Acer Aspire One 722 netbook Review

With tablets fast encroaching a space, which was once ruled by tablets, it won't be long before we bid farewell to this niche segment that managed to make a big splash, in a rather short time. Till that happens, we can ponder over that one factor that is still driving this business and that’s the low price. Acer has had a good run in this segment and today we have another model from their Aspire One line-up, the AO722. This AMD-powered netbook is designed to be affordable, yet practical for everyday use.

Design and Build
Acer has gone with the ‘water drop’ design for the AO722, which is similar to the one seen on the Happy 2 netbook. The glossy black paint job makes it quite visually appealing, but also attracts a lot of fingerprints. The netbook is fairly slim and lightweight at 1.25 kg making it easy to be carried around.

A good looker

Connectivity options include a card reader, microphone and headphone jack, three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI and VGA port. There’s no USB 3.0, sadly. The speakers are placed at the bottom, facing downwards, so the sound does get muffled when you use it on your lap. Flipping over the lid, we have a chiclet-styled keyboard and a generous trackpad. The keys are well-spaced and are very comfortable, even during long typing sessions. The trackpad is also easy to use, however the same cannot be said about the buttons on it which are quite hard and require some effort. The entire bottom portion is removable for quick access to the hard drive and RAM.

HDMI port is also present

Overall, Acer has done a good job with the design and aesthetics of the netbook and unlike some of their other models, the fit and finish is a lot better and so is the quality of the plastic used. 

Features
This particular model, the 722, is powered by AMD’s C-50 APU, which is dual-core and runs at 1GHz. the problem with this is that, unlike their E-350, this one’s terribly sluggish, even for Windows 7 Starter. There’s a painful lag each time you open an application or even Windows Explorer.

Comfortable chiclet styled keys

Other specifications include 2GB of DDR3 memory and a 320GB hard drive. The good part is that, since this is a 11.6-inch screen, the resolution is higher and the LED backlit screen is vibrant as well. The trackpad also features gesture support, so you can perform actions like pinch-to-zoom, etc. The CPU may not be that quick in Windows, but the onboard graphics card will easily decode 1080p videos. Acer also throws in some bundled software like McAfee Antivirus (Trial) and Office Starter Edition. They also have some of their own software like Crystal Eye Webcam, which lets you capture and record videos and Acer Game Zone, which is a collection of mini games.