Acer planning Nvidia ION 2 netbooks?
December 7, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Acer is one of the few netbook manufacturers that currently does not have an Nvidia ION-powered netbook on the market. All the other big names in the market (Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung) have released models or are about to. Whilst, Acer has several ION-powered nettops it seems to have ignored the netbook market for one reason or another.
However, Acer could be waiting for the next-generation ION 2 chipset to appear before sticking it in Acer netbooks. Digitimes is reporting that Acer has placed orders for the ION 2 chipset, which is designed to support Intel’s upcoming Pineview processors. Read more
Acer aims for first to market with Chrome OS netbook
December 2, 2009 at 11:54 am
Acer is looking to be the first manufacturer to launch a Chrome OS netbook in the second half of 2010. The netbook has been in development since the middle of this year according to Digitimes. No specifications were given but we would expect the device to have flash storage and run either an x86 or ARM processor.
Acer was also first to market with the dual-booting Aspire One D250 Android netbook and apparently sales were not as strong as expected. This is perhaps not a surprise given the little optimization that the Android OS has seen in the move from smartphone to netbook. However, as Chrome OS is being developed for netbooks from the ground up, momentum behind Chrome OS netbooks should be higher.
Acer Aspire Timeline 1810TZ review roundup – great battery life
November 27, 2009 at 4:53 pm
The number of 11.6-inch CULV-powered ultra-thins coming onto the market is bewildering. No company wants to be left behind in this lucrative segment that sits between netbook and notebook. Acer is attacking this market with a number of models, albeit each with slightly different specs. The Acer Aspire Timeline 1810TZ is powered by a 1.3GHz Pentium dual-core SU4100 processor, 3GB RAM, 250GB HDD and Windows 7 Home Premium.
TrustedReviews reviewed the 1810TZ and came away with positive impressions and scored it 9/10. They even went as far to say that “the 1810TZ is about as close as we’ve ever come to giving a laptop a 10/10.” One of the main things they were most impressed with was that it’s 6-cell 5600mAh battery lasted for an enduring eight hours and 43 minutes. Read more
Packard Bell unveils dot S2 & XS Butterfly netbooks
November 25, 2009 at 8:43 am
Packard Bell is set to release a new 10.1-inch netbook called the dot S2. This model will be powered by Intel’s upcoming N450 Pineview Atom processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD and Windows 7. Given the Windows 7 support it’s strange why Packard Bell hasn’t opted for a higher capacity 250GB HDD.
Other features include a multi-touch touchpad, Wi-Fi, webcam and Dolby Sound. The Packard Bell dot S2 will be available in two colours, Night-sky Black and Cherry Red when it launches early next year. It’s price is expected to fall between €250 to €300. Read more
Netbook failure rate 20 percent higher than laptops
November 17, 2009 at 12:24 pm
SquareTrade, a large independent warranty provider, has analysed the failure rates for over 30,000 laptops and netbooks covered by its warranty plans with some revealing insights. It found that just under a third of laptops will fail within three years and that netbooks are 20 percent more likely to fail.
Breaking down the results, SquareTrade found that 20.4 percent of laptop failures were due to hardware malfunctions and 10.4 percent were from accidental damage. Whilst one would expect netbooks to suffer a higher rate of accidental damage to their portability, apparently netbook hardware malfunctions were 20 percent higher than laptops. Read more
Acer Aspire 1410 (dual-core) review roundup
November 9, 2009 at 11:50 am
A number of sites have posted reviews of the 11.6-inch Acer Aspire 1410 in recent days. Just to be clear, the device reviewed is the recent dual-core Windows 7 refresh, rather than the earlier single-core machine. This SKU features a 1.2GHz Intel Celeron SU2300 processor, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD and a 6-cell 4400mAH battery.
Along with updated specs, Acer managed to knock $50 of the RRP to $399, which makes it look like an enticing bargain. This a point echoed by Liliputing, who felt that there isn’t “another machine that offers as much as the Aspire 1410 at this price point.” They managed to get around 5 hours out of the battery under normal web use. Read more
Acer unhappy with Intel CULV processor performance
November 3, 2009 at 6:03 pm
It seems that Acer is not too happy with the performance of Intel’s CULV processors. The chips, mainly used in ultra-thin mini-notebooks ranging from 11.6-inches onwards, are not living up to the company’s expectations according to an earnings call last week.
Acer Chairman, JT Wang, said that whilst consumers are happy with the long battery life, the performance has been found wanting. To address this, Acer is expected to announce new ultra-thin devices in Q1 2010 that use new CULV (currently unannounced) processors. “This time we should be able to do it right,” Wang said.
Whilst it is vague in what Wang may have been referring to, it could be the new 32nm Westmere (Arrandale ) chips that combine a GPU and CPU into a single package. This design will keep consumption low and also provide a performance boost. The new chips are rumoured to have clock speeds similar to laptop CPUs but should benefit from hyper-threading.
Acer’s dual-boot Android netbook gets negative video impressions
October 29, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Acer’s dual-booting Android/Windows Aspire One AOD250 netbook certainly has garnered lots of headlines since its announcement. However the practicalities of such a device may not be so positive. Engadget has posted its initial impressions of AOD250 and it’s not pretty reading.
