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Although netbooks were never meant to be mini-laptops, many people still become frustrated when they don’t behave like their regular computers. Acer’s solution to this problem: the Acer Aspire One 11.6 inch notebook (AO722-0473). It’s small, Wi-Fi ready, and has all the bells and whistles you’ve come to expect. The Aspire One is ideal for people who want inexpensive, on the go computer access, but don’t want to give up computer performance.
What We Liked About The Acer Aspire One AO722-0473 Netbook
Solid Hardware
What’s refreshing about the Acer Aspire AO722 is that it doesn’t mess around trying to sell you on gimmicks, but simply provides solid specs, which are appealing to anyone in the netbook market. For around $300 you get a 320 GB hard drive, 2 GB of memory (easily upgradable to 4 GB) and a dual core processor. If you’ve spent any time researching netbooks, then you know this beats what’s offered by most competitors (usually 1 GB RAM, 250 GB hard drive, and no dual core processor). It has decent specs for this size netbook in this price range. Click here to see current price
Multimedia Ready
Because of the dual core processor and larger memory, the Acer Aspire One 11.6 inch notebook can handle more multitasking and, unlike other netbooks, plays movies and videos with no hiccups. It’s HD, widescreen display means you don’t have to compromise on picture quality as it has everything from YouTube videos to high-definition Netflix movies looking crystal clear. Also, it comes with an HDMI port, so you can hook it up to your HDTV and watch shows, movies, or streaming content on your large screen.
Windows 7
Another nice thing about the Aspire One is that is comes with a full version of Windows 7 Home Premium. This is blessed news for those used to dealing with the Windows 7 Starter system found on many netbooks. With the full version, you don’t have to give up convenient features for promised speed; simply run windows as you would on your regular laptop or PC.
Computing On The Go
Of course, what draws people to netbooks over laptops (besides the price) is their increased portability. Even with its generous 11.6″ screen, the Acer Aspire One still only weighs about 3 pounds and is a mere 1″ thick — ideal for slipping into backpacks and bags or just holding under your arm. And with its 7-hour battery life, on most work or school days, you can leave your charger cord at home (one less thing to carry). Although there’s no number pad, it does have a full size keyboard, which is much easier to use than the shrunken down versions on other netbooks, and with the multi-gesture touchpad, you can navigate easily without having to lug around an additional mouse.
Click here to see Acer Aspire One buyer reviews
What We Didn’t Like About The Acer Aspire One AO722-0473 Netbook
Fingerprint Magnet
Although it delivers on the important parts, we do have a few minor complaints to add to this Acer Aspire One AO722 review. First, we love how it comes in different colors (black, red, silver, blue), but why couldn’t Acer have done something about it showing fingerprints so easily; they’ve got to know by now that this is a common pet peeve.
Bloatware
Secondly, what’s with all the bloatware? There’s nothing worse than getting excited about tinkering around on your new computer, only to be delayed for 30 minutes to an hour removing trial programs and apps. The only good side is once you get rid of it all, you’ll find your netbook runs much faster than it did out of the box.
Weak Sound
Finally, the speakers are a bit of a disappointment. Initially, we were excited about the two built-in speakers, but no matter how far we seemed to turn up the volume, the sound never got loud enough to hear from a short distance. If you are trying to listen to music or videos in a place with background noise, you’d be better off just plugging in your headphones when using this device.
Acer Aspire One AO722-0473 Netbook Conclusion
If you’ve tried netbooks before and are convinced they’re useless, the Acer Aspire One 11.6 inch netbook will change your mind. It can multitask better than its competitors and generally doesn’t require great performance sacrifices in exchange for size and portability. It is way more than a mobile email machine and can handle movies, video chatting, Facebook, word processing and other day to day tasks almost as well as your average desktop computer. Click here to find out more
We’re glad to see that netbooks are starting to pack more of a “punch”, but do you think people are expecting too much from these little devices? What would you tell someone who’s in the market for a netbook? Share your opinions in the comment section below.
Are you curious about other netbooks on the market? If so, check out these two alternatives:
ASUS Eee PC 1001PXD-EU17-BK – The ASUS includes 1 GB of memory and 250 GB hard drive. It has Windows 7 Starter system and 4 hours of battery life.
Toshiba NB505-N508 – This netbook does a good job of what it was designed to do — email, Facebook, web surfing, word processing, and general day to day tasks.
