Acer announces £299 10in netbook

• 
• 
• 

 1 of 3

Gallery

By Tim Danton

Posted on 23 Jan 2009 at 16:06

Acer has finally announced its much-anticipated 10in netbook, which aims to undercut its rivals on price while beating them for style. Announced today, the 10in Aspire One will go on sale during February.

The new Aspire One includes some familiar specifications: a 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, 160GB hard disk, 1,024 x 600 screen and 802.11bg wireless.

It looks likely that the initial release, with an RRP of £299 inc VAT, will include a three-cell battery (Acer estimates over three hours of battery life from this) and 1GB of RAM.

Intriguingly, Acer also lists WiMAX as an optional extra, but it's debatable whether this will be available in the UK. "It certainly won't be at launch," an Acer spokesperson told us, "only as and when coverage appears."

A 3G model will arrive much sooner, but unlike Dell's offerings it will be independent of carriers such as Vodafone. "You can slide in whatever data SIM you've got," explained the spokesperson, "there's currently no bundle offers with telcos."

The initial stock will be the standard model, with the 3G model on sale a month after.

Based on the pictures, it certainly appears to live up to Acer's description - which the press release lavishes with superlatives:

"Available in four high-gloss color options including white, blue, red and black, the unmistakable design immediately catches the eye," it reads.

It will need to live up to this heady description as Acer has tough competition in the form of Samsung's NC10, which won our recent netbooks group test.

One potential advantage the Aspire One will hold is its dimensions, being 4mm slimmer than the NC10 at 33mm (according to Acer). However, the NC10 is actually marginally lighter - the six-cell version weighs 1.33kg to 1.31kg, with the three-cell version dropping to 1.18kg.

PC Pro should be able to deliver a first look verdict on the Acer Aspire One in mid-February, when review samples will be available.