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The recent media storm concerning one particular tablet has shifted the discussion regarding the role and future of netbooks.  Following Acer’s pithy rebuttal of the tablet trend sweeping manufacturers, ARM has announced to the world that, not only are netbooks here to stay, but they are destined to become the norm of the PC world.

Tossing out an astonishing estimate, ARM CEO Warren East stated in an interview with PC Pro that while netbooks may only compose 10% of the PC market now, we should expect that figure to reach 90% within the next few years. Now, as much as I love netbooks, this prediction certainly deserves a double-take, as it basically casts desktops and laptops into oblivion.  Also, there is no clear answer to whether East is referring to only the traditional netbook platform or if he means to include the entire mobile PC platform, including tablets.

East, of course, would have everything to gain from this arrangement.  While he may not have a stranglehold (or to be honest even a foot) in the netbook CPU market, he points out that every netbook released has at least several ARM chips powering various components of it.  However, he remains ambitious and announced earlier plans for the Cortex-A9 to be able to reach clock speeds of 2 GHz and a quad-core configuration.

Via Engadget.

People might have thought Acer, the new rebellious teen on the block and netbook powerhouse, would have come out full throttle into this tsunami of tablet products.  Instead, however, they plan to go against the tide, refusing to take part in the tablet war.  Acer’s champion of choice will instead be the ultra-thin laptop, a form factor that has never truly realized its full potential.

Acer Taiwan’s President Scott Lin simply retorted to Digitimes that, while there would be no difficulty in developing such a tablet, it simply has no place in the Acer business model.  He estimated that 20-30% of their business this year would come from ultra-thin laptops, a surprisingly large statistic for what has remained a niche market for so long. This is indeed a peculiar and unique announcement, given the current climate where the public’s attention is fawning over tablets.

He also mentioned models thinner than 2 cm (0.7 inches) coming out this year.  Most likely, some of those fabled Chrome OS netbooks will be tossed into this mix.  Whether or not they will be ready to compete with the tablets will be seen in due time.

Via Engadget

Acer, already the second largest computer maker in the world, has ambitious plans for the future. According to Bloomberg, Acer is tossing its hat into the already over-saturated yet underdeveloped market of eReaders, facing off with the likes of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, and others. No specifics have been announced other than it will have a 6-inch, monochrome (assume E-Ink) screen and ship in Europe.

More surprisingly, Acer is announcing an online apps store. Jim Wong, president of the Acer IT product division, has stated it would contain hundreds of applications, “otherwise you can’t call it an app store.” It will likely be a cross-platform marketplace for Android, Windows Mobile, and ChromeOS.

However, Acer’s most stunning announcement is the fact it has announced plans to rush forward with a ChromeOS netbook to provide a “a change to the Microsoft-Intel environment,” according to Wong. The mention of Intel hints that this new product line might be ARM powered as an alternative to the standard Atom on-board most mainstream netbooks. Acer plans to release the netbook sometime around Q3 2010, on schedule with Google’s release date for ChromeOS.

Via Bloomberg, image via Wikipedia.

As CES 2010 draws closer, netbook makers have been dropping hints about their upcoming netbooks in order to whet consumers’ appetites for new technology. Acer is the latest in the line of manufacturers to do so, today announcing the Acer Aspire One AO532h featuring an Intel Atom N450 CPU, 10.1″ screen, and up to 10 hours of battery life. The boost to the battery is due in part to the efficiency of the Intel Pinetrail chipset and the LED screen, but also to Acer’s new high density 6-cell battery.

The Aspire One AO532h has a multitouch-capable trackpad and 93% keyboard – a tad larger than average. You can get this thing for only $299 with the standard 6-cell, or with the high-density 6-cell for an additional fee.

Via Notebooks.

We just got wind of some new information about Acer’s first Intel Atom N450 netbook, the Aspire One 532h. This 10.1″ computing machine has 1280×720 resolution, is powered by an Intel Atom N450 processor and Intel GMA3150 chipset (an upgraded version of the current Intel GMA950), and comes with 1 GB of RAM and either a 160 GB or 250 GB hard drive.

