Acer plans competition for tiny Asus EEE PC
Acer, a leading maker of personal computers, plans to roll out a low-cost system that will be even more affordable than Asustek Computer’s Eee PC., market rumours say. There is almost no information about Acer’s entry-level personal computer (PC), but the device is projected to become available in May, 2008. A news-story at DigiTimes web-site claims that Acer plans to sell the low-cost PC with 8.9″ screen for $250 – $300, which is lower compared to Asus Eee PC with 8.9″ screen. End-users should be able to get Acer’s affordable computer for about $350 – $400, it is reported. It is unclear which microprocessor and core-logic will be used by one of the world’s largest makers of PCs to power the entry-level system, however, a natural guess will be Intel Atom, which is gaining popularity among system makers.
Asustek demonstrated its Asus Eee PC with 8.9″ screen at CeBIT 2008 in Hannover, Germany, whereas Acer yet has to reveal details about its device in the coming months. Low-cost computers are projected to take a significant market share in 2008 due to present economic conditions in the U.S. and some other countries. Many PC manufacturers see entry-level systems as a way to boost their revenues and enter new markets, however, there are also companies who do not believe in affordable computers. For example, Sony Corp. sees competition between Asus Eee PC and its future competitors as a “race to bottom”, where is no place for innovation. Acer did not comment on the news-story.
Source: Xbit Labs
Comments(23)
Is that picture the actual size?
Is it just me or anyone else wonder why they do not make a laptop with the screen made so it folds all the way,
that is to say,
one can have ‘only’ the screen
so can watch tv, movies, read books or whatever.
lol @ wh0is, depends on your display resolution
Anyway, I think Sony is righ on this one…I personally would hate to have a situation where all new laptops are limited to the very basic tasks just to make sure its the cheapest thing out there :S Anyway…at that spec, can’t you just go for a second hand laptop which costs the same or less and gives a screen you can use?
Like a Tablet PC? lol
just me
March 25th, 2008 | 20:22
Is it just me or anyone else wonder why they do not make a laptop with the screen made so it folds all the way,
that is to say,
one can have ‘only’ the screen
so can watch tv, movies, read books or whatever.
sony just doesn´t want that because there subnotebook sales dropped because of the eepc and will drop even more if eeepc competitors arive ..
acer? ridiculous.
Got a 4gb & its brill, like to c what acer actually do and the price. The eeepc has been a runaway success, it is the size of a large paperback and is less than 1kg.If it folded a;ll the way how do u change the page , up sound etc?
@2
Good plan, there is certainly a big market for portable media players. Combine the fancy screen of a tablet pc with the size and functionality of the eeepc and goodbye Archos! Would need some hardware video decoding though.
i got my baby eee running WIN XP …and its a blast …cause this is a real PORTABLE computer… and other companies just want to get a piece of d cake…the 1 and only eeePC…YEA
Childs play. Enjoy the Eee PC, children. It can help you learn the alphabet. HA ha ha
I’ll be sportin around my 8inch, core 2, 320gb. Just as soon as they make one.
@10
why d hell do u need core 2 or 320G (to play games…ha ha than u r a child)…eeePCs specs r just good enough for apps,internet,and movies(music)….only the screen should be around 10″….
id have to agree #10, i guess eeepc has found a niche with people who cant afford a computer and with people who have money to burn. i would never buy anything like that, it literally does nothing id need it to (anything my pda wouldnt do anyway). i mean why spend $400 on this when you can catch a bb or cc sale and get something you could actually use, with an optical drive and built in wireless for $100 more? i feel bad for poor folk who buy this and think they cant do any better. is the battery life atleast like 8hrs, if not my opinion just drop 2 more levels on it cause now i really dont see the point.
I do agree that folding the screen 180 degrees would be a natural and logical feature to have, especially in a compact device like this. It wouldn’t have to be a touch screen either, you could put a few commonly-used buttons on the front edge or another edge of the computer such as volume, play/pause, power/standby/ ff & rewind, etc. Just have the screen pivot at the center and fold flat over the keyboard and have a few of your basic function keys somewhere along an edge to still provide basic functions. Add in the ability to underclock the CPU, adjust the display brigtness, etc. in the computer’s settings to increase battery life when used in this position and you’d have a convenient, compact media player in addition to a full-fledged laptop. They do need to absolutely maximize the display size for a given computer size though as mentioned above, even 1 additional inch to 10″ is noticeable if they can do it without increasing the computer size (or just a couple mm’s). Asus never should have sold this computer with a 7″ screen.
