ACER Aspire 1410 Review- Laptop Power with Netbook Size

My wife and I recently took a trip to Costa Rica. Before I continue I would like to sidebar... If you are planning a trip to Costa Rica, check out the blog she wrote on it, Tips when Traveling to Arenal Costa Rica. I think it should have been titled "Every single thing you need to know when Traveling to Arenal Costa Rica" We flew on an airline that only allowed a single carry on bag, which had to be less than 22 lbs. That meant my laptop went, or our camera equipment went. With no TV in the first hotel for 4 days, we decided to look for a Netbook. After doing an average amount of research, I decide to go with the ACER Aspire 1410. Specs below: Product Features and Technical Details Product Features * Box Contents - Acer AS1410 Notebook, 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (up to 6-hours), AC Power Adapter, AC Power Cord; Software Bundle - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Microsoft Works with Office Home and Student 2007 60-day Trial, McAfee Internet Security Suite 60-day Subscription, 1-Year International Travelers Limited Warranty * Intel Celeron 1.2GHz SU2300 Processor * 1M L2 Cache, 800MHz Front Bus Speed * 2048MB DDR2 Dual-Channel 667MHz RAM (4GB Max.) * 160GB (5400 RPM) SATA Hard Drive Processor, Memory, and Motherboard * Hardware Platform: PC * Processor: 1.2 GHz Intel Celeron * System Bus Speed: 800 * Number of Processors: 1 (dual core) * RAM: 2000 MB (expandable to 4 GB) * RAM Type: SODIMM Hard Drive * Size: 160 GB * Manufacturer: Portable * Type: Serial ATA Weight: 3.1 pounds Battery: last 4 to 5 hours PROS: * Very light weight. * Battery power has not let me down yet. * I have loaded all the Microsoft Express version of Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 Express. That is enough for demos, for travel programming fun, and looking at book examples. No issues with performance and I still have not upgrade to 4 GB of RAM. * Loaded all of Office 2007 and have no performance complaints. * Screen has a great resolution * Keyboard has bigger keys than my normal size laptop. * Has the full version of Windows 7 64 bit installed unlike other Netbooks I was looking at, which have the starter version. It is performing great!!! * Screen is slightly bigger than a normal netbook, which is just enough to get away from the feeling that I am watch a movie on my phone, like other netbooks gave me. * Price, you just can't beat it. * Perfect for games. Easy to pass around. CONS: * Volumn is a little low. Overcame that with a set of external speakers (Logitech V20 Notebook Speakers (Black) ) * Windows Media Player plays slow. I don't think I can blame the laptop for than though, since VLC plays everything just fine. All in all I highly recommend this little thing!!! Some shots of it are below. I have included a side by side with my 17 inch laptop, and some shots of code and windows media player to give you an idea of screen real estate. The shots are not that great with respect to showing off the clarity of the screen, but they give you an idea of what fits on it. Click here for larger view Click here for larger view Click here for larger view Click here for larger view Click here for larger view Click here for larger view Click here for larger view