Netbook Review – Acer, Asus Netbook Review

Acer Aspire One 532h Netbook Review – 5.5/7

Acer is a smart cookie, or the guys at Acer are a smart cookie. Ummm….no the guys at Acer are smart cookies. Anyways, forget my grammatical issues for a moment – Acer have done really well with netbook sales and we think its because they figured out early on that in an almost generic market, a decent product that’s competitively priced will do well. That’s why they’ve never tried to overload their netbooks with an ION chip, or an improved graphics chipset. They stuck to the basics. And offered the lowest price.

The same formula has been repeated with the Aspire One 532h. Here’s a quite unassuming 10 inch netbook with the Pine Trail Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, Windows 7 Starter, 160GB hard drive and a six-cell battery. Not one to turn heads. Sure. But throw in a price tag of $299 and now you’ve got some track-stopping.  That’s significantly less expensive than competitors. Let’s take a look a the netbook and see how they manage this.

Acer Aspire One 532h Netbook Review – Top Features

• Light Design – At 2.4lbs and less than an inch thick, the AO 532h comfortably beats its closest competitors.
• Price – This is one of the best priced netbooks on the market and we’re sure it will be really popular with the masses.

Acer Aspire One 532h Netbook Review – Drawbacks and things to keep in mind

• Keyboard needs improvement – The 532h has adopted the ways of the world with a chiclet-style keyboard, but it disappoints. The keys are too close together and they don’t have a good feel while typing.
• Average quality screen – The 1024 x 600 screen is decent enough, but the bezel is really wide and the viewing angles are a bit off.

Acer Aspire One 532h Netbook Review – Ratings

1. Price and Value for money – 1.0 Star. The Aspire One 532h scores full marks here. Even though it is an average netbook, it comes at a way-below average price.
2. Speed and Performance – 0.75 Star. The 532h performs just as well as other netbooks with the same specs. Way to go on squeezing all the juice out of this one Acer.
3. Screen – 0.75 Star. The screen is decent. Brightness and color levels are OK, but the viewing angles are off.
4. Keyboard, Touchpad, Useability – 0.5 Star. The keyboard is slightly small even though it’s quite comfortable to use. The touchpad buttons are crisp but the raised-dot trackpad is a bit unresponsive.
5. Portability and Battery Life – 1.0 Star. This netbook is the lightest and thinnest amongst its peers. The battery life is a decent eight plus hours in real world usage.
6. Looks and Design – 0.75 Star. The 532h looks very similar to the AO751h, and the multi-color lid merging from blue to black is cool. It’s glossy though and picks up prints easily. There’s a silver matte version of this model which may be a better option.
7. Connectivity and Extensibility – 0.75 Star. The WiFi is above-average. It features a standard set of ports, which is impressive because of its sleekness.

This gives the Acer Aspire One D250 an overall rating of 5.5 out of 7 Stars.

Acer Aspire One 532h Netbook Review – Our Recommendation

The Aspire One 532h is probably going to do well, and that’s not because it’s a fantastic netbook but because it has a fantastic price. If you have a few extra dollars to spare you’d be better off getting the ASUS 1005PE ($370) which has a significantly higher battery life, or the new Toshiba NB305 which is a beauty to type on and available for $349. We’re not saying you’ll go wrong with the 532h though. It’s good bang for your buck.

Available on amazon for $299.

Updated

Acer Aspire One 532h Netbook Review - What have buyers on amazon said?

Pros:

1. “I surfed the web, I watched streaming video on both Netflix and Hulu, I typed a document and you know what? It all worked great!”
2. “I absolutely love the display. Crystal clear and pristine. ”

Cons:

1. “The one con that I can say has become a minor annoyance is the glossy case. Finger prints galore!”
2. “Runs quite warm, good leg warmer for winter.”
3. “The only negative I’ve seen thus far, and it’s a small one at that, is all the bloatware. ”

Acer Aspire One 532h Netbook Review – Technical Specifications

• OS: Windows 7 Starter
• CPU: Intel Atom Processor N450 (1.66GHz, 512KB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB)
• Display & Graphics: 10.1 inch WSVGA CrystalBrite Display, Intel GMA 3150
• RAM: 1GB DDR2
• Storage: 160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
• Connectivity: Multi-card reader, 802.11b/g/Draft-N, Ethernet LAN (RJ-45), multi-gesture touchpad, 3 x USB 2.0 Ports
• Battery: 6-cell Li-ion Battery (4400 mAh)
• Weight: 2.76 lbs
• Colors: Onyx Blue, Garnet Red and Silver Matrix
• Price: $299.99

Filed under: Acer Netbook Review