The Asus Eee PC has prompted a rash of similar laptops, but many have simply been too expensive: when your price approaches $700, you’re treading on the toes of fully fledged laptops.

But the Aspire one is different. It costs just $533, yet offers an assortment of hardware and vital statistics that easily trumps that of Asus’ most frugal Eee PC, the 701. In terms of spec, it’s even hot on the heels of the premium Eee PC 900 and Eee PC 901 models.

Acer gets one other vital thing right too: the Aspire one is simply gorgeous. Our review unit came in pearly white, the smooth lines and the little flash of colour on the lid’s hinges all coalescing into a surprisingly attractive whole. What’s more it feels sturdy and, at 980g, it’s enviably light.

The basic specification consists of one of Intel’s Atom N270 processors running at 1.6GHz, 512MB RAM, an 8GB solid-state drive and 802.11b/g networking. Linpus Linux Lite is the OS of choice.

It isn’t a specification to get the pulse racing – we’d have liked draft-n and Bluetooth, too – but given the modest demands of the Linpus OS, it’s enough for the core tasks expected of it, such as email, word processing, internet browsing and music and video playback.

OpenOffice springs into life with appreciable haste and, in contrast to HP’s Mini-Note 2133, video streams smoothly from YouTube or blip.tv in full-screen mode. There was the odd stutter now and again, but it never rendered anything we tried unwatchable.

Disappointingly, though, DivX and VOB files refused to play with the supplied MPlayer software, which lacked the suitable video codecs. We hope this will be rectified soon.

Inevitably, there’s the option to upgrade to a Windows version, although the one’s value for money takes a dive if you opt for it. For $646 (from www.mwave.com.au) you get a standard 80GB hard disk and Windows XP Home, while the RAM is raised from 512MB to a more realistic 1.5GB. Prices for the forthcoming 3G and WiMAX options have yet to be confirmed.

Regardless of which model you choose, the Aspire one is fantastically usable. It’s a couple of centimetres wider than its Eee-branded rivals, and Acer has put that extra space to good use.

A healthy selection of ports include an SDHC slot, for shock-free, reliable backup

The keyboard stretches right out to the chassis’ edges and the keys are taller and slightly wider than those on the Eee; a change that’s enough to make longer stretches of typing a far more palatable prospect. The half-height Enter key still takes a little getting used to, however.

Other elements aren’t quite as praiseworthy. As with the HP 2133 Mini-Note, Acer has shifted the mouse buttons to the left- and right-hand side of the trackpad. This odd positioning takes some getting used to, but they respond with a crisp click and are a big improvement on the HP Mini-Note’s spongy efforts.

The Aspire one’s screen offsets the trackpad’s shortcomings. At 8.9 inches across, and with a native resolution of 1024 x 600, it effortlessly matches that of Asus’ premium 900-series Eee. Side-by-side with Asus’ pricier Eee PC 901 (p45), the Acer’s is just as bright, and only loses out to its rival due to its slightly murkier colour reproduction. It’s not a big difference, but skintones look a touch more lifelike on Asus’ Eee.

The keyboard stretches right out to the chassis’ edges

Connectivity is ample, too. VGA, ethernet, USB and an SDHC slot adorn the Acer’s left-hand side, while audio sockets, another pair of USB ports and a 4-in-1 memory card reader lie to the right.

The SDHC slot is a real boon: fill it with a high-capacity SD card and you can supplement the basic model’s storage quickly and easily. And should you opt for one of the mechanical hard drive options, you can always use the SD card as shock-proof storage for your most crucial data.

One major stumbling block is battery life. All the models share the same 2200mAh battery at their rear and, at idle, our review unit lasted a disappointing two and a half hours, even with the screen set to medium brightness. An additional battery will cost $108, a supplemental cost that brings the Linux-equipped Aspire one’s price dangerously close to that of Asus’ Eee PC 901, whose single 6600mAh battery lasted more than eight hours.

Battery life might be a problem, but whereas buying a spare battery is easily done, improving the keyboard of Asus’ Eee or the poor performance of HP’s Mini-Note 2133 is pretty much impossible.

There are a few minor wrinkles, such as the lack of video codec support, which we hope will be ironed out soon, but even now the Aspire one does enough to win a Recommended award, and oust the Eee from its low-cost laptop throne.