(This review is for the 6-cell onyx/black version.) As is the case with most who purchase this system, I'm not interested in doing anything requiring a lot of raw power: I bought it because its portability means I can easily cart it to class or the library. It's smaller - though slightly more heavy - than my average textbook, so I simply throw it in my bag and bring it along.
The battery life on the 6-cell is exceptional, making it ideal for students or travelers who don't have ready-made access to outlets. This is the obvious selling point of the model over its predecessor 3-cell sister (which my father owns), so I'd recommend that the buyer consider whether or not the extra battery life is needed.
I'm truly impressed with how the system performs. I expected a lot of down time booting and executing programs, but this hasn't been my experience. After tweaking MSCONFIG's startup options, I'm ready to go in under a minute. For reduction in time here, I'd also recommend scrapping the preinstalled McAffee security suite in favor of a program less resource dependent. Programs execute more quickly than I expected them to (coming from a quad-core desktop), and I am in no way disappointed with the power of this thing.
This little machine is not without its cons, however. While the keyboard is easy to use, the slightly reduced key size will make for an initial increase in the number of typos one makes. It gets easier with practice, though, and doesn't stand as a major issue in my mind. The colored cases also attract fingerprints, as other reviewers have mentioned.
I find the touchpad right/left click buttons to be extremely unhelpful, since Acer (most likely in an effort to keep the product as small as possible) put the buttons to the left and the right of the touchpad. The buttons themselves are also very stiff, and require a seemingly unnatural amount of force to activate. This is only a small gripe in the end though, considering how a quick tap on the touchpad itself simulates left-clicking. Still, scrolling and anything involving the right-click can be difficult.
Overall, if you're looking for a netbook, this one will not disappoint.
The battery life on the 6-cell is exceptional, making it ideal for students or travelers who don't have ready-made access to outlets. This is the obvious selling point of the model over its predecessor 3-cell sister (which my father owns), so I'd recommend that the buyer consider whether or not the extra battery life is needed.
I'm truly impressed with how the system performs. I expected a lot of down time booting and executing programs, but this hasn't been my experience. After tweaking MSCONFIG's startup options, I'm ready to go in under a minute. For reduction in time here, I'd also recommend scrapping the preinstalled McAffee security suite in favor of a program less resource dependent. Programs execute more quickly than I expected them to (coming from a quad-core desktop), and I am in no way disappointed with the power of this thing.
This little machine is not without its cons, however. While the keyboard is easy to use, the slightly reduced key size will make for an initial increase in the number of typos one makes. It gets easier with practice, though, and doesn't stand as a major issue in my mind. The colored cases also attract fingerprints, as other reviewers have mentioned.
I find the touchpad right/left click buttons to be extremely unhelpful, since Acer (most likely in an effort to keep the product as small as possible) put the buttons to the left and the right of the touchpad. The buttons themselves are also very stiff, and require a seemingly unnatural amount of force to activate. This is only a small gripe in the end though, considering how a quick tap on the touchpad itself simulates left-clicking. Still, scrolling and anything involving the right-click can be difficult.
Overall, if you're looking for a netbook, this one will not disappoint.
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