netbooks

[danmand]

As for people buy the 512M versions of the Acer just bite the bullet and get the 1GB of ram instead. I read online somewhere you can't upgrade anyways because they use soldered on ram to keep production costs low. Besides you void your warranty I believe if you take apart your netbook too.

I looked into it.The acer co9mes with 512 Meg soldered in, and an expansion slot, that will
take either 512M or 1G RAM. Unbelievably, acer has not made a hatch on the back of the
netbook, so you have to literally take the whole thing apart in order to install the additional
RAM. Youtube has a video of such an installation. Scary.

The good news is, that Canada Computers sells the 1G for the same money as the 512M.
(to goto 1.5G you have to take it apart, still)

 

[Sasha Jones]

Taking apart the acer is not really as bad as it seems.
If you can build your own desktop computer you can add ram to the AAO.

One 512mb stick is soldered in then an additional 512mb stick is in the expansion slot on the 1gb models. If you plan on upgrading it to the max anyway buy a 512mb version and put the rest inyourself.
I had to take out my 512mb chip to put in a 1gb chip and upgrade it to 1.5gb.
The acer models allow you to disable to soldered 512mb chip in the bios to add up to 2gb in the expansion slot, acer does not allow this as of yet.

Windows CAN be installed on the ssd version from acer, it requires a few tweaks here and there but once those are done you would never know the difference between an HDD and an SSD model. So if you want to save yourself some more $$$ buy the Linux version and put windows on it.

I also ditched the atheros wireless card after it started acting up and upgraded it to wireless N card, and installed a touchscreen kit and internal bluetooth.

for acer owners you can get all this info from
aspireoneuser.com

and Asus owners can go to
eeeuser.com

 

[bishop]

The Acer netbook is really easy to take apart when compared to other laptops.

I would reccommend getting the HDD version rather than the SSD. You can not upgrade the SSD to a HDD, so you might as well pay a bit more upfront for more performance and much more room. If you Get the HDD version you can always buy a 2.5" SSD to replace the 2.5" HDD.

The screen on the Acer netbook is beautiful, everything is really crisp and the whites are really really white.

The going rate for a fully loaded Acer netbook with a 160gb HDD and a 6 cell battery is about $400. At that price I would reccommend paying $50-$100 and get a netbook with a 10" screen. If you can land a fully loader Acer netbook for less than $350 before tax, then I would say that is a good deal.

Battery life on the Acer Aspire one is very good, I can get about 5.5 hrs just surfing the net and maybe 3.5 hrs doing fairly intensive work.

 

[Sasha Jones]

<snip> You can not upgrade the SSD to a HDD, so you might as well pay a bit more upfront for more performance and much more room. If you Get the HDD version you can always buy a 2.5" SSD to replace the 2.5" HDD. <snip>

ahhhh but you can!
You just have to use a 1.8" HDD
You can even change out the SSD for a compact flash card if you really want to and still keep it solid state, and having the extra room in there give you space to jam in other mods like bluetooth, gps, tv tuners, touchscreens etc etc.

There are pitfalls with both versions really, SSD is more expensive so you sacrifice space for durability. If you are they type who throws your laptop around even in a nice padded bag, the SSD might be better for you.
If you baby it, you can probably get away with the HDD and get yourself some more space.

I chose the acer because they are small, get wicked battery life, (I get about 5 or so hours out of a 6 cell), my eyesight is good so the small screen doesn't bother me for most applications, it was cheap. I bought a 6 month old 8GB SSD version off craigslist for $275, and they have a pretty good mod following!

And I can always dump a bigger SSD into it if I need more space in addition to the 16gb SD card I already added.

 

[danmand]

I love my acer, I take it evertywere I go on vacation, it seems all resorts now
have wireless access. I bought a flash memory card to expand the SSD, but
in reality I have never used it.
What I really love about it, is that it boots in 9 seconds flat.

 

[WoodPeckr]

9 seconds, wow!
What OS are you running?

For something like a netbook, 8GB is all you should need and a SSD is the way to go.

 

[Edifice]

Take a look at Sony's Vaio P series notebook.

 

[danmand]

9 seconds, wow!
What OS are you running?

For something like a netbook, 8GB is all you should need and a SSD is the way to go.

I am running a version of Linux, that for people who have lived in South Africa,
has the unfortunate name of Linpus.

The Acer comes with 8G SSD hardwired, and an expansion slot for another flash memory card.

 

[bishop]

ahhhh but you can!
You just have to use a 1.8" HDD
.

Yes and No.

You can swap in a 1.8" HDD in place of the SDD but then you would need to find a 1.8" drive and you would need to find the right cable and plug, you might need to solder a SATA connector to the mobo.

You can also cram in a 2.5" HDD but you can to cut some of the internal plastic and solder in a SATA connector to the mobo.

