back to article Acer's 10in Aspire One spied on web

Acer's eagerly anticipated 10in version of the popular Aspire One netbook has popped up in pictures on the web. Acer AA1 10in Acer's 10in AA1: clear improvements over original Images courtesy AspireOneUser.com The shots will come as some relief to owners of 8.9in AA1s who've struggled to upgrade the mini-laptop's …

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  1. Cameron Colley

    Are you sure?

    "The shots will come as some relief to owners of 9.9in AA1s who've struggled to upgrade the mini-laptop's internals?"

    Won't they just be miffed they didn't wait for the new, improved, model?

  2. David Gosnell

    Hopefully will trigger further discounting on the already pretty nice-price 9 inch

    At least it stood out from the crowd. Yawn at this Microsoft-pandering sheep.

  3. Nigel
    Thumb Down

    Why are they all the same?

    Top marks to Asus for inventing the format (both the 9 inch and 10 inch ones). Why does everyone else slavishly copy in all details? Why hasn't anyone offered a higher-res screen? Or 2Gb RAM from the start, rather than having to install it as an upgrade? Or even just a 4th USB port and/or a firewire port?

  4. b
    Thumb Down

    bottom access

    i thought that all laptops, of all variants, has easy screw access to internals via the bottom side?

    anyway..3 usb's are good, but 600 verticle res ain't!

    this space still has plenty of room for development.

    never mind..^^

    cheers,

    bill

    p.s. stuff and nonsense: http://www.eupeople.net/forum

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Finally...

    I'm glad to see they've finally made it easy to add more RAM. It was a stupid idea to make it so that the only way to put an extra stick of memory into the machine (to boost it from the paltry 512MB it ships with) was to fully dissassemble the machine, right down removing the entire motherboard from the machine to flip it over and install the RAM. I've done the upgrade for two friends so far and they were amazed that it didn't have an access door on the bottom.

  6. Jerome
    Stop

    The point is...?

    Can anyone tell me the point of the 10 inch netbook format? I thought these machines were supposed to be ultra-portable. Even my current Aspire One is at the upper limit of what I'd call a netbook; I was tempted to go for a cute little Eee instead.

    So why make the machine even bigger? Why not just buy a notebook and be done with it? Perhaps if you got a few hundred extra pixels of horizontal resolution I'd be tempted. As it is, maybe it'll be useful to those with bad eyesight?

  7. Fred
    Gates Horns

    No word on the OS ?

    So it's going to be a Windows only gadget I presume ?

    Users who want to won't have trouble installing whatever they like on it but good luck getting a refund for the unneeded software.

  8. Steven Pemberton

    Re: Why are they all the same?

    I thought that Microsoft had imposed limits on the machines it is allowed to offer XP on, so that it doesn't eat into Vista sales. As I remember there was a limit of 1G RAM, 160G disk (originally 80G), and some restrictions on the screen.

  9. RichardB

    res?

    so what res is the 10" screen? Once we get a 1024x768 or better it will be worthwhile.

  10. David Gosnell

    Re: Why are they all the same?

    Because they have to be if they want to install Windows XP. Simple as that. Microsoft put limits on screen resolution, memory, processor speed, hard disk capacity etc etc - and unsurprisingly, that's what all these exceedingly dull clones top out at. Sadly despite the scare stories about the return rates on Linux Eees proving to be bullshit, the manufacturers still seem to think everyone wants Windows, so gear their specs to cosy up with Redmond.

  11. Rob Beard
    Linux

    Looks like...

    A smaller, DVD drive less version of my Aspire 2920 in black. If they'd brougt this out last year I might have been interested, now I've got the 2920 (12" Core 2 Duo) I'm happy and not on the look out for a netbook.

    I wonder how much this would be?

    Rob

  12. Albert

    Re: Why are they all the same?

    It's all about the price point.

    If they had 2GB of RAM and Firewire the price would rise and so would not fit the profile for netbooks.

    Also, the only real processor at the moment that has any power in this class of computer is the Atom.

    I'm happy enough with 1GB RAM and the rest of the specs.

    I'm interested in knowing the price, as for me anything over £200 is not a Netbook.

  13. Nigel

    So it's MS's fault that they're all the same?

