Acer AO532h gets reviewed and is available in stores (from $299)

The new 10 inch generation Acer Aspire One 532h netbooks are finally on the market and available for us to buy. Also, Joana at Engadget had the chance to give one of these devices a little spin and posted a short review.

As you probably expect, this Acer 532h packs the new PineTrail platform, with Atom N450 CPU, 1 GB of RAM, 160 GB hard-drive, etc. So, while on specs this device is more or less the same as the netbooks other producers offer, it beats them once again when talking about prices, as the Acer starts from $299. Still, to be able to make it cost so few, sacrifices had to be made.

In terms of design and aspect, this Acer is pretty much close to its competitors. Case is glossy, overall build quality is fine for this class and the device is pretty thin and light (1 inch and weighs just 2.4 pounds). On the inside there’s a chicletish 93% true size keyboard, however keys aren’t properly spaced and it will take a while to get used to it. Overall, keyboard is worse than what the Toshiba NB305 or Asus 1005PE offer.

Acer Aspire One 532h - good choice for budget oriented buyers

In terms of performances, this device is once again similar to the other 10 inch netbooks with PineTrail. But, the $299 version comes with a smaller hard-drive (only 160 GB) and poorer connectivity, as it lacks Bluetooth. However, in terms of battery life, while lasting up to 8 hours on a daily use basis (with the 6 Cell one), is greatly surpassed by both Asus or Toshiba (the first one lasting at least 11 hours in similar circumstances). Still, 8 hours is not that bad actually.

All in one, Joana concludes that this laptop will become quite successful, there’s no argue about that. But that’s actually because of the price. And while the less-featured $299 version could be a good choice for budget oriented buyers, getting the better version, for $349, would be just insane where with just 20 bucks more you could get an Asus 1005PE, with better looks, ergonomics and battery life.

For now, here are the main options for the Acer Aspire One 532h right now (prices might get discounts in time) – table was inspired from netbookreports.com:

Popularity: 6% [?]

Tags: 10" netbook, Acer, cheap netbook

Last updated: September 28, 2011 | Published: January 14th, 2010 | See the comments or add yours!