Acer Aspire One D260: One more reason for sticking with netbooks

The wife and I were looking for a portable and reasonably powerful computing platform that she could bring with her back to the U.S. Of course, wiser counsel would have told us she could save some money by buying her next notebook there. But, she said, she wanted to be able to communicate with us, her family in Manila, right from the very moment she would enter the airport premises.

My wife's first choice, the purple D260. Tough luck, the store was out of stock.

She also wanted the following: it should be portable and light enough to bring wherever her job as a social worker would take her, but powerful enough to perform the usual computing tasks she does with her desktop PC.

A firm believer in the importance of communication in the family, how could I not wholeheartedly support my wife's desire for a new computer?

So, off we went to the shopping mall closest to our home – the SM Cubao. And headed straight for its Cyber Zone collection of retail shops of gadgets and devices.

I wanted the black D260. Wife thought it looked too common. I agree.

After browsing and checking out the options offered by several computer retailers at SM Cubao’s CyberZone, she settled on the Aspire One D260 netbook from Acer. And looking at the D260’s list of features and specifications, I believe that she has made a wise choice. What follows also includes my take on the netbook’s features and capabilities, as well as its fitness for the job that my wife has in mind for the Acer portable computer.

Looks and Specs

The D260 is a perfect confluence of portability, pretty sufficient computing power, and aesthetics. The netbook is light and svelte, it feels like you were actually holding a real-life notebook – you know, the one made of paper, and is used for taking notes via a pen. Users cannot be blamed for referring to it as a "cute" computer because it is. I suspect that Acer designed this netbook with fashionmongers in mind.

Aesthetically, there is nothing that fashionistas would not love in this slim netbook. My wife chose the pink edition, after finding out that her first choice, the purple one, was not available at the Villman store.

The D260, however, does not look like one of those cute and softie toys. Despite its svelte and light body, it actually exudes strength. You know it means business, just by merely looking at it.

The D260 comes powered by Intel’s Atom N475 processor (1.8GHz and 512KB cached). It includes 2GB of DDR3 RAM, and runs Windows 7 Starter operating system (32-bit OS).

It comes with a Windows Experience Index of 2.6, with subscore of 5.6 for disk data transfer rate and 2.6 for calculations per second.

These numbers put the D260 right in the midspot of netbook performance. What makes it stand out of the netbook field, however, is its 2GB hoard of DDR3 RAM. Most other netbooks I have encountered so far come with a measly 1GB of memory.

Performance

This RAM power becomes obvious when the D260 does things that would have made some other netbooks falter. It does video and other media with aplomb. YouTube videos are played without the usual stuttering often associated with netbooks that are RAM starved.

Wife loved the one with the pink-flake lid.

Multitasking also seems to be the netbook’s middle name. It can run several programs and applications simultaneously with ease, most of the time. Opening too many programs, however, can force the D260 to reveal its lurking netbook nature.

There are instances when the netbook would exhibit some unpredictability. There were instances of sluggishness while the D260 was doing some routine tasks.

Overall, the Aspire One D260 is one capable portable computing platform. It does its tasks with ease and cool. Though it might appear cute to most users, the D260 is one hardworking netbook.