Acer Aspire One 532h-2326: Inexpensive, but Not Easy to Work On

Acer is looking to stay ahead in the market with its Aspire One 532h.Sony VGP-BPS9 Though it's not a tremendous upgrade over the previous Aspire One models, the 532h is a solid, decently priced netbook. Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Acer may have skimped a little on the keyboard and touchpad--but hey, at least it looks cool.

Our review unit, priced at $299, features a 1.67GHz Intel Atom N450 processor,Sony VGP-BPS9/B 1GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and an Intel NM10 chipset. It's available in silver, blue/black, and red. It also features 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, an integrated Webcam and microphone, Sony VGP-BPS9/S and a multigesture touchpad. It runs Windows 7 Starter.

The Aspire One 532h has a shiny cover (navy blue fades into black) that is very fingerprint- and scratch-prone.inspiron 6400 battery The six-cell battery is tucked under the chassis, but still creates a bump underneath. The netbook features three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA out port,Dell latitude e6400 battery an ethernet port, a multiformat card slot, and headphone and microphone jacks.

Weighing 2.8 pounds and measuring 10.2 inches wide by 7.3 inches high by 0.8 inches deep (1.4 inches deep at the battery),Sony VGP-BPS8B the Aspire One 532h is pretty standard for a netbook of its class.inspiron 1525 battery The whole machine feels sturdy, except for the cheap plastic rocker mouse button.xps m1330 battery

The keyboard on the Aspire One 532h is somewhat disappointing.dell d620 battery The Aspire One 532h features chiclet-shaped keys, but implements them differently--instead of the wide spacing usually found on chiclet keyboards, the Aspire One 532h's keyboard looks more like a mashup of a chiclet keyboard and a standard keyboard. HP 510 The lack of space between the keys makes for bigger keys--which is nice,HP Pavilion DV9000 but not terribly helpful in this case. The keys are flat and slippery,Sony VGP-BPS8A and touch-typing is pretty much impossible.

Instead of the usual indentation that denotes the touchpad,Sony VGP-BPS8 the Aspire One 532h's multitouch touchpad is just a textured block on an otherwise smooth palm rest. While this looks slick, it's a bit annoying--the touchpad is almost too textured, Toshiba PA3399U-1BAS and moving the mouse is a chore.Sony VGP-BPS10 Instead of two distinct mouse buttons, the Aspire One 532h has a shiny blue rocker. The rocker is easy to click,Sony VGP-BPS13A/B but all the shiny slickness makes it hard to remember what's what.

The Aspire One 532h has a 10.1-inch glossy screen with 1024-by-600-pixel resolution (standard for a netbook of its size). apple a1060 battery As on similar netbook screens, the Aspire One 532h's bright, glossy display is both a blessing and a curse. It's bright,apple a1045 battery and colors pop--but if you move even slightly to one side, the screen goes dark, and you get a bunch of reflections thrown back at you.

Like other netbooks with the N450 processor, the Aspire One 532h isn't great at video playback.Fujitsu lifebook s6510 battery However, it does stream standard-definition video clips from Hulu with little problem--a standard-definition episode of Dancing with the Stars was seamless at full screen. High-definition streaming video plays, but with stutter (I managed to get a 480p episode of Lost going). As for audio, the onboard speakers are quite loud and located on the underside of the chassis.

Acer provides a suite of its own software, which includes Acer Launch Manager, Recover Management,Lenovo/IBM ThinkPad X60 and Video Conference, in addition to a Microsoft bundle. Besides a 60-day trial of Microsoft Home & Student 2007, the latter bundle gives you a full version of Microsoft Works and Windows Live Essentials.

The only thing holding this netbook back is the weird chiclet-slash-regular keyboard and the unindented touchpad, Acer Aspire 4710 both of which are cool-looking but take a lot of getting used to. Still, the Acer Aspire One 532h is a sturdy little netbook with a good price.

