Review: Acer Aspire One 722
The Acer Aspire One 722 can be described as a reliable, economical Netbook with HDMI. It's less expensive as some products, yet it is cheaper than most, which might more than make up for it in the benefit department. If you currently have a powerful laptop and just need a lighter-weight netbook for travelling, or if you are looking for an inexpensive media PC, or if perhaps you're looking for an starting laptop for a child, the Acer Aspire One 722 could easily be the Netbook suitable for you.
Hardware Details
AMD Dual-Core C-50 1.0 GHz processor 2GB DDR3 SDRAM 250 GB 5400RPM hard drive ATI Radeon HD 6250 graphics card w/ 256MB dedicated memory 8" x 11.2" x 1" 3.2 pounds
Keyboard and Touchpad
There is no two ways about this - the keyboard feels filled and flexes uncomfortably. Other, similarly-sized products find a way to offer up far more room, although they're working in a similar form factor. The arrow keys are all half-sized, with "extra" shortcut keys over the left and right keys, which basically just can get in the way when attempting to move around quickly. This, not to mention the fact that the laptop keyboard flexes downwards at the drop of a hat (or the press of a key!) brings about the many more problems while typing than usual.
Then again, the touchpad is impressive in how unremarkable it really is. It's the same texture as the other parts of the body, therefore it doesn't stand out awkwardly. It's matte in texture, so your are capable of sense exactly where your fingers are. The mouse button bar is extremely reactive, and left and right-click are very well defined. You won't end up making numerous problems on this touchpad - the truth is you'll scarcely notice it's there in any respect! You'll only use it exactly as you expect and it will work as intended, that is optimal for virtually any trackpad.
Screen
Similarly, the display suffers from a reduced budget too. Whenever turned up as high as it can go, the screen still seems a little dim, although the backlight is reasonably even - no areas seem much lighter or darker than any others. The viewing angle isn't too large, but if you're watching it as one individual, you will have no difficulties. If you want to share your display with multiple folks, you may as well connect to an external display with your Netbook HDMI port anyhow.
The display is at least big (11.6 inches) and high-resolution (1366 x 768). It's not a bad display by any means, however it certainly isn't a superb one.
Ports and Connectors
Needless to say, you get a Netbook HDMI port on this laptop, located on the left side. You will also get 3 USB ports, all of which are USB 2.0, meaning faster speed, which means less time spent moving files.
Included as well will be a VGA port (useful should you come across an older screen), a high-speed networking connector (excellent if you want to save or move a lot of files), and a webcam with mike. The webcam isn't stellar quality, but certainly a nice option if you wanted to have a very quick meeting.
OS and Software
The Acer Aspire One 722 comes installed with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, which is a nice option. They could have supplied only 32-bit, as most versions of this Netbook only have 2 GB of RAM. The 64-bit variation provides you with the choice of upgrading your RAM later, in case you find your usage requires a bit more breathing space.
However, based on the place you get it from, your Aspire One 722 may show up with a lot of bloatware installed, which significantly reduces the initial impressions of a clean, new Netbook. Reasonably, all that's necessary installed on a fresh Netbook with HDMI is the os plus some kind of media player to let you display your high-definition movies. Trialware and software of doubtful value should not be packed in, as it doesn't actually add any value for the Netbook. This is an area where Acer falls down.
