Acer formally introduced its new mini-notebook this morning at its press conference here in Taipei. My apologies to Acer President Gianfranco Lanci, but I had to sneak away from the press conference to play with the third-largest notebook manufacturer’s mini-notebook.

After 20 minutes alone with the Aspire one I have to say it is promising. But can it rival other Atom-based notebooks like the MSI Wind or the Eee PC 901 and 1000 series? In some areas, yes; in others, no.

Check out the hands-on video and photo gallery below.

Glossy, Colorful Lid
I have seen my fair share of mini-notebooks in the last few months, and the Acer Aspire one is one of the best looking. The lid has a nice shine to it and is available in four colors: pink, brown, black, and white. I like how the the colors extend underneath the lid to the trackpad and palm rest. It’s worth noting that the unit I was playing with quickly became smeared in fingerprints.

Measuring 9.8 x 6.7 x 1.14 inches, the Aspire one has a small footprint, but sitting on top of an ASUS Eee PC 900, it was a tad longer. The 2.2-pound system felt light in one hand.

Standard Mini-Notebook Keyboard, Trackpad
The first thing I noticed when I opened the system was the Aspire one’s somewhat cramped keyboard—at least compared with the MSI Wind and the new ASUS Eee PC 1000. It was hard not to make comparisons to the Eee PC keyboard, as the lettering was a similar blue and black. I had no problems typing Web addresses and search terms, however. At this point, we may just be a bit spoiled by the MSI Wind’s larger keyboard, which doesn’t require you to cramp your fingers together.

The trackpad is similar to the HP Mini-Note’s in that its two mouse buttons are located on the sides. I’m not the biggest fan of this layout, but Mini-Note users seem to get over the learning curve in short order. The trackpad itself was very smooth and accurate.

Impressive Matte Display
The Acer Aspire One’s 8.9-inch CrystalBrite screen is impressive and its 1024 x 600 seems just perfect. Horizontal and vertical viewing angles were good when I watched Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” video on YouTube.

Finally, Another Easy Linux!
Acer plays well with Linux. The system I was testing was running Acer’s customized version of Linpus Linux. Taking a cue from the Eee PC’s Easy Mode, the main interface is divided up into four categorical boxes: Connect, Work, Fun, and Files. Large icons of the essential programs are filed under each. The Connect box includes a Firefox Browser, while the Work tab includes OpenOffice applications.

Speedy Boot-Up
The Linux version of the Acer Aspire one comes with 512MB of RAM and a 1.6-GHz Intel Atom processor. You can select your data storage option: either an 8GB SSD or an 80GB hard drive. Though I didn’t have enough time to really test performance on the Linux system (by running multiple programs and trying multimedia intensive tasks), the system did boot in a brisk 28 seconds (see video below). Versions of the notebook running Windows XP were also on display.

Early Verdict
Acer is the second of the top notebook manufacturers to join the mini-notebook race and it’s clear that it’s going to make an impact. Though I think the smaller keyboard is a shortcoming, the rest of the system feels solid. The Linux distribution on the Aspire one is simple enough for beginners, which is something we can’t say for the Linux distros used on some of its competitors. A speedy boot-up points to solid performance, but we will wait for our review unit to make the final call on that.

Hands-on with the Acer Aspire One

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Watch the Acer Boot-up

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