Acer has led the way at the budget end of the netbook market, but there's little to distinguish its more expensive offerings. The Aspire One 531 looks set to change this, offering a desirable design and good quality.

The chassis is stylish and thinner than most of its rivals, making it easy to slip into a bag. Glossy highlights around the side look good, but matt plastics are used for most of the design, helping to hide fingerprints. Weighing 1.1kg, portability is impressive, although the use of a 3-cell battery limits battery life to 195 minutes.

The 10.1-inch screen is excellent, using LED backlighting to offer precise colour reproduction and bright images. It features the same 1024 x 600-pixel resolution as most other netbooks, so space is slightly limited, but it's great for watching films on. The glossy coating proves highly reflective when working near windows, however.

Where some netbooks feature keyboards with large, flat keys, Acer has used slightly smaller keys that feature tapered edges. Although it's slightly more cramped than some we've seen, it's still highly responsive and easy to type quickly on, offering a positive typing action. The touchpad is large and responsive.

There are three USB ports on the side of the chassis, along with a 5-in-1 memory card reader. Acer has also added a second SD card slot for easily adding extra storage. A VGA-out port lets you connect an external monitor. Business users will appreciate the integrated 3G module, letting you browse the internet at speed when in range of a mobile phone mast.

Processing power comes from an Intel Atom N270 chip, as does nearly all of its rivals. Backed by 1024MB of memory, performance is capable for simple office work or watching films. A 160GB hard drive offers plenty of storage space.

Although the Aspire One 531 doesn't significantly move the netbook market on any further, it is a smart and well-made choice. It's just a shame the battery life is merely average.

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