Excellent value

By Carolyn Buckingham "Netbook Phreak"

This review is for: Acer AO532h-2588

I bought from a local dealer for about the same price. I have a dozen laptops and even owned the 14" ones are too big and bulky for me. I love the portability of the machine and for the price, it is a really good value.

I recommend a 2GB RAM module (I have to correct an 800MHz), and if you like, a bigger hard drive. The additional RAM is room to breathe and accelerates noticeably. The Starter Edition of Windows 7 is too restrictive for me, I upgraded to a different edition of Windows 7 After you install the RAM and the operating system to a higher edition of Windows 7, install the Acer VGA Driver for Windows 7, then you will have the right resolution, and you can run in Aero mode.

I have Ubuntu Linux (both the Netbook Remix, and the default), Windows XP Pro and Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit on my 532h run and all ran perfectly. Stick to 32-bit operating systems on this model because it can not be more than 2 GB of RAM (like all netbooks).

For Web surfing, I use Google Chrome and it runs much faster than IE8 and Firefox on this machine. Chrome is a good choice because you can now extensions, such as ad blockers, so you add it. Basically, if you're like most people, and 90% of what you do is sit at a computer social networking (Twitter, Facebook, etc.), web browsing, word processing, e-mail and other simple tasks - well, this machine is all you need.

Finally, remember, it's a netbook. Not a desktop or even a regular laptop. Do you want to do serious gaming, forget it, but it will still run some games. There netbook sites, very helpful, and some of them are even game recommendations for netbooks.