Posts Tagged ‘acer aspire one battery’

Frequently Asked Questions for DELL battery

November 13th, 2009

Frequently Asked Questions for DELL battery

  • Q1:For the first time the use of batteries, the first three to be recharged for 12 hours?

This is totally unnecessary. Because of the laptop have improved power management circuitry and charging management system, when the battery (such as DELL insprion 1721 battery)reached saturation, the control circuit will automatically switch to the circuit state, so long as full on-line, and not to say that the longer you charge the longer you can use.

  • Q2:In order to prevent memory effect, we should run out before battery charges ?

Each charge before the pairs of battery discharge is not necessary, but also harmful. Because it has proven: DELL insprion 1721 battery depth of discharge will be unnecessary to shorten battery life, it is recommended to use about 10% that the battery can be charged . Of course, when the battery power is still more than 30% of the time advisable not to charge, because the memory effect does exist.

  • Q3: insert the AC when the battery should win, so as to prevent the repeated charge-discharge do?

My suggestion is: No! Of course, you can take the natural discharge lithium-ion batteries to refute me, saying that the natural discharge the battery after the power supply access will appear if there is repeated charge and discharge, and reduce the battery life. And I give you the answer for several reasons:
1. Now laptops are designed to power control circuit of this feature: that when the battery reached 90% (such as most DELL models) or 95% would charge, but to achieve this through natural discharge capacity of one time for 2 weeks or a month, when the battery idle for about a month to fully charge and discharge in order to maintain the battery capacity, this time that you should be concerned about is the battery should be exercising their body rather than being idle again after the recharge.
2. Even if the battery like DELL insprion 1721 battery has “unfortunately” been re-charged, bringing the loss, which don’t cause much greater than it’s a long time not to drop the battery power.
3. Your data are so much more valuable than you laptop or even your laptop batteries that a sudden power failure will not only have damage to your laptop and can not restore the data,and it is too late to regret.

  • Q4: long-term preservation needs of the battery is fully charged do?

Read the following table is clear: (percentage of saturation at the time the relative percentage of the initial value)

Storage temperature
 40% of the charge state 100% of the charge state
0 degree 98% (one year later) 94% (one year later)
25 degrees 96% (one year later) 80% (one year later)
40 degrees 85% (one year later) 65% (one year later)
60 degrees 75% (one year later) 60% (3 months later)

Obviously, if you want long-term preservation batteries, as far as possible on the dry and low temperature environment and allow the battery remaining capacity in 40% of the best. Of course, the best to take the battery out every month to use them once, not lonly to ensure the battery (as KD476,C1295,INSPIRON 2650 Battery,DELL insprion 1721 battery etc.) a good state of preservation, but also to alienate the loss of damage to the battery power completely.

  • Q5: how to use the notebook as far as possible to extend the use of time?

1. The screen brightness to reduce. However, power-hungry LCD screen brightness can effectively be extended to reduce the use of time.
2. Open SpeedStep and PowerPlay power-saving features such as. Now the laptop processors and graphics chips have lower operating frequency and voltage to extend the use of time functions, open the appropriate option can significantly extend battery life.
3. The use of hard drives and CD-ROM of the spin-down software: such as NERO DriveSpeed, PowerBooster can reduce software such as CD-ROM, hard drive speed, etc. can also be effective in reducing notebook power consumption.
4. Make good use of standby, sleep and other functions. As a long time without a computer, allowing notebook standby or hibernate, saving electricity extended the life of the computer.

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The Latest News about Battery

November 13th, 2009

The Latest News about Battery

Today, all things are moved forward, laptop battery is no exception. As had been walking in the era of cutting-edge technologies, it is in robust steps into the future.For good tap business opportunities in the manufacturers, it became a matter of course their persistent pursuit.Electronic manufacturers should consider what truly is the heart of most of their portable devices – the Dell inspiron 1721 battery. The size, shape, weight, and function are all directly related to the battery that will power them. The battery also provides an essential backup on printed circuits and computer systems. It seems that just about every six months a new battery technology emerges using much more exotic and expensive materials. Think about what the cell phone has become as a direct result of the size and capacity of the batteries powering them. Each successive improvement makes batteries smaller, able to hold a charge longer, and able to charge faster. This article takes a look at some of the new battery technologies and how they will improve the electronics industry.

