Acer Aspire One 751h: NetbookSize++
by Jarred Walton on September 3, 2009 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Acer Aspire One 751h Overview
As usual, we'll start with a pictorial overview of the system.
The short summary is that the Aspire One 751h includes everything you'd expect in a modern netbook. You get WiFi (only 802.11g), Fast Ethernet, three USB ports, a VGA port, and a flash memory reader. There's nothing particularly unique about the package, with the exception of the larger than average 11.6" LCD panel. However, that's a pretty major difference, especially when we take into account the native 1366x768 resolution. We have had numerous complaints about the 1024x600 resolution used on many smaller netbooks, and overall we definitely preferred the slightly larger LCD on the 751h. Other manufacturers are also coming out with 11.6" netbooks, but this is the first one we've received and there's a noticeable difference.
Like many other manufacturers, Acer uses a glossy plastic finish on the 751h. We received a sapphire blue model, and fingerprints are easily visible. If that's a concern, we would recommend looking for one of the models that comes in white. The Acer Aspire One AO751h-1273 is a great choice and it includes the 250GB hard drive and 2GB RAM upgrades, but it also ships with a Vista Home Basic "downgrade" which is unfortunate in our opinion. Vista just doesn't perform that well on netbooks, though it looks like Windows 7 will do a lot better. Of course, you can save a bit of money and get the same specifications as the 1192 we're reviewing with the white AO751h-1885.
That's the one rather confusing aspect of Acer's model numbering scheme: tons of similar but not quite identical products that all have the same family name. Our advice would be to look for a model that comes with Windows XP and make sure you get a 6-cell battery. If you can find such a system in a color you like with 2GB RAM, so much the better. We like the overall design and our only real complaint is that the Poulsbo chipset used in the 751h isn't as fast as the 945GSE used in many other netbooks. We'll have to wait for Pine Trail/Pineview to get the package we really want, complete with an integrated memory controller and IGP. The Pine Trail platform netbooks should ship in early 2010 (if not sooner).
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quiksilvr - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
Hate to burst your bubble but its running Vista BASIC, meaning no free upgrade to Windows 7.bjacobson - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
Think you're wrong dude--http://www.acer.com/windows7upgrade/eligible.html">http://www.acer.com/windows7upgrade/eligible.html
First line, ao751h
Etern205 - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
No he's right you're wrong.quote by Acer:
To be eligible for the Program, you must purchase a new PC between June 26, 2009 and January 31, 2010. The PC must come with a valid Windows Vista® Home Premium, Windows Vista® Business or Windows Vista® Ultimate Certificate of Authenticity (COA) attached. In addition, the PC must also have Microsoft Windows Vista® SP1 or SP2 OR a Windows® XP Downgrade with Service Pack 3 installed. /quote
bjacobson - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
Eh then buy it, it's worth it.bjacobson - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
and you can see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA#Table_of_GM...">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA#Table_of_GM...that the GMA500 is perfectly capable of accelerating video. If you're using Vista or 7 (sorry, DXVA 2.0 only available on these with the Intel drivers and they're not planning on making 1.0 work for XP...according to the Intel dev guy behind these drivers) grab DXVA Checker as an easy tool to check for video acceleration.
Installing the free version of PowerDVD9 gets you some codecs which the Intel driver can make use of for accelerating video. For example, Step Into Liquid will only play accelerated through DXVA Checker, showing that the capability for WMV9 is fully there in the hardware, there's just some driver stuff that needs to be worked (might be something on MPC-HC's end, too).
JarredWalton - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
I know Poulsbo is supposed to have HD support, which is why I stated: "The Poulsbo chipset is supposed to provide HD codec support, but at present it appears application support for the necessary functions is not there." It appears Windows XP is the problem, based on your linked forum instructions. I'm going to see about putting Win7 x86 on the netbook, just for kicks....JarredWalton - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
I'm trying to follow http://forum.pocketables.net/showthread.php?t=2148">the instructions and having no luck. I get severe stuttering on the AO751h using "PDVD Video SP" in Win7 using either MPC-HC or KMplayer. I know for a fact that MPC-HC with CoreAVC was no better under XP. I'm still trying to figure out how the people actually set up an AO751h to work with x264... KMplayer is crashing right no when I try for fullscreen, but it was working with the Microsoft DTV-DVD codec in a window.Bottom line: it *might* work, but getting it going is not as easy as I'd like.
bjacobson - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
For more info on accelerating 1080p videos (x264, for example) check out http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewforum.php?f...">http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewforum.php?f...I had to use the 1006 version of the driver to get DXVA working; note that the 1095 version is actually OLDER so you _don't_ want it.
MPC-HC had audio stuttering problems with x264 playback for some reason; but K-Lite player works great with configuration (Set AVC, or maybe it was VC.1, or maybe both) decoding to the Microsoft DTV-DVD decoder, and you'll have to change a few other settings (don't recall what exactly-- check that forum, there's guides and links to the places you need to go to configure it correctly for 1080p video playback).
Again, putting 7 on this, and turning off Window Transparency, and this thing really performs. Loving it, use it every day.
sillyfox - Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - link
YesRelated:http://passional-life.over-blog.com/article-353298...
bjacobson - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
Oh and don't forget you can get this for cheaper if you pay attention to the Bing Cashback deals on the Hot Deals forum here. Currently 15% back at Tiger Direct, they sell the 1G versions of these laptops. No tax, $2 shipping, brings the total cost to ~$310 + money for a 2G stick of RAM if you want.