5 things I don’t like about the Acer Aspire One
Generally when I get a new device, I gravitate towards all of the good things. I’m going to take a different approach this time and hit some of the things I don’t like about the Acer Aspire One I nabbed yesterday. I’ll also have plenty of usage thoughts over the next week or two as well. Bear in mind that these are just my own opinions and experiences; I’m not suggesting that the $379 netbook isn’t a great deal for some.
Linpus Lite implementation. Yup, it’s easy to get to all of the apps that Acer has installed and for some that may be more than adequate. After all, you’ve got a solid base assortment of software to use in the build, just like I did with the Asus Eee PC running Xandros Linux. Out of the box, you can simply browse, play, IM or use OpenOffice apps.
But what about adding more apps? There’s no documentation telling you how to do this… in fact, there’s no mechanism in the out-of-the-box OS implementation to add any apps; or if there is, I haven’t found it. There’s no easy way to get out of the custom desktop and get into an Advanced Mode either. A little Googling last night showed me that I could hit Alt+F2 to get into a Terminal session. From there, the "xcfe-setting-show" command offered me an screen option to configure the desktop. It still doesn’t provide me a "full desktop" mode but if I right click on the desktop, I have advanced controls and settings. Folks who aren’t Linux-savvy will likely be stuck with the apps that Acer included. There’s no documentation for XP upgrades as well… maybe I got spoiled by the approach Asus took?
Mouse buttons. Speaking of right-clicking, I was hoping that the Acer mouse buttons would be better than the one(s) on my original Eee PC. They’re certainly functional, but if you take this device out and about (a primary use case scenario), you’ll be clicking and clacking to the chagrin of those around you. The buttons are loud. You can certainly tap using the touchpad for a left click and you can also silently scroll with it as well, but I think some folks will be disappointed with the mouse buttons.
Open RAM slot isn’t easy to access. Again, many people will just buy the device with the RAM they need, but there is an open RAM slot sitting on the inside, just begging for a 512 MB or 1 GB SoDIMM module. I saw six screws on the bottom of the device and removed them, but the unit wouldn’t open up at all. Turns out that the next steps are to remove the keyboard and one system board to access the empty RAM slot. Not a procedure for the faint of heart, as evidenced by this video. In fact, as a few commenters pointed out, the extra $20 for the XP version includes 1 GB of memory and that alone might be worth it to some. There’s also a higher capacity hard drive in that version.
SSD isn’t that quick. Just an opinion on the "performance feel" of the device. I think it should be a little snappier with a lite Linux build, but maybe my expectations are off. No, I don’t expect this machine to be a screamer by any means, but some research indicates that the SSD module might not be as fast as others used in netbooks. I didn’t even have to take the device apart to find out which SSD module is used: the BIOS tells me the part number of ssdpamm0008g1, which turns out to be the Intel Z-P230 we caught back in June. Intel’s documentation states sequential read and write speeds of 35 MBps / 7 MBps, which certainly isn’t blazing speeds.
External screen resolution. One of the ways I use my mobile devices is to attach them to external monitors when at home. The Aspire One offers a VGA out port, so I took advantage of it last night, but I probably won’t again. There appears to be no way to change the screen resolution to anything other than 1024 x 600 or again, I simply haven’t found it. I was hoping for a slightly higher res when connecting the device to a monitor, but all it did was show the same res on a bigger screen. There is a Desktop Settings area (if you use the Advanced Desktop trick above), but it only shows one res to choose from. So you can have any resolution you like on an external monitor… as long as it’s 1024 x 600.
These are just first thoughts; I’ve had the device for under 24 hours at this point. To be fair, we’re talking about a $379 netbook that will surely make some people very happy. I’m not globally condemning the device in any way, shape or form. I’m simply sharing my opinions which of course are based on my computing needs and requirements. If I had the $399 unit with XP and the hard drive, I might feel differently as a few of my disappointments would likely disappear. More to follow as I gather some of the more positive impressions and thoughts.
I had the Acer Aspire One for about a week. I think its great for anyone who will leave it in its out of the box state (without installing any extra apps, messing with extra settings, etc). I think it falls short for anyone who has even the itch to be a power user such as yourself Kevin. With the memory upgrade setback, the mouse buttons, and the ssd speed, it starts to fall into one of those “you get what you pay for devices”. You almost have to install another OS to get any real extra use out of it, but thats assuming you’re using it for more than what it was intended for. I also didn’t like the glossy screen as I have been used to matte screens, but thats a personal preference.
