Acer Aspire One AOA150-1949 Laptop PC A Review

13 Dec 2008



A review of Acer 8.9 " Aspire One AOA150-1949 Laptop PC Notebook

Aspire One AOA150-1949 Laptop PC notebook is intended for people who want extreme mobility, at a low cost . It can be a good gift idea for Christmas. The notebook color is Pink and for a gift idea it is intended for women. The Acer Aspire One A0A150-1786 has all the same features, except the color .Available at Walmart for just $348, this ultra portable notebook features an 8.9" LCD screen and an Intel Atom N70 processor.

The notebook has a decent 120 GB Hard disk and not the solid state hard disks. This Acer has Windows XP and a wireless internet. On the negative side it does not has an optical drive (no CD or DVD), so you will have to use either a USB pen drive or network. Let us take a look at some broad specification of this notebook.

Specifications

* Price Walmart (As on Dec 13, 2008): $348.00
* Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home Addition
* Processor: Intel Atom processor N270 1.60 GHz
* RAM: 1 GB, 533 MHz DDR
* Weight: 2.19 lb
* Screen Size: 8.9 inches, WSVGA (1024 x 600)
* Hard Disk: 120 GB, SATA
* Battery : 3-cell Li-IOn (2200 mAh)
* Networking Options: 802.11b/g
* USB Ports - 3
* Optical Drive: Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
* Color : Pink

Processor

It has Intel Atom processor instead of the Celeron processor in many notebooks in this category. The intel Atom processors have better efficiencies and there are especifically designed for the performance at low power. The 1.6 GHz Atom is good enough for most of the editing works. If you are a programmer who need to compile a lot of software code, you would like to see processor with better performance. This processor is good enough for all daily uses.


Memory

The tiny notebook consists of 1 GB, 533 MHz DDR. This is fairly good as the operating system is Windows XP. Out of the 1 GB half of them is directly soldered into the motherboard. The memory can be extended to 1.5 GHz Maximum by removing the 512 MB memory and placing a 1 GB Memory.


Battery Life

Under normal surfing conditions, this notebook will last 2 and a half hour with its 3 cell Li Ion battery with 2200 mAH capacity. Some Dell notebooks in this category come with higher battery lives. If Battey life is your concern you may like to take a look at Dell E6400 notebook which boasts over 15 hours of battery life.

You may also consider buying a 6 cell Li-Ion battery that will double the battery life.

Screen

Acer Aspire AOA150-1949 has 8.9 inch display that has a resolution of 1024 x 600. The screen is bright and crisp. Most of todays websites are designed for a height of at least 800 pixels, so you may notice some verical scrolling even when you did not expect it.

Ports

Acer Aspire AOA150-1949 has three USB ports. In the absensce of optical drive USB takes center stage. With the cost of USB flash drive so low for a 2GB, it makes sense to keep one permanently for this notebook. It also has Inbuilt Microphone, that allows to make voice conversations.The notebook also has SD Memory Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, MultiMediaCard, xD-Picture Card.

There is no FireWire, HDMI, or SATA port on this laptop.





Pros

* Well built, reliable
* Low cost - only $348 at Wal Mart
* Windows XP
* 120 GB Hard Disk


Cons

* No CD / DVD


Final Thought

This notebook is good if you want an ultraportable notebook for editing word files, checking emails. A perfect gift to your wife if she is tech savvy. It has fairly good processor, 1GB Memory that is good enough for Windows XP. The 120 GB Hard disk is good enough for most of your needs. You must note that this notebook does NOT has CD/DVD, so you will need to access the files programs either from a network or from a USB pen drive. If you want to consider a relatively inexpensive notebook, with CD/DVD drive and bigger regular display you must consider HP DV4t with price tag under $600.