Acer Aspire AS1410-2285 - Best Value in a Shipping Netbook?

If you are looking for the best value in a shipping netbook, today is your day. For around $400 plus shipping, you can get the Acer Aspire AS1410-2285 shipped from Amazon, and if you’re willing to spend extra, you could have it on Friday.

What does $399.99 plus shipping get you? Quite a bit actually, it will get a dual-core CPU with Intel’s 4500MHD graphics, an HDMI port, Windows 7 Premium, and an 11.6-inch display.

Full specifications: Acer Aspire AS1410-2285 (Black casing)
- OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
- CPU: 1.2GHz Intel Celeron SU2300 Dual-Core CULV CPU
- RAM: 2GB DDR2 667MHz
- HDD: 160GB SATA Hard Drive
- Networking: Intel WiFi Link 1000 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N
- Graphics: Intel 4500MHD Graphics (GMA)
- Display: 11.6″ WXGA LED-Backlit Display
- Battery: 6-cell Li-ion Battery (4400 mAh), up to 6 hours according to Acer
-Weight: 3 pounds/1.4 kg

In addition to the above, it’s coming with three USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port, and a Multi-gesture touchpad.

Looking at Acer’s other Windows 7 listings at Amazon, it looks like HDMI out will finally be standard. Most of the Acers should be expandable to 4GB of RAM.

While this is a Celeron, expect non-Celeron-based netbooks with dual-core CPUs to be out in the next few weeks. Amazon is showing the Acer Aspire AS1810T-8679 with a Core 2 Duo SU7300, up to 8 hours of battery life, and 4GB of RAM shipping in November.

Windows 7 Selling Like Crazy in the UK

Microsoft’s Windows 7 is selling like crazy in the UK - the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack for XP or Vista is selling particularly well (constantly jumping up and down on the best seller list), as is the Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade Edition for XP or Vista users and TG Daily is reporting that Amazon claims to have become the biggest pre-order product of all time in the UK.

That’s some pretty heady stuff, as it apparently beat out the Harry Potter books in the UK, including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which was their biggest pre-order to date. They claim that just over the past three months alone, only the latest Dan Brown book has beat out Windows 7 pre-orders and that it’s surprising when you look at it as a product versus product (software versus book) competition.

Link: TG Daily

Site Updates, etc. - April 13, 2009

If you’re wondering why there haven’t been any updates in the past week, I’ve been doing a lot of work on the back-end of the site, as well as a new design. It’s something that should have been done earlier this year, and it’s now almost finished. The layout is going to be cleaned up, along with a major overhaul of how data about the various laptops is presented.

Most of that should be rolled out later this week, and there shouldn’t be any downtime. If you notice anything weird, just refresh the page, as some older data maybe cached.

I also took the chance to switch ISPs at my house from Time Warner Cable to another broadband provider. I had been considering it for a while, and when Time Warner Cable announced their ridiculous caps/tiers, that was the final straw. The caps/tiers are so low they could only be targeting the growing market for watching video over the internet (Hulu.com, Netflix, iTunes Music Store, etc.). Even though they backed off in my area (Central Texas) as far as testing these tiers/caps (and are possibly raising them), they’ve made it clear they are going to be pushing them out at some point in the future. They even publicly admitted that they felt that if they could push them out in Austin, Texas, they could push them out anywhere. I did have a chance to attend an Austin Community Technology and Telecommunications Commission meeting where several citizens spoke out against the tiers/caps. I’ll be writing a lot more about this later this week - I’m still shocked at how ridiculously low Time Warner Cable set the average tiers/caps. In the meantime, check out StopTheCap.com - they are doing a great job of keeping up on the status of Time Warner Cable’s moves and how this is all playing out.

Asus Eee PC T91 Touch Shows Up at the FCC

There is some good news if you’re in the US and have been waiting to buy one of the first mainstream “convertible” Tablet PC/Touchscreen netbooks. The Asus Eee PC T91 Touch has made it’s appearance at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). That means it might start showing up for pre-orders later this month or next.

The Eee PC T91 is a touchscreen “convertible” - the screen can pivot, allowing it to lay flush against the keyboard and to be used as a Tablet PC, or it can be rotated into a position resembling a traditional laptop/notebook, with a normal keyboard (well normal = 92% or so, given the 8.9-inch display size). It’s possible that it will be the first of its type to be available in the US without the need to go through a 3rd-party importer.

While details about the T91 have been sparse in regards to plans for North America prior to now, it was believed that the T91 would be available sometime in the second quarter of this year. At this time, there’s not much in the FCC database though - just some photos and the FCC ID listing (MSQT91NE785H if you are curious).