The Aspire One has some great features, but overall I couldn’t keep it because I felt a little to restricted in terms of its flexibility.
I’m looking forward to your review though.
B
Holy cow, I never realized how hard it would be to upgrade the RAM on this comp. This is definitely a computer for someone who is going to leave it in its stock state.
At least the software issue could be solved by using XP on the device (or a different flavor of Linux i suppose). The RAM access is a deal killer for me.
If it’s any consolation I think it’s great that you bought one so people like me get some idea of what it’s like. They have these for sale here in Norway but for 511 dollars!
I’ve had the 1gb RAM, 120gb hard drive, XP version Aspire One for about a week and I generally like it, especially for the low $422 price.
You’re right about the mouse buttons though–they are quite loud (and oddly placed too).
I can’t comment on your screen resolution problem (since I’m not using the Linpus Lite distro) though I will say the little beast drives my external monitors with no problem.
Greg
The only item on your list that would concern me is the external screen resolution. But even then, when I’m at home I’ll be using my MBP. The netbook I’d like to purchase would only be for outside my house usage.
I will never buy a netbook with windows. Linux is the only option for me on a netbook since Mac doesn’t make one.
I will also never use the trackpad and built in mouse buttons on any laptop. Dislike them all. Always carry an external mouse. Does this netbook support a bluetooth mouse?
So it seems the resolution output issue is only on the Linux versions, not in XP?
I’d surely pay the extra $20 and get the model with 1gb of ram, 120gb HDD and XP Home, FAR better deal.
And there’s been benchmarks on the HDD, which is a Hitachi and has about 50 MBps read, forgot the write. Beats the SSD in performance!
Brian, there is no integrated Bluetooth so you’d have to add it via a hack or with USB.
Nina, with the right Intel drivers on XP, I would expect that the device could output higher resolutions to external displays.
I enjoyed your video last night and I was ready to jump on my H-D and ride 45 miles to ABQ and purchase an Aspire One this morning. I appreciate your honest comments so I get I’ll be riding to ABQ to purchase a toilet float instead. I transformed by M205 Tablet into a Xubuntu machine and that’ll have to serve my out-of-home surfing needs. gB-)
Ugh, everytime I see a decent netbook and get interested in buying one, something has to go wrong: HP – VIA cpu. Asus – cramped keyboard. MSI – price bump. And now, Acer – slow SSD (I prefer SSD to HDD for these portable guys). Guess I’ll just have to wait until Dell comes out with their model to see what’s wrong with *that* one.
I suppose this is one way to stick to a budget…
Kevin, with your Google/cloud expertise I’m surprised you didn’t find http://www.aspireoneuser.com/ Most of what you are seeking is there. I’ve got my One tweaked up just the way I want it. I’m even busy using the new Intel C++ compiler that has the Atom optimizer to re-compile optimized binaries on the One itself.
Right on the money! I couldn’t agree more.
I did figure out how to add programs and get the desktop running, but Acer does seem to want to make the open-source OS not so open.
http://www.laptopmag.com/advice/how-to/aspire-one-apps.aspx?step=0
Scotty, the second link in my post is to the AspireOneUser site you mention.
Bear in mind that I got the device late on Sunday afternoon and wrote this post on Monday morning with a good night’s sleep in between. It might take me more than just a few waking hours to find out all I need to know.
Thanks for the info, linked to you in my blog:
http://www.proliferationoflinux.org/2008/08/11/acer-aspire-criticismflaws/
About the screen resolution, you could try changing the /etc/xorg.conf file. I’m sure getting higher resolutions on the vga output wouldn’t be a problem. But Acer really could have already enabled more options to be acessed through the GUI.
people still use buttons? why dont you just set the bottom right tap zone to act as a right-click?
Thanks for all the great info Kevin. I almost bought one, but it looks like the Linux version doesn’t support my Verizon USB EVDO – did you get yours to work?
The Aspire One SSD is either an Intel (real world performance; 25MB/s 8MB/s) or Samsung (real world; 38MB/s 15MB/s).
Linpus Lite is indeed very closed down by Acer. XP is officially supported and drivers are available, although performance on the Intel SSD seems poor. Ubuntu 8.04.1 is working (with quite some tweaks – newbies might want to wait for 8.10, card reader only accepts SD(HC) in ubuntu), but you’ll loose the quick boot and long battery life of the Linpus install.
Hey, thanks for the nice reviews of this.
