02/01, 7:35pm
Acer chairman sees core unity in notebooks
Acer chairman JT Wang made more comments at his company's Lunar New Year event that outlined more of how Acer planned to survive Apple and the computer market. He made the prediction that ultrabooks and netbooks would fold into a single category within the next 18 to 24 months. Digitimes didn't glean how this would happen, although the company had predicted $499 ultrabooks by 2013 that would leave little gap between the two.
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01/30, 12:20pm
Acer chair hopeful for early turnaround
Acer chairman JT Wang chose the unusual venue of his company's Lunar New Year ceremony to make predictions about early 2012 sales. With Digitimes and others in attendance, he thought Acer had a good chance of being profitable in its first quarter of 2012 after a 2011 defined by losses. The Chinese holiday and hard drive shortages would make January a low point, but the rest of the quarter would do well.
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01/18, 10:45pm
Acer sees ultrabooks dictating its lineup
Acer chairman JT Wang mentioned late Wednesday that as much as a third of of his company's entire notebook line may be ultrabooks. With Digitimes listening, Wang expected systems like the Aspire S5 and Timeline Ultra to account for 25 to 35 percent of all Acer's notebooks in 2012. The recently unveiled systems would be a foundation of the line and ship in spring, but more models were coming in the summer, the chairman said.
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01/08, 6:10pm
Acer Aspire S5 gets our early test
We've had the opportunity to try Acer's Aspire S5, and we've come back pleasantly surprised so far. The magnesium and metal chassis, which is matte, feels good to the touch, is thin and light, and isn't cutting corners like some others. More importantly, the keyboard and trackpad are genuinely nice to use; it doesn't have the full suite of multi-touch gestures, but it's generally responsive, supports two-finger scrolling, and isn't too hard to properly right-click with the invisible buttons.
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01/08, 5:15pm
Acer intros two ultrabook-class PCs at CES
Acer ahead of its formal keynote has unveiled two ultrabook-class systems. The Aspire S5 is billed as the world's thinnest ultrabook and measures just under 0.6 inches thick. The black, magnesium-and-metal body weighs 2.97 pounds. Along with the thinnest, Acer touts the S5 as one of the first Windows-based ultrabooks to carry Thunderbolt, which it backs with USB 3.0.
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11/30, 11:00pm
Acer sees ultrabook prices falling fast
Acer President Jim Wong has continued a string of comments on mobile late Wednesday with remarks expecting steep price drops in ultrabooks. Although they were sitting at $1,000 at the end of the year, the notebooks could get to between $799 and $899 by spring next year, he said with Digitimes in attendance. He fully expected prices to drop even steeper, down to just $499 in 2013.
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11/30, 9:00am
Acer sees light at end of bleak 2011
Acer saw rare optimism for performance this year after company President Jim Wong said the company would return to profit for the fall. The company's successive losses for the past six months were clearing up now that it had finished selling off the "abnormalities" of unsold notebooks. The company is still expected to be in the red for 2011.
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11/28, 10:15pm
Acer VP says netbooks kept to developing world
Acer won't quit netbooks like Samsung is rumored to do, VP Scott Lin insisted late Monday. With rumors of Samsung backing out in 2012, he mentioned to Digitimes that developing countries, such as China, India, and Indonesia, were still focused more on netbooks than tablets. IT often tended to buy models in bulk in the area, the executive said.
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11/23, 11:05am
Acer and ASUS tap AUO, Chi Mei for dense LCDs
Acer and ASUS are reportedly developing very high density displays to try to head off the iPad 3's 2048x1536 display, a new rumor claimed Wednesday. AU Optronics and Chi Mei Innolux were said by Digitimes' industry contacts to be working on 1920x1280 (incorrectly marked as 1928) LCDs that would go into new ultrabooks as soon as January or February. The Retina Display effect would be "forcing" upgrades at PC builders.
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11/16, 11:15pm
Notebook steps up battle with MacBook Air
Acer has announced that it is now shipping upgraded configurations for its Aspire S3 notebook, enabling customers to choose a Core i7 processor rather than the Core i5 chip that ships with the base model. The latest offering brings the notebook in closer competition with the MacBook Air, which also provides a choice between Core i5 and i7 CPUs.
