Case
Ivy Bridge might be the belle of the ball in laptop-land, but small and nimble will always be on the dance card, too. Despite its petite 11.6-inch 1366x768 screen and 2.6-pound frame, Acer's newly announced ACER Aspire One 725 can still pirouette with a dual-core C-60 AMD processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, Radeon HD 6290 graphics, and choice of two colors. Along with the 320 or 500GB hard drives and HD output, those specs should allow you to edit the odd video while still doing the emailing and surfing it was made for.
The case itself, compared to the acer Aspire One 722, has only changed a minimal amount. The display lid for example doesn't have the stylish water-drop design any more, but is instead kept simple with one color. Customers are only left with two options, which are either Volcanic black or Caribbean blue.
The case proves itself to be relatively stable, merely under a lot of pressure does the material start to bend. The display hinges also perform their task well. Definitely impressive is the very wide maximum opening angle of the 11 inch netbook, which spans up to 150 degrees. Less favorable are the sharp edges of the device. Especially around the LAN port, where there is a chance of getting cut. Thanks to its typical netbook weight of 1.2 kg and size of 11.6 inches diameter, the device is well suited for mobile use.
Connectivity
Compared to the Acer Aspire One 722-C62kk, the reviewed device has a speedy USB 3.0 port, as well as two USB 2.0 ports. Otherwise the netbook also provides a modern HDMI connector as well as an integrated card reader, as did its predecessor. One negative aspect in our opinion, is the combination port for the microphone input and headphones output. The previous model still provided these two separately. Now external headphones and an external microphone cannot be connected in parallel. All the ports are distributed along the left and right sides of the netbook.
Communication
The highlight when it comes to the communication features of the Acer Aspire One 725 is surely the version 4.0 Bluetooth module. Only a few netbooks, such as the predecessor Acer Aspire One 722-C62kk model for example, provide this new standard. Bluetooth 4.0 is Low Energy power saving thanks to its protocol stack. The distance between two communicating devices can now also extend to up to 100 meters.
Gigabit LAN is unfortunately not supported by the 11 inch netbook. In this case the owner will have to make due with the Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller (10/100 Mbit).
WLAN is provided for users by the Atheros AR5BWB222 Wireless Network Adapter. Acer has not equipped its netbook with a UMTS module though.
Input Devices
Keyboard
The adopted chiclet keyboard has only slightly changed compared to the Acer Aspire One 722-C62kk. Among these the keys now have a bigger gap in between them. Otherwise the size of individual keys has also changed, whereby the letter keys still have a size of 19 mm. The arrow keys are, as is the case with many netbooks, still small. Apart from this the whole of the keyboard supporting surface also gives way. The inflection point of the keys on the Aspire One 725 is relatively undefined, and the key travel is also quite short.
Touchpad
When it comes to the touchpad, Acer is betting on old strengths. The mouse replacement is more or less identical with that adopted for the Acer Aspire One 722-C62kk. The touchpad is sufficiently big and possesses good gliding properties. What is less favorable in our opinion are the accompanying buttons. One big panel is supposed to be used for both of them. Two separate buttons would be considerably more pleasant though.(ACER W83066LC batteries)
Display
With its 11.6 inch diagonal display, the Acer Aspire One 725 belongs among the larger netbooks. The display manages a maximum resolution of 1366x768 pixels, and is also reflective, as with the Aspire One 722-C62kk. A matte display would be far better for outdoor use. Due to the average brightness of 210.8 cd/m², the netbook is merely average when it comes to outdoor suitability. The maximum brightness lies at 223 cd/m². In this case the Aspire One 722-C62kk has an advantage with a maximum brightness of 261 cd/m². At least the brightness doesn't reduce during battery powered use. The illumination is relatively balanced at 91%.
The contrast level is than less than ideal. Due to a high black level of 1.35 cd/m², a mere contrast of 164:1 is the result. In addition, the sRGB color space is also not completely covered.
The outdoor suitability was tested by us in practice. One thing that speaks in favor of outdoor use is the luminance of over 200 cd/m², however, this is also curtailed by the absence of an anti-glare display surface. Text and graphics are only recognizable to a limited extent outdoors, since the reflective display makes itself clearly noticeable. In this case the brightness could also have been a little bit higher as well.
The viewing angle stability has the familiarly weak characteristics of panels in this price category. While the display shows considerable changes to the displayed images when deviating from the center horizontally, the picture quickly breaks down when deviating vertically. This characteristic is depicted by the above photomontage. For this we photographed the netbook from different angles in a dark room, using the same shutter speed and lens.(acer al12b32 batteries)
Speakers
The integrated speakers in the Acer Aspire One 725 are not especially good, as we are already familiar with from its predecessor models. For listening to music we would recommend using external speakers. The frequency response of the integrated speakers is very much concentrated in the high frequency range, while bass frequencies are completely missing. External speakers systems can be connected via the 3.5 mm audio socket, or also using the HDMI connector.
Battery Life
The battery runtime was tested by us using three different scenarios. For the first test, we wanted to determine the maximum battery life. In this case we used the most frugal configuration (lowest brightness, WLAN deactivated, power saving profile), and carried out the Readers Test from BatteryEater. During this test the reviewed device managed to stay on its feet for about 7 hours and 5 minutes. The predecessor Acer Aspire One 722 C62kk, managed approximately an additional 2 hours, albeit with a higher capacity battery. While our reviewed device has a 4 cell battery with a capacity of 37 Wh, its predecessor had a battery with 6 cells and a capacity of 48 Wh.
During our practical test we simulated internet surfing. In this case we activated the WLAN and set the display brightness to a pleasant 150 cd/m². With this test the netbook ran out of steam after 4 hours and 21 minutes. Last but not least, we tested the battery life with a high processing load. In this case we used all the highest performance settings (highest brightness, high performance profile), and once again the BatteryEater software, albeit with the Classic Test. During this scenario the AC adapter had to be connected again after 2 hours and 38 minutes. With the Acer Aspire One 722 C62kk, this was the case almost an hour later.
Verdict
The performance difference between the Acer Aspire One 725 and the Acer Aspire One 722 C62kk is hardly noticeable. Moreover the reviewed netbook is merely a new variant with small differences. Buyers will once again receive a reflective HD display with the new model, which will limit the potential for outdoor use. The display brightness could also have been a little bit higher. One thing that makes the Acer Aspire One 725 stand out from its predecessor is the speedy USB 3.0 port. The battery life of a maximum of 7 hours has been reduced with the newer version. With the Acer Aspire One 722 this was still 9 hours.
Unfortunately the old weaknesses have remained. The soft keyboard is just as much worthy of improvement, as the high temperatures developed with a high processing load.
A good alternative to our reviewed device would also be the 11 inch dimensioned MSI Wind U270. The netbook may also have a reflective display, but provides considerably more performance with its AMD E-450 processor. The price for the MSI netbook however lies at approximately 450 Euros.
More info: laptop-batteries.com.au , laptop-battery.org.uk , battery-store.eu
