You arrived here because you were searching for help, right?
So take your time and read this for the beginning!
As I was writing a few months ago, the Acer Aspire One is a very good tool especially nowadays.
If you got one with 160Gb HDD... you done good. Not that 120 Gb is bad but because you didn't want to be considered a cheep shit with porcupines in your pockets saving a few dollars just for the sake of "saving something".
It's worth the effort ( in time maybe ) to invest in a 6 cells replacement battery, but for now you're good with what you have. A little bit over 2 hours autonomy it's just perfect.
For those who are still searching for a good reason to buy this Netbook, no matter what operation system you decide to use ( Windows or Linux based distro ) there are some things you should know :
1. Netbook means a tool that helps you surf the Internet, read your e-mail, listen for some music, edit pictures and documents, upload and download stuff as much as you can and as long as you have an active Internet connection.
You found an access point -----> go for it but remember that not the Netbook will determine the speed of that ad-hoc wireless Internet connection! So don't blame your Netbook for a lousy connection.
2. Yes , you can go wired or wireless. It's easy to manage both network cards but this depends if you know what you're doing or you're just fuckin' around .
3. If you want to upgrade you RAM ...well, this Netbook will recognize only 1.5 Gb of RAM. That's all!
There is a scam here: there are 2 memory slots and if you bought your Netbook with 1Gb of RAM this is distributed over both slots - 2 x 512 Mb.
The manufacturer gives you the possibility to remove ONLY 512 Mb of RAM while the memory from the other slot is "nailed" there!
I guess it's their way to say " that's it buddy, you're allowed to play only with one memory slot".
So, knowing this, the only memory upgrade allowed is 1Gb. In the end your BIOS will display 1536Mb of RAM.
If you think that you can do this by your self, take a look at this tutorial and think deep before touching any screwdriver!
Here is the link http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/08/28/how-to-add-ram-to-the-acer-aspire-one-netbook/
4. You like to watch things on YouTube, right? And also you'd like to watch that shit in HD or normal, right? Well...sometimes you might not be so lucky with video streaming when connected this kind of web sites. That's because the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 your Netbook comes with is not quite a graphic card! It is an integrated ( onboard ) graphic chip on the Mobile Intel 945Gx chipset for Intel processors.
The BIOS will display VIDEO CARD 8Mb and that's it! There's no way to increase this value!
5. Do you really like Windows? I mean ... do you really like to "eat" all things Microsoft "serves" you pretending that it is the best?
How come "it is the best" when you have to pay a lot of money for anything you want to install into any computer starting with the operation system itself!??
Personally I consider ANY DAMN SOFTWARE that costs over 20 dollars... a robbery. And unfortunately they start to force people to let themselves robbed by issuing all kind of laws !
Instead of this shit I use a free Linux distribution called Linux Mint that can be highly customized for whatever you want your Netbook to do. Except games that require serious resources.
This Linux distro is available for download at http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
It provides a lot of FREE software , of course fully functional ( not 30 days trial crap ...like others! ).
They provide repositories loaded with all kind of software: software for handling transfer of music from and into your iPod, for editing pictures , downloading pictures and/or movies from your photo/video camera, even editing movies ! More, you'll have extremely good music/video players, burning CD/DVD's ( of course, you'll need an external CD/DVD writer for this! ) and , probably the most important, your system will be periodically updated.
You want Yahoo Messenger? Forget about it! Use Pidgin and you'll be able to log into any popular instant messenger program you want with all your nick names AT ONCE!
Unfortunately Pidgin can't offer you yet the possibility to use the web cam and the microphone incorporated in your Netbook.
But...you can use Skype! Works like a charm in Linux Mint on you Acer Aspire One!
Did I mentioned anywhere in this post something about "drivers"? No ??? Well I'm not even supposed to ! Once installed Linux Mint into your Netbook it will handle the hardware with no problem!
If you decide to give Linux Mint a chance I have to tell you one more thing : once you'll have an external CD/DVD drive available , just put your Linux Mint CD inside it, boot your computer and you'll be able to play with it WITHOUT CHANGING/REMOVING your basic operation system!
In time, if a lot of you will be interested to use Linux Mint I might post a step by step basic installation guide.
