Acer unveils 10-inch Aspire One

The Dimdows XP licence won’t allow more than 1GiB of RAM.

I keep reading idiotic posts (like the one above) claiming that Windows somehow limits Netbooks to 2GB of memory. This is utter crap. The reason Netbooks are limited to 2 GB is because Intel doesn't want to further cannibalize laptop sales so they're restricting it in hardware. Windows 32-bit OSes support about 3GB of memory (1 GB reserved for PCI, etc) while Windows 64-bit OSes support support hundreds of GB of memory.

I'm no M$ apologist, but let's point the finger in the right direction.

There has been much reporting about the fact that the 1GB limit in many notebooks is imposed so that vendors are able to obtain licensing from Microsoft for XP. Apparently Microsoft does impose this arbitrary licensing limit, and it has nothing to do with hardware or even software limitation. Below is an example link. Please provide references for your assertion that this _isn't_ Microsoft at "work" again.

http://apcmag.com/microsoft_hobbles_xp_mininotes_with_1gb_ram_limit.htm

The true state of affairs regarding Netbooks is that Intel has designed the chipset to address only 2GB of RAM. They can only sell with 1GB of RAM, however, because MS doesn't want XP to be sold on "real" computers anymore and they figure that's crippling enough. That, of course, is just a licensing issue - buy it, toss the 1GB, and put 2GB in and your XP works just fine. Would work with up to 4GB too (if you could find a so-dimm for it and Intel hadn't crippled the chipset).

All this is referring to the N-series Atom chipsets, of course. The even more low-power Z-series chipsets only support 1GB of RAM so Intel and MS are fully on board with one another there.

If they offer a 16GB SSD with it I would definitely trade up to one. I would put Linux on it (Ubuntu or Linpus, haven't decided which i like more yet), but that would increase the battery life and give the wee sprite a bit more pep. :)

Cheers,
John

The chipset isn't crippled at all as it's merely a variation of the 945G desktop chipset which supports 4GB of memory. Intel didn't design this chipset for Atom at all, and therefore didn't cripple it.

The platform specification is what cripples the memory quantity and speed - if you design an atom product - you can only design it within Intel's parameters - otherwise Intel or their vendor (like Acer Serpak) won't sell you anymore CPU and Chipset bundles.

...they'd upped the screen resolution to take advantage of the physically larger screen, rather than just making the pixels chunkier to fill the space, then I could easily have been tempted to replace my existing Aspire One with one of these. But since I've already got an extended battery, and I'd only use the bluetooth capability once in a blue(tooth) moon, it's really only the internal 3G modem that interests me - something I think which ought to have been standard fit on all non-trademark-infringing-name-for-a-smaller-than-small-portable-PCs, freeing us from having to cart around easily lost USB 3G dongles.

Still, it's nice to see Acer keeping the range fresh - the original A1 was, and still is, a gorgeous piece of kit, and if this one matches the original in getting the basics (clear screen, superb keyboard given its diminutive size, and a general feeling of solidity) right, then I can easily imagine it selling like hot cakes to people who think the original screen was a bit small.

Since we have seen netbooks take off and come with Windows, how are sales of Sony's mini-notebook doing? You know the ones that cost approx £1,000 for a screen half the size of a netbook!

;-)

Sony should start making stuff that people want, and at fair prices. And stop trying to screw everyone over at every opportunity, like sony-only memory cards that are at least 2x more expensive and slower than equivalent memory cards.

Uh, huh...and your point is? Designing a slight variant of a chipset with certain functionality, but which doesn't provide that functionality, is known as crippling to most folks. Debate the definition if you like, but that's the situation here. Unless of course the chipset can still address 4GB, but that's not the case according to Intel.

On that note, it turns out the article I read on the chipset in the Dell Mini 10 (Z-series Atom) was wrong, however, its chipset does support 2GB max according to Intel's docs...so MS is the only one on the hook for the 1GB "limit" after all. Apologies to Anonymous, btw, if you intended to say that the 1GB limit in netbooks is just an issue with getting an XP license for them rather than an actual hardware limitation (for those that have a sodimm slot anyway). On a second read it seems this might be the case.