Other specs include Wi-Fi, a memory card reader, optional Bluetooh, three USB 2.0 ports, a D-sub connector, a webcam, and Windows 7 Starter Edition. There’s an option for either a 3-cell or 6-cell battery as well.

The base price for the Aspire One 532h netbook is €299 (or ~$441 USD), slightly more expensive than its predecessor, the Aspire One 531h, but as there’s nothing exceptional about Acer’s newest Intel Atom N450 netbook, if you have a netbook already, you need not worry too much about upgrading.

Via SemiAccurate.

The Acer Ferrari One netbook is finally available for purchase. Some specs of this fully-loaded 11.6″ netbook include:

• 1.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor
• AMD M780G chipset
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 graphics chipset
• High-definition widescreen display
• 250 GB hard drive
• Built-in optical drive
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• Optional WLAN
• Windows 7 Home Premium

The netbook’s weight falls roughly around 3.31 pounds and its height is about one inch.  To learn more, check out one of our previous articles.

You can get your very own Acer Ferrari One netbook with a 6-cell battery for a higher-than-average $599.99.

Via Engadget.

Acer recently showed us their new laptop with a multi-touch display. The Acer Aspire 5738PzG series gives us a 15.6 inch screen with a multitude of Windows 7 gestures that will be supported by the laptop. Because they also included an All-In-One PC featuring this multitouch technology, they decided to follow a minimulist design scheme, which comes with Microsoft’s TouchPack.

Their laptops will not only come loaded with Windows 7, but will have touchscreen support that allows users to perform simple everyday tasks like printing, sharing information, emailing, and taking pictures, all with simple gestures that better allow a user to interface with their devices. The laptops being a whole new definition to the words “user friendly.”

We hope you still have money left after Black Friday, because for the hefty price of $1700, you’ll be able to get your hands on the upcoming ASUS G51J 3D which claims to bring “real 3D” to laptops. Using NVIDIA’s 3D vision technology, the G51J is already able to play over 400 games.

The system employs shutter glasses, which is supposed to outperform the Polaroid lens alternative currently used by the Acer’s Aspire 5738DG. As for the ASUS G51J, it will include a GeForce GTX 260M card which boasts 1GB of DDR memory. It’s time to start saving!

“NVIDIA® is excited about the world’s first 3D Vision notebook coming from ASUS,” said Phil Eisler, General Manager of 3D Vision business unit at NVIDIA. “The ASUS G51J 3D notebook will set the standard by which gaming and 3D notebooks will be judged. Congratulations to ASUS for achieving this monumental milestone!”

Via Engadget & GoodGearGuide.

Acer says it will be the first PC maker to get a Chrome netbook on the market.

The news was announced in Chairman J.T. Wang’s recent interview with Digitimes, in which the Chairman stated that he was “confident” Acer would be the first.

The announcement shouldn’t be tremendously surprising – Acer is one of the only manufacturers with an Android netbook on the market, so it makes sense that it would use this partnership with Google to jump into the Chrome space ASAP. We should expect Acer’s Chrome netbook by mid-2012.

The world’s second-largest PC maker has designs on being the first to offer a Chrome OS Netbook. However, this new machine’s hardware shouldn’t just be more of the same – Google says new Chrome netbooks will have bigger keyboards and screens, SSDs, 802.11(n) Wi-Fi and x86 or ARM processors.

Via CNet.

If you’re like most mobile internet users, you’re probably in the market for a brand new lightweight and versitile netbook. Well, you’re in luck: today is arguably the best day to make some legendary Black Friday deals, and bring home with you a brand new spanking netbook. We’ve done the searching for you and have compiled an excellent list of netbook deals that are priced below the 200$ pricetag.

If you take a trip to Best Buy, you’ll notice they’re offering a $197 Hewlett-Packard laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) with a 15.6-inch screen and an Intel Celeron processor. Other specs include 2GB of RAM (expandable to 4GB), 160GB hard drive, and Wi-Fi connectivity. Because this is an in-store only special item, you’ll have to line up early.

