The loveable allure of laptop lite everybody aspires for

Aspire for one: Acer's low-cost laptop computer computer.

There was a time when the idea of a sub-Dh2,000 (US$545) laptop was a pipe dream. Today, there is a healthy market in this price range and the Acer Aspire is one of the best of its class. In the past couple of years, laptop makers have realised that more and more people want a cheap, lightweight machine that can do little more than surf the web and run basic applications. Hence the new category of "netbook" machines, scaled-down laptops with less power, less memory and smaller screens.

They do the job, especially if the majority of the time you spend on the computer is web browsing and emailing. With most weighing around one kilogram, the portability is great. But the sacrifices made to bring down both price and size come at a cost. The Acer Aspire One is a new entrant in the growing low-cost laptop market. It does not bring anything new to the table, but is very competitive with the alternatives available from makers like Asus and HP.

The cheapest version of the Aspire One, at Dh1,499, comes with a customised version of the open-source Linux operating system, instead of the more common - and more costly - Microsoft Windows. The operating system is a little slow to start up, but once it gets going it is a breeze to use, with big, idiot-proof buttons giving you access to a web browser, chat program, email manager and a suite of office applications.

The best thing about the Aspire One is its almost full-sized keyboard. Most netbooks on the market, particularly the Asus Eee PC, come with dinky little keys suitable only for child-sized fingers, and can get annoying to type after a while. Not the Aspire. The keyboard is comfortable and roomy. If only the same could be said of the trackpad. It is one of the worst I have ever used, both tiny and badly designed. Unlike almost every other trackpad ever made, this one is a rectangular pad, wide and shallow, with thin, vertical buttons running along its left and right edges. The layout is impractical and takes much getting used to. Battery life is also weak, a trade-off for the light weight and big keyboard. You will be lucky to get two hours out of it.

For a few hundred extra dirhams, you get a fairly significant upgrade. The top-of-the-line model comes with a Windows XP operating system and a healthy-sized 120 gigabyte hard drive - 112 gigabytes larger than the baseline model. You also get twice the RAM memory, a necessity for running Windows applications. All in all, the Aspire One sits roughly equal to the Asus Eee PC (which costs Dh1,500) as the best available low-cost netbook. If you plan on doing lots of typing on your cheap little ultraportable, then this is the one for you. But buy an external mouse, because the trackpad is close to useless.

Acer Aspire One Screen Size: 8.9 inches Weight: 995 grams Storage: 8GB flash Price: Dh1,499 [e-mail]