ACER ASPIRE ONE D255 DUAL CORE LAPTOP REVIEWED

In terms of looks, the Acer Aspire One D255 isn't all that different from other netbooks Acer introduced this year. But under the hood, the D255 is a different machine. It has a 1.5GHz dual core Intel Atom N550 processor. In fact, the Aspire D255 is one of the first 10 inch netbooks to hit the market with a dual core Atom processor.

The netbook has been reviewed by the folks at Laptop Magazine and here is what they have found.

The mini-laptop can handle 1080p HD Flash video without breaking a sweat. It, however, has some difficulty handling HD QuickTime files. In the PCMark05 benchmark test it delivers 15% better overall performance than a single core netbook.

Interestingly, the dual core processor doesn't have any significant impact on the battery life. In fact, the laptop manages to get over 8 hours of battery life on a single charge and that is quite impressive.

The Aspire One D255 will retail for $349 in the US. Overall it seems to be an impressive laptop. On the flip side, the Aspire One 521, which retails for about $10 less in the US, delivers better CPU and graphics performance. But the Aspire 521 gets only around 5 hours of battery life. So it is actually a question of performance vs endurance. If battery life is your priority opt for the Aspire D255. If horse power is what you are after, the Aspire One 521 is the machine you should consider.

Meanwhile, the Aspire One D255 with a dual boot Android option is not yet available. Acer does plan to release this laptop in some countries some time soon, but not in the US.