Acer AOD250-1633 10.1-Inch Black Netbook

Nov 8, 2009 at 13:31 o\clock

Discount Acer AOD250-1633 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Up To 9 Hours Of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

Discount Acer AOD250-1633 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Up To 9 Hours Of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

SoI was recently in the market for a netbook for travel reasons andhappened upon the Acer One. After days of reading reviews and visits tolocal electronic stores, I had narrowed my choices down to the Asus (10hour battery life) EeePC and this Acer One. As luck would have it, Iwas in the market just as Windows 7 pre-orders began and both machinescame through Amazon with the new OS. In the end, the AC adapter issueswith the Asus kept me away, and I figured 10.5 vs. 9 hours of batterylife wasn't too big of a difference (and neither would live up to theclaims regardless).

The netbook arrived the day after Windows7 was released and I immediately got to work removing the "extras" thatcome with the computer. Surprisingly though, Acer did not load too muchbloat on the machine and getting it off took no time at all. So thenbegan the installation process. Avast, Office, iTunes, CD Burningsoftware, VLC, Chrome, Firefox, Skype and Quicktime (the usuals) wereall immediate needs and all went on with ease. I did purchase the extragig of RAM that is recommended on most other netbooks (read around andyou'll see) as well, however, it did not come until 3 days later so Ihad a decent amount of time to play around with this machine with just1g.

Even with 1 gig, iTunes ran smoothly, I was able to watchHulu with no hiccups, Office didn't lag... I was actually quitesurprised. The 2 gig showed up eventually though, and things got evenbetter. Installation was a breeze (just open the memory "door" and clipit in) and took only 30 seconds. The computer recognized it instantly.Once up and running again, the system was noticeably faster... verynoticeable. Having open multiple programs is not a problem at all(something I will admit I was concerned about initially).

Alongthe same lines as the memory upgrade, an external DVD drive may beanother buy you will want (just like with every other netbook). I didnot invest in one, simply because I will not be needing it, but just athought when pricing out your "full" purchase.

So, what is good and what is bad?

Pros:

Batterylife - lives up to the advertisement (for the most part). I run it onthe intermediate setting and get 7 hours easy. Currently at 45% rightnow and have 4 hours and 5 minutes left.

Wireless N andBluetooth - while not "necessary" these are very nice. I can pick upsignals with my netbook that other laptops in the house cannot get.Range is amazing.

Speed - A lot faster than what I wasexpecting and blew away all my expectations. Just make sure you spendthe extra 20-40 bucks and get the extra memory. You will see a bigdifference (keep in mind though, she does fine with 1 gig). 2 is alwaysbetter though.

Display - Very clear and easy on the eyes. Thought I might have issues with the small screen but it looks amazing.

Windows 7 - you can read the reviews about it specifically but it runs great. I'll leave it at that.

Cons:

Keyboard - slightly smaller than some other netbook keyboards out there and can be tricky sometimes.

Touchpad- Acer, as with others, boasts a multi-touch pad (similar to an iPhoneor iPod Touch). Maybe I just haven't found the right use for it, but Ifind it nearly worthless and even when I can get it to "work," it isslow and not very useful. Also, some may find the touchpad a tad toosmall (at least I do). Finally, the click bar on the touchpad is notbroken up into two buttons, and while this is fairly common, the clickbar can be tough to click sometimes and there are times I will try toclick and hit the middle, which does nothing, and you don't "know"until you look down to see what you're clicking. I think two distinctbuttons would have been better and easier.

In the end, thismodel (and it's brightly colored siblings), in my view, are anexcellent buy if you're in the market. At around $400 (depending on howmuch you get the RAM for), this machine comes with features that youwill only find in more expensive netbooks. While I've only had it for aweek, I will say I am very pleased with my investment. If time permits,I will update this to review how it holds up with travel, etc... butbased on simple home wireless use, I have very very few complaints. Buy Acer AOD250 1633 Lowest Price, Order Now! [Click Here!]

Relate Products
Acer AOD250 Black Netbook, Acer Aod250 on Sale, Acer AOD250 Black Netbook, AOD250 10.1 Inch,

Nov 7, 2009 at 16:31 o\clock

Cheapest Acer AOD250-1633 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Up To 9 Hours Of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

Cheapest Acer AOD250-1633 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Up To 9 Hours Of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)


TheAcer Aspire One D250-1633 is exactly as advertised. A nice smallnetbook with an easy to read screen. Windows 7 Starter works fine. Sodoes Office 2007. I was concerned about the 1 GB memory but Windows 7Starter seems very lean and Word and Excel and Internet Explorer run(at the same time) with memory to spare. The keyboard certainly issmaller than normal, but I'm a hunt and peck typist so it makes littledifference to me. If you're looking for a small, light, inexpensivenetbook this seems like a good choice.



Buy Acer AOD250 1633 Lowest Price, Order Now! [Click Here!]