A good SSD is better than a good HDD, but the SDD on the AA1 is bottom of the barrel SSD, it is probably not much different than what is in a el cheapo USB flash drive.

 

[Sasha Jones]

I am running a version of Linux, that for people who have lived in South Africa,
has the unfortunate name of Linpus.

The Acer comes with 8G SSD hardwired, and an expansion slot for another flash memory card.

The SSD isn't soldered in.
It is attached via a 1.8" ZIF connector and is totally upgradable.

1.8" HDD's can be had without much of a problem anywhere on ebay, many of the sellers there also have online 'stores' as well. The price of SSD's are also coming down quite a bit as well so upgrades to an SSD model are not really out of the question or as hard as some might make it out to be. There are tons of options, it is just a matter of deciding how much you want to spend, how much you want out of the thing and how much work you want to put into it. I like to play so I might be willing to put a little more work in than most to have a cheap yet functional little notebook.

 

[wonderboy007]

I was talking to my distributor today about general netbook, and I doubt they will last long as the new ASUS models will only have ASUS supported on it. Excuse me people, but you get what you pay for. If you buy cheap, you get cheap. So for those who complain, well that's just the way the the cookie crumbles. Anyone who buys Acer is an idiot, and everyone in the computer industry knows this.

Most ASUS net books down the road and I mean in a few months will not have SSD in them. Windows XP will be unavailable by March anyways, and I doubt Windows Vista Home Basic would run on it anyways, since some have linux on them.

Most of these netbooks can run 1GB and only be able to upgrade to 1GB. Anything else is a no go.

I don't know why anyone serious would buy one. As I'd prefer to run a laptop that runs the latest Intel Wireless Adapter card with MIMO! I myself run all my laptops with Centrino which actually save battery because they don't constantly scan for radio frequency. This is why you always see this connection between Centrino and Wireless. But ofcourse, the best you an get with Netbooks is the Atom processor. So I'll just see people being whining when they can't do what they want it to do.


So what I say, get a real laptop.

 

[wonderboy007]

The SSD isn't soldered in.
It is attached via a 1.8" ZIF connector and is totally upgradable.

1.8" HDD's can be had without much of a problem anywhere on ebay, many of the sellers there also have online 'stores' as well. The price of SSD's are also coming down quite a bit as well so upgrades to an SSD model are not really out of the question or as hard as some might make it out to be. There are tons of options, it is just a matter of deciding how much you want to spend, how much you want out of the thing and how much work you want to put into it. I like to play so I might be willing to put a little more work in than most to have a cheap yet functional little notebook.

I thought they were thru SATA? And when you say ZIF? That means Zero Insertion Point. Isn't this usually what applied to processors? Weird...

OCZ has top notch SSD's. You have to watch out since there is quality issue between different MOSFET's out there. So I wouldn't just look at price..

The problem with low quality MOSFET's is that the floating gate can be unpredictable on the voltage threshold leading to data corruption when reading or writing.

 

[danmand]

The SSD isn't soldered in.
It is attached via a 1.8" ZIF connector and is totally upgradable.

I am aware of the ssd being plugged in, I was referring to the need for taking
the netbook apart in order to upgrade, which I have chosen not to do. And,
more importantly, it is not necessary, becaus it has an expansion slot for the SSD.

1.8" HDD's can be had without much of a problem anywhere on ebay, many of the sellers there also have online 'stores' as well. The price of SSD's are also coming down quite a bit as well so upgrades to an SSD model are not really out of the question or as hard as some might make it out to be. There are tons of options, it is just a matter of deciding how much you want to spend, how much you want out of the thing and how much work you want to put into it. I like to play so I might be willing to put a little more work in than most to have a cheap yet functional little notebook.

I wanted a netbook without a hard drive, something small that I can lug around
easily. It does all I need when away from home on vacations etc, word processing,
spreadsheet, powerpoint, and internet access.

If it makes me an idiot, so be it. I love my netbook.

And PS, I was in the computer industry before the wonderboy was born.

 

[bishop]

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=36239&promoid=1044

$450 for a new Asus netbook, it has the new atom and probably a new chipset too. Asus claims that the new netbook get 9.5hrs of battery life from a 6cell battery. Other netbooks with a 6cell only claim 6.5hrs.

If I did not already have an Acer netbook I would definitely get the new asus one for $450. It is about $50 more than the MSRP of the Acer netbook, but it has a larger screen, better touchpad, Wireless N, newer processor, new chipset, better battery life.

 

[stang]

Yo Poindexter, can you watch porn on these things?

 

[Powershot]

New Asus looks interesting, will wait to see how its OSX compatibility works out. Depending on its results may pick up a Ideapad S10.

 

[WoodPeckr]

Yo Poindexter, can you watch porn on these things?

Sure you can, only it's on a smaller screen.