  • Latest Developments

Sanyo introduced the new “eneloop” battery, which is a rechargeable NiMH battery useable right off the shelf. Unlike previous rechargeable batteries, which have limited shelf life because of their rapid discharge, these batteries retain 85% of their charge even after one year. Because this pa3465u-1brs can be used for thousands of charges and is easily recycled, it is much more convenient, cost-effective, and eco-friendly than the traditional single-use batteries.

Toshiba Corporation has announced a breakthrough in lithium-ion batteries that makes long recharge times a thing of the past. The company’s new battery can recharge 80% of a battery’s energy capacity in close to one minute, approximately 60 times faster than the typical lithium-ion batteries in wide use today. The PA3356U-1BRS also has a long life cycle, losing only 1% of capacity after 1,000 cycles of discharging and recharging, and can operate at very low temperatures.

Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong developed the V28?. This 28-volt battery delivers increased power and up to twice the run time of traditional 18-volt models, yet the battery weighs slightly less. This means the introduction of new tools like the world’s first cordless band saw powerful enough for every day professional use. Containing no cadmium, the lithium ion Sony pcga bp71 has built-in fuel gauge that tells users how much run time is available. In addition, this battery is equipped with built-in Performance Optimizing Circuit to provide consistent, fade-free power throughout discharge cycle to ensure job power consistency.

Panasonic Batteries has its new Digital Xtreme Power batteries with oxyride technology, designed to last twice as long as regular alkaline batteries, according to the company. They utilize a combination of newly developed materials for the cathode (plus side): Oxy Nickel Hydroxide and new technologically developed manganese dioxide and graphite. According to Panasonic, that means the batteries will yield three times as many snapshots with a digital camera, with a shorter flash recovery time.

  • Trends

Battery Council International recently completed part of an ongoing project to determine the trends of battery development (among other things as evo n600c battery) and how manufacturers will adapt. There are a few interesting items to note from their research:

  1. The North American volume will continue to decline due to longer life batteries.
  2. Auto accessories will increase battery power needs.
  3. Government regulations and restrictions will become more stringent.Lead-acid batteries will lose share in the car industry due to increased use of Lithium and Nickel batteries
    Market demand for rechargeable batteries will increase .

Various forms of lithium batteries are emerging on the market. Although there are concerns about their flammability, many manufacturers are pushing industry standards by pre-qualifying these battery makers. The reason for this trend is simple – lithium is the lightest metal, which results in a high specific charge. For example, it takes 3.85g of lead to produce 1 amp for 1 hour while it only takes 0.26 grams of lithium to produce the same. One type of lithium Dell inspiron 1721 battery is only 2.5mm. Lithium also produces a higher voltage and therefore, a higher energy density. Lithium is also more eco-friendly than lead or cadmium. These characteristics seem to fit right in line with market trends and many electronics manufacturers have noticed.

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vostro 1400 review

October 16th, 2009

The Dell Vostro 1400 vostro 1400 battery is a 14.1″ screen business notebook recently released. Dell is targeting small business buyers with the Vostro line of notebooks, but given the sturdy build, excellent price and option for installing Windows XP and less bloatware, models such as the Vostro 1400 Acer Aspire One battery might appeal to consumers as well.

Specifications:

  • Core 2 Duo T5470 (1.6Ghz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
  • 14.1” Wide Screen XGA LCD Display with TrueLife
  • 1GB DDR2 667Mhz
  • 128MB Nvidia Geforce 8400GS
  • 120GB 5400RPM SATA
  • Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic
  • Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
  • 8x CD/DVD Burner w/ double layer DVD+ write capability
  • Integrated High Definition Audtio
  • Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card
  • Integrated 2.0 mega pixel web camera
  • 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
  • Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)
  • 1 Year Limited Hardware Warranty with Mail-in Service

Reasons for Buying:

Ever since selling my XPS M140 satellite a200 battery , I have been keeping my eyes open for another notebook deal.  For a while, I was seriously considering the Asus W3j, but I just couldn’t justify the high price.  Instead, I bought a desktop to hold me over.

I wanted a notebook that was portable and had good battery life inspiron 1525 akku (4 hours or more was my goal).  I also wanted something in the $600-$800 range.  I wanted my future notebook to have a 12-14” widescreen display, have discreet graphics, have a built in webcam and microphone.  The Vostro 1400 met all of my needs and at a great price!