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11/15, 4:00pm
Wistron develops exotic material for ultrabook PCs
Contract supplier Wistron is developing a new material to help ultrabook makers who have been finding new materials for their designs after being squeezed by Apple. The firm's president Robert Hwang was working with a new notebook chassis partner to create a new material to use as a substitute, he told local news outlet Apple Daily. It wouldn't have connections either to metal or to substitutes that have been used in its place, such as carbon fiber or fiberglass.
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11/14, 9:30pm
15-inch ultralight MacBook slated for March
The rumored very thin 15-inch MacBook may already have seen some of its earliest part shipments. A rumor emerging from the parts chain told Digitimes that unnamed components were already being sent to Apple. Their nature wasn't known, although test runs of the LCD had purportedly taken place in the past.
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11/13, 12:55pm
Lenovo roadmap tips low-cost ThinkPad and new X1
Lenovo may be one of the first Windows PC builders to significantly undercut the current MacBook Air in price. An escaped roadmap (PDF) has a 14-inch "mainstream" ThinkPad ultrabook arriving in May or June. At a price closer to $800, it would be significantly less expensive than the current model.
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11/11, 8:35am
Acer quashes talk of dramatic ultrabook cuts
Acer late Thursday partly rejected talk that it had to cut back ultrabook shipments. The PC builder claimed that the Aspire S3 ultrabook was selling well and would hit its rough sales target of between 250,000 to 300,000 units in the fall. Sales were going well to date, it said.
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11/09, 10:10pm
Acer, ASUS, in trouble competing with MacBook Air
Acer and ASUS were understood late Wednesday to have cut their current ultrabook orders by 40 percent after poor sales in the first month. Having originally targeted their total orders at between 250,000 to 300,000 each, Digitimes heard from contract ODMs (original design makers) that systems like the Acer Aspire S3 and ASUS Zenbook were down to between just 150,000 to 180,000. Their relatively high prices for normally budget-focused PC builders wasn't the only factor, the sources claimed, as the PCs themselves weren't stacking up to the MacBook Air.
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10/25, 11:05am
Intel says work slow on dropping ultrabook costs
Intel's Asia-Pacific GM Navin Shenoy in an interview Tuesday said that ultrabooks weren't likely to get down to typical Windows PC levels in the near future. While Intel was helping to find ways to lower the price, Shenoy told Reuters that "more work needs to happen" from partners to dip much below the $999 price set by the originator of the category, the MacBook Air. The magic $699 price thought to bring mainstream adoption would come, but it wouldn't be in the first wave.
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10/21, 1:15pm
Acer posts second straight loss on tablet impact
Acer continued to struggle in coping with Apple on Friday after it posted a loss equivalent to $36.3 million. The drop wasn't as steep as the $234.2 million from the spring thanks to the Taiwan PC bulider writing off the $150 million in 'abnormalities' of unsold PCs in Europe. The result still dashed earlier hopes of turning back to profit for Acer, which still expects to post an overall loss for the year.
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10/11, 12:40pm
Aspire S3 up for pre-order on Amazon for $900
Acer's MacBook Air-fighting Aspire S3 is now available for pre-order at Amazon for $900. While ship dates aren't yet being revealed, the full specs of the Amazon system are. The mid-range S3-951-6646 model will get a 1.6GHz Core i5 ultra-low voltage processor, a 320GB hard drive, and a 20GB SSD to go with 4GB of RAM.
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10/10, 9:30am
Acer Aspire S3 ultrabook reaches US
Acer claimed the distinction of being the first to ship to the US outside of Apple in Intel's new ultrabook category by proving launch details for the Aspire S3. The very thin 13-inch notebook will try to undercut Apple on price by carrying an $899 price tag when it ships to the US and Canada this week. The base trim gives it a low-power Core i5 along with 4GB of RAM and a rare mix of both a 20GB SSD for speed and a 320GB rotating drive for space.
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09/30, 12:00am
Ultrabooks may be limited by metal capacity
Any low ultrabook shipments may be a virtue of chronic aluminum shortages running through to 2012. An industry news tip stemming from Digitimes has some of the key companies making aluminum panels for ultraportable notebooks, including Foxconn and Catcher, fully occupied until at least the end of 2011. MacBook Air competitors that use aluminum, such as the Acer Aspire S3, Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, and Toshiba Portege Z830 might all be constrained as a result.
