Over the past few weeks we’ve seen images of several mystery Acer Aspire One laptops pop up. Now it looks like they’re all part of a new line of Aspire One computers that will be dubbed the Pro series.
The Acer Aspire One Pro lineup will likely include the model with a 10.1 inch display that we first saw last month as well as the 11.6 inch mini-notebook that showed up a few days ago. According to Macles, the smaller laptop is Acer Aspire Pro 531, while the larger computer is an Acer Aspire One Pro 731. Or something like that. These names and model numbers have a way of getting shifted around before products are officially launched.
There’s not a lot of information about what sets the Pro series apart from Acer’s consumer oriented netbooks, but it’s likely that the new models will cost more. They also seem to be thin and light machines with a more business-like finish than the colorful Acer Aspire One A110 and AoD150 series netbooks. The 11.6 inch model also features a higher resolution 1366 x 768 pixel display and shuns the Intel Atom N270 CPU for a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor with integrated GMA 500 graphics.
I’m hoping for gigabit Ethernet and higher resolution screens. It’s incredibly frustrating that HP haven’t actually released the 1366 x 768 Mini 2140 (nearly three months after announcing it).
This strikes me as not too bad news. They can’t pitch it too expensive without making serious inroads on their budget full-size laptops, so to differentiate the price they will need to keep the regular range (including the classic 9″, reportedly also due an imminent refresh) bargain basement, which suits most people just fine and dandy.