Acer 532h and Gateway LT2120u

After Acer acquired Gateway in 2007, they started releasing their products in sets of two, with a Gateway version of the most popular Acer models. The mainstream Aspire line became the Gateway NV, the thin and light Timelines became the EC series, and the Aspire One netbooks became the LT series. Today we have the newest model in the Aspire One family, the 532h, and its Gateway counterpart, the LT2120u.

The 532h is a complete redesign of the Aspire One platform, not sharing much with the preceding D150 beyond the screen and general dimensions/capabilities. Acer redesigned the chassis, giving it higher quality materials along with a vastly improved keyboard and touchpad. Combine this with the bump to Pineview, and we have a far more compelling netbook package than before, especially at similar price points to the D150.

The LT2120u is identical to the 532h under the skin, with the same specs, same features, and (roughly) same price. Given the identical port locations, it likely has the same motherboard as well. Why Acer sees fit to release two identical systems under different names is somewhat questionable; perhaps they are trying to cash in on Gateway's brand value (if such a thing exists in this day and age), but even ASUS puts a bit of differentiation between their numerous Eee PC models. It would have made more sense to make the Gateway a lower-end SKU and leave the Acer as a higher-end model instead of having two different SKUs for both models, but that's Acer's problem. For the moment, we have both the 532h and the LT2120u in for review, and it will be interesting to see how the designs differ and which is better.

Speaking of "differentiation", there are technically three variants of the Gateway LT21, each available in three colors (red, black, or white), making for nine different models. The $300 MSRP models come with a 160GB HDD and a 4400mAh battery; $330 models bump the HDD up to 250GB but keep the 4400mAh battery, while the model we have for review is the $350 MSRP unit with a 5600mAh battery (in soothing "glacier white" trim).

Acer has a whopping 22 different variants of the 532h. There are four potential differences: silver, red, and blue chassis; 4400mAh or 5600mAh batteries; and 160GB or 250GB HDDs. That's the same as the Gateway LT21, but added to mix are some models with Windows XP Home versus Windows 7 Starter, Bluetooth is available on some units, and some models come with a 2-year Acer warranty. (Note that not every combination is available, which would make for 96 variants.) Our test unit is the AO532h-2406 in eye-catching garnet red trim.

Acer Aspire One 532h Specifications
Processor	Intel Atom N450 (1.66GHz + SMT, 45nm, 512KB L2, 533FSB, 5.5W)
Chipset	Intel NM10
Memory	1x1024MB DDR2-667 @ 4-4-4-12 Timings
Graphics	Integrated Intel GMA 3150
Display	10.1" LED Glossy 16:9 WSVGA (1024x600)
Hard Drive	2.5" 250GB 5400RPM 8MB (Toshiba MK2555GSX)
Networking	Atheros AR8132 Fast Ethernet Atheros AR5B95 802.11g WiFi
Audio	Realtek AL269 2-Channel HD Audio (2.0 Speakers with headphone/microphone jacks)
Battery	6-Cell, 10.8V, 5600mAh, 63Wh
Front Side	None
Left Side	2 x USB 2.0 VGA AC Power Connection
Right Side	SD/MMC reader Microphone/Headphone Jacks 1 x USB 2.0 Kensington Lock 100Mb Fast Ethernet
Back Side	None
Operating System	Windows 7 Starter
Dimensions	10.17" x 7.28" x 0.99" (WxDxH)
Weight	2.76 lbs (with 6-cell battery)
Extras	1.3MP Webcam Available in Silver, Blue, and Red
Warranty	1-year standard Acer warranty (USA)
Price	Garnet Red AO532h-2406 starting at $335

 

Gateway LT21 Specifications
Processor	Intel Atom N450 (1.66GHz + SMT, 45nm, 512KB L2, 533FSB, 5.5W)
Chipset	Intel NM10
Memory	1x1024MB DDR2-667 @ 4-4-4-12 Timings
Graphics	Integrated Intel GMA 3150
Display	10.1" LED Glossy 16:9 WSVGA (1024x600)
Hard Drive	2.5" 250GB 5400RPM 8MB (Hitachi HTS545025B9A300)
Networking	Atheros AR8132 Fast Ethernet Atheros AR5B95 802.11g WiFi
Audio	Realtek AL269 2-Channel HD Audio (2.0 Speakers with headphone/microphone jacks)
Battery	6-Cell, 10.8V, 5600mAh, 63Wh
Front Side	None
Left Side	2 x USB 2.0 VGA AC Power Connection
Right Side	SD/MMC reader Microphone/Headphone Jacks 1 x USB 2.0 Kensington Lock 100Mb Fast Ethernet
Back Side	None
Operating System	Windows 7 Starter
Dimensions	10.17" x 7.28" x 0.99" (WxDxH)
Weight	2.76 lbs (with 6-cell battery)
Extras	1.3MP Webcam Available in Black, Red, and White
Warranty	1-year standard Gateway warranty (USA)
Price	Glacier White LT2120u starting at $339