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09/16, 8:10am
Intel Cedar Trail moves to early 2012 release
Netbooks may have faced another crucial setback as Intel's Cedar Trail platform was moved back again. Once intended to arrive for end users in the fall, the next-generation Atom platform should now ship to partners in the fall but won't be in end user devices until 2012. Netbook and hybrid division marketing lead Cindy Ng suggested at the Intel Developer Forum that it was coming out of a pair of technology additions.
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09/05, 11:40pm
Ultrabook shipments below 50K to test field
The first batch of ultrabooks attempting to take on the MacBook Air might be produced with intentionally low production numbers to test the market, notebook industry insiders purported late Monday. Systems like the Acer Aspire S3, Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, and Toshiba Portege Z830 may all ship in early production runs under 50,000. The move Digitimes understood would be for "testing the water" to see if a market exists for non-Mac versions of the ultraportables.
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09/02, 8:05am
Acer Aspire S3 to arrive stateside by end Sept.
The Acer Aspire S3 ultrabook has been priced for Europe where it will start at 799 euro for the entry model, through to 1199 euro for the top-end model. The notebook, previously known as the Aspire 3951, is one of the first to be built according to Intel’s new ultrabook specifications. Like its MacBook Air inspiration, the 13-inch notebook also weighs in at 3 pounds, in this case thanks to its magnesium-alloy and aluminum construction.
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08/31, 9:35am
Early pricing shows up at $1,136 USD
Acer is prepping to launch its new ultrabook at the IFA exhibition in Berlin on Friday. Based on banners appearing at the show in advance, the company has rebranded the MacBook Air rival as the Acer Ultrabook S3. Previously, it had been alluded to as the Acer Aspire 3951.
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08/29, 5:55am
Acer Aspire 3951 MacBook Air clone seen live
The Acer Aspire 3951 ultrabook has been spotted live and given the hands-on treatment. The production model looks unchanged from the promotional shots that have previously leaked. On of the first notebooks on the market that has been built according to Intel's ultrabook design specifications, the MacBook Air clone is designed to go head-to-head with Apple's MacBook Air range as an ultra thin Windows alternative.
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08/19, 1:20pm
Acer Aspire 3951 schedule moved up
Acer's answer to the current MacBook Air, the Aspire 3951, has had its release moved up to September, a story in Taiwan's Commercial Times [reg. required]. Once thought due in December, the 'ultrabook' would move up to September. The ostensible goal was to compete with the ASUS UX21 and not necessarily Apple.
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08/15, 10:55pm
Intel refuses call to cut ultrabook CPU prices
Intel is refusing calls from Windows PC builders to cut chip prices as steeply as they'd like to help them drop prices below Apple's MacBook Air, notebook industry contacts alleged late Monday. The companies had wanted to drop ultra-low voltage Core i5 and i7 prices by half to let them keep profit margins while competing on price. At best, Digitimes heard, the biggest PC designers were getting 20 percent discounts.
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08/09, 8:45am
Acer Aspire 3951 to closely follow Apple cues
A hinted-at Acer ultrabook may have had its first public sighting through leaked renders and details in Vietnam. The 13.3-inch Aspire 3951 would borrow more than a few cues from the MacBook Air Intel's ultrabook spec is meant to imitate and would have a supposedly 0.51-inch thick, aluminum, 3.09-pound shell. In a nod to the Dell Adamo, however, Sohoa's look showed that most of the ports would be moved to the back, where the hinge design would make sure they stayed available.
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07/28, 10:00pm
Acer 7-inch Iconia Tab to arrive early August
Acer retail channels are being told that the Iconia Tab A100 will launch in the US sooner than thought. The seven-inch Android 3.2 tablet is now due to arrive in early August and will cost well below the 10-inch A500, at $300 versus $450. It still has a Tegra 2 processor but, apart from the smaller screen, will pare back the storage to 8GB and halve the RAM to 512MB.
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07/18, 10:55pm
Notebook offers Intel Wireless Display tech
Acer has expanded its notebook lineup with the Aspire 5755, a midrange device geared for multimedia purposes. The computer can be purchased with a range of Intel's Core-series processors, including the i7-2820QM, while graphics are handled by NVIDIA's GeForce GT components with automatic switching between discrete and integrate hardware for power optimization.