They couldn’t get the Gmail app to install onto the desktop, which was a major flaw in their eyes. You get Google Talk and Calendar apps but that doesn’t compensate for Gmail. They also had Wi-Fi & Ethernet connection problems too. They went as far to say that the Android part was “useless” and that the “best thing you can do with this is to boot it to XP”. Ouch. Check out the video after the break. Read more
Asus dismisses dual-boot Android netbooks
October 26, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Asus President & CEO, Jerry Shen, has said that dual-operating system netbooks are “meaningless” due to the advent of Windows 7. In what is likely a dig towards Acer’s dual-boot Android netbook, he said that Microsoft’s new OS has already significantly improved the boot speed of netbooks, negating the need for alternative operating systems such as Android.
Shen went on to say that around 30 percent of its netbook line-up has already moved to Windows 7, which is expected to rise to 80 percent by Q1 2010 once new models with Intel’s Pine Trail platform are launched. He also expects ultra-thins to become more prevalent as we move into 2010, moving from a double-digit percentage of overall notebook shipments currently to 20-30 percent share by H1 2010.
Via Digitimes.
Acer Aspire 1420P / 1820PT / 1820PTZ convertible tablets get official
October 23, 2009 at 9:32 am
Acer’s marketing people should be fired. That’s the only conclusion I can come to after coming across what appear to be three identical 11.6-inch convertible netbooks/tablets from the company. Obviously, every company has the right to release different SKUs with slightly different hardware under the hood, but Acer doesn’t make it easy for the end consumer to know what those differences are.
The Acer Aspire 1420P, 1820PT and 1820PTZ convertible tablets have been made official by appearing on the official Acer US website. The only model we’ve previously heard of is the 1820PT that recently got a hands-on in Italy. The 1820PTZ seems to be identical but only sports an ‘Intel Dual Core’ processor as opposed to the ‘Intel Core 2 Duo’ seen on the 1820PT. Read more
Acer Aspire AS1410 gets video unboxing
October 22, 2009 at 6:14 pm
The Windows 7 refresh of the Acer Aspire AS1410 was officially announced earlier this week and like most manufacturers it has been released on Windows 7 launch day. Peter from Netbooked ordered the AS1410 CULV ultra-thin and didn’t waste any time in letting us know his thoughts.
The Aspire AS1410 comes with an 11.6” (1366 x 768) display and a dual-core 1.2GHz processor. It’s reasonably light at 1.4kg and comes with 2GB RAM and a 250GB HDD. The keyboard was found to be similar to the Aspire 751, although looking at the video it seems to suffer from a fair bit of flex. Check it out for yourself after the jump. Read more
Windows 7 netbooks now available to pre-order in UK
October 20, 2009 at 6:06 pm
The advent of Windows 7 is leading to a shift of netbooks running XP to Windows 7 Starter Edition. We’d advise anyone looking to buy a netbook right now to sit tight and see how pricing settles. Whilst Windows 7 netbooks are (initially) likely to be more expensive, prices will come down. Even if you’re not bothered about Win 7, normal XP netbooks will drop in price as XP is perceived to be old-hat.
Yesterday, we brought you a list of netbooks available to pre-order in the US and today we noticed a large number of Windows 7 netbooks available to pre-order from Amazon UK. Most of these netbooks are shipping with Windows 7 Starter Edition and will launch on October 22nd. Check out the list after the jump. Read more
Acer’s 11.6” multi-touch 1820PT convertible netbook gets real in Italy
October 20, 2009 at 3:55 pm
The Acer Aspire Timeline 1820P was leaked a few weeks back but there has been no official confirmation of its existence. However, it looks like it is on its way as Notebook Italia managed to get some hands-on time with the Aspire 1820PT.
The concept is much the same, the 1820PT is a convertible tablet device with 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) multi-touch display and Windows 7 Home Premium. The specs do seemed to be beefed up, compared to the 1820P.
The Aspire 1820PT ultra-thin is powered by a 1.2GHZ dualSU7300 Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM (max 8GB), either 250GB or 320GB HDD. Other features include Wi-Fi (b/g), Bluetooth 2.1, HDMI, three USB ports & card reader.
The device includes a stylus to navigate the screen and the touchpad also supports multi-touch gestures (as well as the display). Acer quotes battery time to last for 8 hours. The 1820PT is not the lightest device on the market weighing in at 1.72kg. There’s no word on pricing right now, although I would expect the 1820PT to launch within the next few weeks.
Acer Aspire AS1410 11.6-inch CULV ultra-thin gets official
October 20, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Acer has officially announced the Windows 7 refresh of the Acer Aspire AS1410. From what we can tell the AS1410 now uses a weaker processor but comes with Windows 7 Home Premium and a wallet-friendly $399
The 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) ultra-thin is powered by a 1.2GHz Intel SU2300 processor. It comes with 2GB RAM (max 4GB) and a 160GB HDD. Other features include a 6-cell (4400mAh) battery that should be good for six hours, HDMI-out, Wi-Fi (b/g/n) and three USB ports.
The AS1410 also includes a full-sized keyboard and multi-gesture touchpad. The only major omission seems to be Bluetooth support. The Aspire AS1410 is set for launch this “holiday season” in three colours (Diamond Black, Sapphire Blue and Ruby Red). Check out a full list of specs after the jump. Read more
Windows 7 netbooks now available for pre-order
October 19, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Following on from our previous post, where we highlighted the Intel CULV-powered ultra-thins that are now available to pre-order with Windows 7, we bring you a similarly long list of Windows 7 netbooks.
HP now has Windows 7 options on its site. The premium for Windows 7 is $50 for the Mini 311 (Home Premium) and $30 for the Mini 110 (Starter Edition). Dell also has Windows 7 options up on its site, it is charging $30 for the Starter Edition on its Mini 10/10v netbooks.
Amazon.com
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