Acer Aspire One D255 Serie

Available in a wide range of colours, this compact and well-built Acer netbook offers not only dual-core computing but also the unique advantage of switching between Android and Windows 7 at will. Unfortunately, both Acer's Android 2.1 implementation and the D255's battery life in this configuration leave much to be desired, so at its current price you're probably better off looking elsewhere.

Available in a wide range of colours, this compact and well-built Acer netbook offers not only dual-core computing but also the unique advantage of switching between Android and Windows 7 at will. Unfortunately, both Acer's Android 2.1 implementation and the D255's battery life in this configuration leave much to be desired, so at its current price you're probably better off looking elsewhere.

There are always compromises to be made when you build to a budget, and Acer has done well with the Aspire One D255 in order to avoid the netbook feeling unduly cheap or underpowered. With a street price of $329.99 it’s affordable and offers decent longevity away from the mains. Anybody with ambitions beyond basic browsing and media playback should look to something more powerful, but for mainstream use the D255 is perfectly sufficient.

There are always compromises to be made when you build to a budget, and Acer has done well with the Aspire One D255 in order to avoid the netbook feeling unduly cheap or underpowered. With a street price of $329.99 it’s affordable and offers decent longevity away from the mains. Anybody with ambitions beyond basic browsing and media playback should look to something more powerful, but for mainstream use the D255 is perfectly sufficient.

Every product has its strong points and this one does too. Price being the strongest point here, even the form factor, light weight and overall looks are pretty good. I’d say that if you need a very portable netbook with very good battery life (7 hours 30 minutes), at Rs 14,999, the D255 is an excellent pick.

Every product has its strong points and this one does too. Price being the strongest point here, even the form factor, light weight and overall looks are pretty good. I’d say that if you need a very portable netbook with very good battery life (7 hours 30 minutes), at Rs 14,999, the D255 is an excellent pick.

If you're looking to buy a netbook, chances are good that price is your number-one purchasing factor. This low-cost netbook stands out for its dual-core CPU, though the speed boost over a single-core chip isn't huge. Still, it's a good choice for those who need to squeak out a little more performance within a very tight budget.

If you're looking to buy a netbook, chances are good that price is your number-one purchasing factor. This low-cost netbook stands out for its dual-core CPU, though the speed boost over a single-core chip isn't huge. Still, it's a good choice for those who need to squeak out a little more performance within a very tight budget.

The Acer Aspire One D255 isn’t the best looking netbook out there, but like Acer netbooks we’ve seen in the past, it does incorporate some of the newest hardware at a price that’s hard to beat. The partnering of Android with Windows 7 still doesn’t appeal to us. The Android OS is tempting but ultimately doesn’t really offer enough to get excited about. We’d rather boot straight into Windows 7, which offers much better performance. Fortunately Acer offer simple control over the Android side of things so you can opt to disable it if you like.

Otherwise the build quality and choice of materials isn’t premium, but the performance overall is great for a compact device to take on the road with you.

The Acer Aspire One D255 is a 10-inch netbook from Acer's Aspire One range. There's nothing new in the Acer Aspire One D255 netbook compared to its 10-inch predecessors - Acer Aspire One 532h and Acer Aspire One D260 - in terms of hardware, but it comes with Google Android 1.6 dual-booting with Windows 7 Starter Edition.