I wonder if there is somekind of video player software that comes with it, and if it supports up to 1280×720 resolution H264 video. At least it’d be cool if you could test some DivX 1280×720 video, I’ve got some available on my URL.
Why I wonder if it supports 1280×720 video playback, I tested the MSI Wind in my video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkxnvQSswTQ I can make it play 1280×720 video pretty smoothly but I have to use Coreavc codec and Media Player Classic, while VLC doesn’t seem to support it.
I wonder why Acer isn’t providing an easy to use and customized applications repository for this Linux Linpus version. There should be just a basic Add/Remove programs icon somewhere and it would pull from the Internet a global list of all the compatible software that is also maintained by trusted sources so you can be sure all that software is secure and works well. If Acer doesn’t provide such a built-in apps repository, I wonder if Acer will add this feature in somekind of software update and
pre-installed in future models to be shipped.
A 120GB 2.5″ hard drive costs below $40, not too far I guess from the cost of an 8GB flash memory, perhaps $30 difference, so it is nice Acer gives that choice to get the 120GB hard drive version for not too much more.
In your video you said SD card limitation capacity is 8GB per card. I wonder why they would limit it to 8GB per card. SDHC standard should allow up to 32GB per card, and those cards are nearing the $100 each currently.
Built-in HSDPA would definitely be nice. Has Acer announced price and availability for that?
I got an Aspire One at Circuit City on Sunday, but noticed that the fan is quite loud, with the high-pitch whining noise. Anyone who got it from Circuit City also experiencing this problem?
From the http://www.aspireoneuser.com/ forums it seems like many people are having this problem as well.
Kevin, you obviously know so little about the Aspire One that you are not in a position to say what is good or bad about it. Reading up on something before you post a video of you making a fool of yourself is advisable. Then you don’t get the hint, and write a pseudo review full of more false information about the One. Please, spend a week to read about the One and learn what it can and cannot do, THEN post about it on your site.
Kev50027, I believe your comment was unnecessarily harsh..
There’s nothing wrong with Kevin posting his thoughts on the device as he gets to know it first-hand.
As Kevin and James have said, these devices are at a price point where they can be an “impulse buy”. Kevin’s lead-up to reviewing this device is not unlike how many people will buy it on a whim and then figure out what it’s about when they get home..
lol i’m guessing Kev500 owns 1, dont get so butthurt buddy.
besides if you look a little deeper i dont think Kevins dislikes mean that much. the Linux implementation sucks, so what i will be using XP. the external monitor resolution sucks, so what i will be using XP. the SSD is slow, so what i will get the HDD version. RAM slot is difficult, so what i am getting the 1GB version. mouse buttons are too loud, so what i dont use them anyways.
but unfortunately Kevins dislikes can sway the mainstream that dont look deeper into them. like the few idiots who replyed in this thread saying they were just interested earlier until they saw Kevins dislikes today. although my gut feeling tells me none of those dislikes will even apply to them (just as they dont for me).
it is quite funny to see people admit they were previously interested in the device until they read this 1 blog article from Kevin. i dont mean this in a bad way, but Kevin really needs to consider the lowest common denominator braindead posters like this that cant really think for themselves & give them rebuttal/counter points in the SAME article. otherwise they will just skim over the article getting a “general impression” & then decide not to buy the device even though none of the negative aspects of it apply to their usage scenario.
media outlets always say that their audience is smarter than what they would think, but you also have to consider lots of them are dumber than what you would think also.
something very funny about the situation is, everyone of Kevins dislikes could have been avoided if he had just payed an extra $20 for the XP, 1GB, HDD version. yes even the loud mouse buttons as you can just use the trackpad tap zones instead.
I think I can hold out until the new Lenovo subnotebooks arrive. But, is there any reason to believe they will be significantly different from the current crop? All the manufacturers are operating in the same niche, with not much room to move. Consequently the products come out much the same. Nevertheless, if the Lenovo doesn’t have noisy buttons that would be a big plus for me.
I’ve had mine for 4 days so far and my impression is mostly the same as yours. The touchpad and the buttons aren’t nice at all. (I thought the Asus 901 touchpad was much better). …well, it’s a good excuse to start using RP. Upgrading the memory took about 90 minutes, but that was kind of fun, so that’s ok. The write speed to the SDD is really really slow — but bearable once things are tuned. The keyboard’s nice. The screen looks pretty at first, but it’s too sensitive to viewing angle. Yes, the fan is annoying.
As to the screen resolution, I had switched to Ubuntu right away, where the max external resolution was 1280×1024. By default, there wasn’t any way to show a separate screen on the external port — the internal screen was simply duplicated on the external port.
