Despite recent reports to the contrary, Acer plans to continue producing netbooks. The company has been offering mini-laptop computers with low power processors and low price tags since 2008, and the Wall Street Journal reports that Acer will continue to release new models.
At least that’s what Acer’s CEO told the paper recently.
Acer’s latest netbooks include the Aspire One D270 10 inch mini-laptop with a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N2600 Cedar Trail processor. The company also sells a few 11.6 inch notebooks under its Aspire One brand, including the Aspire One 722 with an AMD C-60 CPU and new Aspire One 756 with an Intel Celeron processor.
So if you’re a purist who thinks that a computer needs to have a 10 inch or smaller screen to be a netbook, it doesn’t look like Acer is making any promises. The company has been grouping 10 and 11.6 inch notebooks into the same category for a few years.
Meanwhile, Acer also offers significantly more powerful laptops with the same size display, such as the Aspire V5 Ivy Bridge notebook.
Still, at a time when netbook makers are dropping out of the business like flies, it’s nice to see any sort of commitment to cheap tiny computers.
Hopefully Acer won’t just try to convince us that it’s upcoming Windows 8 convertible tablets with starting prices of $799 are “netbooks.”
I’m typing this on my Aspire One 756 with Celeron 877. I got it at Best Buy for $249, upgraded it from 2GB to 8GB. I am very pleased with it, one of my best purchases. Big time improvement from my earlier Atom N450 10.1″ netbook.
LOL. How the heck did you find this article? Wow. I think it just takes one. In the back of my mind, something that comes about organically has a way of lasting resilience. Remember those 3D laptops and TV’s? Now we have tablet convertibles up next and Ultrabooks. Yes, the greatest things ever. Track record? Who needs it when there is marketing. I’m now an Acer fanboy. j/k
To think that everyone is going to flock to a certain product because it’s being marketed or being hyped doesn’t prove anything. If Asus thinks Eee Pad’s are replacing Eee PC? Well I suggest did 3D televisions replace non 3D televisions this year? Look at the headlines from a year or two ago. I get the killing off of the less profitable products from a corporation perspective. They have to be more clever though and make sure that every company is aboard. Damn you Acer!
I’ll buy one when a fanless model comes out.
I ordered one of the 756’s with the Celeron and 4GB RAM this week for $300 new. They’re on ebay for $250 refurbished. Didn’t see the point in spending twice as much on the V5 just to get the Core i5 since the real world bottlenecks for most tasks are going to be the 5400rpm hard drive and integrated graphics anyway. Besides, the Celeron is more than adequate to handle all my school and office tasks, and able to play 1080p video without choking. If I’m not encoding video or running games then what else do I need?
It’d be a shame for netbooks to disappear now when they’re just starting to get acceptable performance by ditching the Atom and AMD C-series in favor of low-end Sandy Bridge-based Pentium and Celerons. I like the lightweight, small footprint form factors, but I’m never going to shell out $1000 for an ultrabook.