As mentioned below, Acer is joining HP, Dell and others in launching a subnotebook to compete with the new Asus Eee PC range. The machine was unveiled at Computex in Taiwan.
According to Acer:
The result is a masterpiece of technological simplicity with an intuitive and specifically optimized software interface to support connectivity needs. At just 24 x 17 cm and weighing less than one kilo, the Aspire one is not only extremely compact (smaller than an average office diary) but offers numerous connectivity possibilities, a full and easy-to-use software application suite and a battery life of up to 6 hours.
Well, three hours as normal, with a Flash memory drive, which usually means 2.5 if you're lucky. The six hours requires the optional 6-cell battery.
The interface is Linpus Linux Lite with four panels for Connect, Works, Fun and Files, but there's the option of Microsoft Windows XP.
The Aspire One has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor with 512MB or 1GB of RAM (with a free slot for expansion), either an 8GB Flash driver or an 80GB hard drive, and an 8.9 inch 256K-colour screen with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. Graphics are provided by a Mobile Intel 945GSE Express chipset. It also has three USB ports, an Ehternet port, and an external monitor port, and one nice extra feature is the 5-in-1 card reader.
The Acer One's dimensions are 249 x 170 x 29mm (9.8 x 6.7 x 1.14 inches) and the weight is 995g (2.19 lbs) assuming you have the SSD and a 3-cell battery.
In sum, it's extremely similar to the Asus Eee PC901, except for throwing in a card reader and offering a hard drive option.
But it will be interesting to see what the keyboard is like. Acer says: "The Aspire One features a 95% full-sized keyboard for natural, easy typing just like you're used to." As a touch-typist, I'm looking for something as close as possible to my old IBM ThinkPad 240X ultraportable, and that had a 95% keyboard. (Unfortunately, the 240X has been made obsolete by progress: it has a maximum 192MB of memory and an 800 x 600 screen.)
