I have to agree. The price is too high. I recently did some shopping in this segment. I tried my best to find a netbook sized machine with a non intel chip that could deliver good battery life in real world usage scenarios. Due to a lack of info on the new AMD chips and lack of availability for VIA Nano, I settled for an Atom based unit. I wanted something that had a bit more speed than the Atom. I looked very hard but the battery life compromise was just too great. The only way to get an idea about battery life from the K125, K325 AMD chips was to look at MV-40 netbooks and add the supposed hour more of battery life they are suppose to get. In that case most real world usage scenarios had them at about 2.5 to 3hrs. A far cry from the estimated 4.5hrs claimed. 5 to 5.5 hrs real world usage would have been a compromise for me any way. I wanted 6-8hrs real world usage. I was not even able to find a Nano based unit for a decent price, that wasn't used. I really tried to find a Nano 3000 series netbook, no dice. Oh well, I guess I'll see just how much the Atom can do or can't for that matter.
It looks OK overall, but at that price point I would at least expect 128MB of sideport memory. Better yet 256MB of sideport, with another 256MB shared. The Athlon II Neo is a good performer, but they should have gone with one of its dual-core variants.
I do think you'll be able to buy a K125 notebook for $300 during the back-to-school shopping sales. I am also curious about sideport memory options. But it is probably overkill on a single core. Maybe for the K325...
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cknobman - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link
With a single core AMD and mediocre battery life these notebooks will be priced for the wrong segment.To even be work consideration these need to be $299 or $349 at the most.
Einy0 - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link
I have to agree. The price is too high. I recently did some shopping in this segment. I tried my best to find a netbook sized machine with a non intel chip that could deliver good battery life in real world usage scenarios. Due to a lack of info on the new AMD chips and lack of availability for VIA Nano, I settled for an Atom based unit.I wanted something that had a bit more speed than the Atom. I looked very hard but the battery life compromise was just too great. The only way to get an idea about battery life from the K125, K325 AMD chips was to look at MV-40 netbooks and add the supposed hour more of battery life they are suppose to get. In that case most real world usage scenarios had them at about 2.5 to 3hrs. A far cry from the estimated 4.5hrs claimed. 5 to 5.5 hrs real world usage would have been a compromise for me any way. I wanted 6-8hrs real world usage. I was not even able to find a Nano based unit for a decent price, that wasn't used. I really tried to find a Nano 3000 series netbook, no dice. Oh well, I guess I'll see just how much the Atom can do or can't for that matter.
Alexvrb - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link
It looks OK overall, but at that price point I would at least expect 128MB of sideport memory. Better yet 256MB of sideport, with another 256MB shared. The Athlon II Neo is a good performer, but they should have gone with one of its dual-core variants.Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link
I do think you'll be able to buy a K125 notebook for $300 during the back-to-school shopping sales. I am also curious about sideport memory options. But it is probably overkill on a single core. Maybe for the K325...Roland00 - Thursday, July 8, 2010 - link
This is a very similar Acer version of the above Gateway but it retails for $349.99http://www.frys.com/product/6282560?site=sr:SEARCH...
Things you give up for the $100 dollars
10 inch 1024x600 vs 11 inch 1366x768
1 gb vs 2gb of memory.
Things that are the same
Processor
Integrated Video with HDMI
Hard Drive
Same inflated rated battery life.