 WARNING - avoid these notorious problem machines |
| Review Date: March 16, 2010 |
| Reviewer: D. Parker, |
Read all the 1 and 2 star reviews before you buy this product. There are a lot of unsatisfied Acer Aspire One customers and that should be a red flag to you. I wish I had listened to them and avoided wasting my money on this piece of junk.
Bottom line - many Aspire Ones are lemons and develop expensive, time consuming and/or terminal problems after only a few months of normal use. Technical support is not good and will be very costly even if you are in the warranty period. I will never buy an Acer product again.
From personal experience I recommend the MSI wind instead. Check out the reviews, there are very few negative ones. Battery life is short on 3 cell though.
OK, my story if you want it...
I bought the Acer aspire one 8 GB SSD 8.9" screen net book in April of 2009. Initially the speed and preformance were great and I was extreemly happy with it. With normal, daily use and only adding Skype and Google Chrome to it the speed was very slow by September of 2009. I don't go on sketchy websites and have an anti virus program. I did not save any files to the hard drive, every thing was on SD cards. Basically I did not do anything that should have slowed it down like that. By December of 2009 it was so slow that barely functioned and started to freeze up after 10 minutes of use. I put it on the shelf as I had purchased an MSI wind that summer and it ran like a dream. Due to this alone I must
As of March 2010 I just called Acer to see what could be done. They said that using Skype may have caused these problems! That is pretty bad! They also tried to have me reload windows but everything they said to do would not work. So I had to buy a recovery CD for $22 and get an external CD drive and try to reboot that way. If it does not work I have to send it off to be fixed. Update to come... fingers and toes crosses.
My MSI wind was treated exactly the same way and has not slowed down at all or caused any problems. I love it and prefer it to this Acer. |
I regret buying this
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| Review Date: March 13, 2010 |
| Reviewer: J. Samton, |
| I am sorry to say that this is one of the most regretable purchases I have made. My other computers have lasted my for years. This started having problems from the beginning. After 6 months, it crashed completely, and I needed to completely re-install the OS (meanwhile losing some work). Even this drastic step solve the problem, and the computer still freezes regularly. Lately, it completely fails to load windows and stays interminably on the welcome screen. I would not recommend acer under any circumstances--this computer has cost me so much lost time--and don't think I will ever buy another product from them. |
BUYER BEWARE
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| Review Date: March 13, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Michele Hermansen, Arizona |
| Acer netbook support is horrible. I already sent it to be repaired once for overheating issues with the A/C charger and netbook itself. They want me to pay to have it wrapped in 3-5" of bubble wrap, though they would generously pay the shipping. It seems I got a lemon and they refuse to give me a replacement or refund. I am not happy. I'm out of luck because everything worked fine for 2 months, bypassing the Circuit City return window. I have only had netbook for 4 months (3 weeks of which it was being serviced the first time). I'm still well under warranty, but that doesn't matter to Acer. I will never be buying from Acer again. |
Wifi speed damn slow
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| Review Date: March 6, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Bhushan Tomar, NJ |
| I have baught a new Acer one AOD150-1920 Netbook, It comes with pre installed Windows XP. Problem is internet speed. In my Wifi network when I check the download speed for my HP Laptop using site [...] I get 1.30MB/sec. but at the same time for Acer One NetBook download speed is just .12 MB/sec. When I tried by connecting to net using LAN wire still its the same.I have cleaned up the registry.Stopped all unwanted services in back ground. turned off the Power saver mode. Still its same. I can see this difference while downloading any file from internet at the same time in both of my laptops. Can anyone tellsme how much maximum download speed then can achieve with this notebook. I am planning to return this notebook as I am not getting the speed of more then 200KBPS when at the same time oter machine can donload at 1.3 MBPS |
Netbook Success
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| Review Date: March 4, 2010 |
| Reviewer: J. Brunner, Illinois, USA |
I own a number of computers (and have owned and purchased a number of computers in the past--I built one, once upon a time--so I have a pretty good amount of experience with technology. This little guy was my first foray into the realm of netbooks. I have a few friends who have notbooks. They chose others like an Asus or MSI. Though I had an Acer a decade ago--probably longer--and at the time wasn't that impressed, I decided to give this a go as the most solid brand of the ones I was looking at. HP's netbooks were out of the running due to the odd 578 pixel height they were big on at the time.
