Slimmer Acer Aspire One ZG8 / A0530 at the FCC

Acer Aspire One 10-inch We’ve been hearing about the rumors and leaked information since last month, and now we have some confirmation – This new netbook/ultraportable has now shown up at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for testing of its communications hardware (WiFi, etc.). The document dates are listed as March 9, 2009, with some of the submission documents listing March 4, 2009 in the headers, while some of the documentation lists application dates of February 11, with test dates of February 27, 2009.

One of the documents lists this information:
We, Acer Inc, hereby declare that ZG8, Aspire one, AO530 (model name) can not be used for operation of HSUPA and CDMA2000 1xRTT/EV DO function. The HSUPA and CDMA2000 1xRTT/EV DO functions of this EUT are disabled by firmware control, which the users cannot enable it.

The “Z” plus the “530” in the model name probably refer to the Intel Silverthorne Atom Z530 CPU, which is used in ultraportables such as the Sony VAIO P as well as netbooks such as the Dell Inspiron Mini 10, however one of the documents shows a “Packard Bell ZG8”, and Acer and Gateway are listed alongside Packard Bell in the documentation, implying that after the cancelation of the Packard Bell dot, that this may be the replacement. Quanta Computer Inc. is listed as the manufacturer.

Unfortunately for us, Acer requested that the FCC keep some of the diagrams, the “Theory of Operation”, the parts list, and “Tune Up Procedure” confidential.

Specifications gleaned from the photos/documents:
– Standard DDR2 PC2-5300 RAM (accessed from bottom)
– Standard PCI-Express Wireless slot (Accessed from bottom)
– Atheros AR5BHB63 WiFi
– Qualcomm Gobi 1000 Mobile Broadband/3G/GSM/HSDPA
– Broadcom bcm92045nmd Bluetooth

The touchpad appears to be wider than the current 10-inch Acer Aspire One. The touchpad, at least according to the user manual, includes both vertical and horizontal scrolling.

One interesting change – it looks like the 2.5″ Serial ATA (SATA) Hard Drive isn’t easy to access externally (through its own access panel). It looks closer to how the HDD was mounted in the original 8.9-inch Acer Aspire One, with the removal of the keyboard being a requirement.

The user manuals are also included – one focuses on 3G SIM card installation

Read:
FCC Exhibits
Thanks to Tim for the email.