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06/03, 12:35am
ASUS CFO nervous over Acer issues
ASUS CFO David Chang on Friday commented that his company and others might face a ripple effect from Acer's European overstock writeoff. Depending on what systems had gone unsold, they could either have only a minimal effect or create shockwaves, he said. If the unsold inventory represents current PCs using Sandy Bridge-based Intel processors, the writeoff could amount to price dumping as the systems hit stores at steep discounts and temporarily boost Acer's European market share while squeezing out ASUS and others.
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04/25, 10:35am
Acer Aspire One Happy gets speed-up before others
Acer has given a treat to buyers of the second-generation Aspire One Happy by giving them access to more advanced hardware than the regular model. The new versions use the dual-core 1.66GHz Atom N570, a speed upgrade from the 1.5GHz original, as well as 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive as standard. They also represent the first 10-inch systems to get the unique "ripple" molded lid from the Aspire One 722 and have fresh new blue, orange, pink, and yellow lids themed after desserts.
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04/25, 7:40am
Acer said already swapping netbooks for tablets
Acer's shift to mobile may have taken an immediate effect on its production, part supplier insiders said Monday. Orders for its Aspire One netbooks are supposedly being gradually replaced with its Iconia Tab models this month, with the A500 now on sale at Best Buy. As many as 400,000 to 500,000 of the 10-inch touchscreens for the Android-based A500 and Windows-based W500 had been ordered for April, Digitimes said.
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04/19, 7:45pm
Device integrates 1GHz AMD procesor
Acer is reportedly set to introduce an updated version of its Aspire One 721 netbook, which will carry the model number 722. Like its predecessor, the new model is said to integrate a dual-core AMD processor running at 1GHz. Both variants also share an 11.6-inch display with 1366x768 resolution, though the new model offers stylish lid with a liquid appearance.
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02/11, 1:35pm
ATT gives free Acer notebook with WP7 phones
AT&T on Friday started up another Windows Phone 7 promo in hopes of driving sales of Microsoft's mobile OS. Those who buy either an LG Quantum or a Samsung Focus will get an Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830 for free. The 11.6-inch system comes in its base spec with a 1.2GHz Core i3 and Windows 7 Home Premium.
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01/17, 3:20pm
Acer Aspire One 522 available at Amazon
Some of Acer's unveilings from CES came closer to reality today as its Aspire One 522 came up for pre-order at Amazon. The company's first netbook based on AMD's Fusion should sell for $330 and ships in three to five weeks. Amazon's edition comes in a single trim with the 1GHz dual-core C50 chip, Radeon HD 6250 graphics and a 250GB hard drive.
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01/05, 6:45pm
Quad-core i7 powers new high-end offering
Acer has expanded its Aspire notebook lineup with a new flagship and several midrange models. The AS8950G represents the company's highest-performing notebook, pairing Intel's quad-core i7-2630QM processor with ATI Radeon discrete graphics and 2GB of dedicated graphics memory. An 18.4-inch display features 1080p resolution and LED backlighting, while the trackpad can be switched from gesture mode to a media console mode for playback control.
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11/03, 12:35pm
Device works as external drive
Acer has expanded its Aspire series with a new network-connected media player, the RevoView. The DLNA-certified box offers 1080p video playback, an Ethernet port, optical audio, two USB ports, and a memory card reader. Users can also load media onto swappable 3.5-inch internal hard drives, with a tray that can be shared with the company's Aspire M Series desktops.
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10/07, 2:30am
Acer Aspire One may have dual OS as par for course
Acer plans to make dual OS netbooks a standard choice for every netbook running a dual-core processor in the future, tipsters near the company said Thursday. While the addition of Google's OS to the Aspire One D255 is limited to areas like Acer's native Taiwan, it would be a standard feature later on. Since the OS is cheap enough to easily add, it won't cost extra, Digitimes was told.
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09/28, 1:05pm
Acer AspireRevo ships to the US for $350
Acer has now shipped its AspireRevo AR3700 nettop introduced at the start of the month. The 1.8GHz dual-core Atom-powered small form factor desktop computer can be had for $350 and is available only in a dark blue chassis. It displaces just one liter of space on a desk and can be mounted onto the back of a VESA-compatible monitor to stay totally out of the way.
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09/28, 11:30am
Acer ships upgraded Predator gaming PCs to US
Acer has added new models to its Aspire Predator gaming series with the mainstream-oriented AG5900-U3902 and the flagship AG7750-U3222. The former was unveiled for Japan earlier this month, and shares many of the major specs with the higher-end model. This includes a quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU, 1.5TB of storage space and Windows 7 Home Premium. The standard CPU in the AG5900 is a 2.93GHz Core i7 combined with 8GB of RAM.
