19-08-2010, 16:34    Author: admin    44 Views    0 Comments
 

Acer recently launched a dual boot version of the Acer Aspire One D255 netbook which runs both Windows and Google Android. And Sascha from Netbook News.de managed to pick one up in Taiwan recently. You can check out his unboxing and first look video after the break.

The netbook runs about $289 in Taiwain and comes with 1GB of memory, a 160GB hard drive, and Windows XP as well as Android.

In order to boot Google Android, you’ll need to first launch Windows and run a utility to configure the computer to boot Android. Once you do manage to get into Android, you’ll notice that Acer has configured the operating system to use a mouse cursor — something which most Android devices don’t need.

Acer also includes a tab in the Android home screen which you can press to exit Android and boot Windows XP.

You can check out Sascha’s unboxing video below to watch him get frustrated with the packaging and lament over the fact that he can’t read Chinese… oh yeah, he also takes a look at the hardware and software on the computer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Source


Read More...
 
 
19-08-2010, 16:34    Author: admin    32 Views    0 Comments
 

Acer, like virtually every other PC maker in the world, is working on a Google Android powered tablet. But while we had been expecting the device to ship by the end of the year, DigiTimes is now reporting that Acer may wait until early 2011 to launch the tablet.

The delay would allow Acer to ship its tablet with Google Android 3.0 instead of Android 2.1 or 2.2. According to DigiTimes, Android 3.0 will be designed specifically with tablets in mind.

While Google Android actually runs pretty well on tablets today, Google hasn’t officially sanctioned any tablets aside from devices such as the Dell Streak and Huawei S7 which look like tablet, but also include 3G modems and the ability to make phone calls. Pretty much every other Android tablet or netbook/smartbook that has shipped so far has come without the default suite of Google applications including Gmail, Google Maps, Google Calendar, and most importantly the Google Android Market. That makes downloading and installing third party apps on tablets such as the Augen GenTouch78 a bit of a hassle.

While some tablet makers have sidestepped this issue by loading third party app stores such as the AppsLib store that ships with Archos Android tablets, the truth is that there are tens of thousands of apps available for download from the Android Market and no third party solution comes even close.

So while it’s kind of upsetting to learn that Acer is holding off on launching an Android tablet, it is encouraging to hear that part of the reason the company is doing it is because Android 3.0 is expected to be more tablet friendly — which hopefully means support for the Google suite of Android applications including the Android Market.

In the meantime, DigiTimes suggests that Acer is still on track to launch a Windows 7 tablet before the end of the year.

Source


Read More...
 
 
14-08-2010, 15:16    Author: admin    34 Views    0 Comments
 

The Acer Aspire One 721 is an 11.6 inch thin and light notebook with a 1366 x 768 pixel display. Like the Acer Aspire One 521, which I reviewed recently, this model ships with a 1.7GHz AMD Athlon II Neo K125 processor and ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics. The main difference is that the Aspire One 721 is larger — which provides room for a full sized keyboard and a higher resolution screen. I also suspect it will get less battery lfie, since the larger screen will use more power.

Acer sent me an Aspire One 721 to review, and you can check out my unboxing and first look video after the break.

All in all, I really like the design of this laptop. The matte lid looks like it should be pretty good and fighting off fingerprints, and the large access panel on the bottom should make upgrades easy. And while I haven’t started testing the performance of this computer yet, I was overall quite impressed with the CPU and graphics performance of the similarly-specced Aspire One 521.

Read the rest of this entry »

Source


Read More...
 
 
13-08-2010, 18:56    Author: admin    32 Views    0 Comments
 

You could make the case that Acer’s line of Aspire Revo nettops are already aimed at the multimedia market. They’re about the same size and shape as a Nintendo Wii and are clearly designed to look good next to a TV. These little computers tend to have low power Atom processors but high performance NVIDIA ION graphics for pumping out HD video.

But if you’re looking for something a bit cheaper than a full-fledged computer, with the added benefit of consuming less power, Acer plans to begin shipping a new device called the RevoView soon. The company first showed off the Acer RevoView a few months ago, and now nDevil reports that it will be available in Germany by the end of August, with prices starting at about €149 (about $198 US).

