Just in: Acer Aspire One

Friday, June 13th, 2008

Mini-notebooks, it seems, come to the PC Pro Labs in twos. Hot on the heels of the Asus Eee PC 901 earlier today, we now have one of Acer’s lovely little Aspire One laptops to paw over, and so far we like what we’ve seen.

Straight away it feels sturdier than the Eee, more like a real laptop in its build quality. The curvy lid has a smooth sheen and uses a slightly different type of hinge – set back like a VAIO to make for a thinner lid. The 8.9in 1,024 x 600 screen matches the Asus, yet the more grown-up styling moves it away from that laptop’s my-first-PC feel.

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Acer Aspire One fondled on video

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

If you read the first look I posted yesterday on the new Acer Aspire One then you may be interested in this short clip in which I make my debut as a hand model. Apologies for the noises in the background, including the thirsty journalists asking where the bar is…

First Look: Acer Aspire One

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

I’ve just returned from the UK launch of the Aspire One, helpfully held within spitting distance of the PC Pro offices, where Acer announced that its new low-cost notebook will be hitting shelves on July the 10th.

The first model will cost just £199, including VAT – placing it in direct competition with the Eee PC. However, direct competition with the Eee PC is a very crowded place to be right now, and Acer has taken its time to get there.

Luckily, from what I saw, it trumps most others on features. The 8.9in screen displays 1,024 by 600 pixels, giving plenty more real estate than the Eee’s 800 by 480, and the sub-£200 One also doubles its 4GB of internal storage. (more…)

Introducing Predatron, Acer’s new Gaming PC

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

We’ve seen some pretty ridiculous systems at PC Pro aimed at gamers. Without naming the main culprits, it’s obvious that plenty of marketing departments think that those who play games on their PCs want a machine that looks like a Transformer after a Pimp My Ride makeover.

However, Acer appeared to have wandered into the gaming PC market and taken first prize in the competition for making a gaudy, over-the-top garish machine with this, their new Predator desktop. This orange creation may pack in some decent specs – the top configuration includes a QX9650 CPU and two 9800 GX2 graphics cards in SLI configuration. It’s a little bit ludicrous and, for all of its vaguely embarrasing styling, part of me wants one very badly indeed.

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