Shopping

I had my eyes on the Vostro 1400 sony vgp-bps8 akku vgp-bps8 ever since the day of release and before that.  On the day of release I was playing around with different configurations, all which came out to be around $850-$900.  The next day to my amazement I saw that it had dropped down to $700 for the configuration that I wanted.  I ended up ordering the notebook for $700+ tax.

Between ordering and delivery it took about two weeks for me to get my notebook.  I selected shipping via DHL 3-5 days, but it took only about 24hrs to get to me!

First Impressions

The Vostro 1400 came nicely packed in a brown Dell presario v3000 battery box.  As I opened it up, the power supply CD’s and some instructions were revealed.  Underneath that was the notebook itself.  It was surrounded by 1″ thick styrofoam.

Construction:

I pulled the notebook out of the Styrofoam and examined it presario v6000 battery very carefully.  The looks and everything exceeded my expectations.  Though one thing I did notice right away was that the battery didn’t snap in very well.  It rattled a little bit after being inserted and was not a snug fit, but it’s something I have seen in other  notebooks as well.  I found a simple, but inelegant solution to the problem.  A small wedge of paper between the notebook and the battery solved the problem and was not visible, unless removing the battery was necessary.

Everything else on the notebook felt very sturdy.  The build pavilion dv2000 battery quality greatly exceeds the Inspiron e1405 (Dell’s previous 14” notebook). There is little to no keyboard flex.  There is very little screen flex.  The screen and hinges feel especially sturdy.  The notebook’s lid closes very nicely.  Unlike previous Inspiron notebooks, the Vostro 1400 has no latch, which is very nice for easy one hand opening and closing.
The picture above shows the front microphone input and headphone outputs.  On the left is the 9in1 card reader.

The picture above shows the pavilion dv6000 battery Optical drive, s-video out, two USB 2.0 ports, and an RGB output.

The picture above shows the kensignton lock slot, the AC input, a heatsink, an IEE 1394 firewire port, two USB 2.0 ports, and an express card slot.

The picture t60 battery t60 akku above shows several blue activity LED’s, the 9in1 card slot, and wi-fi catcher button.

Keyboard:

The keyboard is a typical Inspiron keyboard.  It feels just like the e1405 t61 battery .  I personally am not super picky about the keyboard.  Although it is not a high-quality Thinkpad keyboard, it still is very comfortable to use, and is relatively quiet (good for taking to class).

Touchpad:

The touchpad is very similar to the Inspiron e1405, it is inspiron e1505 battery inspiron e1505 akku dark grey in color.  The touchpad is easy to use and I haven’t had any problems with it.  I still prefer an external mouse if I’m using the notebook for extended periods of time.

Screen:

I selected the Vostro 1400 with a 1,280 x 1,024 WXGA display with TrueLife.  I love the display.  The colors are very bright, images and text are crisp, and it provides quite a bit of contrast.  There is minor light leakage around the edges.

The viewing angles on the Vostro 1400 inspiron 6400 battery inspiron 1501 akku are good from left to right.  But if you look from the top, the screen looks dark and it is hard to make out anything.  The backlight is very bright.

Webcam:

Built into the trim of the screen, I selected the 2MP webcam (a $30 upgrade at the time of this review).  The webcam is more than worth the money.  It does exceptionally well at taking pictures of close up objects and people.  When taking pictures of landscapes, it doesn’t do as well.  The camera can capture at resolutions up to 3200×2400.  However, there isn’t much point of capturing pictures at this resolution as the quality is about the same as at 1600×1200.

As far as video recording goes, the 2MP camera can record up xps m1330 akku to 1600×1200 resolution at very low FPS however (Around 2-3FPS).  Video quality at this resolution is quite blurry when there is movement.  The video does reasonably well at 640×480, and very well at 320×240.  When using the webcam over an instant messaging client, you can select for the camera to use face tracking.  With face tracking it will actually zoom into your face and pan in and out as you move.

The webcam also features a blue LED indicator light, that tells you when your webcam is active.

Sound:

The Vostro 1400 has two tiny speakers on the left and right side above the keyboard.  They appear to be quite a bit smaller than the previous Insprion e1405 apple powerbook g4 battery speakers.  For their size they really do quite well, and on max volume get loud enough to easily fill a small to medium room.  The quality of the speakers is just average.  The volume these speakers put out is more than enough for one to enjoy a game or a DVD.

