Conclusions
Acer's price point for the One places it in the midst of some interesting devices and dangerously close to impulse buy territory. With a new suggested retail price of $329 (for versions with a 120GB mechanical hard drive), the Aspire One will be a low-risk proposition for most people. This is a fully-functional netbook at roughly the same price that Sony launched its PlayStation Portable. Think about that for a minute. For all the talk about how great handheld mobile Internet devices like the Nokia N810 are, a netbook like the One easily wins in terms of utility and value. Sure, the One won't fit in a pocket, but neither will most mobile internet devices.

If you look at the other netbooks available in the One's price range, the Aspire is a much better device than a $299-349 Eee PC from the 700 series, offering a bigger and higher resolution screen, a power-efficient Atom processor, more storage capacity, and a more attractive overall design. Sure, you could spend an extra couple hundred bucks on more expensive netbooks from Asus and MSI, but a low price is a key component of the netbook equation. And by selling the Aspire at around $300, there's a lower chance of creating unrealistic performance expectations. More naive consumers may assume that a $500 netbook delivers equivalent performance to similarly-priced notebooks.

If we consider overall value, it makes sense for folks to spend an additional $20 on Windows XP-based versions of the One that offer a more familiar and polished operating system and the ability to easily expand video codec support. Those looking for longer battery life would do well to consider coughing up an additional $50 an Aspire with a 6-cell battery, as well. It's unclear whether a price cut is imminent for the SSD-based One we looked at today, but the system is listed for as little as $379 in our price search engine.

There is sure to be a 3G-enabled version of the One at some point—the empty WWAN bay is just begging to be used. With a $30/month unlimited 3G data plan, the Aspire would be pretty amazing. AT&T, are you listening?

Folks who want a simple and portable machine for email, web browsing, and light office work should be happy with the One. The only caveat is the size of the keyboard, which is smaller than that of more expensive netbooks like the Eee PC 1000 series and MSI Wind. But the One's keyboard wasn't designed for you to write your next novel on; it's meant for typing emails and URLs.

During the back to school season, many retailers are pitching the Aspire One to students. It has a great form factor for younger kids, and solid construction and Flash-based storage should make the One relatively tough. Those who opt for a 6-cell Windows XP model should get the stamina they need and an operating system shared by most of their peers. Students with bigger hands will want to spend some, er, hands-on time with the One to see if its keyboard is spacious enough for note taking. At this time of year there are plenty of $400 laptop specials that may be more practical, if less portable.

In the end, the Aspire One looks set to put a ton of pressure on Asus. Acer has a healthy distribution channel and is being extremely aggressive as it tries to move up the market share rankings worldwide. And the One's bargain price certainly sets the system up nicely to make a big splash, not only among those with basic computing needs, but also among enthusiasts and gadget lovers who have been clamoring for netbooks to return to their low-cost roots. Plus, just think of all those old 2D role-playing and real-time strategy games you'll be able to revisit on a device like the Aspire One.