As mentioned, both the Acer and the Gateway share identical specs, so here's the rundown (it'll be familiar to anyone that's looked for a new netbook): Atom N450/GMA 3150, 1GB DDR2-667 memory, 250GB 5400RPM hard drive, 10.1" LED-backlit WSVGA screen, 5600mAh 6-cell battery, and Windows 7 Starter. The Acer is more readily available so it has a slightly lower price of $335, while the Gateway unit is only available from a few retailers and goes for $340. (Or there's the $299 version of the 532h that drops the HDD size down to 160GB and comes with a 4400mAh battery.) The $5 extra gets you a textured matte interior, though, which we actually prefer. In short, the two netbooks are pretty much identical to the Eee 1001P and every other Pine Trail netbook in the market.

Speaking of our current netbook favorite, the ASUS 1001p, the Acer and Gateway are priced similarly. With an MSRP of $349, it's the same as the Acer and Gateway MSRP, but we've found prices on the street falling to $300, which is excellent for an upper-level netbook class system. Most other places list the 1001p at $330, which is more in line with what we're used to seeing.

Design and Build

The Aspire One has made huge strides in build quality and design since its original iteration back in 2008. What was once a small, awkward, and cheap feeling system has become a respectable netbook that can be mentioned in the same breath as competing systems from ASUS and MSI. Many of my complaints in the first two major chassis revs of the Aspire One have been solved here, including the touchpad, keyboard, and overall styling and build quality of the machine.

In the past, the Aspire One has been offered in a variety of vibrant colors, and in this regard the 532h does not disappoint. Our review unit was rendered in an elegant “Garnet Red” hue, with a glossy finish both inside and out. With the red colored lid, there isn’t much of a problem with fingerprinting, but the piano black interior and LCD bezel are fingerprint magnets. Why manufacturers insist on this type of finish is absolutely baffling, but so be it.

Other than the color, the design of the Aspire One is fairly nondescript, without much standing out as either good or bad. It has a lot of soft and organic curves, reminiscent of the “Gemstone” design used in some Aspire notebooks. This makes it a very inoffensive design, which puts it a few steps ahead of previous Aspire Ones, but it would have been nice to see a few more risks in the design.

I personally preferred the Gateway, which has a more angular design to go along with a handsome white/silver color scheme. The lid is glossy white with a light silver pattern and a chrome Gateway tag, while the interior is matte silver (praise the heavens for whoever decided to go with matte surfaces). The keyboard is white. I honestly think the Gateway has a more interesting design than the Acer, but I also have a tendency to go for white notebooks, so it’s really a personal choice. Your tastes may be different.

From here on out, the two are much the same, so I’ll review them together and note any differences as such.

Build quality is reasonable, with solid plastics used for the interior surfaces and palm rests, but the keyboard does exhibit some flex. Interesting to note here is that the Gateway didn’t have nearly as much keyboard flex as the Aspire One. This is probably just a difference in two specific units rather than a general problem with the design, but YMMV. Also, the LCD lid isn’t all that rigid and will show rippling on the display when stressed. But they’re on a similar level to the MSI Wind and most other netbooks, and not far behind our benchmark, the ASUS 1001P.

The keyboard is a scaled down version of the keyboard used in the Acer AS1410 and Timeline 1810T and is quite usable. The keys do feel a bit small, but with a bit of extra care it’s not hard to adjust to it. It’s somewhat like a chiclet keyboard, but there are holes between keys instead of the keyboard tray like on most other chiclet keyboards. This means it’s easy for things to get stuck under the keys, which over time may be a concern. The touchpad is great, with a large surface and multitouch gestures enabled. The single button has both right and left click sensors, a la ASUS, and gives good feedback.

The ports are another case of “same old, same old”: three USB, VGA, headphone out, line in, Ethernet, Kensington lock, 1.3MP webcam, and a mic. It's similar to the competition and very standardized stuff. The webcam works fairly well and gives clear video, and the mic works without complaint. For video chatting, both of these systems work fairly well.

The speakers are located just under the front edge of the system, which is becoming a popular area to place speakers—my last four test systems have had speakers on the bottom. This makes no sense to me, since it seems like the best way to muffle all audio. I think manufacturers do this for packaging reasons, but I feel there are better places to put speakers. The speakers in these two netbooks work fine, but are nothing to write home about.

Screen Analysis

The screen is pretty average, not standing out in any category. This continues an unfortunate trend of mediocrity in the LCD panels used in mobile computers. As shown by the iPad, a high quality can really enhance or even define the experience of a device, and that's one aspect of the 1001P that really trumps these two devices. With both the matte finish and super high contrast ratio, the Eee is on an entirely different level than the Gateway and Acer.

