By Yeong Ah Seng

ASUS first triggered the UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC) craze with the EeePC. A number of UMPCs from other PC makers, including HP's 2133, MSI's Wind and now Acer's Aspire One, have since joined the fray.

When looking at the Aspire One, it is inevitable that comparisons will be drawn with the EeePC.

For a start, the Acer's design is smarter and more stylish, and the keyboard is slightly larger and easier to use.

The LCD screen, an 8.9-inch TFT with 1024x600 resolution, is also brighter and clearer than that of the EeePC.

Both UMPCs use the Intel Atom processor and have 1GB of memory.

But there are some significant differences. The battery life of the Acer, given its three-cell battery, is not too inspiring.

The Linux OS version Acer uses is also less versatile.

Whereas setup of a Mobile Broadband connection was a breeze on the EeePC, doing it on the Aspire One is not so easy.

The built-in mass storage on the Acer is only 8GB of SSD, although it can be increased by adding SDHC storage cards. The OS neatly integrates the additional capacity into one.

However, this will incur extra costs which will bring the price of the Aspire One closer to the $798 Asus is charging for the EeePC 901 (20GB SSD) which has a six-cell battery and hence longer battery life.

The Acer Aspire One has the most ergonomically-unfriendly vertical click buttons on the trackpad, which makes it very difficult to perform click functions.

How much: $699