside of the home, but it should be noted that our battery drain test is pretty intense. Therefore, you can probably expect to have a longer battery life when you are simply using it for web surfing or general business tasks.
Tech Specs (varies with customization):
General
Motherboard chipset
Intel 945GSE
Processor number
N280
Processor speed
1.66GHz
Processor
Intel Atom
Memory/Storage
Amt of RAM
1024 MB
Hard drive
160 GB
Card Reader
SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro, xD
Connectivity
Ports
3 x USB 2.0; VGA out
Ethernet
10/100/1000
Wireless LAN
802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n
Webcam
Yes
Display
Graphics hardware
Intel GMA
Diagonal screen size
10.1 inch
LCD technology
Transflective (widescreen)
Screen resolution (max)
1,024 x 600
Multimedia
Sound hardware
Integrated audio; 2 x speakers
Software
Operating system
Win XP Home
Chassis
Weight w/battery
1.11 kg
Dimensions
258.5 x 184 x 25.4 mm
Power Supply
Battery type(s) included
six-cell lithium ion