Acer Aspire One 751h: NetbookSize++
by Jarred Walton on September 3, 2009 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Netbook Performance Comparison
You can read about our testing setup and the other laptops used in our previous GIGABYTE M1022 review. None of the results changed for this article, so we'll dispense with most of the commentary to keep things short.
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The performance picture shows that the Atom Z520/Poulsbo combination is clearly slower than the Atom N280/945GSE platform. How much of the slowdown comes from the 25% lower CPU clock varies by application, and you can see by the 3DMark results that the GMA 500 is anything but a high-performance 3D solution. In fact, in 3D applications the GMA 950 is anywhere from 45% to 75% faster than the GMA 500. Overall performance ends up somewhere between the old ASUS Eee PC 4G and the more recent Eee PC 901, which is still typically "fast enough" for office and Internet use.
One element of performance that's not immediately visible from the above graphs is the video playback capabilities. All of the other systems are able to handle 720p x264 decoding -- albeit barely in the case of the 1005HA and M1022. Those two netbooks require the use of the CoreAVC codec in order to avoid dropping frames. Unfortunately, the Atom Z520 isn't able to decode HD x264 videos without severe stuttering. The good news is that the US15W/GMA 500 chipset includes support for HD video, provided you have the right software. PowerDVD 8 -- included on the system -- has an H.264/AVC codec that works with the chipset and easily handles x264 decoding. The Z520 CPU can also handle less strenuous codecs on its own (HD DivX and Xvid for example), but we do have to warn that any multitasking -- even opening menus -- while watching videos causes severe stuttering.
Final Update: After further testing, I have revised the above text to summarize the video codec situation better. Initially, I was not able to view x264 videos, but with some searching and suggestions from readers I finally got it sorted out. Worth noting is that testing under Windows 7 did not go so well, but Intel doesn't yet offer official Windows 7 drivers for the GMA 500 -- you have to use the Vista drivers, and I experienced numerous crashes after going that route. I did not test Vista, but others report no serious issues, and under XP things worked fine for the most part. I still get the occasional crash when launching some applications (particularly video players with HD content), and it appears to be a driver issue. The latest GMA 500 XP drivers are "for developers", so they're essentially beta still. For x264 playback acceleration, I used Media Player Classic - Home Cinema and the PowerDVD 8 H.264/AVC Decoder (set it as the preferred codec in the External Filters section).
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kopilka - Saturday, January 16, 2010 - link
Which model has a version of XP Professional Edition?Where can I find information on the XP Professional Edition [url=http://www.legalrxuk.com">http://www.legalrxuk.com]online[/url]?
gipper - Friday, September 4, 2009 - link
I could care less about screen SIZE, but having an x600 screen, I would kill for x768. I'll probably buy another at the first of the year when these 10 and 11" x768 screens are offered with the new chipsets.The 10" keyboards work fine, and if they wanted, they could fit these 11" displays in the same chasis. The bezels on the 10" books are ridiculously oversized.
cremefilled - Friday, September 4, 2009 - link
I've had my Acer 751h for two weeks. As suggested, look for the Bing combo specials. My 6-cell red 751h with XP Home netted $295 at Tigerdirect after Bing rebate and an additional $20 Paypal rebate.If you get the right codecs, these play high-def videos *wonderfully*. I've played all sorts of mkv and avi files, including very high bitrate mkv's (16GB 1080p file, averaging something like 12Mbps video bitrate). This is in Windows XP Home; make sure the files are local, not over wireless. You can find several tutorials on the Internet for setting up 264 hardware decoding-- and yes, it does currently involve using PowerDVD h/x264 codecs. So far, after having tried 12 to 15 Usenet/torrent mkv files, I have 100% compatibility. It's really remarkable to play a 1080p video on this tiny, lightweight device. It's like the world's greatest portable DVD.