Acer Gamut

Gateway Gamut

These two fall right in line with most other consumer-level notebooks in terms of display quality. This continues an unfortunate trend towards poor quality screens for the sake of cost cutting measures, with few exceptions (as mentioned, the 1001P, along with some larger media and gaming laptops). Unfortunately, what most manufacturers (and consumers) should realize is that the display is one of the single most important parts of any mobile device, being the main method for interaction between user and computer. We can’t criticize Acer specifically here for the poor LCD—it’s an industry-wide trend that is disappointing overall. What we want is 1001P contrast levels, preferably with greater than 200nits maximum brightness. Only when we have that is it worth discussing color gamut and accuracy… and honestly, color accuracy isn't a major concern for any netbook.

Performance and Benchmarks

Ah yes, we have again reached the most exciting part of all netbook reviews—the benchmarks! Some really interesting stuff is going to go down here, so pay attention.

In all seriousness, these are just Atom-based netbooks, and have the exact same specs as the last couple of netbooks we've tested. Naturally, performance is similar to those two, which is to say fairly mediocre but as expected for the netbook class. As before, you can forget about any 3D intensive gaming and HD video playback won't be the smoothest experience in the world (but not all that important without an HD screen or an HDMI out). For more information, you can check out the previous netbook reviews or the Pine Trail review.

Battery Life

Pine Trail was a huge boon for battery life in netbooks, with 8 hours being the minimum for runtime on a netbook with a 6-cell battery. Both of the netbooks here have 6-cell 5600 mAh batteries and offer great battery life as expected. Under web-browsing and other processing-light tasks, you can expect 8 hours of runtime, slightly longer than the 1001P (which has a slightly smaller battery). The absolute maximum battery life under ideal conditions is around 11 hours, and HD video battery life is somewhere between 5 and 7 hours, depending on the type of video being played.

Battery life is in line with other similar laptops, though it's interesting that the Acer/Gateway "62Wh" batteries are only able to equal the ASUS 1001P "48Wh" battery. We don't know if the ASUS laptops are truly more energy efficient (probably) or if Acer is just a bit more lenient in battery capacity ratings. It doesn't really matter much either way, as you get whatever battery the manufacturer provides, but it is interesting to see the difference in relative battery life considering all other areas are essentially the same. The different HDD and LCD panel likely account for the small battery life advantage of the Acer 532h over the Gateway LT2120u.

The 6-cell battery sticks out of the bottom of the systems by roughly a half inch, which seems to be an increasingly popular way of doing extended batteries (the ThinkPad Edge has the battery protruding from the bottom as well). I'm not a fan of this type of battery, since it adds thickness, but some people prefer batteries like this for the incline it gives the keyboard.

Another oddity is the bundled AC adapter included with both systems. Unlike most laptops, the adapter is a wall wart instead of in a power brick. While this keeps the cord itself clean, it’s a cumbersome way to make a power adapter. You end up occupying adjacent outlets on power strips or wall sockets at times. I’d much rather see a long cord with a small power brick in the middle like the AS1410 or Eee 1001P.

Acer and Gateway Netbooks: Typical Pine Trail

One of the biggest challenges in reviewing netbooks is differentiating between them and deciding what really separates the best in class from the also-rans. Unfortunately, with all of the performance and feature parity shared by the standard bearers, this is a really difficult task. With established hardware manufacturers like Dell, HP, Acer, ASUS, and MSI making cohesive and well-thought-out devices, the quality of design and manufacturing ends up similar, so often personal preference separates the various netbooks on paper. In practice, the only thing that differs is the quality of the screen, which is dependant on how much priority the manufacturer places on the LCD. Beyond that, there isn’t a whole lot to separate any netbook from the rest of the class.

At the end of the day, the Aspire One 532h and LT2120u are just netbooks. Solid competitors in the netbook class, but nothing mind blowing, and not really good enough to knock the ASUS Eee 1001P off its throne. They're not built quite as well and the LCD isn't near the high quality panel the ASUS uses, but the Aspire One (and Gateway clone) are still capable netbooks. I can't recommend them over the 1001P, primarily because of the LCD, but other than that the difference between them and the rest of the netbook class is pretty slight. The Acer and Gateway are both specced and priced to equal the 1001P and others, so if you prefer the Acer or Gateway brands, these are definitely up to scratch.

And of course, we would be remiss if we didn't mention where CULV machines fall in all of this. You can get a single-core CULV machine like the Acer 1410 for within $70 of the cost of these netbooks. This is true for any of the netbooks in the running—not just the Gateway and Acer, but also the Eee 1001P and everything else. Spending another $50-100 could get you a dual-core processor, but then you are paying significantly more than a netbook. If you are willing to spend a little more, you can get vastly improved performance and features, but with less battery life and a higher cost.