AOA150 Versus AOD150 Comparisons.

OK, I just got my D150 yesterday and decided to do some quick, non-technical comparisons. In my view, the new machine completely validates how good the old machine is, and justifies the fact that Acer should KEEP IT IN PRODUCTION! Not that the D150 is a bad machine. It has its endearments.....

Ergonomics: Once you get used to the track pad & button placements on the A150 it is a great little machine but things are a bit cramped. For some reason the D150 feels more like a limousine than a compact car. That said, I found the track pad on the D150 harder to use than the A150. For some reason it takes more work to move around the screen. BUT the keyboard, which is the same size for whatever reason feels better (more positive click) and is more comfortable to use than the previous machine.

Battery: No contest here. Even with the 3-cell battery on the D150 you can expect 4 hours to 4:30 hours of use. BUT that said a 6 cell battery for the A150 is pretty inexpensive these days.

Screen: let me say that this is one area that the D150 wins hands down. Its screen is beautiful indeed. Bright. Spacious. Crisp. I think that this machine has the very best netbook display going.

Speed: I find disk seeks take longer with the D150. I actually had a 100,000 row database and did some queries and the A150 was slightly faster. Screen refreshes were faster with the old machine. Perhaps because the screen was smaller, but more likely because of the driver being used.

Sound: A150 sounds better.

Size / Convenience: The new machine is bigger. I like the form factor of the older machine better. Take it anywhere. Incredibly light.

Udgradability: Look the A150 is difficult to upgrade, but it can be done. If you use Linux it really doesn't have to be done. The D150 is a dream to upgrade. Adding memory is a snap. You can change the Wifi card. You can easily change the hard drive. BUT you can follow simple instructions and do the same with the A150. The question is, do you have confidence to do it.

3G: Advantage D150. It is 3G ready out of the box.

Linux Implementation: I tried 4 variations of UBUNTU on both machines (Xubuntu, UNR, Easy Peasy, and Crunchbang.) In all cases everything worked out of the box with the D150. I did not have to configure anything. Crunchbang is by far the fastest distro on either box, but Xubuntu also worked well on both. Easy Peasy, and UNR both had small hardware issues with my A150. Easy Peasy would not resume from suspend.

Conclusion: I am likely returning my D150. I would like to keep it, but I cannot justify it. The A150 is a great machine and available at fire sale prices. It runs so well under Linux and is so likable that I cannot part with it. That being said I believe that the D150 will find Acer in second place amongst netbook manufacturers. The A150is truer to the spirit of what these devices were supposed to be in the first place.

 

Any idea of MacOS (Hackintosh) installation success story?.
I've Googled and no information yet.

Mind to tell us how much you purchase it, here in Middle East it cost 522USD.

 

I purchased it for $399 Canadian dollars (about $340 USD) and the store had a deal to pay it in 12 equal installments no interest.

 

Addendum to my last post, after working with the D150 a bit more... I really have begun to like it. It runs XUBUNTU and UNR like a bat out of H*LL!

 

Wow.. that's pretty expensive, even in Canada.