Acer Aspire One D150 Review

The Aspire One D150 is Acer’s second generation netbook, powered by the newer Atom N280 of Intel. Check out my review below and learn why Acer might have missed the boat to do a repeat success on their Acer Aspire One line.

Like most 10-inch netbooks, the Aspire One D150 didn’t offer much difference in terms of design. The girth and height is somewhere between an MSI Wind U100 and the Asus Eee PC 1000H (much closer to the Eee PC). Like the latter, it comes with a 6-cell battery as a standard which adds a couple hundred grams to the total weight but pleasantly offers a much longer battery life.

acer aspire one

What separates the Acer netbooks from the rest are the color options — red, blue, white and black — and the brushed finish of the inside panel giving it an elegant metallic look (I liked the red and black ones the most). Acer didn’t give in to the pink-loving crowd though, unlike MSI and Neo.

As for the specs, it’s still the same old one – 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, WiFi 802.11b/g Bluetooth, 3 USB ports and a card reader. The only noticeable upgrade is the Intel Atom N280 at 1.66GHz and we’ve seen the speed improvements from that one isn’t any significant from the N270. And while PC shops like PC Corner offer upgrades of up to 2GB RAM and 500GB HDD, the base specs indicate that Microsoft’s special pricing for Windows XP on ULCPCs have something to do with it.

Since there’s not much to talk about the new Aspire One, I’m breaking it down to a couple of upsides and downsides.

The Upside

Better processor. The Aspire One D150 has the new 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280. The additional 60MHz is not much but is a welcome addition nonetheless. (Watch out for models though that came with the old N270.)
Bright and crisp display screen. Though still at 1024×600 pixels, the Acer CrystalBrite TFT LCD looks much better than most I’ve seen and comes real close to the one from Sony Vaio P.
Dedicated buttons for WiFi and Bluetooth so you can turn them on and off separately when not in use to save on battery.
Large-capacity batteries. With the 6-cell 5200mAH, Acer promises 7 hours of battery life. Although I was only able to squeeze 6 hours and 15 minutes on a single charge, I had WiFi on the whole time so that’s a great feat in my book (almost 3 times the usual battery life I get with 3-cell batteries).
Trackpad has multi-touch capability and the button is now placed at the bottom, not the sides (which was awkward and a turn-off).
Acer included a Recovery Management Tool pre-installed. It allows you to make a full backup of the system to a DVD and restore it back later when needed or if you want to reformat.

6 cell battery

The Downside

Acer cramped the cursor keys too much it’s really hard to use them. I always end up pressing the Page Down/End key instead of the right-cursor key or the Page Up/Home when hitting the left-cursor key. It gets pretty irritating at times when I’m scrolling down on pages while browsing.
The trackpad is a little narrow — it makes multi-touch actions a little harder to execute. Acer could have made it a little wider. There’s only one physical button for the left and right click (same with the MSI Wind) and it’s buried down that you’ll easily get confused if you’ve already made a click-select or not.

acer aspire one

What’s Missing

Well, I was really rooting for the 3G model, the that came with a SIM card slot hidden underneath the battery compartment. Retailers told me they’re not expecting the 3G models to arrive in 3 or 4 months. They will also come at a premium price.

Conclusion

The Acer Aspire One D150 offers nothing new. In fact, it’s already late in the game since there are a tone of other 10-inch netbooks already available in the market as early as last year. The Aspire One D150 didn’t offer much compared to the MSI Wind U100, Neo Vivid V1190, Lenovo IdeaPad S10 and the HP Mini 1000 series. Its closest competitor would be the Asus Eee PC 1000H which offers twice the RAM and HDD for the same exact price.

PC retailers have touted the 9″ Aspire One as its best seller among the older generation netbooks, beating the MSI Wind and the Asus Eee PC, but I’d attribute that to the cheaper price point. The 10-inch model doesn’t have that advantage.

The 3G modem would have been the deal-breaker here so you’ll have to wait a couple more months before they turn up in stores.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

36 Comments

Acer Aspire 5253 says:

13 years ago

I like the Acer 10″ Netbook range. They are well built machines and I like the metallic finish, blue being my favourite colour option.
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Facebook advertising says:

13 years ago

After I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new feedback are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get 4 emails with the same comment. Is there any means you may remove me from that service? Thanks!
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rice cereal for infants says:

13 years ago

Any suggestions on sites to begin a blog where I will BS sports and another happenings?
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rey says:

14 years ago

Ths model 11K at saudi pabili nlng kayo kung may relative kayo d2 even sony vaio netbook M series only 21K pesos lang, HP mini 210 15k
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jeki says:

14 years ago

is this better than Asus EeePC D150?srp of Asus is 21k while this is 23k, what the difference?
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betty says:

14 years ago

Sir gusto lang po sanang magtanong about sa voltage conversion ng aspire one 751h ko,..nagpadala po kasi ang tito ko from dubai..e hindi ko po alam kung capable po yung power source dito sa pinas para mapagana yung laptop ko,.yung 220 V pede na ba yun??.patulong naman po…Thanks..
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yawamo says:

14 years ago

mga yawa mo

mga pangit
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appil stoers says:

15 years ago

I’m searching for sites related to making Apple products work and yours came up, this is helpful content, even though on a side track. TY.
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Jacky says:

15 years ago

Hello,

I’m not a techy person, I’m a plain housewife and doesn’t do much downloading.
I wonder what kind of laptop should I buy. I just want to have a reliable gadget that would help me with net surfing and some downloads for my son.