I've owned several netbooks, including top-rated Asus and Samsung 10" iterations. This Acer DESTROYS them for high-def video, provided that you take the time to track down the right drivers. Also, the battery life for DVD playback improves if you use the PowerDVD general video codec -- like the PowerDVD 264 codec, this uses the GMA500 for hardware MPEG2 decoding. DVD playback when using GMA500 hardware decoding is less pixellated than the Asus and Samsung netbooks -- not sure why...
For everyday web browsing, MS Office, music playback, etc., this 1.33 MHz Atom is "just as good as" the higher speed Atoms. They're all fine. (The only caveats would be Youtube fullscreen, and some jerkiness when quickly scrolling through a webpage. By the way, you can overclock the Acer from Windows... just look around the Net.) The 11.6" screen and the fullsized keyboard are HUGE improvements over the 9" and 10" form factors. (The Acer's keyboard is better than the keyboard on my 15.6" Toshiba notebook.) The only thing I need more processing power for in a portable is high-def video, and the Acer 751h -- if you will tinker a bit -- absolutely rules in that category.
I'll add that the 751h is exactly the same weight as my 9" Asus netbook -- the latter still looks "cool" and svelte (the 900HA, I think). Hold them side by side, and you realize how much thinner and more elegant the Acer is. It is also very cool in your lap -- much better than other netbooks I have tried.
I think there's an Acer coming out with the same 11.6" screen size, a single-core Core2 CPU, and a battery that doesn't jut out -- for $500 retail. That would be a heck of a bargain, but it couldn't decode mkv's any better than the 751h does.
lr300a - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
Those benchmarks are totally irrelevant. How can anyone use a netbook to do encoding of x264 video? I think that different benchmarks must be posted on applications which are important in a netbook (like java youtube player performance, divx decoding, 720p decoding cpu occupancy).JarredWalton - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
DivX 720p decoding works and provides the listed battery life. Are you going to try to watch a movie while doing something else on one of these netbooks? If so, you're not going to enjoy the experience much... every time I start interacting with other apps while a movie is playing, the system stutters. As it stands, YouTube works, but YouTube HD doesn't -- as I mentioned in the last two netbook articles, which had faster CPUs/GPUs.The tests I ran are supposed to give you an idea of relative performance, which in this case means that you see how slow these Atom CPUs are in CPU intensive tasks. PCMark05 gives you an idea of general application performance. I'm not sure what good it is to try and capture %CPU use for video playback, when it either works or fails. I can see about adding such a test, but adding more tests just means fewer articles written. My goal right now is to review MORE laptops, even if it means we don't get as much detail on each one.
Jjoshua2 - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
Could we always have a test on these netbooks to see if they can run youtube HD fullscreen? I think most everyone wants to do this, and it is the most intensive thing that most people will do. I don't see why someone would watch 1080p on such a small screen, and its not for home theaters.It would also be nice to have a flash game test to see if it stutters on that. I know one flash game that seems slow on my netbook sometimes is farmville a facebook flash game.
AnnonymousCoward - Friday, September 4, 2009 - link
My C2D@3GHz/GT260/WinXP has visible stuttering with youtube HD. I don't think it's optimized to run well in general.JarredWalton - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
I mentioned it in the ASUS 1005HA and Gigabyte M1022 reviews, but those two netbooks couldn't handle YouTube HD - regular YouTube was fine. Needless to say, with a slower CPU/chipset, the Acer 751h definitely can't play YouTube/Hulu HD. :(Griswold - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
Once again its not just the display that is glossy, the display frame comes with a piano finish. Bloody murder! I guess its a plus that the keyboard area doesnt come with the same finish as well...It seems that the upcoming nokia booklet 3G is one of the few (if not the only) netbook that doesnt look like a bling-bling toy from a junk goods store.
Seriously, cheap doesnt mean it has to look cheap.
FATCamaro - Thursday, September 3, 2009 - link
God this looks like a cheap ass piece of shit even in photos. I can't imagine how shitty it is IRL.