Up here in Denmark, we’re still waiting for the device to hit the shelves. Asus Eee and MSI Wind are around, but the sleek One is the One
If the price difference between the ½ GB Linux model and the 1 GB XP model is merely $20 (which I doubt – let’s see), I’m certainly going to pick up the XP one. And then kick XP.
For something like this, which needs to Just Work, I prefer Linux unconditionally. No worries about virus and all the other maintainance junk one needs to do with Windows (and I’m an expert on this). Wether it be the native Linpus or Kubuntu is still up in the air.
BTW, I found the hack to be able to install RPM packages far from daunting. One does a few things, or has someone else do it, and presto: All kind of amazing applications are there. I’ll start out with Skype (yeah, not Open Source. But I need it).
Still, I prefer adept for package management. Which just might make me go with Kubuntu in the end.
Found on an aspireoneuser.com forum…
“I do have my external 24″ screen running at 1680 x 1050, and the One screen at 1024 x 600. Both at the same time, in dual screen mode – not mirrored.”
The terminal and xrandr command are your friend when coming to screen resolutions. I’ve configured mine to run 1680×1050 on external and 1024×600 on LCD, and both at the same time.
But I do think Linpus should have a GUI tool to adjust screen resolutions more conveniently. The thing I hate about Linpus is that it’s a half-baked product, with tons of dirty hacks internally to make it run on the Intel atom platform. I’d much prefer a cleaner way of doing things, perhaps with another distro. But again, there aren’t many Linux distros specifically targeting at Atom platforms, we’ll have to wait until they mature.
But otherwise I like my AA1, and mine doesn’t have the whining fan noice.
Kevin,
While not having tried it yet, i assume changing the unit to a different resolution is done by adding the desired resolution to /etc/X11/xorg.conf. One needs to be root to modify that file, and Xorg would have to be restarted after the change. That’s where dual-monitor support would be configured as well (screen cloning or extended desktop, “Xinerama”). To change between modes, use ctl-alt-+ and -, or by comand: xvidtune -prev or -next (from desktop or toolbar launcher, for example).
I slipped a tiny piece of rubber (the size of a split pea) between the fan and the bottom shell of the laptop. This stopped one of the high-pitched components of the fan noise.
(Actually, I didn’t feel like removing the motherboard yet again to do this, so twisting a small drill bit between my fingers I carefully made a small hole in the bottom shell at the center of the fan and poked the rubber in through that.)
Just got a one. It is unfortunate that here in Canada we have to use the European keyboard. >It is very, very crowded with the extra keys and apain for those of us who touch-type. Other than that I have no complaints <9darn sub-standard left Shift key!).
There is NO fan noise on this unit. I thought it was convection-cooled… Thanks for the links to AA1 user and the one to Laptop.com. Very useful, for this former HPUX administrator. This is my first experience with Linux – hope it is familiar on the CLI.
The XP version of the Aspire One has a “projector mode” which is 800×600. When you press Fn and the screen button it shows laptop only, laptop and monitor, monitor, and “projector 800×600″. My HDTV did not like the 1024×600 mode, but it worked fine (and looked good) with the 800×600 mode.
Umm installing software is dead easy, first thing I did when I pulled mine out of the box. Laptopmag’s version, which is also on aspireoneuser.com, works certainly, but the text-based way is easy in a pinch:
alt+f2 -> type in “xterm”
in xterm, “sudo yum install ”
That’s it. Of course, “yum search ” is necessary much of the time. When I first saw one on display at Staples I immediately typed into the terminal “yum search doom” followed by “sudo yum install prboom”. Less than a minute later I was playing doom on it
(OpenArena works quite well too, as another id-based game that’s a bit more modern).
I used Windows Deployment Services to deploy Windows Vista onto the Aspire to see how it would run (due to the lack of cd-rom drive etc).
It runs surprisingly fast on the 512MB version.
Robin
From the nokia forums (for the n810):
“”Another interesting thing worth noting is that Acer Aspire One is shipped with two possible types of SSD – slow (with read 20-25MB/s and write 5-7MB/s) and not so slow (with read 30-35MB/s and write 12-15 MB/s). Looks like the white models are with the faster SSD and the blue ones with the slow, but that’s not for sure. You can check whats yours by looking in the BIOS -> Information -> HDD Model Name -> SSDPAM0008G1EA is the slow one and P-SSD 1800 is the faster one.”"
