The Acer company was new to me until the beginning of this year. When I found a decent buy at the local Wal-mart. When the Aspire One series caught my eye I was automatically enthralled. The technical specifications are listed here on the Wal-mart website. Being a married father with a full time job plus writing full time I needed something that could keep up with me. Owning several other computer including a full size Dell laptop i believe this makes me fully capable of making a full review of the small net book
Technical specifications and Advantages
The aspire weighing in at just over two pounds is a breeze to take any where and fit exactly what I needed. The Acer Aspire One models are ideal for anyone on the go. Being able to fit in a normal size backpack and not weigh you down like a full size laptop. I tested this by carrying it to work for over one month and it is awesome after a long day at the grind to have a little two pound shrimp on your shoulder rather then a 10 pound monster.
The machine I am working with is a Intel Atom processor @ 1.60ghz with 1gig of ram. Boasting a 240 gig hard drive. Windows Xp with SP3 rounds out the package. The atom processor works great for general internet browsing. Word processing, and light gaming is also a breeze with this machine.
Disadvantages
The atom processor while a great piece is slightly to slow for heavy use. Having a normal hard drive also makes heat a slight issue. The biggest disadvantage is the ram level. It plainly is not enough. With some of modern computer hold 6-8 gigs this machine needs more. Being another one of the flaws of the net book it has no optical drive (CD/DVD,or DVDR). So if u do any kind of intense gaming that requires a CD to run this would not be a good choice for you.
Now I have had mine for just under a year and I have had a few problems. Nothing major, things like a failed boot or a virus. Mostly stuff that any computer owner must go through at some time. During the time I have owned it I have only had one major problem with it and that was a boot problem that in my case worked itself. I cannot give you details about the problem because I could not even start it up. This leads me to to the biggest flaw of the Acer name their customer service department. During the day or two that my net book would not start up I tried to get help from them. After spending several hours on the phone just trying to get to a human I was of course transferred to someone who barely spoke English. After much fussing and fuming they told me they were located in India that the warranty did not cover this so if I wanted to ship it in to them they would look at it and then I could pay to ship it back to me. Making a point to tell me they might fix it. Needless to say that was they last time I wasted my time on the phone with them.
Overall Opinion
Most assuredly I would buy another Acer product,but will not rely on their tech support ever again. They have many other models even full size notebooks that have optical drives and faster speeds. The Acer product line is an interesting read. I am quiet please with this mere three hundred dollar investment.
Interview
During owning this net book my brother-in-law Nathan Poole has used it a lot. Wanting to get a second opinion on the performance and function of the Acer Aspire ZG5 I went to him. I choose him because of his background in computers. Rising through high school he majored mostly in computers and programming. Although he is only eighteen, he has already been accepted by the government working with computers. I believe that he is more then qualified to make a comprehensive over view of the ZG5. Being great with computers I respect his opinion very much. Here is a transcript of that interview.
Joshua: On a scale from one being worst to ten being best rate the ZG5?
Nathan: six
Josh: Can you explain that answer?
Nathan: It is portable and works effectively decent memory for its size,but the rating would e higher if it had better processing speed. That is its only downfall. Plus, you must keep the temp. files clean regularly to improve performance.
Josh: How does the Aspire one ZG5 model live up to its price tag of around three-hundred dollars?
Nathan: It is the same price for a model that has a better speed. (Model located here from Wal-mart.) This model being the bigger 11.6" version is faster and better processing speed. The ZG5 although is worth the price tag for a mini note book and it functions well. The aspire one ZG5's slight drawback of being underpowered into today's growing market it is well worth the price tag.
Josh: Having used the Zg5 would you purchase this Acer product or another for your self?
Nathan: Another. I would gladly purchase an Acer product but, a full sized notebook equipped with optical drives is more right for me. I never heard of the Acer line until you bought this one. This little machine has won me as an Acer fan.
Josh: Nathan are you satisfied with the choice of Windows xp running on a big portion of the Acer product line?
Nathan: Yes. I am more comfortable with xp then vista. Not to mention the slow processing speed combined with a higher operating system like Vista would severely hamper the performance of the ZG5.
Josh: Would you like to add anything more to this review?
Nathan: The sound drivers are out-of date and totally inadequate for the system. Fixing the problem required downloads of new drivers to maintain system stability early after purchase. I Believe that Acer has made a comparable computer that might have some slight flaws that are easily overcame. Using slightly lower grade parts together to lower the price has brought us an amazing little machine that can function great inside the span of what it is made to do. I admit that I am curious as to what the future holds for the Acer product line. Some things rumored on the horizon at Acer I am very curious to get to play with.
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