    Can someone compain to the EC about this flagrant abuse of a monopoly, please? In these depressed times I'm sure some more million-dollar-per-day fines would come in useful ;-)

    Meanwhile, perhaps ASUS or another could once again go back to the original Linux/EeePC concept, and bring one out with 2Gb RAM and a higher-res screen, running Linux only if MS won't play along. And perhaps once again it will prove that people do not insist on Windows, and once again force Microsoft's hand? (The first time was to resume selling XP, this time would just force them to sell it on higher-spec systems. Preferably, on anything. Surely by now even MS knows that Vista is as popular as a turd in the punch-bowl? )

    That said, 1024x600 is perfectly useful (even with XP), and you can have higher resolutions on a desktop monitor plugged into the VGA socket while you are working at your main desk.

    10inch vs 9inch? It depends on your eyesight and/or on your typing. I find the 9 inch keyboard just a bit too small to be pleasant to type on. 10 inch, though a little smaller than standard, is much better. 1.25kg is 250grams more than a 9 inch one, but still at least a kilo lighter than any cheap "full" notebook PC. There might even be a market for an 11 inch one with a full sized keyboard.

  14. Robert Moore
    Linux

    Improvements?

    The only improvement I was is a lower price.

  15. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    Huh?

    Paltry 512MB, paltry 60GB HDD, paltry this, no that ... just what sort of shite are people trying to run on these things ?

    I'm using XP SP2 on a 256MB 1GHz Celeron, 20GB HDD desktop and it's plenty serviceable for all everyday intents and purposes ( yes, I'll buy a better machine if some Hollywood bigshot wants me to CGI their next film for them - and I won't expect a Netbook to be up to the job, nor whinge when it isn't ).

    I really don't know how people can live without an eight bedroomed house, two cars and a private jet.

    Paris : 'cos if you had her you'd still be complaining.

  16. Steven Raith

    @Cameron Colley

    "Won't they just be miffed they didn't wait for the new, improved, model?"

    In a word, yes.

    In a few words, if you come across Z-stock AA1s with the 8GB SSD, don't touch them with a barge pole if you intend to run a full, journalled OS on it [Win on NTFS, Linux with EXT3 etc] as the controller on the SSD is utterly fucking atrocious. And you can't just install a 2.5" HDD like they have on the XP models, because the XP models have a physically different chassis to fit it - you have to hunt down a low profile, 1.8" [and 5mm deep IIRC] HDD of the iPod ilk to make it fit.

    *goes off to hunt down 1.8"x5mm deep HDDs on eBay*

    Steven R

    [NB - it is usable - but even with FAT32 the SSD controller chip shits itself when it clears it's cache and just --stops-- for ten seconds or more before carrying on as if nothing has happened...toss!]

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RE: So it's MS's fault that they're all the same?

    I think you missed the point of the MS imposed limitations - the XP versions are the limited ones, but IF Acer want to release a 1280x800, 4GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, 2.0 GHz Atom Linux version, there's nothing stopping them... they just can't put XP on it. However, any saving from removing the MS tax is also lost in the extra cost of the components as well as the lack of scale of economy in terms of production lines.

    Somewhere, I think the beancounters have realised that Joe Public wants to use XP as they are used to it and it is within their comfort zone, and so to make this line a success they need to sell to Joe and Joanne Public rather than James T. Geek as the former accounts for millions of sales, and the latter tens of thousands, so they go off and target the larger audience with what they feel comfortable with.

    Cold hard economics meets IT wishful thinking, but with the deciding vote by economists.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    @RE: So it's MS' fault that they're all the same?

    Any saving from removing the MS tax so the budget can be put on better spec'd hardware is quite the desirable end. Dual core Atom, next-gen SSD, more memory, higher-res screen. It's in our future and once MS declines to license XP for netbooks any longer and wants to force Win7 instead, we'll see more people than ever moving to 'nix for their portable computing.

    People want XP, but for various reasons. Once more and more people are using 'nix on netbooks, others start noticing and leave behind the perception that they "need" windows by observing others doing without it.

    Plus, they can always add that (XP) later. Gone are the days when people lack access to information, a simple Google search will provide details of mundane things like installing the most popular OS on earth.

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