Couple questions before I buy

Got a couple of questions before I buy:

1) I've never had a laptop, so sorry if this sounds dumb. Do you recharge it after it runs out of power or do you have to keep buying batteries? If recharging, how long does it take? Can you use it while its plugged in or do you got to wait for it to charge?

2) Is it easier to add programs with windows Xp than linux? Ive never used it, only xp/vista. I'm just looking for a word processor to keep documents and will want to upload Word '02.

 

The battery comes with it and rechargeable. The 3 cell model lasts for about 2.5 hrs, twice as long for the 6 cell model. Yes, you can use it while it's plugged in and charging.

I use linux all the time and love it. However, I would recommend you get the XP version (with hard disk, not SSD) because of your previous experience.
Good luck -Duncan.

 

Hi thelostgirl101. If you must get one buy the XP version as Duncan says, you'll be better off when it comes to simple things like adding a printer. I have the linpus (Linux) version and I hate it as it's just a complete PItA when doing such simple things. I have installed my printer drivers 3 times now and yet it still asks for them each time I try and print a document. It saw my Laser jet right away which I thought was magic seeing as it's a windows machine, it even printed for a few pages but now it just says not connected even though it is?

I bought this so I could try out Linux as i like the idea of not paying Microsoft mega bucks but I'm now thinking of either selling this or converting it to XP. The Acer One Netbook is fine (look out for a noisy fan) quite cute and easy to carry about but the OS lipus is a drag! If I could turn back the clock I'd either buy the XP version or, for a few more quid, a proper laptop. I think I'd go for the proper laptop as it would be more versatile.
Cheers.
obe

 

lostgirl - if you want to install Word '02, then XP is the only way to go.

obeone - with an AO150 (the HDD version), you can have WinXP and Linpus (or in my case, Linpus, Omega, Fedora, and Ubuntu)

 

a) The Aspire One has a rechargable battery.
b) I don't know how long it takes to recharge from a fully dead battery, I've never done it but an hour or so, is my guess.
c) Yes, you can use it plugged in.

Of the three main operating systems, Linux tends to be the hardest to install programs! (Mac is the easiest, in my observation.)

Your questions make me think you want the Windows version of the Aspire. You definitely need Windows to install Word '02.

But are you sure you need Windows '02? The Aspire One Linux version comes with OpenOffice which is compatible with Word. (You do need to export the files as a Word document but that's easy. OpenOffice reads Word documents automatically.)

My wife knows almost nothing about computers and loves Linux. (she wouldn't even know the difference between XP and Vista, so you know more than she does!)

Linux almost never crashes and boots up really fast, which is great in a laptop. But, if you have a Linux machine, it helps to either be a computer geek or know a helpful one.

 

Just one more point:

If you are considering the Aspire One for word processing, it may not be the right computer for you.

Can you get your hands on one to test it out first and test out the keyboard?

The keyboard is pretty small. I can type pretty well on it but I'd never type a novel on it!

The main reason to buy an Aspire One is portability -- which is fantastic. I use mine for school and I absolutely love it. It was the perfect buy for me. I write two or three page papers with it, all the time, but anything longer and it gets tedious. (I just did a 15 pager, though!)

I'm pretty sure you could add an external keyboard but that defeats the purpose of a laptop.

 

Your question regarding the battery have been answered so I won't reiterate on that.

If I were you I'd definitely go with the XP Home OS rather than Linux. From the sound of your message I just get a feeling that you'll be happier with that. I can confirm that the AAO with XP Home is surprisingly snappy and quick to boot. Although I can deal with Linux it makes me tear my hair out so I finally made the decision to go with XP Home and am glad I did.

As for Word, Open Office, which can be found at openoffice.org, did not ship with my AAO but can be easily downloaded and installed and will work with Word documents. My AAO actually came with a 60 day trial of MS Office 2007 Student and Home version. Since I preferred Open Office I deleted it. But it IS there for you to try if you wish. At least on my AAO, purchased two weeks ago, it was.

