Acer Aspire One 722-BZ608 review

The included 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive are beefy for such a small laptop, matching the average you'd find on the average mainstream laptop. That's the biggest feather in this Acer Aspire's cap, as it means more programs can be open at once, and the storage space is more than ample for most people's music, picture, and video libraries. Unlike some older Netbooks, you could live with this Acer Aspire as your primary laptop.

You will, however, have to put up with the limitations of a somewhat disappointing AMD C-50 processor. We've seen the C-50 in action once before, in the Acer Iconia Tab W500 tablet. The C-50 is a slower processor than the impressive AMD E-350 CPU we've seen in many 11-inch laptops in 2011, with less impressive graphics performance. In our single and multitasking benchmarks, the C-50 processor isn't that far off from an Atom N455. It's certainly a step down from the E-350.However, in our casual anecdotal use of the Acer Aspire One 722, it felt faster than the benchmarks reflected for basic Web browsing and other use. Part of that might be due to the C-50's better-than-Atom onboard graphics power, and part of that might be the better-than-Netbook 4GB of RAM. It's definitely powerful enough for basic word processing, video streaming, and everyday computing.

Just don't expect to play games beyond basic casual and Web ones. We tried Bejeweled 3, which was playable but suffered slowdowns during big jewel-combo blast effects. That's as good as this Acer Aspire's AMD graphics get. Again, the AMD Radeon HD 6250 graphics are better than you'd see on an Atom Netbook, but aren't capable of handling mainstream gaming with heavy 3D graphics. True to the sticker on the chassis, "HD Internet" basically means you're more likely to use this laptop to browse the Web and play videos.

Juice box
Acer Aspire One 722-BZ608	Average watts/hour
Off (60%)	0.26
Sleep (10%)	0.41
Idle (25%)	9.80
Load (05%)	17.10
Raw kWh number	30.66
Annual power consumption cost	$3.48

With its included six-cell battery, this Acer lasted 5 hours and 1 minute in our video-playback battery-drain test. Expect at least 6 hours or more for less intensive computing. That compares favorably with other AMD-based ultraportables we've tested, but lags behind the average Atom Netbook. It does represent a rock-solid amount of battery life for an average on-the-go workday.

Acer includes a standard one-year warranty with the Acer Aspire One 722-BZ608. The support Web site is good at providing a list of appropriate driver software and FAQ pages for your particular model of laptop. Discovering the telephone support number is not as easy, so after several minutes of circular linking, we gave up and Googled it. Try 866-695-2237 between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. CT, and you'll need your system's serial or SNID number.

The $379 Acer Aspire One 722-BZ608 is a tough laptop to recommend, only because it straddles the line between Atom-based Netbook and faster 11-inch ultraportable. You'll save a few dollars, but will sacrifice some performance and keyboard comfort in the equation. It's a better computer than the average Atom Netbook, but it also costs significantly more than one. Make your buying decision accordingly.

System configurations:

Acer Aspire One 722-BZ608
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) SP1; 1GHz AMD C-50; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,066MHz; 256MB (Dedicated) ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6250; 500GB Western Digital 5,400rpm

Lenovo ThinkPad X120e
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 1.6GHz AMD Fusion E-350 Dual-Core; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 667MHz; 64MB (Dedicated) ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6310; 320GB Hitachi 7,200rpm

Sony Vaio VPC-YB1S1E/S
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 1.6GHz AMD Fusion E-350 Dual-Core; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 667MHz; 644MB (Dedicated) ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6310 500GB Western Digital 5,400rpm

HP Pavilion dm1-3005
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 1.6GHz AMD Fusion E-350 Dual-Core; 3,072MB DDR3 SDRAM 667MHz; 384MB (Dedicated) ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6310; 320GB Hitachi 7,200rpm