Everyone’s friendly Wal-Mart Supercenter is offering an eMachine running Windows 7 Home Premium for $198. This computer also features a 15.6-inch screen, 2GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive.

Office Depot’s are showing an ad @tgiBlackFriday.com offering an Acer Netbook with a 10.1 inch screen as well as an Intel Atom N270 processor priced at a very wallet-friendly 199.99.

If Dell netbooks are your thing, you can find a $199 Inspiron Mini 9. The mini sports a 8.9-inch screen, 1 GB RAM, an Intel Atom N270 processor, and a 4GB solid-state drive. While it only offers a 0.3 megapixel webcam, they’ll allow you to upgrade to a 1.3 megapixel for a mere $10!

Via PCWorld.

Newegg Black Friday sales started earlier today at 3 p.m. PST. The deals are published on their Facebook page and if you become a fan, you’ll be able to see the entire list.

The Gateway LT2021u and LT2022u netbooks for $199.99 that were on sale starting today have already sold out, but another noteworthy deal that’s still available is the LG BD270 blu-ray player that’s going for $99.99. If you’re still interested in the Gateway LT netbook, check out Verizon’s Black Friday deal.

On Black Friday, the Acer Aspire One netbook with a 3-cell battery will be available for $189.99, in addition to a TomTom GPS for $59.99.

If you’re interested in more deals, be sure to check out Newegg before they’re all gone. Also, be sure to keep your eye out for upcoming Cyber Monday deals. In the meantime, happy shopping and Happy Thanksgiving!

Via I4U.

Acer is currently the world’s second biggest PC manufacturer, but it’s looking to crank up its presence in Chinese markets within two years.

While Acer has seen strong results in Brazil, Russia, and India, the netbook maker has had more trouble in China where Lenovo is king. Acer tends to bounce between fifth and sixth place in China.

CEO Gianfranco Lanci explained to Reuters just why that’s not good enough:

“We don’t like being anything less than No.3 … You need scale, although of course it’s always a balance between market share and profit margins. Five years from now, China is going to be larger than the U.S.”

Acer plans to take extra market share by cutting selling prices by about 5%-10%. No word yet on whether those effects will be felt elsewhere, but at that outset that seems unlikely – manufacturers commonly practice price discrimination between different regions.

Via Reuters.

SquareTrade, an independent warranty provider, has done research on the failure rates for 30,000+ netbooks and laptops covered by warranty plans. They’ve found out that roughly a third of laptops will fail within three years and that the failure rate for netbooks is 20% higher than that for laptops.

Further breakdown of the results indicate that 20.4% of laptop failures were due to hardware malfunctions and 10.4% were due to accidential damage. Here’s a graph showing some empirical evidence:

5.8% of netbooks malfunction within the first 12 months of ownership, which is 20% higher than the malfunction rate for entry-level laptops and 40% higher than the malfunction rate for premium laptops. The projected malfunction rate for netbooks over a three year period is 25.1%. Compare this to 20.6% for regular laptops and 18.1% for premium laptops.

ASUS Eee PC and Toshiba netbooks and laptops tend to be more reliable. Fewer than 16% of Eee PC and Toshiba owners reported a hardware malfunction over a period of three years. Acer, Gateway, and HP machines had relatively higher malfunction rates.

Here’s another graph to show the 3-year laptop malfunction rates for different laptop manufacturers:

Via Gizmodo.

Computing technology is generally on people’s holiday shopping list in some form or other, and even though the economy may not be so great this year, the situation is no different. That’s why we’re giving you a sneak peak of some of the the offers that Office Depot are promoting for Black Friday. Office Depot will open at 6:00 a.m. on Friday, November 27th, and deals on netbooks, laptops and desktops start as low as $229. Take a look.

