Price-wise, the Acer Aspire One is already a great deal among mini-laptops. Want to spend even less? Consider going with a laptop with the Linux operating system rather than Windows. It looks and works a lot like Windows, especially the version installed on the Acer mini, and with Linux you actually have a few advantages, not just price.
Cheaper Price
The version of Linux that comes on the Acer mini netbook is Linpus Linus Lite (for Windows it is XP Home). Linux operating system are free, where Windows is not, so the price of any computer loaded with Linux will be less than one with Windows, typically about $50 less.
| Current Acer Aspire One netbook prices
in Windows and Linux flavors |
The Acer mini with Linpus Linux |
As of 12/15/08 (at Amazon) |
Linux is actually a very stable operating system, used on millions of computers. Acer makes using Linux extremely easy with Linpus Linux Lite. You know how you have a “desktop” interface with Windows? The Linpus interface is also friendly and easy-to-use and has everything laid out for you. You don’t do nearly as much searching through menus for your applications. Even novice users will be able to quickly pick up on this simple, intuitive Linux environment. The photo above shows you what the interface looks like.
Faster, Safer Computer
The Linux operating system just runs faster Windows. The code is just more streamlined, but is still secure and solid. In fact, there are hardly any viruses that affect Linux, but can screw up a Windows machine. And it takes up less hard disk space.
Cheaper applications
The Acer netbook loaded with Linpus has the applications you need to hit the ground running. You have an office suite (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing), email, Web browsing, calendar, games and more (see a complete list of Linpus Linux Lite apps). And there are many other applications you can download to run on Linux, a good number of them for free, like Gimp for photo editing.
On the other hand, the Acer netbook with Windows XP does not come with a full version of Microsoft Office. It comes with Microsoft Works (a scaled down and workable version of Office) and with a limited-trial version of Office-Home and Student edition that you need to pay for if you want to use it after the trial time is up (30 or 60 days).
If Linux are so great, why don’t more people use it? Since Windows has dominated the marketplace, it gets hard to get other people and businesses to look at other ways of computing. Admittedly, there are fewer applications written that will work on Linux, but fewer does not mean few–there are a great number of apps that work on Linux and anything you can do on Windows can be done in Linux. If you are mostly using your computer for typing, drawing and pictures and Internet–an Acer netbook loaded with Linpus Linux Lite will work just as well for you.
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December 15, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Good info to have…leasing a new Dell
inspiron for 42/week…expensive…
Tony
December 16, 2008 at 12:16 am
Glad this is helpful. (Yes, leasing is expensive but at least you get and idea of what is a good deal for you.)