Acer Aspire One

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Acer Aspire One
Guang Hua Digital Plaza Launch Acer Aspire One WhiteBackground.jpg
Developer Acer
Type Subnotebook/Netbook
Media 8/16 GiB SSD or
120/160 GB HDD
Operating system Linpus Linux Lite, Windows XP Home
Power 3-cell: 2.200 Ah, 2.4 Ah, 2.7 Ah, 2.9 Ah;[1] 6-cell: 5.2 Ah, 6.6 Ah (aftermarket extended-life batteries capacity may differ)
CPU 1.6 GHz Intel Atom 1.66 GHz Intel AtomN270-N280
Memory 512 MiB, 1 GiB, 1.5 GiB, 2 GiB
Display 10.1 in (26 cm), 8.9 in (23 cm) 1024×600 LCD TFT
Input 89% size[2] Keyboard
Touchpad
Camera 0.3 MP Suyin or 1.3 MP Liteon Webcam
Connectivity 3 USB ports
5-in-1 card reader
VGA video-out port
3.5mm audio jacks
Realtek 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet
Atheros 802.11b/g WLAN
3G/UMTS
Aspire One

Acer Aspire One is a line of subcompact notebook computers, or netbooks, released in July 2008 by Acer Inc.[3]

It is based on the Intel Atom platform, which consists of the Intel Atom processor, Intel 945GSE Express chipset and Intel 82801GBM (ICH7M) I/O controller,[4] and is available in several shell colors: seashell white, sapphire blue, golden brown, onyx black, and coral pink.

The line is manufactured for Acer Inc. by Quanta Computer.[5] Quanta will be phased out as a supplier to Acer; production of the Acer Aspire One line will be shifting to other manufacturers in 2009.[6]

Its main competitors in the low-cost netbook market are the Asus Eee PC line and the Dell Inspiron Mini 9.

Contents

[edit] Operating system

[edit] Windows

Windows XP Home Edition SP3 is installed on the models with a name ending in X, or ending in B followed by another letter denoting color.

It is also possible to install and run Windows Vista or Windows 7 on the laptop although Windows Vista performance may suffer in the Solid State Drive Versions due to Windows Vista's lack of SSD drivers. The lack of a DVD-ROM drive will require creating a bootable USB flashdrive or using a USB external DVD drive.

[edit] Linux

Models with names starting in L, or ending in A followed by a letter for color, are shipped with Linpus Linux Lite, which is based on Fedora Core 8[7][8] This offers a simplified user interface, with default applications like the Firefox 2 browser, OpenOffice.org 2.3, Acer One Mail and Acer One Messenger available directly on the main screen. The default desktop environment has been designed to hide advanced features from the user and to prevent modification. However, it is still possible to modify it to present a more traditional Xfce 4 desktop, enable more advanced features such as context menus, or install additional software.[9]

It is possible to install and run other Linux distributions on the Acer Aspire One, and some specially customised Linux distributions have been designed to offer out-of-the-box functionality. These include Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR), Linux4One,[10], Kuki Linux[11] and Moblin[12]. Other distributions of the Linux operating system will also run, such as Fedora,[13] Debian, Mandriva Linux,[14] Ubuntu, Ubuntu Studio,[15][16][17] Eeebuntu,[18] openSUSE,[19] and Linux Mint.

[edit] Mac OS X

Through the OSx86 project, an Aspire One can boot and run a modified version of Mac OS X, including iAtkos, iDeneb, "XxX" and Kalyway distributions. This procedure is not supported by Apple or Acer.

[edit] Other operating systems

Other x86 operating systems like FreeBSD[20] and OpenSolaris[21] are known to run on the Aspire One. Acer recently announced a new version of the Aspire One to be shipped with Google Android.[22]

[edit] Storage

[edit] SSD drives

The A110 model ships with an 8 GB or 16 GB solid-state drive (SSD), although some models do not come with one. Early 8 GB models come with the Intel Z-P230, model SSDPAMM0008G1. This SSD has been criticized for its slow read and write speed. Intel lists the drive's maximum speeds as 38 MB/s read and 10 MB/s write.[23] Later models come with the slightly faster Samsung P-SSD 1800.