Microphone:

The Vostro 1400 xps m1730 battery comes with two digital microphones which are located in the top trim of the screen, on both the left and right side of the webcam.  Both microphones capture audio very well.  This is great for skype or other VOIP applications.

Operating System:

I selected the Vostro 1400 13″ 15″ 17″ apple macbook pro battery with Microsoft Vista Home Basic.  I have never used Vista much besides the Beta versions.  There are some really great features that I like a lot in Vista.  But some of the features in Xp that I am used to have seemed to disappear or are harder to find.  It will take some time to get used to, but it sure is a nice looking interface.

Software:

Dell finally started listening to their customers as far as software goes.  You have the option to select if you want various Dell utilities installed on your computer.  Dell also gives you the option to select or not to select trial software and other freebies.

I said no to all of the freebies and trial software.  I did go ahead and opt for installing a couple of Dell hp pavilion dv9000 battery utilities.  Even though I didn’t select much, the computer booted up and was running about 60 processes!  In the past when I have purchased a Dell notebook, the first thing I always did, and advised others to do, was to reformat.  Dell would just install so much junk that it made a new computer seem slow.  Out of the box, the machine booted up in about 35 seconds.  After adjusting the startup processes using Microsoft’s “msconfig” utility I was able to shave that number down to about 30.

Benchmarks and Performance

I ran Super Pi to 2 Million digits of accuracy and got 1m 10 seconds as a result.  That’s nothing super fast, but it’s not bad for a budget processor.

With stock drivers, out of the box, the notebook scored 2,942 on 3DMark05

Heat and Noise:

The Vostro 1400 toshiba pa3535u-1brs toshiba pa3534u-1brs is very quiet.  The fan stays off unless I start playing a game or run some other demanding application on it.  It puts out a little bit of heat out from the left side of the notebook, but for the most part it runs cool and I can’t feel any heat coming out.

Battery Life:

I ran a battery benchmark application that maxed out the dell gd761 CPU to 100% load and put the sytem under a lot of stress, including the graphics card as it rendered 3D graphics.  The notebook kept going for 2 hours 24minutes, until it shut down with 3% battery life to spare.  This would be the worst case scenario.  I can’t imagine ever getting under 3 hours with the 9 cell battery. 

Dell claims that the Vostro 1400 dell kd476 can get up to 8hrs.  So far the longest I have seen is 6.5hrs.

The battery is an 11.1 Volt, 9 cell 85Wh Li-ion acer battery.  The battery cells were made in Japan.  Similar to previous batteries, there is a battery tester right on the battery showing you how much of a charge it has.  Right under the battery, I was surprised to find a SIM card reader.  I didn’t pay extra for it, and don’t think it is active, but there might be a way to enable it.

Service and Support:

The day after I purchased the notebook, the price dropped by $50!  So Immediately I went to the Dell battery small business site, and tried to chat with someone from Dell small business.  I was connected with a guy from Dell home, who was unable to help me request a $50 refund, or to help me cancel my order and re-order.  He just gave me Dell small businesses’ number and told me that they only work Monday-Friday.  So, I was unable to contact them.  I eventually decided just to write Dell an email asking for $50 credit back.

The next day I was surprised to receive a response, I thought Dell toshiba laptop battery Small Business only worked Money-Friday?  In the email, the rep told me that he would issue me a $50 refund after the notebook had shipped.  I agreed and waited.  A few days after I received the notebook, I got my $50 refund, which dropped the price down to $650+ tax!  (I also used fatwallet to save an additional 1.5% or $10)

What I have concluded from this and previous experiences with Dell sony laptop battery is that, they are really hard to get a hold of usually.  You will usually have to play the Dell “game” of phone tag, or wait online from a rep and chat with them.  It usually takes a few tries to get a hold of someone with the authority to address most problems.  Once you do get a hold of them, they are usually quite responsive and help you with the problem right away!  In the past, I have had Hard drive replacements and optical drive replacements sent next day air by Dell, and arrive the next day!

Conclusion:

The Dell Vostro 1400 is an excellent choice for the price!  It offers a wide variety of special features, including a webcam (optional), microphone, discreet graphics card (optional).  It also provides impressive battery life for its size and price.  The notebook is very business looking and has some hp laptop battery tough features which include:  a magnesium alloy chassis, spill proof keyboard, and shock resistant hard drive.

