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Acer states that the expansion slot is only good for cards of up to 8GB but we found that a 16GB card also worked with no problems. This being the case, there's no good reason why 32GB cards should not also do the job when they become generally available.

Acer Aspire One

Adding an SD card simply ups the unified storage
Click for full-size image

Whatever card you add, the One integrates its capacity seamlessly with the main SSD as if they were one. This is a far better approach than treating the SD card as a separate storage space. You can do that too, thanks to the other SD card slot, and at least with the AA1, you can up your storage capacity without losing the ability to slot in the memory card out of your camera.

The Linux distro on the AA1 is called Linpus Light. It presents a pretty twit-proof desktop divided up into four distinct areas: Work, Fun, Files and Connect, a bit like the Eee's streamline UI. This keeps things pretty clear for novices but is likely to drive more experienced users up the wall with its lack of easy adaptability and personalisation. Real techies will probably want to install an alternative distro, like Ubuntu.

Acer Aspire One

The One has a typical SCC user interface
Click for full-size image

Luckily, a few very basic hacks allow you access to the full Linux functionality, so you can crack on and add missing applications such as Skype or Thunderbird, the latter especially useful as the bundled mail client is nothing to write home about.

Latest Comments

Re: A few points

"-- The HP 2133 has this thing beaten on all fronts, even comes with a 'standard' Linux: SuSE."

Yeah, except for the fact the 2133 is slow as hell, runs as hot as hell and has a similar battery life! Check your facts before posting please.

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Integrated storage slot

@ W

The integrated storage SD slot (accepts SDHC) is used by the file system as it gets mounted into your home directory, which is itself in the /mnt directory. It's a *nix thing that M$ pinched in Win 2000 btw.

I bought the 150 L last week and I'm using it for nearly everything although you will definitely want to change the default twit-proof interface to something more flexible - acerguy will tell you how.

The 120GB holds my MP3 collection (60gb) and still has space for a few movies for the kids although you really want a power socket for movies.

For the record, everyone who has seen this has asked if it is a "real" pc, they are quite surprised when I tell them that it is.

Will buy an aftermarket battery when they come down in price, unless I can source some good quality li-ion cells and build one myself.

Run on alkalines, not very green is it! Now a solar case lid, that would be funky.

J.

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On sale at PC WOrld for £199

Just to let you know that PC World are now selling them at £199. If you can pick up the bigger battery, flog the old one, then it's not that bad a price. Linky here: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/705895#productInformationSection

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Aspire One with extended battery available

For me the whole point about SCCs (or netbooks) is portability, quick boot up, long battery life and low cost. The Eee 901 almost got it right except for the price, hence why the version of the Aspire One that I bought included the 6 cell battery, 1Gb RAM, 8Gb SSD and Linpus Linux... and it's awesome.

Cost from FutureShop.ca in Canada was CAD$449. After taxes that still comes to only 250 in "real money". Boot time from cold to surfing is 30 seconds. I get between 5-6 hours of use with the 6 cell battery and that includes constant wireless and much video streaming usage. The keyboard is also remarkably usable and the extra "storage slot", as mentioned in the review, is very novel.

Side note: The supplied slip cover does not fit when the 6 cell battery is used, though apparently Acer are planning free replacements.

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256 bits per pixel?

»Ermm, that'll be 2048x1366x256 = 716177408 (+ some header info, EXIF info etc) bits

Is that 256 bits per pixel?

Ermm, I rather thought that 24 (or 32 if you have an alpha channel) would be more usual.

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