Acer Aspire ONE Pro 531h-0Bk

...computer technological name that is Acer but have always been a little unsure about the professionalism of the actual products that Acer have been bringing out.
But over the years I have noticed that Acer has been receiving a lot of positive press regarding the laptops they have been bringing onto the market so, when I saw one on offer in my local supermarket, (the things they sell these days), I decided to invest in one, although it was more ...
...Internet explorer 7.0
* Acer video conference manager 4
* Google toolbar/setup and desktop
* Microsoft .NET framework

'''Plus…a trial version of the world famous McAfee internet security suite.'''

==** IN CONCLUSION…==

I remember when I first saw this in a particular shop, (of which I do not know if I am allowed to say but it is a well known large super market which starts with the ... more

For a long time now, in fact maybe years, I have heard about the computer technological name that is Acer but have always been a little unsure about the professionalism of the actual products that Acer have been bringing out.
But over the years I have noticed that Acer has been receiving a lot of positive press regarding the laptops they have been bringing onto the market so, when I saw one on offer in my local supermarket, (the things they sell these days), I decided to invest in one, although it was more for my daughter than myself.
Anyway, the one I bought at a bargain price was the Acer Aspire ONE Pro… the pro, I was hoping, standing for Professional, with its pre installed programs and XP professional operating system.

** So let us look at the actual specifications of this particular laptop…

• 10.1 inch screen size
• Intel Atom N270 processor
• 1.6 Ghz clock
• 1024 MB of memory (DDR2 RAM, SO DIMM 200-pin )
• 512 KB cache memory
• 1 memory slot with a maximum of 2 GB
• 1024 by 600 pixels resolution
• 160GB 2.5 inch Hard drive (Serial ATA)
• Microsoft windows XP professional.
• 2 built in speakers
• Built in microphone
• Built in 0.3 MP camera
• 260mm wide 206 mm deep by 33mm high
• 1.27 kg in weight
• Integrated card reader which supports SD cards, pen drives and more.
• 3 USB 2 ports
• External speaker/ microphone and headphone socket
• 1 Ethernet LAN socket and connection with a transfer rate of 10.100 Mbits
• In built 802.11b/g wireless technology
• In built 2.0 EDR Bluetooth
• Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery giving you an average 7 hours of use between charges.

** The pre installed software, included…

• Adobe reader 9
• Adobe flash player 10
• Internet explorer 7.0
• Acer video conference manager 4
• Google toolbar/setup and desktop
• Microsoft .NET framework

Plus…a trial version of the world famous McAfee internet security suite.

** IN CONCLUSION…

I remember when I first saw this in a particular shop, (of which I do not know if I am allowed to say but it is a well known large super market which starts with the letter A), I struggled with the decision whether to purchase this or not, but the low special offer price tag really swayed it for me.
As I read the box in the shop I was a little confused as to why this one did not state the type of DVD drive it possessed, then I realised that it didn’t have one at all, but as there are several ways of installing new software onto a PC without the need for a DVD drive, so I wasn’t too disgruntled by the lack of it.
But even without a DVD drive I instantly thought that this would be a nice little laptop for my daughter to learn on, keeping her happy for a little while, whilst making me a good father again in her eyes, (who says you can’t buy love…?)
So, as any good father would do, I gave it a bit of a test drive whilst loading some protection software onto it, such as anti-virus, anti-malware and others, (I do like to stay safe on line). In fact, according to my daughter, I hogged this Acer for a little too long and I was quite impressed with what it had to offer.

It looks quite attractive, for a laptop that is, with its black casing and lovely silvery grey trim entwining the slimish looking body, in fact, it looks like something that anybody would be proud to have at there side. And with its lightweight feel and smallish size it is a pleasure to actually carry around without feeling dragged down.
It is set out like many laptops, with all the additional stickers which all laptops have attached to them.
The power button is on the top right, above the keypad, and is clearly shown.
The Acer has a few little lights on the right hand side, below the keys, to inform you if such things as Bluetooth or 3G are activated, the lovely little stickers telling you what’s what.
On the left side below the keys are stickers telling you what is inside the system, such as the processor and the OS.
The touchpad also has little stickers attached to it telling you how to use it properly, the lovely little fingers showing how easy it is to actually do so.
The USB ports are easily accessed on the right hand side of the laptop, giving you plenty of room to manoeuvre any ’larger’ pen drives or other devices into place.

Apparently the Intel Atom processor is a low energy one, which is good for those thinking about the planet, but it still manages to give outstanding performance throughout.
Although this is a small laptop it still has a massive heart, with a cracking 160GB Hard drive which will hold as much as you can throw at it.
You may think that a 10.1 inch screen sounds a little small but the 1024 by 600 pixels resolution gives brilliant picture quality, sometimes making you think that the screen is actually bigger than it is.

The battery is very effective indeed, giving you on average 7 hours of portable laptop time, although this does depend on your settings and what you’re actually doing on the laptop. For me I felt it could be one of those laptops that you could take with you on a long day out of the office and still have some battery life left at the end of the day, not hearing that dreaded low battery signal as you are in the middle of writing that important file.

It comes with a standard 1GB of memory which, considering the OS is XP and not Vista, is enough to keep the system running nice and smooth without any snagging, and anyway, it won’t take much effort to replace the 1 gigg with the machines maximum capacity of 2 gig.
It does have a built in Web cam but I have temporarily disabled that as I don’t like to mix web cams and children together, even if I am overseeing her every time she goes online.

The multi card reader allows exchanging information via pen drives or SD cards with such speed and ease, and it is this that really does make up for the lack of DVD drive, although an external DVD drive can be purchased and used via any of the three USB ports.
The inbuilt wireless technology allowed me to access the Web without the need for any external adapters or annoying cables, and the inbuilt Bluetooth adapter is a godsend for that quick exchange of information and is so easy to use even I was amazed.

As for the price, well, as I stated earlier, I managed to get this at a bargain price of just under £150 but this was a one off offer, but after searching around for the average price I found it to be around the £250 mark, so I feel I did get a real bargain indeed.

What more can I say about this laptop..? It has everything that any good laptop needs and has the power to perform to a high standard every time. I would definitely buy another Acer Aspire ONE Pro 531 h-0BK but I don’t know if I would pay £250 for it. Don’t get me wrong, it is a cracking little machine but there are many better machines out there for that price, with many of them having that DVD drive many people want. But if I saw this on offer again at the bargain price I got mine for then I would be whipping it off the shelf straight away.
 

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