Netbooks:

• Acer:  10.1″ screen display with 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor – $199.99

Notebooks:

• HP: G60-508US with Intel Celeron 900 processor – $299.99
• Acer: Aspire, 15.6″ widescreen display with AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core L310processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive – $379.99
• HP:  G71-343US with Intel Core 2 Duo processor T6600 – $449.99
• Toshiba: 15.6″ widescreen display with AMD Turion II Dual-Core processor M500, 3GB RAM, 320GB hard drive – $469.99
• Toshiba: 17″ screen display with AMD Turion II M500, 3GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive – $499.99

Desktops:

• Compaq: CQ4010F with AMD Sempron LE-1300 Processor, 2GB RAM, 250GB hard drive- $229.99
• Compaq: Presario AMD LE-1300 with 18.5″ Monitor – $329.99
• HP: Pavillion Slimline s5220f with Intel Pentium processor E5300, 4GB RAM, 640GB hard drive – $369.99

There’s also a rumor that there will be a two page bonus ad in the Office Depot’s Black Friday ad, so be sure to be on the lookout for that!

Via Huliq.

Image via Blogspot.

If you’re looking for a laptop that does all the basics and don’t want to shell out a buttload of dough, here’s some food for thought. This holiday season (actually, starting tomorrow) an Acer Aspire laptop will go on sale at Best Buy for a mere $249.

This Acer Aspire laptop will feature netbook-like specs, including an Intel Celeron 900 CPU, 2 GB of RAM, and a 160 GB hard drive. It’s price tag will also be comparable to that of a netbook, ringing in at $249. In addition to this Acer laptop, some other items on Best Buy’s holiday list will include 30+ laptops, six netbooks, 17 desktops, and four all-in-ones.

Via MaximumPC.

In time for the holidays, Acer has created a monster laptop, four times the weight of a run-of-the-mill netbook.  The weight is worth it when you consider the potential to play World of Warcraft at mind-numbing resolutions anywhere you go.  And the weight is literally worth it when you consider the price – starting at $1350 on Newegg, the AS8940G-6865 falls neatly into line with Acer’s usual highly competitive pricing.

For your $1350 and willingness to haul a 10-pound laptop with you, you will receive in turn the new Intel® Core™ i7 Quad-Core 720QM processor, 4 GB of RAM, a 500 GB hard drive, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M, all manifesting themselves across a glorious 18.4 inch HD screen.  Also features Windows 7 and Blu-ray capabilities.  Spinal support not included.

Via CrunchGear and Newegg.

Office Max’s Black Friday ad was posted but has mysteriously disappeared. It’s rumored that within this ad, the Acer Aspire One netbook was priced at less than $150 a pop. This is quite a deal, considering this netbook normally retails for nearly $150 more.

If you’re interested, keep on the lookout for any developments – and of course we’ll keep you posted. In the meanwhile, feel free to read one of our previous articles to learn more about the Acer Aspire One netbook. And if you hear any other awesome netbook deals, feel free to let us know.

Via NetbookReports.

The latest in netbooks with notebook guts is the Acer AS1410. It’s not a part of the Aspire One line of netbooks, but with a $400 price tag we know better than to call it a notebook.

However, the temptation is strong. Acer’s new machine packs a 1.2 GHz Celeron SU2300 CPU, 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160 GB HDD upgradeable to 250 GB, and Intel GMA 450oMHD graphics.

Features include a multi-card reader, 3 USB ports, HDMI support, a 6-cell battery, and the 64-bit edition of Windows 7.

You can expect the Acer AS1410 in time for the holidays. Get excited!

Via MaximumPC.

The newer version of the Acer Aspire Revo R3610-U9012 nettop features a Dual-Core Intel Atom 330 processor and 2 GB of RAM. The original nettop model had problems with running 1080p videos so hopefully this model will be able to run pretty smoothly with the new features.

The Acer Aspire Revo’s wireless connectivity has also been given a boost. It now has Wi-Fi b/g/n capabilities. All other components have stayed the same from the previous model. This Acer nettop also has a 160 GB hard drive, six USB 2.0 ports, gigabit ethernet, HDMI, VGA, and eSATA, and a multiformat memory card reader.

The Acer Aspire Revo nettop is available now, priced at roughly $330 a pop.

Via Slashgear.