Acer intros 'pro' netbook
Business class, apparently
Acer has formally launched the Aspire One Pro 531, a "business class" version of the already rather corporate-styled Aspire One 531.
Acer's Aspire One 531 Pro: business class, apparently
To be honest, we think the regular 531 is better looking, and since both vanilla and Pro machines are an inch thick, weigh just over a kilo and incorporate a 10in 1024 x 600 display, a 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, 1GB of DDR 2 memory, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 0.3Mp webcam and 10/100Mb/s Ethernet, we'd choose the cheaper version.
The keyboard's 89 per cent of full size
The 531 costs around £349 with a six-cell battery - the same as a Pro with a three-cell power pack. Get a Pro with a six-cell battery and you'll pay £399, though that includes and extra 1GB of memory. The Pro also comes with a 250GB hard drive to the regular 531's 160GB HDD, but how much storage space do you need in a netbook, for heaven's sake?
Like the regular 531, the 531 Pro has a small touchpad with multi-touch capabilities. Acer said the machine would be offered with optional on-board 3G connectivity, but it didn't detail how much extra this will set you back.
SSD and 3G options too?
Acer's website also shows a 64GB SSD option, but again Acer UK didn't indicate when - or if - such a model will come to the UK. Ditto versions with the 1.66GHz N280 processor. ®
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COMMENTS
Netbook benchmark suggestion ---
Why not benchmark these netbooks by seeing how many Facebook and MySpace tabs you can simultaneously have open and still get good response.
And make it a realistic test, with all the standard updates for the O/S, and an up-to-date anti-virus installed.
If you get a netbook with 1GB of memory you are going to wish you had 2GB of memory by the end of the second week.
Missing 'n'.
All that extra storage space in a netbook can only mean one thing: this is the Pr0n bersion, not the Pro version.
Lost the plot?
Netbook - cheap, small, light....
Why bother, at the cost and weight of this one you can get a much better laptop. Marketing seem to be in a little world of their own on the recent 'netbooks'
Too much HD size?
"The Pro also comes with a 250GB hard drive to the regular 531's 160GB HDD, but how much storage space do you need in a netbook, for heaven's sake?"
How much HD space is too much?
Please do let me know.
A.H.O. Thabeth
