Acer Aspire One Cloudbook 14

Acer Aspire One Cloudbook 14

Welcome to a Biomedical Battery specialist of the Acer Laptop Battery

The chassis of the Aspire One Cloudbook 14 telegraphs "I'm all plastic!" and, top to bottom, it is. The solemn, industrial-gray exterior is broken up only by the lid texture (it's pitted with little circles), with the same pattern on the underside...

The plastic is of acceptable quality, no better or worse than we see on other "budget" notebooks twice as expensive. The chassis is relatively rigid, though it flexes without much resistance if you grab and twist its corners. [Not that we're recommending you make a habit of that. –Ed.] The screen could also have used some extra bracing from the back, considering we were able to produce ripples in the picture by pressing in the lid from behind with battery such as Acer AS07A31 Battery, Acer AS07A51 Battery, Acer Aspire 4520 Battery, Acer AS07B72 Battery, Acer Aspire 5520 Battery, Acer BTP-43D1 Battery, Acer TravelMate 220 Battery, Acer BTP-58A1 Battery, acer BTP-60A1 Battery, Acer TravelMate 240 Battery, Acer AS10B5E Battery, Acer AS10B75 Battery. Again, that's nothing too out of the ordinary for a budget notebook, but you won't want to cram this one unprotected into a briefcase or backpack with objects jamming into the lid.

On the upside, there's nothing obvious about the Aspire One Cloudbook 14's exterior that would make someone think it's a $250 laptop; it very much appears to be an everyday 14-inch mainstream model. Everyone to whom we showed the notebook overestimated its price, and was shocked when we told him or her what it actually costs.

Plus, it doesn't seem that Acer sacrificed outright portability on the altar of cheap. The Aspire One Cloudbook 14 is thin (0.7 inch) and relatively lightweight (3.5 pounds) for a notebook at this screen size. This is a notebook that’s meant to be carried around. The lack of an optical drive, for one thing, keeps down the vertical profile and the weight.

The full-size keyboard has a standard layout, with comfortable key spacing...

The responsive, up-and-down action of the keys makes touch typing a breeze, though they have an overly plastic feel and sound. The feel is a bit harsher than we're used to, as well, without much cushion at the bottom of the keystroke. The keyboard deck has no flex, however, and it's overall very usable. Dedicated Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys are arrayed down the right side. Naturally, there's no backlighting, but that's a distant wish at this price.

The oversize, hard-clickable touch pad is offset slightly to the left in the palm rest, which helps it line up with the main keyboard area. Its clicks are precise and quiet, with no play in the surface and a solid feel. We enjoyed the smooth surface. It made it easy to glide our fingers across, without the sandy or grabby texture we note on some pads