Functionally, a lot of these are going to be the same. A netbook is a netbook is a netbook. They will all have trouble with streaming high resolution stuff from the internet at times. They will all fail at running anything truly complicated. They are all built with essentially the same stuff. If you look at it, 90% of everything is running a 1.6ghz atom. They generally have 1 gig of ram and will accept a 2 gig (do this). They come with a multi-card reader and have 3 USB ports. In this way, you will not find any surprises with the Acer Aspire one.
You want to get something that is well built, reliable, and has great battery life. If you were to judge a netbook by these criteria, there is nothing really to be asked for that the Aspire One does not deliver. It has, hands down, the best battery life of any laptop computer I have ever owned or seen. I actually operated one almost continuously on a flight from London to Chicago. This will say '8.5' hours of battery life. This is a little off. If you're doing much on the internet, you'll probably call that like 5-6 hours, but if you're on a plane where that doesn't matter, you can turn off the wifi and it will cap out over 10.
Even with its rather large battery, this weighs in a little over 3 lbs. Its light as a feather.
Its constructed mostly with a plastic shell. In spite of this, it actually is very attractive and it feels remarkably solid. If you're an idiot like I am, on occasion, and manage to shatter part of your keyboard by dropping something surprisingly heavy on it, you'll actually get the opportunity to see that this is built much like a modern car. The metal is on the inside, and its pretty well organized, tough, solid, and quiet. It does not run very hot. It actually took me a few months to realize there was even a fan in there.
Yes, my unit still works in spite of my poor actions. I was actually very sad when I damaged it, but I replaced the keyboard, and now it works very well, still, a testament to its solid construction.
Finally, this runs XP like it was made for it (that is XP for the One). I have heard that Windows 7 is also a good fit for netbooks, though I have not yet tried that myself. In closing, I was very much 'out' of the whole Acer brand for a long time, but this One is definitely put me back in the 'in' camp again. This is a very impressive little computer. |
Exactly What I Wanted
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| Review Date: March 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: J. Rayne, Salisbury, MD United States |
As long as you know what to expect, this netbook is perfect. I wanted a light, no-fuss laptop that would run for hours and hours without charging, run a few games, browse the internet, check my e-mail, and maybe take some notes in class and write some papers. This machine does exactly that.
First off, it's light. If you've never held a netbook before, it weighs about as much as a small hardcover textbook. I can hold it comfortably with one hand and I don't have to really exert myself at all. It has a phenomenally long battery life: if I turn down the brightness on the display and turn of the wi-fi (like when I'm writing a paper, playing a game, etc) I can easily squeeze 5 or 6 hours out of it. Even though the Aspire One's battery juts out from the chassis -- unlike other netbooks, such as the EEE, whose 6-cell battery is flush with the case -- it's not bulky enough to ever become an issue.
Despite the fact that it's running an Intel Atom and has a very underpowered onboard Intel graphics chipset, I can still play plenty of older games on it with no problem. For example, I am running Diablo II and Morrowind (using CD-images mounted to a virtual drive) with no difficulty. Morrowind is about the most powerful game that this machine can run, and even then it's only at about 20-25 fps. But still, it's more than enough to make the game playable. I also grabbed all the old X-Com games off of Steam, and they run well, too, as does Heroes of Might and Magic III. A game I was really hoping would run better, Torchlight, is intermittently playable. I tried to load Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War, and while it is technically playable at minimum settings, I think it just has too many things going on at once to allow for any decent performance. I should note, however, that I took the time to drop a 2GB stick of RAM in my machine, and it's a fairly cheap investment for substantial benefits. At the time, I got a deal from Amazon for the netbook, a neoprene sleeve, and the RAM stick for about $350, so it was a no-brainer. If you see a deal like that, it's just about as good as it can get.
The wi-fi connectivity is top-notch. It works just as well as my desktop in that regard, and I have had no problems connecting to various wi-fi hotspots around town. The browsing is fast, and with a fast browser like Opera 10.5 or Chrome there's basically no delay in surfing at all.
