RSSAcer ships updated Aspire One, with Windows but no Linux
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published February 9, 2009, 2:34 PM
About a week ahead of schedule, Acer has started US shipments of its second generation Aspire One netbook, a Windows XP-only device with a larger 10.1-inch screen.
Despite the bigger screen size of the new Aspire One AOD150, Acer's latest netbook doesn't offer an appreciably roomier keyboard, according to some who have tried out the new PC, which first shipped in the UK on January 23.
On the other hand, some units will reportedly be outfitted with a new, much more capable battery 5800mAH battery from Acer -- instead of the standard 4400mAH battery -- simply because Acer was in a hurry to get the new netbooks out the door.
Other specs of the Aspire One AOD150 include a 160 GB hard drive, single SDHC Card slot, 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, and 1 GB of RAM.
But unlike the original 8.9-inch Aspire, which came preloaded with a choice of Windows XP Home or Linpus Linux Lite, the AOD150 is available with Windows XP only.
Similarly, Asustek, another up-and-comer with its netbooks, decided some time ago to emphasize Windows over Linux -- in the US market, anyway.
"Linux is going well for us, especially in Europe," said Josh Norem, senior technical marketing specialist at Asustek, in an interview with Betanews late last fall. "But now we're focusing on Windows XP, because a lot of people find it easier to use."
Acer and Asustek both seem to be doing a lot of things right in the US space, if data released today by IDC is a good indication. Under very tough economic conditions, both companies grew their shares in the US notebook/netbook market during the fourth quarter of 2008. Acer's portable PC shipments in the US amounted to more than four million, showing a 57% increase over the same quarter the year before.
For its part, relative newcomer Asustek shipped about 300,000 portables in the US during the quarter, landing in eighth place with a 3% market share. At the same time, US industry leader Dell slipped 8% to 8.88 million units, followed very closely in the rankings by Hewlett-Packard, with 8.77 million units.
But is there hope for Linux on netbooks yet? HP last week rolled an Ubuntu Linux-based custom GUI for its own Mini 1000 Mi Edition netbook, with a new UI that is reportedly better geared to ease of use than most Linux offerings for netbooks.
How much a customer save if ordered the machine without Windows? If the machine is sold with Windows even if the customer doesn't want it, is it possible to return Windows to Microsoft for a refund?
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|*laughing*
Well, at least she didn't mention the "Hardy Herring" version of Ubuntu she said in the previous article was being used by the HP netbook.
At least she linked it though. Always good for a laugh.
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|Guess what? So are you.....
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|*laughing*
Ahhhh, sjc001. Have you noticed that they've deleted all of your comments from the Kindle topic yet?
Proof the world hasn't gone completely down the toilet.
Don't let that deter you from making your childish posts, though. Even though my 4 year-old could make more meaningful comments, I do so look forward to watching yours spiral into negative moderation and occasional mass-deletions when your idiocy is simply too much for the mods to bear.
You serve as a shining example to us all of what could happen if we completely stopped using our brains.
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|Come on. The mods are complete BS (although fun to some extent). Look at the guy above. He implies he doesn't like Windows and asks if the installed OS can be 'returned' for a refund. How does that warrant a negative mod? At least 1/2 the posters only come here to piss off others anyway.
Hehe! I was just able to mod this comment down myself. Top stuff...
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|You are right, -1 or -2 I generally ignore as "stupid mod syndrome".
Between sjc and iTard7, I think they're battling for the highest negative mod score though... (and sjc just took the cake getting an entire topics-worth of inane BS deleted). Itard7 has some serious ground to gain now.
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|"Hehe! I was just able to mod this comment down myself. Top stuff..."
Oh sorry to spoil your score, I clicked on +1 so now you find yourself back to 0. Strange, I didn't pay much attention about this score stuff before.
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|Yeah, I wouldn't be too concerned about mods of 2 to -2...that's just trolls/fanboys, it's when it gets above 4 in either direction you've hit on something.
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|"Similarly, Asustek, another up-and-comer with its netbooks, decided some time ago to emphasize Windows over Linux -- in the US market, anyway"
what?? Asus CREATED netbooks. single handedly. invented them. by definition thats not an up-and-comer in any category. the Eee PC was the 1st netbook. and it sold for $200. it contained a Celeron-M and a 2/4/8GB SSD and came with a specialized version of Linux and really small resolution 7" screen. but it spurred the development of the 8.9" and 10" screens
ok so maybe Asus didnt INVENT the netbook since Intel had been creating the Atom for just a product for years, but it was definitely the 1st netbook BY FAR. it was so far ahead of all other companies that you can easily say they invented it.
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|Linux is for folk who like to tinker with things, Windows is for folk who have better things to do with their time.
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|Windows users spend a non negligible portion of time to protect their system. And also in maintenance, removing unwanted software installed on their systems.
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|@Joco
Speaking as a windows user, I call BS. :)
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|Come on, you are an advanced user, you may have done a lot of advanced protective measures that you won't even notice. I am talking about the casual Windows users. Believe it or not, there are IT workers who still got hit by worms that they don't know why they got hit and how to clean up their machine.
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|"Windows users spend a non negligible portion of time to protect their system."
Sorry, didn't see anything in there about "casual users". :)
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|Unless they offer a version without Windows I would not buy it. Even if they offered it with no OS would be fine by me. These netbooks run much better running Linux than any version of Windows and since the only thing I need Windows for is gaming (sadly) I see no reason to cripple the computer with Windows.
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|Backup, format, insert Linux disc. Problem solved.
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|Funny, I have one in the family (extended). It has XP on it. Runs Office, outlook, VPN, etc all just fine.
Crippled, eh? Sounds like a fully functional computer to me.
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|I have just made an experience in my MacBook:
I downloaded a disk image from XUbuntu (a lightweight version of Ubuntu) and installed it in a virtual machine with 512Mb RAM.
The installation was easy, and in a few minutes I was playing with this simple and good-looking desktop. It looks like a modern operating system, without the bells and whistles.
I opened Firefox (browser), Thunderbird (email client), Abiword (word processor) and Gnumeric (spreadsheet), and the system continued to run fine.
That was strange, since I was using only 512Mb of RAM in a virtual machine.
Then I opened the system monitor to verify memory usage. XUbuntu and all the opened applications were using, together, 200Mb of RAM.
That's impressive!
For sure, XUbuntu doesn't have all the features of Windows 7 or Mac OS X, but I wouldn't mind to use it as my netbook operating system.
Now, don't take my word for granted. Download a disk image and experiment XUbuntu in a virtual machine with 512Mb RAM:
http://www.xubuntu.org/
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|I did a first video of the new Aspire One D150. Maybe you guys are interested in my first impressions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVk8daW1gh0
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