Acer Aspire One D250-1613

Another big disappointment for me is the lack of useful software out of the box. No word processor. No notepad. No file browser. Maybe I like tinkering with a portable too much, but to me those are all basic functions that I've come to expect with a netbook. The ability to browse a USB thumb drive would be nice, too, and so would printer support. I could brush all that off by telling myself that at some point in the future I'll be able to install Android apps. But Acer doesn't make it easy. A link to an Acer Android storefront would be great; I had a chance to take a look at the Archos 5 Internet Tablet recently, and not only does that have a storefront, but the device also comes loaded with a raft of handy apps like Twitdroid. I'd like to have that!

For now, I'm over this implementation of Android, though I am hopeful for future updates. Camping in the top left of the screen is a quick-launch arrow for heading back to Windows, which is just as well--I'm ready to leave Android and get back to talking about the rest of the netbook.

And this is where the review gets relatively short and sweet, because the D250-1613 has little else that stands out. The netbook shaves a little off the size of previous models (measuring 10.2 by 8.0 by 1.0 inches and weighing a light 2.7 pounds), and it shows. The keyboard is a bit cramped even by netbook standards. Just about every other netbook--the HP Mini 110, the Toshiba NB205, you name it--seems to have a larger setup by comparison. And the touchpad? It's downright painful. Put your two thumbs together for a sec--that's the size of the touchpad's surface. At first I thought it just looked small compared with my meaty hands, but no. It's only slightly better for the dainty. And the mouse buttons are an equally cramped, little strip.

At least the display is reasonably big and colorful. With the brightness cranked up, the D250-1613 ran test videos at a comfortable clip on its 10.1-inch, 1024-by-600-pixel screen. Even Hulu video streamed smoothly--though, interestingly, I found that the same Hulu clip, over the same network, ran just a little choppy in the Android browser. But that's all subjective testing. In PC World Labs tests, the D250 manages to get a 38 in PC WorldBench 6. That may not sound like much (in reality, it isn't), but the average for netbooks running XP is roughly 35. This Aspire One also hangs in for a fairly impressive 7 hours, 12 minutes.Not enough to knock out a battery life leader like the Toshiba NB205, but it's enough to get you through most of the day.

If Acer addresses any of afforementioned beefs with the D250-1613's Android side's shortcomings, this is an update away from a better recommendation. While the company could correct the software letdowns, however, I'd still advise those with big hands to approach the D250-1613 with caution, or at least to test-drive it at a store first.