First and foremost, I subscribe to the philosophy of doing more for less. I have a $228 EM250 ( essentially a rebranded Acer Aspire One D250 ) running Windows 7 Ultimate. While this is complete overkill, and while my netbook can't use all the features ( such as Bitlocker and Xp mode, which ironically are the features I chose Ultimate for ) I have found that a netbook is an ideal pc solution for many people. With that being said, I have found very little info regarding the D250/EM250 on this site. I have used several netbooks, including the EEE PC as well as the Mini10, and none compare to this pc. I intend this thread to be a common area for anyone using one of these pc's. And with Wal-Mart selling the EM250 for $228 ( at least they were ), and Newegg selling the Acer D250 for $289, there are sure to be several people out there that, like me, want to get the most performance out of these formiddable little machines. I will update this post periodically with information that I find and that other members suggest.
Before I go any further, the only differences I have noted between the D250 from Acer and the EM250 from eMachines is that the Acer has a 6 cell battery compared to the 3 cell from eMachines and that the Acer only has a 160 GB HDD while the eMachines enjoys a 250GB HDD. Other than these points, everything else is identical. Both come with 1 GB of RAM, as well as have the Intel N270 Atom processor running at 1.6GHZ with Hyper Threading. Both also use the Intel 945GM Chipset with integrated GMA 950 graphics.
A review of the Acer D250
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/acer-aspire-one-d250/4505-3121_7-33676723.html
Further updates to this thread will come in the way of Overclocking Utilities and Bios Updates.
I have found this to be a very stable little laptop. It is mostly stock, save for upgrading to Ultimate and boosting it to 2GB of RAM. Overall, it serves as a very good travel/ email/ browsing machine. I have also been using it as a multimedia platform, watching movies and listening to music. None of these tasks even come close to fazing it. The only reason I can't run XP mode is a lack of virtualization support and I can't utilize Bitlocker because this pc doesn't have the encryption device neceassary ( leave it to Windows to have features you have to pay extra for before you can use them ). It is by no means a gaming laptop but it does well streaming video and music and also is a good multi tasker thanks to Hyper Threading. The 10.1 inch screen is a bit small but useable. My only real complaint is the gloss finish on the screen. It makes viewing in the dark a near must as any amount of light will cause severe glare. Overall, this is a well constructed, durable little computer that would be a good match for a first time pc all the way to a business person who needs an on the go solution to email/ video conferencing via the built in 3.1MP camera and high quality microphone.
Before I go any further, the only differences I have noted between the D250 from Acer and the EM250 from eMachines is that the Acer has a 6 cell battery compared to the 3 cell from eMachines and that the Acer only has a 160 GB HDD while the eMachines enjoys a 250GB HDD. Other than these points, everything else is identical. Both come with 1 GB of RAM, as well as have the Intel N270 Atom processor running at 1.6GHZ with Hyper Threading. Both also use the Intel 945GM Chipset with integrated GMA 950 graphics.
A review of the Acer D250
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/acer-aspire-one-d250/4505-3121_7-33676723.html
Further updates to this thread will come in the way of Overclocking Utilities and Bios Updates.
I have found this to be a very stable little laptop. It is mostly stock, save for upgrading to Ultimate and boosting it to 2GB of RAM. Overall, it serves as a very good travel/ email/ browsing machine. I have also been using it as a multimedia platform, watching movies and listening to music. None of these tasks even come close to fazing it. The only reason I can't run XP mode is a lack of virtualization support and I can't utilize Bitlocker because this pc doesn't have the encryption device neceassary ( leave it to Windows to have features you have to pay extra for before you can use them ). It is by no means a gaming laptop but it does well streaming video and music and also is a good multi tasker thanks to Hyper Threading. The 10.1 inch screen is a bit small but useable. My only real complaint is the gloss finish on the screen. It makes viewing in the dark a near must as any amount of light will cause severe glare. Overall, this is a well constructed, durable little computer that would be a good match for a first time pc all the way to a business person who needs an on the go solution to email/ video conferencing via the built in 3.1MP camera and high quality microphone.
- best performance for the small $
