7.7.09
From a Netbook with... An Acer Aspire One 531 Review
I could just admit I can't be bothered posting here any more and move on. (Move on to what? I have no idea. There isn't anything I want to move on to.) I can't even be bothered to share my more interesting dreams (there have been a few lately) with my 0 readers. Four years is a venerable age for a haircut blog, and I could retire it and still feel good about it, but it still has at least one purpose to serve. So...
Anyway.
I've been intrigued with the concept of the tiny, but proper computer ever since Asus came out with the EeePC. However, there was a limit to how small I was willing to go, and minuscule screens, Celeron processors and pitiful battery lives of the early specimens just didn't do. Ten inch screens and six-hour batteries finally made things acceptable, and I've been eyeing first the Samsung NC10, and then the Asus 1000HE when it came out. Considering that I've developed a habit of going on long weekends in foreign countries and spending a fair amount of time around airports and on planes, I could see an empty niche my regular laptop was both too large and too impractical to fill (not that I didn't try to squeeze it into it, but lugging Rosie and its oversized feeding bottle on my back through a full day walk around London finally convinced me it was a bad idea).
Eventually, I went and got myself an Acer 531 two or so weeks ago. Why that one, and not one of the afore-mentioned two? Because in this country, if you want to buy a netbook, you can choose between Acer, Acer and maybe a Lenovo. And if you want one with a big battery, your choice is reduced to just Acer. You never could buy the NC10 in Croatia, and the only Asus netbooks on sale around here are the leftover 904 ones (at the same price they were sold when they came out, I might add). Why? Fuck knows.
Back to the Acer at hand... My first reaction was, OMC, it's so tiny! Look at it, a real computer, but tiny! And it's got cute tiny keys... Tiny keys... OK, this last feature isn't so cute (re-using the keyboards from the old 9" models is bad, mkay, Acer?), and I would've punished that particular design decision by purchasing either the 1000HE or the NC10 (both of which are marginally faster, too)... Had I been given a choice. But I wasn't. Yes, I'm bitter about it. The said keyboard is decidedly uncomfortable to use, and its flimsy build doesn't really help with that. On the other hand, I didn't buy it so I can type the draft of my epic fantasy series on it, so it'll probably do. Still, typing this post has been a painful experience.
The touchpad, whose size and overly firm buttons every reviewer on the internet and beyond has complained about isn't that small, and nobody in their right mind uses those buttons anyway, so I'll give it a passing grade. Also, I'm using an external mouse right now, which is a sensible thing to do in any case.
There's one thing I'm happy with, and that's the battery life. Turn off the radios and dim the screen a bit, and there's enough juice for 7 to 8 hours of office work. With the wireless on, it'll run Eve for about 4 hours, and the old games (no wireless) for even longer. I'll be able to keep myself sufficiently entertained during my travels.
There isn't much to say about the rest, which is the standard netbook fare. The Atom N270, 1 GB of RAM, and that carrot-awful Intel 945 chipset/graphics chip are adequate for anything one would want to run on a netbook, including Eve in the AFK mode. It's still slower than my old Pentium M/mobile Geforce 5650 laptop, but it's also 1/3 of its weight. A fair trade, as far as I'm concerned.
And finally, since it's very quiet even under load, even if it never does anything but play music while I sleep (through external speakers, the built-in ones are of barely adequate quality to make the system noises, but that's the standard netbook fare, too), I'll consider my money well spent. I don't think it'll come to that, and will be testing that quite soon.
Another thing I should probably mention, that's been a source of immese annoyance for me. The 'system restore' copy of the operating system comes on a hidden partition that can be booted from in case one needs to restore the computer to the factory condition, and is only accessible by the incredibly obtuse Acer's backup/restore utility. Why obtuse? Because the utility absolutely refuses to back up the OS onto anything but a physical optical drive attached to a USB port. A drive that needs to be acquired separately. It also requires two DVDs to make a backup of the Windows XP home that's on the hidden partition, which only highlights the amount of crap/bloatware Acer's products come preinstalled with for your inconvenience. You can't back up the Windows you've paid for on a flash drive, which, considering the day and age, and the fact that the computer can be booted from one, is just stupid.