That price will get you a set-top box with a remote control and the ability to play HD video from a hard drive or stream content over your home network. It looks like the hard drive is also removable, allowing you to insert it into a PC drive bay. That means you can store all of your PC media on the drive, and then remove it and plug it into the RevoView when you want to access your media on your TV. The device may also be able to access on-line media.

The Acer RevoView will be available with a 320GB, 1TB, or 2TB hard drive. There’s no word on if or when the RevoView will be available in the US.

Source


Read More...
 
 
13-08-2010, 18:56    Author: admin    16 Views    0 Comments
 

Better late than never, right? The Acer Ferrari One may have been one of the first mini-laptops on the market to sport an 11.6 inch display and a netbook-like design while using an AMD processor and ATI graphics instead of an Intel chipset. But it’s starting to look a bit dated now that we’re seeing a growing number of machines with similar shapes and sizes and newer AMD chips.

But if you happened to snag an Acer Ferrari One when it was still hot, you may have been wondering what ever happened to an accessory that Acer had promised would be available: The DynaVivid Graphics Dock.It’s still not available in the US, but Blogee noticed that you can pick one up in France for €199 (about $259 US).

The dock is an external graphics card that connects to the ATI XGP port on the Acer Ferrari One. While the Ferrari One has an Athlon X2 dual core L310 processor and integrated ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics which are good enough to handle HD video playback, the external graphics card is basically an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670 GPU.

It has HDMI and VGA outputs and can handle resolutions of up to 2048 x 1536. It also supports DirectX 10.1.The dock also functions as a 6 port USB hub.

Of course, $260 is kind of a lot of money to spend on an accessory that gives some extra graphics capability to a relatively low power machine — especially since it’s really designed for use with an external display, which means the dock will probably hang out on your desk or near your TV most of the time. At that point, I have to wonder whether it doesn’t make more sense just to sell your Ferrari One and use the cash to pick up a more powerful desktop for watching videos, playing games, or doing whatever it is you were hoping to do with the thing.

Source


Read More...
 
 
13-08-2010, 16:15    Author: admin    12 Views    0 Comments
 

Better late than never, right? The Acer Ferrari One may have been one of the first mini-laptops on the market to sport an 11.6 inch display and a netbook-like design while using an AMD processor and ATI graphics instead of an Intel chipset. But it’s starting to look a bit dated now that we’re seeing a growing number of machines with similar shapes and sizes and newer AMD chips.

But if you happened to snag an Acer Ferrari One when it was still hot, you may have been wondering what ever happened to an accessory that Acer had promised would be available: The DynaVivid Graphics Dock.It’s still not available in the US, but Blogee noticed that you can pick one up in France for €199 (about $259 US).

The dock is an external graphics card that connects to the ATI XGP port on the Acer Ferrari One. While the Ferrari One has an Athlon X2 dual core L310 processor and integrated ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics which are good enough to handle HD video playback, the external graphics card is basically an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670 GPU.

It has HDMI and VGA outputs and can handle resolutions of up to 2048 x 1536. It also supports DirectX 10.1.The dock also functions as a 6 port USB hub.

Of course, $260 is kind of a lot of money to spend on an accessory that gives some extra graphics capability to a relatively low power machine — especially since it’s really designed for use with an external display, which means the dock will probably hang out on your desk or near your TV most of the time. At that point, I have to wonder whether it doesn’t make more sense just to sell your Ferrari One and use the cash to pick up a more powerful desktop for watching videos, playing games, or doing whatever it is you were hoping to do with the thing.

Source


Read More...
 
 
6-08-2010, 17:41    Author: admin    25 Views    0 Comments
 

When businesses buy notebooks, they expect them to last. So when thousands of IT pros say you make the least reliable laptops, that’s going to make some people pause. A survey conducted by TechRepublic found that Acer ranked as the least reliable brand, edging out HP with a score of 24 percent to 21 percent. The next least reliable brand was judged to be HP. When the site asked which PC vendor makes the most reliable laptops, Acer scored lowest with 6 percent, followed by Asus. Some may find it odd that Dell and HP were found to be most reliable, but as Tech Republic points out the sheer volume of customers explains that apparent contradiction.