[edit] Hard disks

The HDD is a regular 2.5-in 5400 rpm SATA drive with 80, 120 or 160 GB. A number of different drives have been reported so far: Seagate ST980811AS and ST9120817AS[24], Western Digital WD1200BEVS[25], WD1600BEVT, Hitachi HTS543212L9A300[26],Hitachi HTS543216L9A300, Hitachi HTS543216L9SA00, and Toshiba MK1652GSX.

[edit] Storage expansion slot

There is also an SD/SDHC storage expansion slot on all models for additional storage. On Linux versions this automatically expands the space of the SSD or HDD using aufs. Windows XP models treat it as a normal removable drive. A second slot acts as a standard multi-in-1 flash memory card reader[citation needed]. The 110 BIOS does not support booting an operating system from these slots, however, the 150 has one or two card reader slots, depending on model. On models with two card slots, only one is an expansion slot,the other is a standard card reader slot. One of which can be used for a bootable SDHC card[citation needed]. For the solid state drive (SSD) version or flash drives, use a non-journalling filesystem such as ext2 to prolong the life of the drive.[3] (Note: it is possible to boot from HD or USB using a /boot partition and initrd that will support accessing a kernel on SD, but this is not booting from SD, as the /boot partition cannot reside there).

[edit] Power management

The Intel Atom platform has a specified maximum TDP of 11.8 W. Individual figures are 2.5 W for the N270 processor, 6 W for the 945GSE chipset and 3.3 W for the 82801GBM I/O controller.[27][28][29][30] The AUO B089AW01 LCD panel is rated at a maximum power consumption of 3 W.[31] Typical read–write power consumption for the SSD is around 0.3 W, and 0.01 W when idle. The different HDDs are rated at about 1.5–2.5 W for read–write operations and around 0.7 W when idle.[24][25][26]

The official ratings for the battery are up to 3 hours for the three-cell, and up to 7 hours for the six-cell.[citation needed] Linpus Linux Lite has been optimized by Acer for lower power consumption. Battery life is shorter on HDD configurations with Windows XP, at approximately 2.5 hours for the three-cell.[citation needed] Although the standard three-cell battery is 2.2 Ah, some users have reported 2.4 Ah and 2.9 Ah batteries from the factory. Various suppliers online now carry aftermarket batteries, including the six-cell. Aftermarket nine-cell batteries are available though they are quite heavy, and also protrude out of the back, reducing the aesthetics but improving airflow.

[edit] Specifications

Model OS Display Storage RAM Battery Webcam Bluetooth avail. certain configs Availability
Type Size
A110L Linux 8.9 in (22.6 cm),
1024×600 TFT LCD		 SSD 8 GB 512 MiB 3-cell 0.3 megapixel No US,[32][33] CA, GB,[34] AU, UAE, EU, PT
A110X XP SSD 16 GB 1 GiB 3-cell 0.3 megapixel No US, CA, GB, AU, UAE, INDIA
A150L Linux HDD 120 GB 512 MiB/1 GiB 3-cell 0.3 megapixel No CA, GB,INDIA
A150-1382 160 GB 1 GiB Unknown[35] No US,INDIA
A150X XP HDD 120 GB 1 GiB 3-cell 0.3 megapixel No US, CA, GB, AE, TW, AU,INDIA
160 GB 6-cell 1.3 megapixel[36] No US, CA, CH, TW,INDIA
A150X-3G XP HDD 120 GB 1 GiB 6-cell 1.3 megapixel No GB, MX, DE (T-Mobile),INDIA
ZG5[37] XP HDD 120 GB 512 MiB/1 GiB 3-cell/6-cell 0.3 megapixel No BR CA, GB, INDIA
160 GB No US (Walmart, Radio Shack), SI (SiOL)[38]
Linux 160 GB No GB, TW, BR
SSD 8 GB No TW, PT, AT,INDIA
16 GB No GB, others?
XP 8 GB No US,INDIA
10.1" (D150) XP 10.1 in (25.7 cm),
1024×600 TFT LCD		 HDD 160 GB 1 GiB, can accept up to 2 GiB Varies by country and model, 3-cell/6-cell standard[39][not in citation given][40] 0.3 megapixel Yes AU, CA, GB, IN, NL, SG, TH, US, UAE
Ultra-Thin 10.1" (D250) XP HDD 160 GB 1 GiB, can accept up to 2 GiB Varies by country and model, 3-cell/6-cell standard 0.3 megapixel Yes US, CA, GB, AU, UAE, IN, SG, NL
Pro 10.1" (P531h) XP HDD 160 GB 1 GiB/2 GiB, can accept up to 2 GiB 6-cell 0.3 megapixel Yes US, CA, GB, AU, UAE, IN, SG, NL
11.6" (751h) XP/Vista 11.6 in
1364×768 TFT LCD		 HDD 160 GB/250 GB 1 GiB/2 GiB, can accept up to 2 GiB 3-cell/6-cell 0.3 megapixel Yes US, CA, EU, AU