Yup, as I mentioned in the post, I had the Intel SSDPAM0008G1EA SSD module. The write speeds I saw when using XP weren’t even close to the advertised speeds, causing me to wonder if the main issue was how XP “saw” the flash memory. Regardless, it was to slow; write speeds were abysmal in my testing.
See http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/08/if-you-want-xp.html for the benchmarking.
Hey guys, i bought the blue One and its the P-SSD 1800. upgraded to xp myself with the 8gb ssd, its actually quite fast, cept the booting time took exactly 1.30 mins, but after tweaking, its 45 seconds now. my only issue is that batt life can only hold 2.25 hours.. still waiting for the 6 cell batt.. other than that, its actually working great… and it does look gorgeous..
If you still have an Acer Aspire One, I would be interested if you could backup your /etx/X11/xorg.conf file and write a new one with the resolution you want for the external screen.
Here is a quick howto on how I did it for the EEEPC:
http://zoobab.wikidot.com/how-to-use-the-asus-eeepc-as-a-desktop-machine-with-an-external-screen
I would be interested in your experiences before buying one (mail me at zoobab-at-gmail-com).
I am pretty sure it is possible to have a higher resolution on the output, but I want to know if it is speedy enough to play movies.
Sorry zoobab, the unit was returned about two weeks ago.
I was just in a store today with the Acer Aspire and I hooked it up to an available 19″ wide screen monitor. The netbook was able to adjust resolution on the external monitor to a 1400X900(or aproximate) resolution with 24bit color. Overall it did not look that bad. I have been looking for something that gave the exact specs on monitor resolution, but this netbook does do better than 1024×600 on an external monitor.
That’s why I stick to my Dell.
http://www.dell.com
I’m getting the Acer Aspire One with the 120 GB HD. It’s mainly going to be used to surf the net on the road. I assume that with an external optical drive, I will be able to install programs with no problems.
Has using an external optical drive been a problem with this computer?
Thanks for any input.
Chuck
I’m sure your dislikes of the Aspire One would have been much less had you opted for the XP version. At only $20 a difference, why didn’t you?
Disliking Linux is being unfair to the Aspire One as Linux has nothing to do with the machine or its “real” potential capabilities. The mouse buttons are a bit noisy but I’m more concerned about the size more than the noise they make, they could have been bigger. Your right about the RAM slot, what a pain to get to that but those with the XP version need not worry and the same goes for the painfully slow SSD, why even bother when there’s better out there (XP version again).
You mention the screen resolution, currently I have my Aspire One hooked up to my 42″ HDTV and I can output to 1920×1080 AND play GTA Vice City at full tilt. This to me is very impressive for just a netbook. Maybe you should play around a bit more and then give a fairer review of your dislikes, if you can really find one that’s worthy of the price tag. In my opinion its the best netbook on the market for the price, features and the capabilities for such a small device thats branded basically as a browser.
BTW, I purchased the Linux version with 1gb RAM & 120gb HDD. The difference in the UK for the XP version with same spec is around $55 so I went for the cheaper one and installed XP myself. For those who are wondering which version to get and not sure how to install XP all you need is an external USB DVD drive. Plug it into the ACER, turn on and you will see an option to boot from a USB device. Choose this and XP will start installing. I had no problems at all with install and any drivers you need for XP are on the Acer website. Installing XP was the best thing I did for the Aspire one as it unleashed its full power and boy was I impressed, in fact, I was kind of shocked at how good it was once I installed Vice City and Need for Speed Underground. Even Return To Castle Wolfenstein played smoothly with all graphics setting up AND online. Maybe I should Hush up, if Acer see this they will put the prices up. It’s a terrible machine Acer, honest! You ripped us off! Ha Ha!
Peace!
Chuck, you shouldn’t have any issues using an external optical drive on the AAO.
Laurie, I agree with your first comment. That’s why the 2nd to last line in the post reads “If I had the $399 unit with XP and the hard drive, I might feel differently as a few of my disappointments would likely disappear.”
The XP version wasn’t readily available at the time I purchased the AAO. And I didn’t “dislike Linux” as you said… I disliked the customized implementation of Linux that Acer used. That’s a very subtle, but key difference.
I have had my Aspire One (Linpus Lite version) for a month or two (I have had an Asus EeePC for many months) and in spite of some of the criticism here of Kevin Tofel’s review, I would say he managed to do a remarkable job of hitting the negative features of the One (certainly the base version).
