Any businessman obsessed with the bottom line must love how Acer goes about things. A company that sees a high end market, figures out what people want, gives it to them while undercutting rivals and (generally) managing not to compromise too much on the build in the process. As one review we caught of the Acer Aspire 532H mentioned, the Taiwanese manufacturer figured out early that basic netbooks at lower prices would fly off shelves and so it has proved in this model’s case.

The 10.1-inch netbook packs an Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, Windows 7 Starter, 160GB hard drive and a six-cell battery, it also shines. Yep, unlike the previous Aspire One 751h, this little shiny guy comes a multi-colored, metallic-like blue and black lid, which reminded the Engadget reviewer of “those old school hypercolor stickers that would change color with heat”. Not a bad description.

Generally well reviewed, the Aspire 532H has plenty going for it.

Overall, then yep, the look is great to begin with (though it is fingerprint prone into the bargain), while the keyboard – so often the cause for much debate when it comes to netbooks – came in for praise from this review we found on Cnet.

It is, the reviewer says, “a far cry from the tiny finger-cramping keyboards of last-generation Netbooks. It has wide edge-to-edge keys, and decent-size versions of Shift, Tab, and other important keys. The corners of each key are rounded, rather than square, giving it a mod look.”

The extremely thorough Pocket Lint rundown of the 532H’s merits meanwhile sounded like the really annoying bloke in The Big Bang Theory: “The bezel and palm rests are glossy, with the trackpad featuring a knobbly texture, designed to aid its use and a scrolling bar ribbed and sitting to the right. It’s a clean solution, giving simple definition between the trackpad and the rest of the palm rest, although in use, adding a mouse will be needed if you are doing anything over basic operation.” That ‘knobbly’ texture is similar to the one on the Asus Eee PC1008HA Seashell.

The 10.1-inch wide-screen display offers a 1,024x600-pixel native resolution, which is standard for a budget netbook.

DISPLAY

In terms of display, the screen is one area where Engadget’s near uniformly positive review feels Acer has let itself down here. Commenting that “10.1-inch, 1024 x 600-resolution screen is typical for its class” the reviewer adds that while it’s bright, it’s also surrounded by a thick bezel and the “horizontal viewing angles are poor”. But it’s not too harsh, and getting a tad familiar the writer also tells us how, “with that said, we were able to manage watching a few video clips with a friend while laying on a couch”.

CONNECTIONS

Connections-wise the 532H offers up a VGA port, 3x USB 2.0, Ethernet, and 3.5mm headphone and mic jacks. A multi-card reader accepting SD, SDHC, Memory Stick and xD-Picture Card is also present. A 0.3-megapixel webcam lies in the screen bezel, with a mic rounding out the package. Elsewhere, stereo speakers sit under the leading edge, giving “average netbook performance” according to Pocket Lint, “meaning they are fine for basic tasks, but if you want to watch a movie in your hotel, you’ll be better served with a decent set of headphones.”

Of the reviews out there, one interesting test drive came from The Times, where reporter Nic Fildes put the 532H through its paces at Mobile World Congress (MWC), the frenetic annual phone show in Barcelona. “The slimline computer,” said Fildes, “which has a dazzling 10.1-inch screen, proved perfect for the occasion being light enough to snap closed and carry in one hand when dashing between press conferences yet durable enough to rattle around in my bag all day without getting a headache.”

BATTERY

Noting that his biggest concern was the battery life, Fildes said that Acer fared “much better than my iPhone under duress. I got a full day out of the netbook on one overnight charge and you can’t ask for much more than that”.

The keyboard - including 'decent-sized' shift key gets the thumbs up from most reviewers.

Battery life is certainly an interesting point on this model with Cnet deeming it “excellent”, and Pocket Lint saying it “certainly” delivers on its promise of a long battery life (eight hours according to the sales pitch). “With general browsing and light office tasks, we were getting the cited 8 hours from the battery, which is an impressive and welcomed performance, making this a good choice for those who want to keep working on those long trans-Atlantic flights,” adds the PL review.

It should be noted too that as on previous models from Acer, the battery fits into the space between the screen hinges, and the bump on the bottom lifts the rear of the netbook nicely, setting the keyboard at an angle when sitting on a desk. The netbook runs fairly quietly, but does get noticeably hot on the left-hand edge where the limited ventilation is.

The Aspire 532H won’t cost the world and it’s as reliable as any netbook out there.

TOUCH-PAD

Some may be intrigued with regards to the quality of the touchpad mentioned in the specs, though one consistent theme throughout all reviews is that they gloss right over this feature, such is its middling performance.

The Cnet write up tells how the touch pad is where the system’s budget origins peek through. “It’s not as tiny as some we’ve seen, but it’s built directly into the glossy wrist rest, with only a faint overlay of patterned dots to demarcate it,” says the review. There are a handful of MacBook-like two-finger gestures available, it adds, but the touch pad is generally too small for them to be useful.”

When it comes to the Atom N450′s performance, ExpertReviews offer the opinion that it’s fairly typical compared to older Atom N280-based netbooks in that “Intel didn’t do much to improve performance with this latest generation of Atom processors”.

VERDICT

Overall the Acer Aspire One 532h is a capable netbook, offering the sort of battery life to make it a “practical all-day device” as one reviewer puts it. Cnet adds that should you keep your expectations modest, the Acer Aspire One performed about as well “as any in its class”.

This sort of summation is typical – a decent, capable machine if a little unspectacular (with everyone getting annoyed at the fingerprints at some stage). I4U, put it well, saying, that while it’s an average netbook in performance and battery life, “it has a decent keyboard and is a good all around machine. The big strength,” it adds, “of the machine is in its price.” And no one will argue with that.

Review of the Reviews Rating: 7/10

Komplett price: €293.79

The ins and outs…

Product Description: Acer Aspire ONE 532h-2Db – Atom N450 1.66 GHz – 10.1″ TFT

Dimensions (WxDxH): 25.9 cm x 18.5 cm x 2.5 cm

Weight: 1.25 kg

System Type: Netbook

Built-in Devices: Stereo speakers, wireless LAN aerial

Processor: Intel Atom N450 / 1.66 GHz

Cache Memory: 512 MB – L2 Cache

RAM: 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM – 667 MHz ( 1 x 1 GB )

Card Reader: Yes

Hard Drive: 250 GB

Display: 10.1″ TFT 1024 x 600 ( WSVGA ) – CrystalBrite

Graphics Controller: Intel GMA 3150 Dynamic Video Memory Technology 4.0

Audio Output: Sound card

Networking: Network adapter – Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n

Wireless NIC: Acer InviLink Nplify

Notebook Camera: Integrated – 0.3 Megapixel

Input Device: Keyboard, touchpad

Power: AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )

Battery: Lithium Ion

Run Time (Up To): 8 hours

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Starter