Acer Takes an Olympic Approach

This morning, CNET released an article that discussed the OS and computer choice of the Olympics.  http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10459312-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Over 6,200 computers were purchased for the Olympics use, and these computers...

Acer computers.  The Olympic officials declined upgrading to Windows 7, saying it was just too new.  These computers are running on Windows XP, which, at least in my opinion, is outdated but still a quality OS.  However, hopefully in two years the Olympics move on up to Windows 7-it's superior.  Really, it is.  We'll discuss that a different day.

The first thing I did when I saw Acer as the company, I cringed... but then paused.  I myself own an Acer netbook.  This underrated company may finally be on their way to success.  The Taiwan-based company has been excelling over the last few years, and is becoming more popular, especially as a "Wal-Mart brand" computer.  (That's the whole reason I have an Acer-the cheapness, and the accessibility through Wal-Mart... no matter how much I want to avoid them.)  Why does Acer still make people back off?  Well, it's main problem is their computers have a reputation for being a slow, and sometimes they don't use top-notch parts.  This can be true, but like with anything you get what you pay for.  Acers are budget-style computers, and for the money they are actually excellent little beasts.

So, why buy Acer?  I'm not saying dump your computer and run straight out for an Acer; it's very true that they are NOT the best, and this company is competing in an industry with names such as Dell, HP... yeah, you get it.  But what if you need a small, cheap addition to your tech collection?  Go with the Acer Aspire One.  This is what I have (in blue), and while it isn't great for running several high-memory things, it cruises for internet browsing (especially with Google Chrome), instant messaging (Windows Live works GREAT), and word processing.  It's a get-down-to-basics computer in a sense, but isn't that the original purpose of a netbook?

Aspire One 10.1 inch Netbook Specs

(At least, the one I have)

Harddrive: 160GB

RAM: 1GB

Processor: Intel Atom N270

Speed: 1.6 GHz

OS: Windows XP Home Edition

Battery: 3-Cell Lithium Ion (Close to 3+ hours battery life)

Downfalls: most of the time, does not come with an external DVD/CD drive.  Mine didn't.  Also, there is no real recovery option other than sending it back to Acer to have them reformat it for you, because it doesn't come with recovery disks (however, if you buy an external drive yourself, it gives you the option to create a backup disk....)