The touchpad/mousepad is about the stupidest design I have seen, with the clattering buttons placed vertically beside the pad itself. I can’t use the touchpad with one hand, it’s too awkward. As well, the touchpad surface is too shallow (I assume to keep the size of the unit small).
The issue of SO-DIMM RAM upgrades is just bizarre. They should have either used an access door on the bottom (as the Eee and all notebooks I’ve seen do) or at least made it fairly easy to lift up the keyboard to access the memory slot. I bought a SO-DIMM to upgrade my unit and eventually I will take the One apart to do that, as much out of spite as anything.
I found the Linpus Lite unsuitable and not because it’s linux (because I have used linux for more than 12 years) but because of the problems of installing additional software. [On the Eee the Xandros linux is, by contrast, fairly tolerable.] I have replaced the Linpus with Xubuntu 8.10, which has generally gone quite well, although network configuration, particularly for the wireless, has been a real headache.
To try to conserve the 8 gig SSD’s life, I have formatted it (and an 8 gig SDHC card in the front left card slot) to ext2, and used the SSD for ‘/’, ‘/usr’ and ‘/home’ partitions (on the assumption they receive fewer write cycles) and used the SDHC card for the ’swap’, ‘/tmp’, ‘/var’, and ‘/usr/local’ partitions. That way the SDHC is more likely to run out of read-write cycles first and that card can easily (and fairly cheaply) be replaced. Obviously neither the SSD nor the SDHC are particularly snappy performers.
About using an external screen: When you use an external screen, the screen gets its “picture” from the computer’s video card.
So if your computer’s video card only offers a low resolution that’s what you’ll get on your external screen, no matter how excellent the screen might be.
This is why you couldn’t change the screen resolution when connecting your Asprire One to an external screen.
And this is true for ALL computers. So if you want to use your note-/netbook with an external screen check the resolution your computer’s video card offers, first, and then decide what screen to use.
Yup, that’s sound advice, but I think you’re missing my point. The integrated Intel graphics in the Acer Aspire One are capable of externally displaying up to 2048×1536 resolution, so the issue isn’t hardware as you’re implying.
The res can be changed but requires modification of files in Linux and most mainstream consumers won’t have the knowledge for this. I would have liked to see Acer provide a simpler software menu for this.
Things slightly change once you put XP SP2 on it
I’m VERY satisfied with mine. Bought it because of space issues in the students’ home where I must live, couldn’t keep my desk pc around, and it’s just AWESOME for its size.
I’m even working in 3dsmax (3d modeling software) on it and bustin’ a few caps in counterstrike and quake 2/3. And it’s excellent for watching movies or sketching stuff with a wacom tablet
Not to mention the cool design, good lcd display, 1GB of ram, quite resistant (it fell off my desk and didn’t break). Card readers for my phone and camera, it can connect to the Internets pipe and it’s got 110 GB of storage for all your perverted needs… what more could you want from a COMPUTER the size of a book?
Only problems:
1.) BIOS. It totally sucks. Boot-Passworded it and locked myself out of it (all passwords need to be at most than 8 chars, and must be entered with capslock). And finally, laptop just died after a reboot and had to flash it.
2.) overheating problem when it’s sitting on cloth or soft surface.
3.) the speakers are a total ripoff, even for a laptop. Like… my _phone_ sounds better and louder than those!
4.) the battery life, ~1hr with hard drive usage, ~2h when running stuff from memory stick and minimum brightness
5.) screen to tiny, photoshop doesn’t quite fit in 600 pix height
6.) processor is a bit slow. could have been a bit more powerful.
Also, I feel it still should have had some sort of dvd unit in it, though I use an external one if I have to.
But don’t get me wrong, I still love it. I’m typing from it :3
forgot to add, if all drivers are installed properly, there should be no reason to worry about using external monitors under windows. See igfxcfg.exe for setting up that stuff.
I for one usually put my main desktop on a 1280×768 tft monitor, and extend it with the laptop’s own 1024×600 for stuff like… let’s say winamp. I may buy a bigger screen though…
i have linux linpus version of this, i find it easy to use and very nippy if not multi tasking, even games run smooth to a certain point. overall really good for the money, however i need help finding a 3d modelling program. as stated i have linpus lite version, and i want a free modelling program for 3d modelling and prefereably a link or guidance on how to install too, as i am not used to writing codes for linux to run things. email me anything helpful at minime9123456789@yahoo.com as i only just came across this site and never really go on here. thanks for any help sent in advance and i really hope there is some sort of pragram out there, even if it is slow or laggy or whatever.