Acer Aspire One 11.6-inch netbook planned?

Acer is set to release the most advanced Aspire One yet, moving away from the 10.1-inch models currently in the series, with an 11.6-inch model according to macles. Up until now the Acer Aspire One netbook has only seen minor technical revisions, whereas this new model is expected to be a new generation of netbook/mini-notebook for Acer.

The design itself is very similar to previous models, however the 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) display with widescreen (16:9) aspect ratio has enabled Acer to stick a full-sized keyboard with flat keys into the netbook. Acer has also rung the changes underneath the hood too with the 11.6-inch netbook powered by a low-power 1.6GHz Z530 Intel Atom CPU, rather than the N270 Atom CPU. The net effect of this is an increased battery life of four hours with the standard battery and eight hours with the higher-capacity battery, despite the larger screen size over the 10.1-inch variants.

The new model will also use the Intel Poulsbo chipset with GMA500 graphics core, instead of the Intel 945GSE and GMA950 graphics core found in earlier models. Despite the confusing numbering for the graphics core, the GMA500 is more advanced and features H.264 hardware decoding along with other video codecs. The new platform has a TDP of just 4.3W compared to 11.8W highlighting how much difference the move will make to power efficiency. Macles has had a good track record of breaking news on upcoming Acer-netbook development so whilst we still await official confirmation, we wouldn’t be surprised if this was true. Check out some larger pictures of this new netbook after the break.