Acer AOD model (10.1" screen) Product Comparison Guide, in the form of a spreadsheet file download, is available from increa.com[4].

[edit] Additional hardware

Since November 2008 the 3G-enabled model Aspire One A150X-3G is available in Europe,[41] while models with 3G modems will begin shipping in the United Kingdom in December and are denoted by the letter G in their model number. The first generation Aspire One webcam is an Acer Labs International M5608 camera controller with attached 0.3 MP SuYin or 1.3 MP LiteOn CMOS sensor.

The Aspire One uses an Intel 945GSE chipset which only supports 2 GiB of RAM.[29] Installing memory modules larger than 2 GiB has caused the Aspire to fail the power-on self-test.

[edit] AO751h (751h)

The AO751h is the latest netbook from Acer. It sports a new 11.6 in form factor, with a LED backlit display, and a 1366x768 native resolution. Also new is a 2GB (max) main memory option, a 250GB HDD option, Bluetooth option, new northbridge - Intel US15W, and an OS option for Windows Vista Home Basic edition. All AO751h units are powered by an Intel Atom Z520 processor running at 1240 MHz, a clock speed decrease of 25% compared to the previously standard 1600 MHz of the "netbook reference platform" used by every imaginable manufacturer, including in all of Acer's Aspire One series. The US15W system controller incorporates a GMA500 video core, and while the hardware has significant potential for smooth video decoding, the video driver software is not mature and significant improvements have been seen with each new driver release. The announcement by Adobe that they will be releasing a FLASH upgrade (10.1) which will incorporate code that can take advantage of video hardware acceleration, assuming that the code is comparable with the GMA500 core, is viewed with great hope. As currently coded, FLASH must be decoded by the cpu and the Z520 does this poorly, leaving users who wish to view such sites as YouTube or Hulu with disappointing results.

Much speculation has been that Intel Corp, the manufacturer of the Atom processor, which has a large market share in this new netbook market, has capped the performance levels of netbooks with form factors approaching notebook size, such as the AO751h. This is to prevent cannibalization of Intel's (large) share of the notebook CPU market and to further broaden the performance gap of the Atom and Intel's current notebook offerings. At the 2009 Intel Developer's Conference, company representatives indicated that the feared cannibalization of higher performance parts was not observed, rather lesser performance chips saw the largest decrease in sales attributed to the introduction of the ATOM family of processors.

