Acer Aspire One AO722-C60

Acer has released a refreshed versionof its Aspire One 722 notebook. The older version, with model numberAO722-C52, was powered by a AMD C-50 APU. The new model, theAO722-C60, has the newer and more powerful AMD C-60 APU and hasdoubled the amount of RAM installed, now coming with 4GB.

The AO722 is a nicely built 11.6-inchlaptop. There is a bit of keyboard flex, but other than that the restof the package is solid. Measuring 11.2 x 7.9 x 1.0 inches andweighing at three pounds, with the supplied 6-cell battery, it is oneof the thinner and lighter 11-inch laptops in the market.

Specifications wise, the new AO722 iswell kitted. Priced at Php21,500, it comes with 4GB of RAM, 256MB ofRAM for the graphics card and a 500GB hard drive. For ports andconnectivity you have Bluetooth, card reader, Webcam, WiFi, HDMI andthe other ports you would expect to found in a modern laptop. Thereis no USB 3.0 port though. The OS is also better than you wouldexpect at this price, Windows 7 Home Premium.

Going to the APU, the C-60 runs at 1.0GHz, same as the C-50. The difference is that the C-60 has a turbomode which lets the processor to run at up to 1.33 GHz when needed.The other half of the APU is the graphics processor, which has beenupgraded to the Radeon HD 6290. The newer graphics processor tins atthe same 276 MHz of the Radeon HD 6250 on the C-50, but graphics isalso blessed with a turbo mode, and can run as fast as 400 MHz ondemand.

The problem with the AO722 is that its21.5k asking price puts it in competition with more powerful AMDE-350 and E-450 powered laptops. The new C-60, is a big improvementover the C-50. It should be about 80% as powerful as the E-350, withthe additional RAM closing the gap even further. At the same time, itshould run cooler than AMD E series APU's. I would go as far as tosay that the new AO722 is a better choice than the HP DM1z. But theupgrades in the AO722 are enough to make it a viable option for thoselooking for something thinner and lighter than a HP DM1z.

Posted in: Ultraportables (under 4lbs.)