Buy Acer Aspire AOD255-2331 10.1 inch Netbook (Black)

Picked this model up locally on sale (D255-2331). It's a nice, light, fast little laptop. I was concerned the 3-cell battery wouldn't last long enough for daily use, but if the backlight is turned down you can get 5 or so hours out of it. Initially when I first charged the battery it wouldn't get past 96%. I let it run for a day and discharged to about 10%, then let it charge overnight and now it's saying 100% charge. Buy Now...
Acer Aspire AOD255-2331 10.1 inch Netbook (Black) puts minimal bloatware on this machine, which is nice. It even comes with some actually useful apps pre-installed (Skype, McAfee, MS Works). There were a TON of Windows updates that were needed though once I got it on the net. The BIOS was also outdated. The network driver caused one bluescreen once, which is what prompted the BIOS udpate. The driver on their site claimed I already had the latest version though.
Speed-wise I've had very few issues and I've been impressed with how fast this netbook actually is (even with only 1GB of RAM). Web pages load quickly and applications are fast. I installed MS Office 2007 and it loads just as fast as my desktop machine. It's also worth mentioning that YouTube videos play well. I've also played some .wmv videos through Windows Media Player and they play well with minimal CPU usage.
Hard drive is quiet and bottom of the netbook is somewhat warm. There is a small fan and vent on the side. The fan is pretty quiet (can only hear it in a quiet room).
Keyboard is useable, though my hands do notice it is a little smaller than full size. Multi-touch mouse pad works well. The mouse buttons are a bit hard to press at first, as well being right at the edge of the laptop, but after some getting used to it is now acceptable.
Speakers are adequate. Not real loud, but good enough for normal use.
The wireless card picks up my home and work networks and connects to them quickly. For example I can get a 144Mbps link to my Cisco router about 25 feet away through 2 walls. There is no WLAN on/off switch, but you can control it via Windows or the driver software. By default the radio is set to be always on at max power, but you can always get a little more battery life by turning this down as well.
One thing I don't quite get yet is when the system goes to sleep when the lid is closed it doesn't always wakeup automatically when the lid is reopened. Sometimes it does it on its own, sometimes I need to press the power button. Not a big deal though.
Overall I'd recommend this laptop to anyone wanting a small light daily-use laptop for simple common tasks

Product Description

Acer AOD255-2331 10.1" AMD N450 1.66GHz/1GB/160GB/XPH Netbook Computer (Diamond Black)

Product Features and Technical Details

Product Features

• Operating System: Windows XP Home with SP3
• Processor Type: Intel Atom
• Display Type: LED Backlight Green Compliance: Energy Star
• Video Chipset: Intel GMA 3150 Screen Size: 10.1
• Hard Drive Size: 160000 Installed Memory: 1000 Processor Speed: 1660

Processor, Memory, and Motherboard

• Hardware Platform: Unknown
• Processor: 0 MHz Unknown
• Number of Processors: 1
• RAM: 0 MB
• RAM Type: Unknown

Hard Drive

• Size: 0 GB
• Type: Unknown

Cases and Expandability

• Size (LWH): 7.3 inches, 0.9 inches, 10.2 inches
• Weight: 2.8 pounds

Warranty and Support

• Amazon.com Returns Policies: You may return any new computer purchased from Amazon.com that is "dead on arrival," arrives in damaged condition, or is still in unopened boxes, for a full refund within 30 days of purchase. Amazon.com reserves the right to test "dead on arrival" returns and impose a customer fee equal to 15 percent of the product sales price if the customer misrepresents the condition of the product. Any returned computer that is damaged through customer misuse, is missing parts, or is in unsellable condition due to customer tampering will result in the customer being charged a higher restocking fee based on the condition of the product. Amazon.com will not accept returns of any desktop or notebook computer more than 30 days after you receive the shipment. New, used, and refurbished products purchased from Marketplace vendors are subject to the returns policy of the individual vendor.

.