Also of note is Microsoft's OEM licensing agreement concerning Windows XP licenses with netbook manufacturers. Microsoft currently offers discounted licenses of their aging Windows XP Home OS to OEMs which is very popular. In an attempt to cut the final cost of these relatively low-cost units to the consumer, some manufacturers (including Acer) have offered units powered by a flavor of the Linux OS, or have taken advantage of this discount by Microsoft. This discount only applies to certain computers which fall into the "netbook category" as defined by Microsoft. One of the criteria for inclusion into this unilaterally defined category is form factor. Netbooks with displays larger than 10.1" (diagonally) do not fall into this special discount category. This may explain the migration from Windows XP deployed on previous Aspire Ones to Windows Vista, as the difference in cost for an OEM license for Windows XP Home vs Windows Vista remains small, whereas an OS 'upgrade' to the end user provides an increase in marketability. A pitfall of this move is the decreased performance of the unit's CPU compared to earlier models, combined with the cumulatively increased demand of computing power from Windows Vista, resulting in very poor out of box performance compared to previous generations. In the July-August 2009 time frame some change took place and AO751h models using Windows XP were placed on the market in the USA.

As can be seen in the threads of the Aspire One User's Forum, the AO751h has had some difficulties with systems that freeze either when running specific software, or when being unsuspended, or every few hours for no obvious reason. Some progress has been made to illuminate the nature of these failures and driver updates have made some of the specific software failures less likely, but as of this date (October 2009) a comprehensive solution to the freezing problem has not been made available from Acer.

[edit] Reception

CNET editors' review has been positive,[42][43] although held reservations as the Aspire One is early to market and many netbooks are planned for the near future.