Just this week we gave an Acer notebook a 2.5-star review because the Wi-Fi card didn’t work properly, although the company promises a fix. Coincidence? And what if something does go wrong with your laptop? Well, the fact that Acer pulled up the year in our annual Tech Support Showdown probably won’t make you feel warm and fuzzy.

So do you own an Acer notebook? How reliable has it been for you?


Source


Read More...
 
 
17-07-2010, 10:10    Author: admin    45 Views    0 Comments
 

Both Gartner and IDC recently came out with preliminary PC shipment numbers for the second quarter of 2010 which, overall, show a growth of over 20% — good news for computer makers. An interesting bit of data the numbers reveal is that ASUS may have overtaken Toshiba in market share, knocking the 25 year old company from the Top 5. The numbers from each source vary slightly, with IDC putting Toshiba ahead of ASUS by a very slim margin and Gartner switching them up, but with a similarly small difference in numbers:

IDC Numbers

Gartner Numbers

Rank

Vendor

2Q10 Market
Share

2Q10/2Q09
Growth

Rank

Vendor

2Q10 Market
Share

2Q10/2Q09
Growth

1

HP

18.1%

12.2%

1

HP

17.4%

12.3%

2

Dell

13.0%

19.1%

2

Acer

13.0%

31.6%

3

Acer Group

12.6%

20.8%

3

Dell

12.4%

19.0%

4

Lenovo

10.2%

47.3%

4

Lenovo

10.0%

47.2%

5

Toshiba

5.3%

26.2%

5

ASUS

5.2%

78.5%

5

ASUS

5.3%

83.6%

6

Toshiba

5.1%

27.5%

These are preliminary findings, though, and once the final numbers are in Toshiba may still hold the number 5 spot. But ASUS is definitely not far behind, if so. The numbers above also reflect worldwide shipments. Apparently in America Toshiba’s position is a bit firmer, and also not very far behind Apple.

However, Asian PC makers are definitely making American companies sweat a little, especially with their pretty steep growth. Dell’s recaptured their second place lead for now (according to IDC), but will that hold through the last two quarters?


Source


Read More...
 
 
12-07-2010, 16:20    Author: admin    37 Views    0 Comments
 

If ever there was a netbook that mirrored the qualities of the audience it wanted to attract, Acer’s new Aspire One D260 nails it. Rail-thin and lighter than most other netbooks, this system is like a Runway Girl who will sacrifice food and good sense in order to slip into a size 0 pair of jeans. In the D260’s case, the sacrifice is battery life. At least the netbook won’t pass out from malnutrition. Though the endurance isn’t great, the system is a looker, has a surprisingly good touchpad, and costs less than $300.

Does it all balance in the end? Click here to read our full review of the Acer Aspire One D260 and find out.


Source


Read More...
 
 
2-07-2010, 16:33    Author: admin    72 Views    0 Comments
 

They look identical. Same sleek chassis. Same keyboard. Same 11.6-inch display. They both have HDMI output. (And they both have a small touchpad.) So why does Acer call the Aspire One 721 a netbook and the Timeline X 1830t a notebook? Well, for one, the former has a single-core AMD Athlon II Neo processor, while the latter has a blazing dual-core Core i5 ULV CPU. The other big differentiator is price. The 721 costs $429, just a bit more than a typical netbook, while the configuration of the 1830t we tested will run you $699.

We just reviewed both machines and found one to be much more compelling than the other. Despite its relatively high price, the 1830t delivered excellent performance–the best we’ve seen in this size at this price–and nearly 6 hours of endurance. The 721 offers much more oomph than an Atom machine along with enough graphics horsepower to play HD video and mainstream games (look out, Nvidia Ion). Too bad this Aspire One lasted only about half as long as its TimelineX cousin on a charge. So which ultraportable/netbook/mini notebook is best for you? Check out the full reviews and sound off in the comments.

Acer Aspire One 721: Full Review

Acer TimelineX 1830t: Full Review


Source


Read More...