FirstAdopter.com

Acer Aspire One Netbook First Impressions

I just got the 8GB flash version with Linux this afternoon from Newegg for $329 shipped and was able to play around with it for couple hours.

Pros:
-Build quality is very good for a $329 device. Doesn't feel cheap at all.
-Screen is readable and bright. No dead pixels. Black levels aren't that great, but what can you expect for the price.
-Very silent. No hard-drive thrashing which is great.
-This is my first experience with Linux and it's very good. After I setup advanced mode, there are hundreds of free programs easily downloadable with a Red Hat program manager. Very well done easy-to-use user interface.
-I installed Skype and it works great with builtin webcame and mic. I mean the sound quality and video quality is "ok", nothing compared to the Macbook Pro iSight, but for $329 I'm absolutely amazed.
-OS seems very stable and the programs work just like their windows counterparts.
-Boot and loading times seem pretty peppy.

Cons:
-Only 3.6GB free of space. To be fair, Acer loaded a lot of preinstalled programs like Open Office, mPlayer, etc. You can also install an SD card to seamlessly expand the space.
-The keyboard is small and the travel depth isn't too deep. I'm typing on it right now. It's pretty accurate, but the feel isn't that great
-The trackpad is VERY small and the buttons are awkwardly placed and hard to press. However my wireless logitech mouse works perfectly, so that fixes this issue for me.
-They are using a Windows XP menu button theme. YUCK!

Overall I'm pretty happy with the purchase so far. It's an amazing value. It is so freaking small and light. This is my first experience with Linux. Color me impressed.

Questions from Arogan
- How is the scrolling using the track pad? Do you think you can get use to the button placement? I typically don't use a mouse with a laptop unless I'm gaming on it.

There is no scrolling that I know of. I just use the cursor keys and "thank goodness" page up and down keys. The trackpad is still TINY and the button placement is less of an issue vs. the size of the buttons and you really have to press it down hard to get it to work.

One neat function is you can double tap trackpad as a substitute for a left mouse button click. Frankly though it still is pretty hard to use when I'm surfing, it takes me a bit longer (extra 2 seconds) to surf around the tiny trackpad.

- How is the browsing experience? Do most websites fit fine in the 1024X600 resolution? Do you find the screen big enough, text legible?

The browsing experience, other than the inaccurate trackpad is pretty good. The screen is solid and 1024X600 seems fine for most websites I visit when I'm lounging around on the couch watching TV. The text is fine and readable.

I think the biggest problem for you is going to be the trackpad (tiny and hard to be accurate) and the mouse buttons.

All in all though, I don't mind too much. I love being able to browse on the web while watching TV, not having to worry about breaking the hard-drive if any movements. Trackpad is eh, but I'm starting to learn keyboard equivalents, so it's not bad.

I'm still pretty happy with it. Boot-time is awesome. 15 seconds from a cold start. Discuss

Microsoft Vista Seinfeld Ad for Vista

This ad is pretty weak. First of all, the mainstream viewer will have no idea it's an ad for the Vista operating system. The Mac/PC guy ads from Apple are simply better. Note to Microsoft, how about touting Vista's differentiating features like media center and more gaming software?