As an "office" or "student" computer, I have mine running the Open Office suite and while it takes marginally longer to load than it does on my desktop, the difference is barely noticeable. Other programs load with minimal fuss, and again, while there is a small performance hit compared to a high-end laptop or a mid-range desktop like mine, as long as you aren't trying to do too much it works fine. I can keep multiple PDF files open simultaneously along with word processing software without suffering too much. I also used Wubi to dual-boot into Xubuntu in a virtual environment, and it works fantastically -- but then again, most Linux distros work great on most computers.
Ergonomically, the computer is very pleasing. I have relatively large hands, and with just a little bit of adjustment I can use the keyboard better than I can on many other "full-sized" laptops. The touchpad was a little frustrating at first, but after I adjusted some of the settings and disabled some of the autoscroll options, I found it to be pretty good. For games, though, I still prefer a cheap optical mouse with a retractable cord.
I have had no major problems with any part of this computer, mechanically or otherwise. Unlike most new computers, it's not saturated with bloatware, so I didn't even have to do my customary reformat/reinstall out-of-the-box. I have dropped the machine a few times without incident, and while it's not as bad as the glossier machines it is noticeable (especially on the screen) when fingers have been touching it. I haven't really used the webcam or microphone, but I did test the webcam and I'm sure that it would be more than sufficient for almost any of my conceivable purposes.
All in all, this machine is exactly what I wanted when I thought about getting a netbook. It's lean and just powerful enough for my purposes, but not so powerful that it drains the batteries overmuch. It's small and compact, but just big enough to use comfortably. I could scarcely imagine a machine better suiting my intended purposes. |
Exceptional netbook and good support
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| Review Date: February 28, 2010 |
| Reviewer: P. Weinstock, Portland, OR USA |
I love my tech toys -and over the years I've had my share- but the Aspire One netbook is far and away my favorite of all of them. Purchased 11 months ago, I found it was as quick in windows as any pc I ever had. The touchpad, the keyboard, the lcd screen (GREAT for full-screen netflix watching) are all top-notch. And the battery life? Amazing with the 5800 MaH 6-cell. The big battery actually balances the computer in such a way that it makes it very stable when opened on practically any surface. I have found other netbooks, including the popular Asus EEE, to be not nearly as well-balanced. Upgrading to 2 MB memory was easy enough. I know I'm not the only one who uses my netbook from sunup to sundown and couldn't live without the amazing little appliance any more.
A few weeks ago the screen froze and then wouldn't reboot back into windows without using safe mode. The outsourced phone support was helpful and competent and I was back up and running (albeit with a clean reinstall) in a very short time. Then last week it didn't go into standby after closing it up and was blazing hot and wouldn't turn on the next morning. One call to support and ten minutes later and I was packing up the netbook for a return under warranty. Hopefully the repair will go without a hitch and I'll be back up and running. So far I have been pleased with Acer support.
My previous laptop purchase was a bargain-basement Acer and it was a poorly built and designed product. The Acer Aspire One netbook couldn't be more opposite. Without question my next netbook purchase will be an Acer. |
No support to speak of, even if in warrenty
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| Review Date: February 23, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Anne, |
| Acer will try to charge you for any issues with your netbook, and there will probably be many if you have the same experience I did. Being under warrenty means nothing to them. Plus, their tech service is generally not very competent. For example, they keep asking me about recovery discs, but netbooks do not have optical drives. They can advise for Vista and XP, but not Windows 7, etc. Poor product and poor service means 1 star (0 stars, if could.) Dear Acer: why should I ever buy another product from you or Gateway again? |
DO NOT PURCHASE THIS NETBOOK!!
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| Review Date: February 14, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Eric B. Snow, California, USA |
| I purchased this netbook only to find out it has a faulty wireless network adapter. Despite the warranty Acer does NOT stand behind their product and their repair only made things worse. Don't make the same mistake I did. |
Could be better.........
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| Review Date: February 8, 2010 |
| Reviewer: GypsieBella, Albuquerque NM |
| I like this computer ok except for one thing...........The Battery life is not good. I get around 30 minutes before I get the low battery alarm. |
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