About a month ago, Samsun Hu, who manages Asustek’s Asus Eee PC business unit, mentioned that Asustek believes that convertible/Tablet PC Eee PCs will account for up to 10% of the their Eee PC shipments this year.

Read:
- Full FCC Listing
via Netbook 3G (French) (English Translation)

Samsung NC20 - Available at NewEgg.com

The first VIA Nano-powered netbook/ultraportable available for customers in the US (and possibly Canada) has popped up at NewEgg.com. Back in March, it was officially delayed until April.

April is here, and the 12.1-inch Samsung NC20 is being listed for $549.99 and it looks to be shipping.

Specifications:
- Model: Samsung NC20-21GBK
- 1.3GHz VIA Nano U2250
- 12.1″ Display (1280×800)
- 1GB of DDR2 RAM
- 160GB 2.5″ SATA HDD
- VIA Chrome9 HC3 Graphics
- 6-Cell Battery
- Windows XP Home
- Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
- 1.3MP Webcam

View: Samsung NC20 at NewEgg.com

NVIDIA Talks About the ION

NVIDIA has issued another press release about the ION platform, along with a few more details about launches, as well as commitments from software companies in regards to boosting/optimizing software for the ION platform.

Companies mentioned include Microsoft (no surprise), Electronic Arts, Adobe (Flash anyone?), and Google. Games and applications mentioned as benefitting from the Ion include Google Earth, Adobe Photoshop, Spore, Call of Duty 4, PowerDVD, and a few other games.

They’ve also posted a video discussing the ION, with select comments from interviews. Among those interviewed in the video, Corey Rosemond, Microsoft’s Windows Gaming Group Marketing Manager, along with others in the industry, with all involved putting an emphasis on the portability and low price point of the ION platform.

While I see the appeal of an NVIDIA ION ultraportable running a hardware-accelerated Photoshop CS4, I’m wondering if the limitations won’t be under the hood but rather what you see in front of you - Photoshop these days is not the best of experiences on a 1024×600 or 1024×576 display. There is a niche to be filled though, there are plenty of people who want that kind of functionality. The more interesting thing to me is High Definition video, along with 720p or 1080p output. It would be interesting to see an ION-powered ultraportable being used as a mobile HTPC.

Unfortunately we don’t get anything too specific, just that there will be some “incredibly small and affordable PCs” available sometime between now and the end of the quarter (June). Take it for what it is - the start of the marketing hype, but it’s a good sign of things to come.

Read: NVIDIA Press Release
(Video - 480p WMV)

AT&T to Offer Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and 12, and LG Xenia with Mobile Data Plans

Looks like the reports from the middle of February concerning AT&T offering multiple netbooks/sub-notebooks, or “mini laptops” as the AT&T press release calls them, are indeed true.

AT&T will be offering the Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and Mini 12, and LG Xenia (aka X110) in prices ranging from $49.99 USD to $249.99 when purchasing an appropriate mobile broadband package (along with the contract). If you want something more powerful, such as the 12-inch Lenovo ThinkPad X200, you are looking at $750 to $850 depending on the plan.

AT&T has put together what it’s calling an “Internet at Home and On the Go” plan that covers several situations (mixing mobile data and DSL), and included with that is access to AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots. The standard 5GB a month for $60 plan is still available for those who don’t need DSL.

In the reports from February, the HP Mini 1000 was mentioned in that mix of devices, but it’s been left out for now.

There is a catch to all of this (besides the standard contract) - for now, it’s only being offered in select stores in the Atlanta and Philadelphia areas, but it looks like it will be nationwide later this year.

Read:
- Press Release (AT&T)
via GigaOm

Dell Adds HD (1366×768) Displays to Inspiron Mini 10

It looks like the 10.1-inch Intel Atom powered Dell Inspiron Mini 10 will be the first of the mainstream Atom-powered netbooks/ultraportables to have a High Definition (HD) display. For $35 over the normal price, you can add the 1366×768 display to your build-to-order Inspiron Mini 10.

I thought the upcoming HD display version of the HP Mini 2140 might beat it, but the preliminary shipping date for the high resolution Inspiron Mini 10 shows April 15, 2009.

$434 USD will get you the following:
- 10.1-inch Anti-Glare 1366×768 Display
- Intel Atom Z520 (1.33GHz)
- 1GB RAM (maybe a limit of 1GB of RAM)
- Obsidian Black or Alpine White
- Windows XP Home SP3
- 160GB 2.5″ SATA HDD
- 802.11g
- 1.3MP Webcam
- 3-Cell Battery
- Intel GMA 500

For $50 more, you can upgrade the CPU to an Intel Atom Z530 (1.6Ghz).

You can pick up the Inspiron Mini 10 with the HD display here:
- Dell Home and Home Office Store

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