Acer Review, Asus Review – Netbook 10

One of the questions that comes up often is -

Which is the better Netbook manufacturer – Asus with its Eee PC Netbooks, or Acer with its Acer Aspire One line of netbooks?

This is a tough question for a lot of reasons – I’m however going to list out some important facts that’ll help you make a decision.

Asus EeePC Netbooks

Asus pioneered netbooks with their EeePC. They, rather surprisingly, still sell some of their original models. They have netbooks in three main sizes -

1. In the 7″ range they have some of the original EeePCs and also the newer 701SDX and 701SD. Overall, this range is a little out of date.
2. In the 9″ range (or to be precise 8.9″) they have some good solid netbooks – The 904HA and 904 HD are the newest models. The 901 is a popular choice and the 900 series has a lot of variants. Here, we begin to see one of the problems with Asus – they have too many models available and choosing can be rather confusing.
3. In the 10″ range we have the Asus 1000HA, the upcoming 1000HE and the higher end Asus S101 luxury netbook.

Asus have 22 different flavors of the EeePC available, and this is without considering OS changes. In my opinion, this is way too many. In addition to Eee PCs, Asus has their new N series -

1. The Asus N10J gaming laptop which has a dedicated graphics chip that you can turn off if you want to conserve your battery.

The overall grades I’d give Asus netbooks are -

1. Power + Performance: A-.
2. Price: B. They aren’t as cheap as the Acer for comparable configurations. Note: Acer does not have higher priced configurations so can’t compare there.
3. Looks: B. Except the new S101 and the N10J which both get an A.
4. Portability (size + battery life): A. Very good battery life.
5. Usability: A-/B.

Please note that these are overall grades and not grades for any specific Asus EeePC.

Acer Aspire Netbooks

Acer Aspire, as opposed to the EeePC comes in two lines -

1. In the 8.9″ line, you have 4 colors of the Acer Aspire One AOA 150 – blue, white, black and copper.
2. A newly introduced 10.1″ line – the Acer Aspire One AOD 150 which is available in Blue, Red, White, and Black. Scott Lin, President of Acer’s Taiwan Division, had this to say -
   

   Lin said the new Aspire One model employs liquid-crystal-display panels produced by fifth-generation LCD fabs and are brighter and more saturated than Asustek Computer Inc’s S101 10.2-inch netbook, which uses LCDs produced by a 3G fab.

The new 10 inch range looks pretty good (like the 8.9″) -

The overall grades I’d give Acer netbooks are -

1. Power + Performance: A-/B+.
2. Price: A+.
3. Looks: A.
4. Portability (size + battery life): B. Because of somewhat poor battery life on the 8.9 inch.
5. Usability: A-.

So Acer netbooks get an overall higher grade from me – however, just barely.

Areas where Acer Aspire beats Asus EeePC

1. They are better looking. Except the Asus S101 and Asus N10J which look awesome.
2. They are cheaper and offer more bang for the buck.
3. The fact that there is just one 8.9″ model and just one 10.1″ model really simplifies things. Asus was the first to market, and confused end users by offering a really wide range of netbooks, instead of keeping things simple.

Areas where Asus EeePC beats Acer Aspire

1. Asus has two series of netbooks – the EeePC and the N series. Across these, Asus serves some niches that Acer does not – like the luxury netbook niche with its S101 netbook, and the gaming netbook niche, with its N10J netbook.
2. Its really hard to upgrade the Acer Aspire. The Eee PC on the other hand is very, very upgradeable.
3. Acer Aspire has very low battery life on the 3 cell battery, and the 6 cell battery costs $50 or so. Eee PCs for the most part have amazing battery lives.

So, what’s my recommendation?

Pick out a netbook based on your own needs – However, the Asus S101, the Asus N10J, the Asus 1000HE, the basic Acer 8.9″ netbook, and the new Acer 10.1″ series are all netbooks you should look at.

Acer = Lower Prices, Prettier, Easy to make a decision. If you’re looking at an easy pick and a cheap yet very usable and relatively powerful machine, Acer is the one for you.

Asus = Range of Prices, Not as Pretty (except S101 and N10J), Hard to choose as there are so many flavors. If you’re looking for a higher end luxury netbook, then the Asus S101. If you’re specifically looking for a gaming oriented netbook, then the Asus N10J. Also, some of the Asus 1000 series like 1000HE are worth looking at.

Acer is #1 in the netbook market with 38.3% market share. Asus is #2 with 30.3% market share. You cannot go wrong going with either – make sure to pick a netbook that suits your usage and needs.

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Filed under: Acer Aspire One Netbooks, Asus Eee PC Netbooks