Acer Aspire One redux

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.net A couple months ago, INQUIRER.net r eviewed three of the first Intel Atom-based ultra-portable notebooks in the Phi lippines, the Asus Eee PC 1000H, MSI Wind, and the Acer Aspire One A110L. The A spire One was the lowest model among the three, having nearly the same features as the original Asus Eee PC, including an 8-Gigabyte solid-state drive, a 512- megabyte memory and running a Linux operating system. Nevertheless, it matched quite well with the Asus and MSI Atom models due to its low power consumption a nd basic operating system. This time, Acer Philippines lent us a higher model of the Acer Aspire One with all the bells and whistles. What Acer hopes to do with the Aspire One A150X is to find a suitable market for higher level ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC ) users. These are people who want to still do some basic desktop editing done on a Microsoft Windows platform while retaining a handy device. Essentially, th e user must already have a notebook or a desktop computer, with the UMPC used o nly as a secondary device. Dimensions and weight The Aspire One A150X basically uses the same frame as the Aspire One A110L. It is still currently the smallest of the Atom-based UMPCs at 170 millimeter (width) by 249 mm (depth) by 29 mm (heig ht). Without its battery, this model weighs only 0.7 kilograms. It becomes heav ier when its main 6-cell 52000 mAh (milliampere/hour) lithium ion battery is pl ugged in. The battery is actually the single heaviest object in the laptop, abo ut half a kilogram, and it juts out of the back of the unit. Despite the aesthe tically unappealing look, the batteries extend the operating period of the Aspi re One. Configuration The Aspire One A150X has a lot of new features underneath its hood. Instead of an 8 Gb solid state drive, this one uses a 160 Gb hard disk. Its memory is also upgraded to 1 Gb to manage most of the Windows XP desktop applications, audio and video editing software. Many games will not play in this model and this is because of the limitations of the Atom processor. The integrated webcam is also upgraded to 1.3 megapixels compared to just the 0 .3 megapixel camera used in the first generation Aspire One. The higher webcam model is a nice throw-in but is not fully utilized unless the screen is substan tially bigger. Nevertheless, the Aspire one A150X is a few steps to becoming a full-scale note book. Screen, keyboard and touchpad There are no changes with the screen and keyboard size of the Aspire One A150X and the early model Aspire One A110L. It still uses an 8.9-inch LCD screen capa ble of rendering 1024x600 megapixels. But surprisingly, the screen looks crampe d when using Windows XP. This is an inherent problem with all small LCD screens as these cannot render Windows XP below 800x600, the lowest that Windows XP ca n go. Nevertheless, it's a relatively small problem to experience. The 95 percent-size keyboard is also the same as with the A110L, which is feels very tactile. UMPCs using smaller keyboards are obviously targeted at users wi th smaller hands (Asians in particular) so those with big hands would have diff iculty typing into the keyboard. The notoriously difficult to use Acer touchpad is back. The inch-wide touchpad is still present and the left and right click buttons are still placed on eithe r side of the touchpad. Even with the sensitivity set to low, mouse movement is still somewhat slow. A portable USB mouse may perhaps solve this. Graphics, sound and external peripherals The Aspire One A150X still uses the same Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 a nd for a small device, this particular graphics engine is just enough. Notewort hy is how it is able to execute videos both online and on the hard disk. With a dditional video or audio applications and codecs the A150X can play just about every available format. But there is a noticeable lag when playing high-quality videos, such as .VOB and .AVI files. This may be a problem of the Atom process or itself, which has limited capabilities to run high quality videos and audio. The sound quality is nothing spectacular even with the inclusion of a Dolby Dig ital logo. Don't rely on the integrated speakers and it's better to use headset s instead. The Aspire One A150X has three USB ports, ample enough to accommodate a USB mou se, an external drive, and maybe a 3G antenna when necessary. It also has an in tegrated SD card reader. Connectivity The unit also comes with an integra ted 802.11 b/g Wifi antenna allowing for easy access to the Internet when there is n available Wifi hotspot. Too bad the Aspire One A150X still doesn't have B luetooth. But one surprising addition to the A150X is the inclusion of a subscriber ident ification module (SIM) slot, the same slot design used in mobile phones. At fir st, I inserted a SIM card to the unit only to find out that the slot is a manuf acturing design â there are no integrated connectivity options. A quick visit t o the Acer Aspire One website would reveal that the present SIM slot in the Aspire One does not work. It is not stated if the next iteration of the Aspire One will have that k ind of feature. Hopefully, it does as it would expand the device's connectivity options. Battery Battery life is perhaps the single most important consideration in a notebook. No one would want to work while bei ng conscious whether the battery would die out after a couple of hours. Most of the Atom-based notebooks reviewed before have ho-hum performance, operating fo r just about two hours before dying out. The 6-cell battery allowed the Aspire One A150X to run for a phenomenal 3 hours at full charge with the Wifi connecti ons running and a video playing on a loop. This maybe one of the more positive aspects of this model, giving ample time for a user to do quick editing on the fly without having to worry about their UMPCs dying out. Even with a slightly b ulkier unit due to battery size, it is outweighed by the benefit it gives to th e user. Verdict If Acer came out with this model along with the first generation Aspire One, it would have outsold many of its competitors, most especially the powerhouse Asu s Eee PC. However, by waiting a bit longer, the company is showing that it is j ust weighing its options and in the process, whetting the appetites of people w ho want to have a small and handy device that has about the most basic capabili ties of a full-size notebook. It's an effective marketing ploy but Acer has to sustain it, especially with several other competing brands entering the UMPC bu siness. If ever, the Aspire One A150X will be a strong product in the cutthroat UMPC bu siness. It will even be a bigger brand if it's able to finally make the SIM slo t work. Eventually users will start demanding for devices with SIM options and the Aspire One can lead the pack.