The Acer ES1-132 is an 11" budget laptop with an Intel Celeron 3450, 802.11 AC card, and Intel HD 500 graphics chipset. For Linux users who liked the netbook form factor and dont require a touch screen, the dirt-cheap price and competent specifications make it a natural Debian or Fedora machine.
I purchased the Acer ES1-132 Rosewood Red at roughly around US$220 to replace my excellent 4-year old Toshiba NB520, which has been running Debian 8 Jessie for roughly the last two years. Although I adore the 10.1" NB520, which has supported several Linux distributions since purchase, the Intel Atom N2800 on the NB520 has limited support for 64-bit systems and maxes out at 4 GB of RAM.
| The 2016 ES1-132 has a bigger screen and thinner profile than the Toshiba NB520. |
In contrast, the Acer ES1-132 has an 11" screen, supports up to 8 GB of DDR3L, and runs a newer, smaller and quieter processor, while having a thinner form factor than the NB520 despite having an integrated battery pack, an HDMI and an Ethernet port. Although the click touchpad may not be to everyones taste, the keyboard is well-designed and surprisingly comfortable.
On the downside, Acers UEFI implementation has been repeatedly criticized by the Linux community, with Acers various BIOS releases failing to correct issues related to Secure Boot and installing Linux distributions.
This article provides a quick overview of the Acer ES1-132 and considerations regarding setting up Debian 8 Jessie, Fedora 25, and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on the notebook.
Windows 10 Home Single Language (64-bit), Acer BIOS update, and Acer apps
Acer is one of Microsofts devoted hardware providers and most of their machines come with Windows 10, including the ES1-132. However, Acer actually makes the ES1-132 available with Linpus Linux. The trimmed down Windows 10 Home Single Language that comes with the Acer ES1-132 surprisingly works well out-of-the box, even if you purchased the 2 GB version. Obviously, however, its highly recommended that users max out the 8 GB DDR3L ceiling.
Acer, like most OEMs, unfortunately includes McAfee and a set of Acer software. Thankfully, Acer puts most of the software under the same cloud account, which means the software doesnt really run unless you sign up for an Acer ID (if only McAfee would just go away as easily for Windows users). The Acer Quick Access utility is a standalone application for common PC shutdown tasks and to enable Acers Bluelight Shield utility.
Depending on your region and market, Acer also preinstalls some apps for Amazon, Kindle, Netflix, Agoda, and eBay.
If you dont want to completely replace Windows 10 with Linux, prefer a dual-boot setup, or prefer to back up Windows 10 since you actually paid for it, the Acer Recovery Management system can create a backup of the OS, though you would need an empty 8 GB USB storage device. Unlike laptops with Windows 10 Pro, the stock OS of the ES1-132 doesnt have Bitlocker issues.
If you plan to replace Windows 10 completely with a Linux distribution, you need to perform one important task before you wipe the hard drive: update the BIOS. Unlike ASUS or Dell, Acer only provides Windows-based BIOS update packages, and doesnt provide a DOS script. Acer products have historically had issues with UEFI and Secure Boot, and its best to update the BIOS first if you plan to set up the ES1-132 with only Linux.
| The BIOS executable Acer provides from their support page works with Windows 10 or Windows 8.1. |
Note: If youre having problems installing Linux and you didnt update the BIOS before wiping the whole hard drive, you can easily set up Windows 10 via the Windows Media Creator on another Windows machine, or even use older Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 media.
Continued in Acer ES11-132, Linux, UEFI, and Secure Boot on Part 2
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