It’s a nice little Eee PC competitor, with an 8.9-inch screen and powered by Intel’s Atom processor. There are a raft of ports, including three USBs, VGA output, ethernet, a dedicated SD card slot and 6-in-one card reader, plus microphone and headphone jacks. There’s both 802.11b/g and Bluetooth, with a webcam built in as well.
The Aspire one will come in two configurations – 8GB flash memory running Linpus linux (which Acer have customised for the Aspire One), or 80GB hard drive running Windows XP. At launch, it will be available in white and blue colours, with brown, pink and black models to follow from August.
UPDATE: Acer have just informed us that the Aspire One will come with a 120GB hard drive instead of the previously announced 80GB. There’s no changes to the price – which makes this an even more appealing device.
It’s a really nice little machine – especially for the price. The 8GB Linux version will cost just $599, while the 80GB XP version (which is coming a little bit later) will have a $100 premium.
When they launch later this month (hence the “sorta dated” in the title) they’ll come with a 3-cell battery, which can be upgraded to a 6-cell model, for a fee “around about the $100 mark”. But in October, Acer plans on shipping the 6-cell battery with all Aspire Ones by default, which makes it difficult to understand why anybody wouldn’t just wait a few months to get the larger battery for free.
In any case, it looks like an awesome little ultraportable. This category just keeps on getting better (and slightly more expensive at the same time), so stay tuned for more updates and a more thorough hands on in the near future.