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Follow UsAcer Aspire One
With an 8.9” display and a weight of only 1Kg, the Aspire one was for sure
the smallest and lightest of the lot we received. However, if you ask us about
its usability, we shall say: it leaves alot to be desired.
In pure mathematical terms, the Aspire One has a display that is only an inch
smaller than others but practically it's a hundred times more difficult to use.
A reduced inch in screen size makes it extremely hard for one to read the
screen. Moreover, it also takes off an inch from your keyboard and mouse pad
space. But as if this was not enough, adding to ones nightmare, the mouse pad
buttons have been placed in a unique way that dampens the user experience.
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Quick Specs
Specs: Intel Atom N270 @ |
Though not the best choice when it comes to usability, the Aspire One did
manage to perform decently. Thanks to the smaller display the battery lasted for
2 hours and 35 minutes after a full charge which is the second highest amongst
all devices tested.
Overall, the Aspire One is extremely portable but lacks Bluetooth
connectivity and is not very easy to use.
Asus EeePC 1000H
Our winner of this shootout, the Asus EeePC is a perfect blend of
performance and features. When we specifically talk of performance, we primarily
differentiate all devices on the basis of their battery life, as all of them are
running on the same platform. A bigger battery (6 cells) acts as the key
catalyst in letting the EeePC secure the pole position. After full charge, it
managed to last for 4 hours! Better than a majority of mainstream laptops!
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Quick Specs
Specs: Intel Atom N270 @ |
We can safely say that for netbooks, ease of use is extremely important. With
intelligently spaced keys and a big enough touchpad on the EeePC, don't be
surprised if you completely forget that you're NOT working on a conventional
laptop. There are also four one-touch keys on top of the keypad, out of which
two have pre-assigned functions (screen on-off and resolution options) while the
other two are for the user to customize.
Another feature that could have been incorporated to make it look better
would have been a matte' finish, as the glossy body makes it a fingerprint
magnet. Overall, the netbook is recommended for people travelling a lot as it
has excellent battery backup and is pretty comfy to use.
LG X110
The second position on the podium was shared by Lenovo S10 and the X110 from
LG. Apart from their positions, in the final result sheet, what these two also
shared were a few similarities; like a neat design, good usability and a battery
life that is slightly more than 2 hours. To be precise, 2 hours 3 minutes for
this one.
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Quick Specs
Specs: Intel Atom N270 @1.60GHZ, |
We shall define the appearance of this LG netbook as Stunning! The matte'
finish grey interior and clear white keys, laid intelligently with adequate
spacing and enough space to rest your palm, definitely add on to the beautiful
design. In fact, the keys on this one are so big that we couldn't resist
comparing them with that of the regular keyboard of a desktop. As expected, they
are almost as big as those on the regular ones, making typing for longer
durations extremely convenient on the X110.
The build quality of this netbook is extremely good and like others it is
also feather light, weighing only 1.2 Kgs. Available in different colors, the
X110 has a 160 GB HDD for storing invaluable data and has all the basic stuff
such as three USB 2.0 ports for plugging more devices, a webcam and a card
reader.
Lenovo S10
While deciding the winner of this shootout, there was a tie between the LG
X110 and the S10 and it's no rocket science to point out why. The primary reason
was more than obvious when we juxtaposed the two.
The way both of them have been designed, speaks volumes of the artistry
involved. A design that is high on ergo is a must have for these products. The
fact that apart from their computational prowess, they also make a strong
lifestyle statement is what sets them apart from others. They are just so
breathtakingly beautiful!
Coming back to the S10, the sleek design performed reasonably in the
performance and life test benchmarks, as it managed to stay alive for 2 hours
and 14 minutes. The device is also quite easy to use with intelligently placed
keys with sufficient spacing.
Like what a netbook is supposed to be, the S10 is quite light, compact and
competitively priced. Surprisingly, it is the cheapest 10” netbook and the
second cheapest of them all keeping in mind that Lenovo products are usually at
the higher side the price list. The S10 has two USB ports as compared to three
on others.
Overall, the S10 is a perfect match of style and substance.
MSI Wind
This much awaited shootout created a lot of buzz in our office as people
from other departments were regularly visiting our Lab to see these new set of
computers based on Intel's latest offering in action. After scrutinizing MSI
Wind, what bothered us the most was, even though it is priced similar to the
Lenovo S10 and the Asus EeePC, the Wind neither has an outstanding battery
backup nor is it high on features. Here we discuss it in detail.
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Quick Specs
Specs: Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz, 80GB |
Like all other systems, this one is also powered by the same processing
platform, the Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60 GHz with 1GB RAM. When we checked for its
battery backup, it lasted about 2 hrs and 22 minutes, which is not
extraordinary. It has the standard set of features including: the usual number
of USB ports, Bluetooth, a card reader and a webcam. In fact a major negative
with this device is its 80 GB HDD as compared to 160 GB HDDs on the other three
and is not as attractive looking either. Therefore, we feel that the Wind is a
bit overpriced.
As for its ergo, the keys are of standard size and are pretty comfortable to
use but it can take a while to get used to the tiny touchpad. Overall, it
performs decently but lacks HDD capacity.
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Asus EeeBox
How many times have you pointed to a device and asked others to tell you
what it is and what it does? This is what happened to us when we took the Eeebox
out of its packing and stared at its CPU box.
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Quick Specs
Specs: Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz, 1GB |
Well the device weighs only 1.28 Kgs, is approx an inch wide and when put on
its stand, stands only 8.5” tall. Frankly speaking, it doesn't look like a
conventional CPU. The closest one could guess about its identity was that of it
being a Wi-Fi router.
The small size is a result of it running on a DC supply (a laptop like
adaptor) and the absence of an optical drive slot. The device comes equipped
with Wi-Fi and an additional S/PDIF out jack for analog or digital audio
transfer.
The device has a sleek design coupled with features like a card reader, DVI
out, Wi-Fi and digital audio out, but misses out on a DVD drive. Its performance
was similar to that of other nettops and the power consumed turned out to be the
average of that consumed by other nettops and netbooks, at only 14 watts.
Overall, a very slick and portable design but sadly, you'll have to do
without a built in optical drive.
MSI Atom Desktop
Unlike the sleeker Asus EeeBox, the Atom powered desktop from MSI is a bit
bigger and heavier and looks like a VCR from the previous century. Weighing
around 3.6 Kg, we doubt if like the EeeBox, the best way to carry it is in a
backpack!
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Quick Specs
Specs: Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz, 1GB |
However, a big size also has its own share of advantages. In this case, a
bigger cooling system that keeps heating related performance issues at bay and
an onboard DVD drive. Other reasons why size doesn't play against this product
are: most importantly in desktop computing size doesn't matter much and
secondly, it is still less than half the size of your regular PC.
As for a nettop, battery life is out of picture, so we ran the benchmark to
check the performance. It scored the highest points in this and thanks to the
new processor design, was quite low on power consumption as well, which was on
an average 23 watts. Another interesting feature is that the nettop is powered
by a DC adaptor.
Also, along with a DVD drive and a bigger HDD, it also has a card reader and
six USB 2.0 ports as compared to 4 on the Asus. However, it misses on Wi-Fi and
DVI out.