I'm a female but have larger than average hands for a gal. I could never wear women's gloves for instance...just too small. I've had no problems getting used to the smaller keyboard on the AAO and actually like the touchpad, as much as I can like a touchpad that is. That's a first for me. In the past I've hated every touch pad on any laptop I've had but with this one I decided to give it a go and TRY to like it before defaulting to a USB travel mouse. Surprise... I don't need to haul a mouse w/me!

All that said, if this is your first laptop I urge you to reconsider the AAO. It's NOT really a laptop, in my opinion of course, but really it's a netbook....meaning something small enough to grab and use on the go to get email, browse the web, take notes and so on. That's what I bought it for and that's how I've been using it. I did go with the non-SSD hard drive so I could get a 160GB HD, which means I have to be a bit more careful with it, and I also got mine with the 6 cell battery so I could have as much battery time as possible. But I also have a laptop....a big one, plus I have a desktop computer. So I don't have to rely on my AAO for any sort of primary computer use. I'm looking ahead a bit with mine too with regard to using it with a 3G connection account. In fact, I almost put off my purchase a bit in order to get it with 3G built in, something a friend is doing, but I couldn't wait any longer once I decided on what features in the AAO were for me. Add on 3G is fine with me when the time comes.

There are some nice inexpensive laptops out there. They'll be bigger than the AAO which means there will be pluses and minuses. But if you've not done so already, I'd suggest that for your first laptop you might want to take another look and evaluate your needs accordingly. Also, in case you haven't already noticed, the AAO can be found in what seems to be a zillion different configurations so shop around to get just what you want. It took me a bit to make the decision since I'd originally considered the Asus Eee PC but once I did I waited and looked and learned and was able to get the AAO in just the perfect configuration for me at a price that was exceptionally good.

Best of luck to you and I hope I was of some help.

 

I seriously considered the EeePC, too but one thing kept me from it: the right shift key. The posts I read said that it was non-standard and that seemed like a pain I could probably not get beyond.

Except for being small, the Aspire One keyboard is standard doesn't require any re-learning.

(It has less keys than a standard keyboard but most or all are replaced by a function key)

But I don't like the touch pad. I keep touching it when I type. It helped to turn down the sensitivity but I just turned it off (easy to do) and use a cheap mouse.

I very much agree with Mimka that the Aspire is probably not what you want from your main computer. It, however, makes a fantastic portable.

For me, the Linux version was perfect. The bundled software is everything I needed but, for most people, it might be too much of a challenge.

Linux DOES have an advantage for a computer like this -- since the OS is open source, it allows Acer to modify it to suite the Aspire One perfectly. This means stability and fewer problems.

However, unless you are a bit of a computer Geeek or know a helpful one, Linux may be a bit much for the average user if you want to add or troubleshoot problems.

 

You could hit ALT-F2 and run this command:

syndaemon -i 2 -d

This will kill the touchpad while you're typing and it'll come back to life 2 seconds after you stop typing.

To automate the running of this command every time you bootup your computer, you can add this command to the Autostarted applications utility. To do this:

ALT-F2 and run the following:

xfce4-autostart-editor

Cheers.

 

On all the distros I have tried (as far as I remember) the Fn+F7 combo worked quite well for turning off the touchpad.

 

That's what the Fn + F7 keys do (and say) on my AAO 150 which I have now had for a week.
Beginning to really love it, having never had or seen Linux (Linpus) before, so many thanks for all the tips and advice on these forums. Got it for travelling now that RyanAir is charging for hold baggage and I want to make do with handbagage only. Very pleased with myself as I have managed to get the AAO to wireless network print through my Vista PC and today loaded it up with 10GB of converted itunes library ( ie 4 > mp3). I think my other XP pc may well be in for an OS operation before not to long !! ( Not bad for a silver surfer, me thinks...61y)