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09/27, 11:35am
Acer brings 1.46GHz Core i7 to 11.6-inch notebook
Acer on Monday upgraded its lineup of Aspire TimelineX notebooks with Intel's latest Core-series CPUs. The new 11.6-inch 1830T range-topper has a 1.46GHz Core i7 680UM, while the 13.3-inch 3820T, 14-inch 4820T and the 15.6-inch 5820T get the newest Core i3 and Core i5 processors. The Core i7-equipped 1830T also gets Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 500GB hard drive for a starting price of $900.
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09/27, 10:15am
Joined by AS5745DG, AS5742G, AS5745, AS7745
Acer has announced raft of product refreshes headlined by a new desktop replacement model, the AS8943G. The 18.4-inch notebook is powered by a range of Core i7 chips up to the quad-core i7-740QM clocked at 1.73GHz, with support for up to 8GB RAM. The CPU is paired to ATI’s Mobility Radeon HD 5850 with a rare 2GB of dedicated video memory.
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09/20, 10:40am
ATT offers PAYG data, new Acer and Dell 3G systems
AT&T's mobile data plans expanded today with its first options for prepaid data. The DataConnect Pass gives those with built-in 3G in a notebook the option of paying for just a short stint of data without having to commit to a contract. Its rates carry a premium for the freedom at $15 for 100MB of data over the course of a day, $30 for a week pass with 300MB of data and a full month with 1GB for $50.
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09/08, 4:25pm
Aspire Revo 3700 nettop due with 1.8GHz Atom
Acer has taken the wraps off its latest nettop PC, the Aspire Revo 3700. Like its predecessor, it can be mounted on the back of a monitor thanks to its VESA mount and small, one liter body, or tucked away in a corner of a desk. The nettop now contains a dual-core 1.8GHz Intel Atom D525 and NVIDIA's next-generation Ion GPU, allowing it 1080p videos.
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09/03, 7:55am
NVIDIA GeForce 400M made official
NVIDIA kicked off the IFA show in earnest by unveiling the rest of the GeForce 400M lineup. Like the GTX 480M, the series is built on the Fermi architecture and supports full DirectX 11 (and OpenGL 4) features, but now in thin-and-light notebooks. The designs should be much faster for general-purpose computing like CUDA and OpenCL, and NVIDIA claims five times better performance for the relatively basic GT 420M versus Intel's current Core iX integrated video.
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08/31, 4:50pm
New Aspire Revo nettop to debut at IFA this week
PC maker Acer will bring a newly redesigned Aspire Revo nettop PC to the IFA show that begins on Friday. The first in the series will be the Revo RL100 that is even thinner than the original. It's powered by a 1.3GHz dual-core AMD Athlon II Neo CPU along with NVIDIA's Ion graphics processor and gets 2GB of RAM.
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08/27, 6:30pm
Aspire One netbook ships with N550 Atom for $400
Acer's first dual-core netbook, the Aspire One D255, is now shipping in the US. It lacks the dual-boot Android/Windows operating system of the recently introduced Taiwanese version and comes preloaded with Windows 7 Starter Edition on its 250GB drive. In return, however, it uses the newer 1.5GHz N550 versus the 1.66GHz but single-core N455.
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08/05, 4:30pm
Acer launches dual-boot netbook in Taiwan
Acer is currently showing off a netbook at a computer show in Taiwan that uses both Android and Windows XP operating systems. Reports today from the event say the dual-boot device, the Aspire One AOD255, will load Android as a quick-boot system for access to things like e-mail, the web and chat programs. Acer's Configuration Manager for Android software lets users choose which OS is loaded.
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06/29, 10:10am
Acer Aspire with Athlon II Neo now in the US
Acer's 11.6-inch Aspire 1551 netbook with AMD's dual-core, 1.5GHz Turion II Neo and 1.3GHz Athlon II Neo CPU is now available for sale in North America through Amazon. The former has 3GB of RAM, while the latter gets 4GB and that new AMD netbook chip. Shared features include the 1366x768 display and ATI's Mobility Radeon HD 4225 with 384MB of dedicated RAM. The Turion II Neo system gets a 250GB hard drive, with a 320GB drive optional, while the Athlon II Neo model gets the larger drive as standard fare.
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