Alienware m15x

Say hello to the new Area-51 m15x from Alienware. Tagged for mixing their legendary performance with impressive mobility, it is a 15.4 gaming laptop that when configured properly can knock close to $5,000. When we first got wind of this machine, we were worried that Dell's conservative take to design would dilute the futuristic flash and style that Alienware has been known to supply.inspiron 1525 battery In true LaptopLogic form read on to find out if looks and performance match our intuition



Design

Silver and only silver, thats the fist thing youll notice with the m15x.inspiron 6400 battery The case wasn't something that impressed us much and given Alienware's reputation for edgy design (almost Giger-esque), we found the silver lid with obligatory blue-eyed alien head to be, well...boring. Having reviewed Alienware machines in the past,xps m1330 battery we were always fond of their blue exterior option. This new lid is a silver panel, with a seam starting from the bottom to two-thirds up the lid, where it's broken by the ambiguous alien head. Granted,dell d620 battery the texture and quality of the material used was spot on babys behind smooth, but also too plain for what were used to.

One notable negative to the build-quality of the m15x was the creaks and groans.HP 510 Let's just say James Bond wouldn't use this laptop if he was hiding in the rafters. Just moving the lid, even before the lids angle is adjusted,Acer Aspire 4710 emits a creaky staircase noise (think 40s horror flick sound). What makes the matter worse, is it doesn't make much difference where you grip the lid. However, we have a theory behind the creakswe're attributing this to the LED lighting built into the rim of the lid.HP Pavilion DV9000 Being somewhat boring on the exterior, Alienware opted to deliver an attractive blue border to their monitor, although the extra parts means more chances for frictionand more friction means more noise.

Keyboard

The 86-key keyboard has a pleasant blue LED area of light that surrounds each key and features excellent feel while keeping perfect key travel and ample space for large hands. However,Sony VGP-BPS8A flex was an issue (although isolated). We noticed a fair amount of keyboard flex,Sony VGP-BPS8 but only to the dead center of the keyboard, which only significantly affected half-dozen keys or so. Sony VGP-BPS9

The display was astounding with a native resolution at 1920x1200,Sony VGP-BPS8B and being a 15.4" WUXGA display was plenty enough pixels per inch. Although we did notice the monitor seemed to produce a softer image than most displays at this resolution. However,Sony VGP-BPS9/B this may be a better thing because it made it easier to stare at the screen for longer periods of time.

Size & Weight

The whole kit will take up approximately 14.55" x 10.73,Sony VGP-BPS10 and weighs in at around seven pounds.VGP-BPS9A/B Compare this to the HP Pavilion DV6700t series, which is slightly smaller (14.05" x 10.12") and weighs around 6.12 pounds.Sony VGP-BPS9/S

The weight,Acer UM08B71 however, can differ slightly depending on what drive you're placing in the Smart Bay.apple a1060 battery Youre choices can range from a 2x Blu-ray Disc Burner, secondary 300 GB hard drive,apple a1045 battery or an extra Li-Ion battery. One thing we definitely like about the m15x is that all 3 of these devices are hot-swappable and can be completely changed in around 10 seconds or so. Dell inspiron 1525 battery

Connectivity

Alienware did an excellent job supplying connections for the m15x.Dell latitude e6400 battery It carries the latest internal Intel a/b/g/n wireless card, which is something we feel is a requirement given the machines price.Acer BTP-60A1

The front houses a single IR port no more,Toshiba PA3399U-1BAS no lessok, more drab silver color but thats just our disappointment talking a little more.

Heat, Noise, Upgrading

Even though this machine screams at the performance and price tag level,hp pavilion dv6000 battery we're glad to note that while the fan noise of the m15x is audible, it doesnt scream at you (thankfully).Fujitsu lifebook s6510 battery The heat generated by the laptop is only uncomfortable under the area to the right of the palmrest. It does get warm after hours of use,Sony VGP-BPS13A/B although it's within expected limits, especially with a 8800m GTX and Core2Extreme CPU under there.

Alienware gives you plenty of manufacturer options for upgrading the m15x,Lenovo/IBM ThinkPad X60 and luckily your base Alienware can be configured for quite less than ours. So you do have a few options - our unit came maxed out with 4 GB of DDR2 RAM running at 667 MHz,Lenovo/IBM ThinkPad T60 and that's the most you can get out of both Dual-Channel slots.