Acer Aspire One D260 (1270)

Acer's newest dual-core netbook has style and beefed-up specs to run Windows 7 Premium.

Acer was among the first companies to bring a dual-core Atom netbook to market for a price meant to trounce the competition. Though the Aspire One D255 offered an impressive design, pretty good performance, and a low $329 price, a wonky touchpad and other drawbacks outweighed the benefits

. This time, Acer is determined to get it right with the Aspire One D260, offering a slick dual-core system that fixes the flaws of its predecessor and provides features you normally don't find in a netbook--such as 2GB of RAM and Windows Home Premium. These perks come with a higher price tag of $399 (though you can find it for about $40 less online). Is the D260 worth more than its predecessor and competing $299 netbooks?

Design

This slim 10.2 x 7.3 x 0.95-inch netbook definitely has the wow factor when it comes to looks. Between the blade-like taper on the front and the in-your-face aquamarine color, the D260 will stand out wherever owners whip it out. The netbook also comes in black, charcoal, pink, and purple, all with a flake pattern.

Unlike the lower-cost Toshiba mini NB505, the blue color on the D260 isn't just for the lid; it extends to the deck, surrounding the black keyboard. The blue of the backlit power button on the upper left doesn't match the color palette very well, but that's a minor nitpick.

Though it weighs a bit less than most other netbooks--2.6 pounds instead of 2.8--the Aspire One D260 feels even lighter, perhaps because of its streamlined and compact chassis. We like that the bottom panel is smooth and comes off in one piece, similar to what we've seen on recent HP netbooks and small ultraportables. This makes upgrading components easy.

Heat

During testing and use, the D260 stayed relatively cool. We measured temperatures between the G and H keys (84 degrees Fahrenheit), on the touchpad (81 degrees), and at the center of the underside (87 degrees) and found them all well below our acceptable threshold. However, the area by the vent, which points down instead of out to the side, reached 104 degrees, causing some discomfort when we were using the netbook on our lap.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Acer's FineTip keyboard on the D260 feels slightly cramped. The layout is flat like a chiclet-style keyboard, but the keys are close together like a traditional keyboard. This arrangement resulted in some typos, but at least the keys themselves supplied snappy feedback.

The 3.0 x 1.5-inch multitouch touchpad is nice and wide and has the same smooth texture as the surrounding deck; there are lines to delineate it both visually and by touch. We were able to execute multitouch gestures easily and experienced none of the jumpiness we saw previously on the Aspire One D255.

The long, single mouse button bar on the D260 had some stiffness to it. We prefer two distinct buttons, but at least it's long enough to distinguish between the left and right sides by feel.