Acer One Advise Please

I'm looking at buying a Acer One for my son. 512Mb Ram and 8GB SSD with Linux.
Would you think this will be OK for a 10 year old for Internet, email, SkyPE and MSN ?
Will he be able to play 'flash' games ?? from miniclip.com ??

I'm also looking at a 1GB Ram and 120GB Hard Disk with Linux for me

Will I be able to install Win XP onto both of these ?? Will the 8GB work OK with Win XP ?
Is it possible to dual boot the linux and Win XP ??

Many Thanks

 

i would go for the linux 1gb/12ogb harddrive and put a lightened version of xp or vista on it as skype and msn have a few issues on linux and it will save you £60 from buying the acer with xp on it

 

XP home will run on the SSD, but writes are very slow and XP does tend to "freeze" for a few seconds occasionally when protracted disk writes need to occur.

I am in the process of replacing my SSD with an iPod hard disk, but with hindsight it would have worked out cheaper and easier to buy the 120GB Linux version in the first place.

Dual boot Linux and XP is certainly possible and well documented elsewhere (no problem on the 120GB HD - it will be a tight fit on the 8GB SSD though).

 

My 5 year old quite likes mine.

I have Skype working fine on the 8GB linpus (you need to install it yourself, but there's a totally straightforward method available). Flash is installed, with the supplied firefox 2 browser. Email works fine, and you can swap out the acer email program for something like thunderbird if you like. I don't IM myself, so can't answer that point, but there was an IM program installed as standard.

The major advantage of the linux version is that you can leave it locked up on the standard desktop, and he can't break anything too important!

And as said above, XP can be done on the SSD, but is pretty tight unless you strip it down heavily. Dual-booting on the HD model should be fine.

 

Thanks.

From a cost point the 512 / 8GB SSD is the better option at the moment.
Can't seem to find anyone in the UK who is interested in a deal for me buying 2 units..

 

Both Skype and Thunderbird are easy to install and add to the desktop of the AAO

 

Thanks
Now trying to find some one to sell me 2 !!

 

Hi tomt,

If you’re in the UK Curry’s have them in stock for £177, not sure about a deal for two.

 

Thanks

If I buy the 512mb/8GB SSD can I later increase the ram and change the SSD to a hard disk ??

 

Yes to both, here is a video of the memory upgrade and this link http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/modding-the-acer-aspire-one-hard-drive/ takes you to the HD tutorial + vid.

The memory looks extremely hazardous but many on this forum have done it without problems.

 

Having just gone through two days of pain trying to replace my SSD with a 1.8" HD I would advise you to buy one of the A150 models rather than an A110 if you plan to upgrade from the 8GB SSD soon after purchase.

Only a 5mm thick device will fit.
I needed a longer (10cm) ribbon cable for my Toshiba HD. I had to buy 10 from Hong Kong at a cost of over £10.
There are no proper mounting points for a 1.8" HD in an A110. You have to attach the HD to the underside of the motherboard using double sided foam tape, taking care not to short any components on the motherboard.
The refurbished Toshiba HD that I got off ebay for £30 had over 230 bad block reallocations and these increased to over 290 after installing XP. There were also many failed reads due to IO not ready errors at several points. Basically, this "refurbished" HD is f**ked.
Brand new 1.8" ZIF HDs are quite expensive (around £60).
You will struggle to better 20mb/s transfer rates on these 1.8" HDs, my class 6 SDHC card is actually quicker.
At the moment you can get a 512mb/120GB Linux A150 for £200 from Amazon. This is only a £21 premium over the 512mb/8GB models.
A 1.5GB/320GB upgrade could be performed on a A150 model for only £60.

 

I would go with the XP, 160 Gig, 1 Gig RAM, 6 cell battery for both of you. You won't regret it. The machine is well balanced with this combo. If you positively need Linux, it can be dual booted later.

 

Thanks for the advice

I'm sure I could install the ram, but it does look a long winded process !!
Now trying to decide on whether to get the 512/120 or the 1gb/120 !!
Anyone know of a retailer who might do a deal for me buying 2 ??

Are Acer warranties international ? If I buy in the UK would it be covered in AUS or NZ ??

Many Thanks

 

There is at least £30 difference in the best prices for the 512MB and 1GB models from what I can see (www.play.com, www.amazon.co.uk).

If it was me I would buy the 512MB model and spend another £10 on a 1GB SODIMM to upgrade to 1.5GB.

 

Good Idea, but I don't fancy stripping down a new machine !