Oh, and another thing. Everyone, repeat after me: a netbook is not one's main computer. Again: a netbook is not one's main computer. The second one, or even better, a third, but not the first. So, repeat again: a netbook is not one's main computer. Heed this, and you'll be happy with one.
Anyway.
I've been intrigued with the concept of the tiny, but proper computer ever since Asus came out with the EeePC. However, there was a limit to how small I was willing to go, and minuscule screens, Celeron processors and pitiful battery lives of the early specimens just didn't do. Ten inch screens and six-hour batteries finally made things acceptable, and I've been eyeing first the Samsung NC10, and then the Asus 1000HE when it came out. Considering that I've developed a habit of going on long weekends in foreign countries and spending a fair amount of time around airports and on planes, I could see an empty niche my regular laptop was both too large and too impractical to fill (not that I didn't try to squeeze it into it, but lugging Rosie and its oversized feeding bottle on my back through a full day walk around London finally convinced me it was a bad idea).
Eventually, I went and got myself an Acer 531 two or so weeks ago. Why that one, and not one of the afore-mentioned two? Because in this country, if you want to buy a netbook, you can choose between Acer, Acer and maybe a Lenovo. And if you want one with a big battery, your choice is reduced to just Acer. You never could buy the NC10 in Croatia, and the only Asus netbooks on sale around here are the leftover 904 ones (at the same price they were sold when they came out, I might add). Why? Fuck knows.
Back to the Acer at hand... My first reaction was, OMC, it's so tiny! Look at it, a real computer, but tiny! And it's got cute tiny keys... Tiny keys... OK, this last feature isn't so cute (re-using the keyboards from the old 9" models is bad, mkay, Acer?), and I would've punished that particular design decision by purchasing either the 1000HE or the NC10 (both of which are marginally faster, too)... Had I been given a choice. But I wasn't. Yes, I'm bitter about it. The said keyboard is decidedly uncomfortable to use, and its flimsy build doesn't really help with that. On the other hand, I didn't buy it so I can type the draft of my epic fantasy series on it, so it'll probably do. Still, typing this post has been a painful experience.
The touchpad, whose size and overly firm buttons every reviewer on the internet and beyond has complained about isn't that small, and nobody in their right mind uses those buttons anyway, so I'll give it a passing grade. Also, I'm using an external mouse right now, which is a sensible thing to do in any case.
There's one thing I'm happy with, and that's the battery life. Turn off the radios and dim the screen a bit, and there's enough juice for 7 to 8 hours of office work. With the wireless on, it'll run Eve for about 4 hours, and the old games (no wireless) for even longer. I'll be able to keep myself sufficiently entertained during my travels.
There isn't much to say about the rest, which is the standard netbook fare. The Atom N270, 1 GB of RAM, and that carrot-awful Intel 945 chipset/graphics chip are adequate for anything one would want to run on a netbook, including Eve in the AFK mode. It's still slower than my old Pentium M/mobile Geforce 5650 laptop, but it's also 1/3 of its weight. A fair trade, as far as I'm concerned.
And finally, since it's very quiet even under load, even if it never does anything but play music while I sleep (through external speakers, the built-in ones are of barely adequate quality to make the system noises, but that's the standard netbook fare, too), I'll consider my money well spent. I don't think it'll come to that, and will be testing that quite soon.
Another thing I should probably mention, that's been a source of immese annoyance for me. The 'system restore' copy of the operating system comes on a hidden partition that can be booted from in case one needs to restore the computer to the factory condition, and is only accessible by the incredibly obtuse Acer's backup/restore utility. Why obtuse? Because the utility absolutely refuses to back up the OS onto anything but a physical optical drive attached to a USB port. A drive that needs to be acquired separately. It also requires two DVDs to make a backup of the Windows XP home that's on the hidden partition, which only highlights the amount of crap/bloatware Acer's products come preinstalled with for your inconvenience. You can't back up the Windows you've paid for on a flash drive, which, considering the day and age, and the fact that the computer can be booted from one, is just stupid.
Oh, and another thing. Everyone, repeat after me: a netbook is not one's main computer. Again: a netbook is not one's main computer. The second one, or even better, a third, but not the first. So, repeat again: a netbook is not one's main computer. Heed this, and you'll be happy with one.
Labels: Acer Aspire One 531, review