Pros:

  • Excellent Price!
  • Impressive build quality
  • Optional Webcam and dedicated Graphics
  • Great battery life, especially with the 9 cell battery.
  • Great looking screen, bright and crisp

Cons:

  • Battery didn’t snap in as tight as it should.
  • Notebook lid easily smudges and shows your fingerprints
  • Dell’s always hard to get a hold of

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Most Popular Laptops for September 2009

October 11th, 2009

Most Popular Laptops for September 2009

1. Acer Aspire One (Still holding #1) – The Aspire One battery is the latest “netbook” from vgp-bps8 , offering a convenient, compact design at a budget price. The Aspire One features an Intel Atom Processor, 8.9″ WSVGA TFT LCD, and a choice of either Genuine Windows XP Home Edition or Linpus Linux Lite version. (59,009 unique views)

2. Lenovo ThinkPad T400 (Still holding #2) – The ThinkPad T400 battery features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 14.1″ LED-backlight widescreen, up to 8GB of PC2-8500 and integrated Intel X4500 or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470. (41,114 unique views) satellite a200 battery

3. Dell Studio15 (Still holding #3) – The Dell Studio 15 is a 15.4″ screen multimedia laptop offered in multiple colors and configurations. The Studio 15 can be equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo and dedicated ATI graphics. It comes with a slot-loading DVD drive, backlit keyboard, sleek drop-hinge design, widescreen glossy display and touch sensitive buttons. Software wise the Dell Studio 15 includes a unique Apple Mac OS X launch dock. (34,449 unique views) presario v3000 battery

4. Dell Studio XPS 16 (Previously #5) – The Studio XPS 16 features premium design with genuine leather accents, anodized aluminum, edge-to-edge display and backlit keyboard, 16″ ultrawide 16:9 aspect ratio with 1080p HD support & optional RGB-LED for brighter and more vivid colors, the latest Centrino 2 platform for blazing fast performance, amazing battery life and go anywhere wireless connectivity and premium ATI 512MB graphics delivers incredibly lifelike videos, movies and gaming. (26,161 unique views) presario v6000 battery

5. Dell Inspiron 11z (New to the Top 10) – The Dell Inspiron 11z is a slim, lightweight notebook featuring Intel integrated graphics, a 250GB hard drive, and integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam. It is not equipped with an optical drive, but supports use with an external drive. (25,683 unique views)

6. Apple 13″ MacBook Pro (Previously holding #4) – This 13 inch notebook is the smallest of the Apple MacBook Pro family. It features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, NVIDIA GeForce graphics with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory, up to 8GB DDR3 sysetm memory, and 160 or 250GB SATA hard drive. This system is also equipped with a FireWire 800 port, two USB 2.0 ports, and SD card slot. (24,888 unique views) pavilion dv2000 battery

7. Lenovo ThinkPad X200 (Previously #8) – The Lenovo ThinkPad X200 is a 12.1″ ultraportable featuring an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and up to 4GB of DDR3 Memory. (22,928 unique views pavilion dv6000 battery

8. HP ProBook 4510s (New to the Top 10) – The HP ProBook 4510s offers a 15.6-inch diagonal 16:9 HD widescreen LED backlight display and optional HP Mobile Broadband connectivity with built-in Gobi technology or standard Wi-Fi certified and optional integrated Bluetooth wireless technology. Choose from integrated or dedicated graphics and 6 or 8-cell lithium ion battery.(21,343 unique views) t60 battery

9. Lenovo G530 inspiron 1420 battery (Previously #6) – The G530 features a dual-core Pentium processor, up to 4GB system memory, 15.4″ widescreen high-definition display, CD/DVD burner, and built-in webcam and microphone. (19,711 unique views)

10. Lenovo G550 (New to the Top 10) – The Lenovo G550 17″ 15″ 13″ apple macbook pro battery is an update to the Value Line G530 with the primary difference being the shift from a 16:10 to a 16:9 screen. Configurations include either Intel Pentium or Core 2 Duo processor and up to 4GB DDR3 installed memory. (19,503 unique views)

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acer aspire one laptop review

September 30th, 2009

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

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, 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.Quanta will be phased out as a supplier to Acer; production of the Acer Aspire One vgp-bps9 line will be shifting to other manufacturers in 2009.

