Acer Netbook Aspire One 521 W7 PRO works fine

Hi there
I finally got to buy a small 10.1 in Acer Aspire One 521 Netbook.

Got rid of the W7 Starter edition on it plus all the Crap / Trial / bloatware that usually gets pre-installed on Store purchased machines (The AMD V105 processor has a bit more "oompf" than the usual Intel Atom processors that Netbooks are generally fitted with) and proceeded with a Windows Professional install.

Machine works FINE with Windows Professional W7 x-86 -- although remember to load the BROADCOM Wireless LAN driver BEFORE wiping the old software off your disk or you will have trouble connecting to the Internet.

Running Office 2010 , Photoshop CS5 and IE9 on it. All work fine.

While running photoshop on a 1GB netbook is not normally good to do for long periods it DOES work.

Very happy with this EXTREMLY portable netbook -- only cost me around 220 EUR too.

Its just the ticket for taking on Planes, and trains these days and fits easily into a backpack with your other hand luggage items.

I'd definitely recommend this type of computer for travellers -- of coursse it wont replace a fully specced Laptop or desktop but can be used when you don't need to run loads of VM's etc on a machine.

Cheers
jimbo

Hi there
Looks quite rugged too -- but "dropping" small sensitive computers from fast moving Bikes is probably not a good idea. Should be fine if properly packed however.

BTW Full AERO effects work fine too. Graphics actually gives a score of 4.9, the HDD 5.3.
The weakest link of course in these types of computers is the processor -- even so it still gave a 2.5 calculations / sec subscore.

Note also that this machine also has full HDMI output so you can play full HD on your nice large LCD TV too.

Perfectly satisfactory for this type of machine for around a 220 EUR pricetag --no complaints.


Cheers
jimbo

I picked up the Acer 521 in the summer and it is both my media server and my tag along PC (on our tandem bicycle). Upgraded the memory with a 4gb stick and loaded Windows 7 Professional and Windows 2010 Office Professional. Thanks for the student discounts. It also isn't half bad with gaming on the widescreed HDTV (Left4Dead) is a hoot.

But it is a very versatile netbook and has gone fishing with the family and recorded my son cleaning and filleting a 1 kilo small mouth bass for supper at the cottage. Dropped the scaling knife on the screen and now have a dueler's scar in the top left corner. I also video skype with my daughter in Hawaii and it's fun taking the 521 around the house showing her the changes we made while away.