@12
While I do think it is a little pricey for what it is, a basic laptop, in your comparing it to a typical laptop and a PDA you are really overlooking the advantages of a device like this. It is much smaller and lighter than your typical laptop, which allows it to be taken and used in situations where your only other option might be a PDA. And a PDA simply cannot replace a desktop-type Operating System like XP for some functions. There are many things that this can do that a PDA is no replacement for, and its size makes it much more portable than even most laptops, so although it’s not as convenient to work on, a full sized laptop is not always a convenient or feasible solution.
I do think that ~$400 for one of these devices when one considers the fact that it’s basically just a small, very basic laptop. If they can sell a 15″ LCD, Dual Core processor, 160GB HD, 1-2GB RAM, DVD Burner laptop for around $500, then they can certainly sell a device like this for around $270-300 with 4-8GB flash storage, 9″ screen, no optical or HD, half the RAM, and a processor that costs probably 1/3 or less than a Dual Core processor. These should cost significantly less to produce than your typical laptop.
my 4g eee was bought as a uni notetaker and hacktop. Dual boot backtrack3 and winxp. The built in wireless supports raw packet injection so it can crack wep and wpa networks, so its the perfect wardriving computer.
I have a desktop for games, and this is great for watching tv shows from usb in bed, on the plane, go lectures :p i’m very happy with it.
And i asked my acer rep if they have plans for a competitor when i bought mine and they didn’t.
Asus >>> Acer
eto blin TAKAIA xuynia, mogno obocatco…
i dont understand the point i guess.
with the amount of acers that end up in the repair shop…
why go to a tiny version, not to say the least, the 1st generation.
the EEE PC is SO moderately priced that ultra-mobile linux
mobility is available for anyone who can save some cash.
pehh… acer needs to quit getting their hands where they don’t belong. their LCDs suck for buddha’s sake. -sigh-
If I could use one of these like a Wacom tablet, I’d buy it. Espeically at that price.
I have to say i got a eee pc and i have pretty much never regreted its(since i put xp on it)nothing much matchs it for portable it is a true laptop(not like rest which are pretty much mobile desktops,that run the rest of being mugged over as they are so huge,the eee just fits in my coat pocket)
RACE TO THE BOTTOM??? The real idiots are people that lay down real money for a laptop that is useless as a power machine compared to a much cheaper desktop, and obsolete within a year compared to a cheap desktop.
Given that for the vast majority of people, the only sensible use of a portable is the 99% application percentile (browsing, media playing, and text based operations), all of which work well with a cheap low-power CPU and solid state memory, the display size/rez is the only issue. However, the small display allows true casual wireless linked use thru the home (connected to the big-tin power-house desktop PC of course).
Sub 200 dollar portable PC’s will rule the PC marketplace within 5 years. Wanna make a fortune? Devise and create compelling new apps for these devices. In reality, what we are seeing is the final victory of the PDA (long expected, and long assumed to stand no chance). Previous PDA’s have failed for all kinds of reasons, usual issues of fatal feature compromises. These new portable compromise in no area that matters, a fact that some of you are clearly not seeing.
IT’S SMALL, CHEAP, AND DOES WELL WHAT 99% OF THE POPULATION NEED TO DO 99% OF THE TIME. This is an equation that always equal success, regardless of product, and regardless of market.
guys… stop putting the eee specs down. its not completely useless.
it can run games, including HL2, Max Payne, GTAVC, far cry, halo, UT2004, WoW.
youtube it, u’ll see…
not bad for £219
psh alot of these people just pretend to know about computers. business people dont want a huge core 2 duo 320 gb computer. they want something tiny that is portable. why else would these eee pc macbook air and the new acer computer sell so well. you cant argue with numbers. Portability sells. unless your just a stubborn idiot in denial.