Relate Products
Acer AOD250 Black Netbook, Acer Aod250 on Sale, Acer AOD250 Black Netbook, AOD250 10.1 Inch,

Nov 6, 2009 at 23:29 o\clock

Cheap Acer AOD250-1633 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Up To 9 Hours Of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

Cheap Acer AOD250-1633 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Up To 9 Hours Of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

WARNING: netbook specs change rapidly, as do their prices. So be sure to research any changes since the date of this review.

OVERVIEW:bright, clear screen; snappy response (based on a couple of hours ofadding and removing programs, after the 31 updates to Win7 firstdownloaded); tolerable streaming video (ran HD Apple trailers in 480mode fine; Hulu was sometimes "choppy"; ran "Large" non-HD Appletrailers fine; ran ABC.GO.COM tv shows tolerably well; won't run Huluin 480 mode or full screen; ran HQ You Tube fine). Smaller screen andsmaller keyboard at a time when other netbooks are bumping up againstsuper light laptops, but at least this is under 3 pounds WITH thecharger. And you can't beat that battery life!

WHAT COULD BEBETTER: The 11.6" screen on some Aspire Ones is superb - more pixels =ability to see NY Times online full screen without scrolling (the 10.1"on this one requires slight scrolling, but you are only missing "adboxes" on the right hand anyway). HOWEVER I bought a 10.1" because allthe 11.6" models come with downgraded Atom processors (z520 with GMA500 chips vs. the N280 and GMA 900 on this one). SHOULD come with 2 GBof memory to match the other upgraded specs on this otherwise upgradedversion, but unfortunately, doesn't.

NOT ALL ASPIRE AOD250'S ARECREATED EQUAL DEPT.: Danger Will Robinson! Danger Will Robinson! DangerWill Robinson! PLEASE NOTE that Aspire has put the AOD250 label on aWHOLE HOST of widely different netbooks. Things to watch out for: theN280 is MUCH faster than the N270 - not because of the processor speed(1.66 vs. 1.6, nothing!) but because of the front bus (memory) speed(677 vs. 533, a lot!). This version, as of the date I write thisreview, also comes with Win7 while many come with XP; comes with 250 GBhard drive instead of 160 GB on most AOD250's; has wireless N insteadof G (a LOT faster, when internet cafes and other locations upgrade);has Blue Tooth; has the 6 cell battery (AND it's in the 5200 m.a.version, not the 4200).

WHAT I DID ON DELIVERY (ymmv so think before you leap:

1.BEFORE inserting the battery, I removed one easy screw from the middleback panel, pulled a couple of side clips off the existing memorymodule, and did a 5 minute total upgrade to 2GB of RAM. Super simple.

2. Install the battery, plug in the charger, boot up.

3. Wait for normal set up; enter minimal information.

4. Load Internet Explorer and click on Windows update - the computer will update soon on its own, but this speeds it up.

5.Installed 38 security updates and 3 non-essential updates. Note: Acerhas its own update program to check for BIOS and device driver updates,a nice touch, I went in and changed the update frequency to monthlyfrom daily.

6. Uninstalled the trial antivirus program. Whichvirus program you choose is up to you; I've had good luck with Panda(paid) and with AVG (free, no ads). Based on what I read since then, Idecided to try Microsoft's new, free basic protection program,Microsoft Security Essentials (Google: download Microsoft SecurityEssentials) and quickly installed it. It's not supposed to be as up todate as some, but it's overhead is low and I have some confidence thatMSFT will try to make it work well in conjunction with their Win7patches and updates. NOTE: Security Essentials has its own Malwareprogram which replaces Windows Defender which comes with Win7. Makesure both aren't running at the same time (make sure SecurityEssentials DID turn off Windows Defender).

7. Uninstalled allthe junkware (trial Office, Norton BackUp, eSobi, etc.). Uninstalledall the excess MSFT baggage - Silverlight, Live Essentials. If you everuse a program that wants chunks of these, they will ask to download andreinstall and you can decide then. NOTE: you don't want tags of toomany programs running in memory, that slows down the computerespecially video - the "load" from the antivirus can be especiallysignificant.

8. Downloaded Quicktime; iTunes; Flash 10 (alreadyinstalled - good work Acer! - but there was an incremental update sincethe build they installed on my hard drive.

KUDOS TO AMAZONDEPT.: I got this overnight, with the memory chip to upgrade, for only$28. Wow. I could have had free delivery by waiting a week or two withSuper Saver. And they actually got the right computer to me - given howmy AOD250's variants they stock, and colors, that's no mean feat.

WHYYOU MIGHT WANT GET THE SMALLER BATTERY DEPT.: The humongous runsforever battery is fatter and heavier. Heavy, not a problem; wider nota problem; problem is, it juts down from the body which means itdoesn't fit well in a flat computer slot. On the other hand, itelevates the rear of the deck slightly for better cooling.

YOUSHOULD GET THIS IF: You are cheap or on a budget or want a very light,very small, very functional computer for travel. If you write, blog,browse the web, watch YouTube, download to iTunes (250 gb helps).

YOUSHOULD NOT GET THIS IF: You want to watch Hulu in higher resolutionand/or at full screen; if you burn a lot of DVDs; if you do Photoshopor make movies; if you play video games that make demands on hardware.Get the new white Macbook instead.

