Anyone own the 11.6 inch Acer netbook?

[killbill]

I don't remember the model name - I think it's something inconspicuous like 700 something, but I just can't stand the cramped typing quarters offered by the 10 inch netbooks.

Anyone try this netbook yet?

[ThisIsNot]

Yes, I have tried this netbook and suggest that you either wait or purchase a different model. The 11.6" Acer netbook looks nice and has a solid battery life but Intel's Atom Z520 processor (1.3GHz) and GMA 500 graphics solution are all low performers. On top of that, the model I have came with Windows Vista Home Basic and it struggles to run that. Hulu videos (below SD resolution) even struggles a bit with the GMA 500. Intel's GMA 950 is actually more powerful than the GMA 500.

Acer is coming out with a 11.6" netbook (using the same footprint as the one you are looking at) that runs a much better Intel ULV processor and uses Intel's GMA 4500MHD solution. It also offers HDMI and can last for a posted 8 hours on a single charge. I think that is better than ANY Acer netbook currently on the market.

Either wait for that or you can purchase Gateway's netbook (which is made by Acer). It runs a 1.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 processor, comes with 2GB of RAM, had a 250GB hard drive, an ATI X1270 graphics solution, a six-cell (5 hour rated) battery, 11.6" 1336X768 LED backlight LCD panel, and is priced at $399. I think that would be better than spending $450 on Acer's 11.6" six-cell netbook with the ever so slow Z520 Atom processor.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by ThisIsNot

Yes, I have tried this netbook and suggest that you either wait or purchase a different model. The 11.6" Acer netbook looks nice and has a solid battery life but Intel's Atom Z520 processor (1.3GHz) and GMA 500 graphics solution are all low performers. On top of that, the model I have came with Windows Vista Home Basic and it struggles to run that. Hulu videos (below SD resolution) even struggles a bit with the GMA 500. Intel's GMA 950 is actually more powerful than the GMA 500.

Acer is coming out with a 11.6" netbook (using the same footprint as the one you are looking at) that runs a much better Intel ULV processor and uses Intel's GMA 4500MHD solution. It also offers HDMI and can last for a posted 8 hours on a single charge. I think that is better than ANY Acer netbook currently on the market.

Either wait for that or you can purchase Gateway's netbook (which is made by Acer). It runs a 1.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 processor, comes with 2GB of RAM, had a 250GB hard drive, an ATI X1270 graphics solution, a six-cell (5 hour rated) battery, 11.6" 1336X768 LED backlight LCD panel, and is priced at $399. I think that would be better than spending $450 on Acer's 11.6" six-cell netbook with the ever so slow Z520 Atom processor.

Good points on the lower powered Atom Z520 processor. I think we'll see some more 11.6 inch netbooks with faster processors arriving in time for this holiday season.

[ThisIsNot]

I am not sure what Acer is thinking by going with the Z520 processor and GMA 500 graphics solution. I know that they use less power than the N270/280 processor and GMA 950 but I think that the use of less power takes a huge hit in performance. I don't know why companies include Windows Vista Home Basic with this hardware configuration either. To me, that is like trying to make a Geo pull a house off of its foundation.

Dell does this with their higher end Mini 10 and Mini 12 netbooks although they include Windows XP instead (Dell initially included Windows Vista Business with the Mini 12 but they have since gone with XP). It is funny that the Mini 10v can outperform both the Mini 10 and Mini 12 despite it coming in at a much cheaper price.

As I said, Acer is working on coming out with a netbook that uses Intel's 1.2GHz ULV processor which can actually outperform any of the Atom processors (mainly due to the fast FSB and chip architecture) and it will use the same footprint as Acer's 11.6" 7xx netbooks out now. It isn't that the Z530 processor (1.6GHz) is that bad but the Z520 is terribly slow and the GMA 500 is absolutely terrible. I just don't understand why companies are charging more to use an inferior processor (Z520) with a horrendous graphics solution (GMA 500).

[ericinboston]

Originally Posted by ThisIsNot

Either wait for that or you can purchase Gateway's netbook (which is made by Acer). It runs a 1.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 processor, comes with 2GB of RAM, had a 250GB hard drive, an ATI X1270 graphics solution, a six-cell (5 hour rated) battery, 11.6" 1336X768 LED backlight LCD panel, and is priced at $399. I think that would be better than spending $450 on Acer's 11.6" six-cell netbook with the ever so slow Z520 Atom processor.

What is the Gateway/Acer model you speak of? Do you have a direct link to it at BB (their website is awful).

-Eric

[ThisIsNot]

I sure do. It appears that Best Buy is doing something with their website as all I could do was browse every netbook they had in stock. There is also a red version of Gateway's netbook but the black version looks so much better.

[ericinboston]

Originally Posted by ThisIsNot

I sure do. It appears that Best Buy is doing something with their website as all I could do was browse every netbook they had in stock. There is also a red version of Gateway's netbook but the black version looks so much better.

Thanks for the link...however, I am now a bit confused.

Is the BB link you sent the netbook to buy?...or the one NOT to buy?

Can you type up a reply that clearly spells out the model(s) to buy/not buy in your opinion? I would greatly appreciate it!

-Eric

[onemodog]

Yup, thats the one.

[ThisIsNot]

The Best Buy link is to the netbook that I currently recommend. I would not purchase ANY of the 11.6" Acer netbooks due to the poor processor and even worse GMA 500 graphics solution.

Edit: I have been surfing the internet this morning and came across some interesting bits of information. They came from people in forums so you will probably want to take this with a grain of salt. It appears that the GMA 500 has hardware acceleration for the decoding of some MPEG standards. This means that it really can playback 720p videos (people were saying mpeg-4 AVC, VC-1 WMV, and a couple others) with an OS/software that supports it. However, Intel has yet to released Windows XP drivers that allow for the hardware acceleration. The Windows Vista drivers let the OS use the acceleration portion of the GMA 500.

I have been looking on Intel's website for some type of confirmation and haven't come across any. I will keep researching this as it is interesting information.

[wblynch]

I am "this close" to buying the Acer 751 11.6". They have it at the local Costco for $339 US.