Its main competitors in the low-cost netbook market are the Asus Eee PC a1185 line and the Dell Inspiron Mini 9.

With recent entries from Asus, MSI, Sylvania, and models from Dell and Lenovo on the way, the Netbook field is becoming increasingly crowded. While many of the second-generation Netbooks are creeping toward mainstream laptop prices, we’re pleased to see the smart-looking Acer Aspire One compaq presario v3000 battery holding the line at $379, without skimping too much on features or design.

Despite the wallet-friendly price and large keyboard, we have a few reservations. For one, the system comes with only 512MB of RAM, which limits its performance. For another, the battery life is nearly as bad as that of the otherwise excellent MSI Wind; both hover about the 2-hour mark–far too little juice for such a mobile machine. And the Linux OS of our review unit limits its mass appeal, though we’re pleased to see that an XP Home version of the Aspire One compaq presario v6000 battery also includes 1GB of memory and a 120GB (spinning) hard drive for only $20 more.

Still, this is easily the best all-around Netbook we’ve seen for less than $400, although similarly priced upcoming entries from Lenovo and Dell may make the Aspire’s window of opportunity rather small.

Physically, the Aspire One hp dv2000 battery is very similar to the slightly larger, pricier 10-inch MSI Wind, with a reasonably large keyboard that’s much easier to use than the tiny almost smartphone-like keys found on the Asus Eee PC 901 or the Sylvania G Netbook. That’s because the Aspire is a little wider than the Asus, and it’s also a few ounces lighter, thanks in part to only having a small 3-cell battery. We were please to see that it includes dedicated page-up and page-down keys, which are especially useful on devices with smaller screens that require lots of scrolling to get through long Web pages.

The touch pad is wide, but not very deep, giving it a letterbox-style look, similar to the one found on the HP hp dv6000 battery 2133 Mini-Note. It’s reasonably easy to use, at least as far as the small touch pads on Netbooks go. The mouse buttons are positioned to the left and right of the touch pad–not below it–which may take a little getting used to for touch-typists.

The 8.9-inch wide-screen LCD offers a 1,024×600-pixel native resolution, which is the same as found on other 9- and 10-inch Netbooks, such as the Asus Eee PC 901 t60 battery and the MSI Wind. It’s wide enough to display most Web pages correctly, but you’ll find yourself frequently engaged in vertical scrolling.

The Aspire One is generous with the USB ports, offering three, but there’s no Bluetooth, so tethering your smartphone for mobile broadband is out of the question (which we’ve successfully done with the Asus Eee PC 901). Like all Netbooks we’ve seen up to this point, it lacks an ExpressCard slot, which the upcoming Lenovo IdeaPad S10 is expected to offer, making it easy to use a mobile broadband card. The dual SD card slots are handy for expanding on the 8GB solid-state hard drive, especially since Netbooks with 20GB and 40GB SSD drives are now available (although at higher prices).

With Intel’s new 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, specifically designed for low-power Netbooks, you’re not going to find the same level of performance you’d get from even an inexpensive Core 2 Duo laptop. The Linux-based system wasn’t able to run our usual suite of benchmarks (which use Windows and Mac applications such as iTunes, Microsoft Office, and Adobe Photoshop), but even the light Linux OS felt occasionally sluggish (thanks, in part, to having only 512MB of RAM) when using the preinstalled Open Office suite of productivity software t61 battery , although Web surfing was generally trouble-free. For everyday use, however, our anecdotal tests showed that it offers a faster, smoother experience than another $399 Netbook we recently looked at, the Sylvania G Netbook.

The Acer Aspire One ran for 2 hours and 14 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, using the included 3-cell battery. That’s barely more than the MSI Wind, which was also saddled with a puny 3-cell battery–and the biggest flaw for both systems. MSI plans to upgrade its battery to a 6-cell version in the near future, and Acer offers a 6-cell battery that we’ve seen online for $119–a large premium for such an inexpensive laptop.

The Aspire One includes an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty, and Acer has set up a separate mini-site for the Aspire One, including a page labeled “drivers and support.” Unfortunately, that support page, and its subpages, have no content aside from a note that says, “Updates coming soon.” The regular Acer Web site has some FAQs and driver downloads, but the tech support number is impossible to find (it’s 800-816-2237), and the phone support hours are only 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT weekdays, and 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.

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