By the way, my son does a lot of on line games, he’ll probably share the laptop with me.

Hope to hear back from you. Please advice.

God bless us all…… :)
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leovy says:

15 years ago

i want to buy laptop but dont have any idea what to buy pls help me tnx in advance
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AJ says:

15 years ago

hi! i am planning to buy a notebook. my first choice is really Acer Aspire One D150. Now, it costs only P21,900… but now im confused… Lenovo S10 Mini which has the same specs, but the price is lower around P19,900… and also with Neo having the same price of 21,900 but it’s HDD – 320GB and DDR2 Memory is 2GB… i need your opinion guys. thanks so much
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ACERUSER says:

15 years ago

I bought ACER SLIM notebook last Sept. 12 (the red one) For me it’s very good performance. I’m with it… very affordable too!
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Nhadz says:

15 years ago

as of now magkano price nya? thnx…
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Adamo says:

15 years ago

Wow! Good review and good images.
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racel roque says:

15 years ago

i want to purchased a laptop but i dont have any knowledge bout it. i wish you could help me for me to know how to pick up with a good one. my budget is 20-22k. is there a laptop that has a built in cam on it? i really need your answer asap. i have seen acer as one of the choices. where is your shop located for me to visit? thank you
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Acer Profile says:

15 years ago

My father loved Acer so much but me? I choose Apple MacBook over Acer Laptops. Thinner and better design but expensive.
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avic crisostomo says:

15 years ago

hi! i’m planning to buy a netbook soon. the problem is that i am not a techy person. i want (if possible) a movable screen,with cam and mic, nice audio and upgradeable.
purpose: email,chat,download music & videos,play dvd (movies)and save some documents and pics.
target budget: P15K-P25K
question: assuming i got the netbook already, how do i get connected to the internet? we have DSL at home connected to our desktop.do i still need to purchase those internet prepaid kits like globe tattoo and smartbro?
thanks guys for the info. and im so sorry i really don’t know much abt computers.
hope 2 hear from u all SOON to help me decide. :-)
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Jeremiah says:

15 years ago

There’s one thing i can say about these aspire netbooks, they’re moddable, if you take out the battery there should be a place there for a sim card holder, the compartment at the bottom has a slot for a card, all these has to be modded into the netbook.. 3g is an option.
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Angelo says:

15 years ago

Hi sir. There is currently an Acer Aspire One D250 slim. Hope you could do a review on it soon.

Thanks.
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Atlanta SEO says:

15 years ago

this sucks, I still keep seeing the N270 from tigerdirect, and I buy most of my stuff from there… looks like I’ll just have to look elsewhere, after all… I’m glad you posted that, I honestly thought I was getting the most recent version of this. It’s enough to make me want to wait or look around somewhere else, thanks again, Abe!
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Ivan Z. says:

16 years ago

hi there..
i want to ask, as of now, May 25 2009,
do they offer this netbook with the 3G?

and by the way, what will happen if this netbook has a 3G?

what’s the difference between the same model w/o a 3G?
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myke says:

16 years ago

I’ll be buying another netbook this friday

Im down between asus 1000he and this thing.. any advice?
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kevinn says:

16 years ago

That’s an ugly hinge.
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Gerard Banasig says:

16 years ago

Another feature request multi-touch screen instead of multi touch track pad 10 inch netbook is small to start with, its not comfy to do multi touch on a small space. Multi-touch screens will set the netbooks apart from the laptops imagine a 10 inch multi touch, it’s like having a big wide screen iphone you can put down your table and play with it like microsoft surface.
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John Ray Cabrera says:

16 years ago

look to me just an Aspie One 9″ with an expanded screen size(to just a meager 1″ difference).

like what everybody commented, nothing new.

i wished they could have offered:

1) 3G ready, or at least a 3G sim slot available
2) HSDPA ready
3) an overhaul of the looks and design

now those were something new for both form and functionality.
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sylv3rblade says:

16 years ago

@Kuya Jhay
Yep, no 3G yet. I got my Aspire One last sunday. The manual says the Aspire One has a 3G slot but when I looked, nada.

What’s disappointing about the unit was that it was announced to be carrying the GN40 chipset. Instead it’s still using Intel 945GSE. =(
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Jhay says:

16 years ago

No 3G huh? Perhaps on the next upgrade? Then again there are other models with this feature already built-in.
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information says:

16 years ago

Yeah. There is nothing new with netbooks.. I think people should learn how to compare features and if new laptops deserve the price they have based on the new features it offers.

:)
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Techchase says:

16 years ago

Dell adamo will definitely crush Mac air Book. Its just a matter of time before Apple could respond and with the absence of Apple’s chief warrior Steve Jobs apple is in great trouble. Apple has alreaday received heavy beating when it comes to PC sales, Windows are coming strong.
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Abe Olandres says:

16 years ago

Php23,900
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Darren says:

16 years ago

well, there is really no much space for creativity under Intel’s limitation. I don’t think Acer will worry about their “nothing-new” new product. Since the first Aspire One launch much later than ASUS Eeepc but the yearly volume surpassed. With their channel and purchasing power, they can drop the price significantly at any time.
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wh@ says:

16 years ago

what is the SRP for this SIR ABE?
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