MY CRYSTAL BALL SAYS THESETHINGS WILL CHANGE IN ONE YEAR: Dual core Atom chips (alreadyavailable); lower power consumption support chips instead of theancient 945; better graphics chips (from Intel, or from 3rd parties,Nvidia already has the Ion); standard 2 gb with optional 4 gb; 11.6 asthe "premium" netbook niche and 10.1 as the "standard" niche with smallscreens disappearing; XP disappears, finally replaced by Win7.

ANDTHE QUESTION YOU WANTED ANSWERED FIRST: Yes, Win7 works out of the box.Abiword works fine with it. Yes it is as fast, to my eye and hand, asXP. Yes, it will be supported a lot longer in the future than XP. NO,stay away from Vista even on a close out model. I had it one onenetbook and had to return it, it was so slow. Win7 Starter has no "eyecandy" for the desktop but it is FAST.Buy Acer AOD250 1633 Lowest Price, Order Now! [Click Here!]

Relate Products
Acer AOD250 Black Netbook, Acer Aod250 on Sale, Acer AOD250 Black Netbook, AOD250 10.1 Inch,

Nov 6, 2009 at 20:28 o\clock

Buying Acer AOD250-1633 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Up To 9 Hours Of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

Buying Acer AOD250-1633 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Up To 9 Hours Of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

Ihad some concerns about a netbook. To be sure, they're small and light,but my question was whether that also meant they were slow andfunctionally crippled. The Acer quickly overcame my skepticism. Despitethe fact that this is a very small and light system, it is plenty fastand has a lot of good features.

The keyboard isn't full-sized,but it's well-designed and even for a fast typist (which I am) it'seasy to get used to and positive when you gain some experience with it.The screen is also small, but bright and easy to read. Some softwaredoes create an issue with it by not showing all of a window, so itmight be a good idea to check to be sure your favorite programs havewindows that can be resized, even the smaller "internal" ones used whenyou pick a menu item.

Windows 7 was probably my happiestsurprise. The Acer with Win 7 boots very quickly, and for users of XPit's not a major transition. To be sure, things like the Control Paneldon't work exactly the same way, but it's not hard to figure out whatthe equivalent steps are. The Acer comes with the "Starter" version ofWindows 7, which doesn't include personalization touches like your ownwallpaper, but despite this it connected to my home network with WiFisecurity without a hitch and also shared files and printers with myother PCs (still on XP). If you don't have Windows 7 on all your homesystems, pick "Work Network" when you set up because the defaulthomenet option won't work with XP systems.

Program compatibilityis good as long as you get software that works with Vista; the Starterversion won't run the XP compatibility mode stuff. Open source programslike OpenOffice install and run fine. The Works and Office Home andStudents software that comes with the system aren't useful; the formeris the anemic ad-sponsored version and the latter is a trial that willcost half the price of the netbook to convert. Microsoft's own SecurityEssentials isn't loaded (there's a McAfee trial) but I uninstalled allthis stuff and loaded my own without difficulty. Since there's noCD/DVD drive you will need to download, use a memory stick, or copy viaa home network to get software onto the device.

In all, I'm very glad I got this system. It was easier to set up and more powerful than I'd expected.Buy Acer AOD250 1633 Lowest Price, Order Now! [Click Here!]

Relate Products
Acer AOD250 Black Netbook, Acer Aod250 on Sale, Acer AOD250 Black Netbook, AOD250 10.1 Inch

Nov 6, 2009 at 20:28 o\clock

Acer AOD250-1633 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Up To 9 Hours Of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

Acer AOD250-1633 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Up To 9 Hours Of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

Ibought this netbook as a replacement to my 4 year old Dell laptop. Ididn't really need a new, expensive laptop as I primarily use my worklaptop for for memory and processor hungry activities. I figured aninexpensive netbook would be a fine replacement for browsing the web,sending personal email, shopping online, hitting up facebook, etc. Andso far, so good.

I've only been using it for 24 hours, but sofar everything seems to work well. I am quite pleased with Windows 7Starter as well. I am a product manager for a large software companyand have used several OS version. I hated Vista and was reluctant to gowith Windows 7, but so far, I am not disappointed.

Pros:
- All the features for less $ (faster processor, bluetooth, web cam, 250HDD, WiFi b/g/n, extended battery)
- Windows 7 Starter
- Color combo is appealing
- Decent touchpad (better than the D150 series!)
- Extended battery does NOT extend under the laptop, but out the back, like most laptops.

Cons:
-The keyboard is smaller than comparable other netbooks. I wish the keyswere bigger. It can be challenging to type. The Dell and HP mini's havelarger keys, but have the extended battery extend under the laptop. Notsomething I wanted to trade off for.
- The glossy case could be challenging to keep clean... not sure yet as it's only been 24 hours.
Buy Acer AOD250 1633 Lowest Price, Order Now! [Click Here!]

Relate Products
Acer AOD250 Black Netbook, Acer Aod250 on Sale, Acer AOD250 Black Netbook, AOD250 10.1 Inch,