An excellent review of the 751h along with the Gateway LT3103U can be found at this location:[44]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www4.slikomat.com/09/0408/7bp-AAO-3-.jpg
  2. ^ Meszaros, Eva (2008-06-03). "Acer Intros Aspire one Mini-Notebook". Blog.laptopmag.com. http://blog.laptopmag.com/acer-intros-aspire-one-mini-notebook. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  3. ^ "Acer US press release". http://us.acer.com/public/page92.do?sp=page29&dau42.oid=13762&UserCtxParam=0&GroupCtxParam=0&dctx1=25&CountryISOCtxParam=US&LanguageISOCtxParam=en&ctx3=-1&ctx4=United+States&crc=3201121738. [dead link]
  4. ^ About - Platform
  5. ^ Yen Ting Chen; Joseph Tsai (2008-07-11). "Wistron to start manufacturing netbooks". DigiTimes. http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20080710PD222.html. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  6. ^ Yen Ting Chen; Joseph Tsai (2008-10-16). "Acer to transfer netbook orders to Compal and Wistron next year, Quanta left out". DigiTimes. http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20081015PD214.html. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  7. ^ "review of Linpus Linux Lite.". http://www.linuxhaxor.net/2008/09/15/linpus-linux-lite-review/. 
  8. ^ "Acer Aspire One Linpus Linux Lite recovery DVD online". Macles Blog. 2008-12-27. http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/12/acer-aspire-one-recovery-dvd.html. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  9. ^ "Add Apps to the Acer Aspire one". Laptopmag.com. 2009-03-15. http://www.laptopmag.com/advice/how-to/aspire-one-apps.aspx. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  10. ^ "[http:// eeepc. itrunsonlinux.com/the-news/1-latest-news/242-linux4one-ubuntu-for-the-acer-aspire-one- Linux4one Ubuntu for the Acer Aspire One]". ItrunsonLinux.com. 2008-12-27. http:// eeepc. itrunsonlinux.com/the-news/1-latest-news/242-linux4one-ubuntu-for-the-acer-aspire-one-. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  11. ^ "[http:// eeepc. itrunsonlinux.com/the-news/1-latest-news/266-kuki-linux-20-for-the-acer-aspire-one Kuki Linux 2.0 for the Acer Aspire One]". http:// eeepc. itrunsonlinux.com/the-news/1-latest-news/266-kuki-linux-20-for-the-acer-aspire-one. 
  12. ^ "Moblin Tested Netbooks". http://moblin.org. 
  13. ^ Jorge (2008-11-10). "The road to Elysium / Fedora 10 on the Acer Aspire One". http://jorge.fbarr.net/2008/11/10/fedora-10-on-the-acer-aspire-one/. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  14. ^ Mandriva linux. "Mandriva announces a new solution for netbooks: Mandriva Mini". Press release. http://www.mandriva.com/enterprise/en/company/press/mandriva-announces-a-new-solution-for-netbooks-mandriva-mini. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  15. ^ "AspireOne110L". Community Ubuntu Documentation. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne110L. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  16. ^ "AspireOne". Community Ubuntu Documentation. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne. Retrieved 2009-05-15. 
  17. ^ Aspire One reorganized page
  18. ^ "[http:// eeepc. itrunsonlinux.com/the-news/1-latest-news/256-eeebuntu-sd-card-installation-on-the-aspire-one-netbook Eeebuntu SD Card Installation on the Aspire One Netbook]". It Runs on Linux. 2009-01-15. http:// eeepc. itrunsonlinux.com/the-news/1-latest-news/256-eeebuntu-sd-card-installation-on-the-aspire-one-netbook. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  19. ^ Acer Aspire One - openSUSE
  20. ^ FreeBSD on Acer Aspire One - The FreeBSD Forums
  21. ^ Clack, David (November 27, 2008). "Fun with OpenSolaris on the Acer Aspire One". Netbooks Plus. http://blogs.sun.com/oslab/entry/fun_with_opensolaris_on_the. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  22. ^ url=http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=4735
  23. ^ [1][dead link]
  24. ^ a b http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/disc/manuals/notebook/momentus/5400.4/SATA/100468842a.pdf
  25. ^ a b WD Scorpio Blue-SATA-Festplattenlaufwerke mit 120 GB ( WD1200BEVS )
  26. ^ a b http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/C51A283F52498251862573FA005A3C98/$file/Travelstar_5K320_DS.pdf
  27. ^ "Intel Atom Processor with Mobile Intel 945GSE Express Chipset". Intel. http://ark.intel.com/system.aspx?groupID=36331&configID=27616&chipsetID=36550. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  28. ^ "Intel Atom Processor N270 (512K Cache, 1.60 GHz, 533 MHz FSB)". Intel. http://ark.intel.com/cpu.aspx?groupId=36331. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  29. ^ a b "Mobile Intel 945GSE Express Chipset". Intel. http://ark.intel.com/chipset.aspx?familyID=35553. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  30. ^ "Intel 82801GBM I/O Controller". Intel. http://ark.intel.com/product.aspx?id=27680. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  31. ^ http://www.gblcd.com/datacenter/au/B089AW01_V0.pdf
  32. ^ Smith, Tony (2008-08-22). "Acer US prunes Aspire One mini laptop prices". Register Hardware. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/22/acer_us_cuts_aa1_price/. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  33. ^ "Acer Aspire One A110L, A150L, A150X - Specs, Prices". Small Laptops and Notebooks. 2008-07-03. http://www.small-laptops.com/2008/07/03/acer-aspire-one-a110l-a150l-a150x-specs-prices/. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  34. ^ Taylor, Alun (2008-08-18). "Acer Aspire One A110". Register Hardware. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/18/review_acer_aspire_one/. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  35. ^ Appears only to be sold by Buy.com, which does not specify webcam resolution
  36. ^ http://blogs.inquirer.net/techaddicts/?p=284&akst_action=share-this
  37. ^ "Review: Acer Aspire One ZG5". E-Gear. 2008-11-20. http://www.e-gear.com/story/story.bsp?sid=178323&var=story. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  38. ^ http://itm.siol.net/doc/2008/11/Acer%20Aspire%20One.pdf
  39. ^ Acer Home
  40. ^ Acer Home
  41. ^ [2][dead link]
  42. ^ Acer Aspire One Reviews
  43. ^ CNET reviewers: "the best all-around Netbook we've seen for less than $400"
  44. ^ http://techreport.com/articles.x/17249

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Netbooks
Comparison of netbooks · Netbook manufacturers · Comparison of netbook-oriented Linux distributions
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