Acer Aspire One AOD257-13685 10.1-Inch Netbook (Espresso Black)
Acer Aspire One AOD257-13685 10.1-Inch Netbook (Espresso Black)
- Intel® Atom? Processor Dual-Core N570(1.66GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB)
- 1GB DDR3 Memory
- 250GB SATA Hard Drive
- 10.1? WSVGA Acer CrystalBrite? LED-backlit Display, Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3150
- Windows® 7 Starter
Acer AOD257-13685 comes with these high level Specs. Intel Atom Dual-Core Processor N570, Windows 7 Starter, 10.1″ WSVGA LED-backlit Display, Mobile Intel NM10 Express Chipset, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150, 1024MB DDR3 Memory, 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM), Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED, Built-In 0.3MP Webcam, 3 – USB 2.0 Ports, 3-cell Li-ion Battery (2200 mAh), Up to 4-hours Battery Life, Microsoft Office Starter 2010, 2.65 lbs. | 1.2 kg (system un
List Price: $ 269.99
Price: $ 254.98
One of the Better Netbooks for the Price,
Netbooks have never really thrilled me mainly because of processor limitations and cramped keyboards but I decided to give the Acer D257 a shot mainly because my local Walmart was pushing the out the door for less than $230 to make room for a new supply coming in (odd since mine is date stamped for less than a month ago).
From the outside first appearances will tell you it’s a netbook just like any of the others out there, but looks are deceiving.
Your first hint that something is different is in the top lid design. What appears to be a ripple design is actually embossed and can be felt when running your hand over it. For those of you that like to put cover stickers on top, you can kiss that idea goodbye.
Most will immediately notice the weight, or lack thereof. With the 3 cell battery installed my postal meter shows it coming in at 2 pounds, 3 ounces. Add another 8 ounces if you opt for the 6 cell battery (and you probably will, more on that later).
You’ve seen the specs before — 1.66 Intel Atom processor, 1GB RAM, VGA port, card reader, 10.1 inch TFT screen, Windows 7 Starter, 3 USB ports, blah, blah.
Again this is deceiving but even I didn’t spot the differences until I started using it. The first difference is the DDR3 1GHz RAM. Most other units tone down their RAM to either 800HMz DDR2 or use slower DDR3 variations.
And this does show in performance, but it’s still a little light. 2GB is more appropriate but I’ll discuss that issue later. Due to issues with upgrading RAM I went ahead and installed a 4GB flash card in the slot and told Windows to use it as extra RAM.
Overall, RAM usage stayed in the 60 to 70% range when surfing and/or watching videos. This doesn’t leave much horsepower for anything else but what else do you plan to do on such a small unit?
The second obvious difference is the processor. Yes, it’s an Atom dual core, but it also appears to support hyperthreading, something that is usually lacking. I discovered this upon installing the desktop widget that monitors the CPU. Instead of showing dual cores, it shows a quad core setup. This means it rarely pegs 50% CPU usage and is usually down in the low 20% for most work.
As an experiment I installed Corel WordPerfect and Dragon Naturally Speaking. The latter program is famous for making computers with low specs cry uncle and I added Corel just so Dragon would open it, too (thereby creating a double whammy stress on resources). My previous netbook would give up an die about the time I opened Dragon.
This Acer didn’t. Dragon and Corel opened up just fine and, in fact, I’m using both right now to dictate this review.
As for video playback I received another pleasant surprise with this unit. My previous netbook couldn’t and wouldn’t play any video above 240p and was choppy at that level.
Although this unit defaults to 360p you can go ahead and crank it up to 720p without hesitation or stuttering. Rather impressive, although the Windows score is rated at 2.0 because it lacks 3D and some video support (those in the know ignore this figure anyway).
As for speed, it’s just as quick as my Lenovo laptop with 7 Professional and 8GB RAM, but Starter undoubtedly has something to do with this. Without all that extra Aero jazz and background interference, Starter is bound to be a little quicker.
Oddly, it does boot to a usable desktop within 1.5 minutes or less, about half a minute quicker than my Lenovo.
But speed and video capability do come at a price. Battery life is somewhat abysmal, especially with the 3 cell battery. It can and does conk out after about 2.5 to 3 hours and the purported claims of 4 hours must be at idle while doing nothing; however, my 6 cell battery returns nearly 8 hours of time on a charge. The really adventurous can get a 9 cell battery that alleges 12 hours of use but also adds nearly another pound to the package.
For those opting to travel with the plug keep in mind that Acer still uses the standard power cord and users have to attach the power plug assembly for their country. In the U.S. this is a standard two prong connector but using one power cord with different connectors means extra bulk. In fact, the power assembly weighs nearly 3 times as much as the battery and could easily be smaller.
Users wanting something different can also find versions running MeeGo Linux or Android along with Windows but I haven’t been able to get more than one OS to run at any given time. Most in the U.S. at this time appear to be Windows based although EBay does have a few international versions with different OS.
Also, contrary to belief, Starter is not completely stripped. It does come with Windows Media Player (some reviewers state it doesn’t) and you can open more than 3…
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|Better out there but not much,
this is a great netbook and defnitley a steal at the price and insted of me going on on and on about my peryosonal things i do ill just give you a pros and cons list
Pros
- Nice keyboard
- Good Feel
- windows 7 starter easy to use
- Really Fast
- Nice and Bright
- better than my sister Toshiba that she paid 50 more dollars for
- a lot of storage
- light weight
- best deal out there
- nice speakers
Cons
(note all or most can be dealt with fairly easy)
-Glossy Screen show finger prints
- no product manual for it
- 1 1/2 hour tops battery life
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|Think twice,
I went back and forth between different models until I got sold on the AOD257 for the processor. It ships with a 3 cell battery, that was the first “oops” for me, but it is clear in the description that they use that one, so that was my fault. I think the basis of my dissatisfaction with this unit rides on my assumption that they’d keep the good points of the previous models and move forward with improvements. Going from a 6 cell to a 3 cell isn’t an improvement.
Neither is making the memory hard to upgrade. Acer doesn’t even show this model on their support website, and when I got through to a chat guy, he said they don’t recommend users upgrading the ram. Previous models had a nice little hatch where 4 screws later you had a 2 gig, this one appears like I’m going to have to pry the keyboard off and get to it that way. I wouldn’t know, since there are no schematics or manual online or shipped with it.
My innermost box was crumpled up a bit. There wasn’t a lot of extra room or padding in the box, but it might have been that way before shipping. The computer was ok, but it did make me worry. Sound is tinny, quiet, and has a little distortion to it but sounds much better in headphones. Red cover shows fingerprints pretty easily, but unless you’re on the lam, it doesn’t really matter. The battery is hard to remove.
That said, it runs ok so far. Starts quickly and is very light. Power button takes a firm push, probably a positive. The screen seems bright and clear and the colors are rich.
I’m sure I’ll like it, but it’s going to bug me until it has the full 2gig of ram.
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