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Acer Could Exit Netbook Market

  Submitted by fran Hardware 7 Comments

“Acer is developing a pair of Intel-based tablets in what could be a wider exit from the entire netbook category, the company’s Taiwan sales manager Lu Bing-hsian said on Tuesday. […] The seven- and 10-inch slates would use quad-core versions of Sandy Bridge-era Core processors but, reportedly, run on Android rather than Windows 7. Rather than serve as complements, they were directly intended to help in “phasing out netbooks,” IDG was told.”

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7 Comments

  1. 2011-01-18 7:31 pm
    fran

    When low power cpu’s become so powerful, for instance a future nVidia Tegra 3

    Will mobile gaming be a better experience on netbooks or tablets?

    • 2011-01-18 7:57 pm
      Neolander

      Depends on the kind of games you’re playing, I’d say.

      If you like the simple spirit of mobile and browser-based games where you can safely disconnect your brain while playing, this is good news.

      If you like complex games which would require more than just a big touchscreen to reach their full potential, then this is bad news.

      I happen to like both, depending on the time of the day and other unpredictable factors, so for me this should be both good and bad news ^^

      Edited 2011-01-18 19:58 UTC

    • 2011-01-19 5:21 am
      Liquidator

      Netbooks > Tablets

      Hands down.

  2. 2011-01-18 8:58 pm
    Praxis

    I find it hard to believe acer would abandon the low priced notebook segment entirely and thats pretty much what netbooks are these days. They started off as 7 inch latops with atom, then 10 inch laptops, then 11 and 12 inch laptops. Netbooks have always been more about the price than the form factor and right now decent tablets are more expensive than ‘netbooks’ and a intel tablet would be more expensive. However the netbook buzz word has worn off. Now they are just cheap sub $400 or maybe $500 laptops.

  3. 2011-01-18 10:40 pm
    3rdalbum

    I have an Android smartphone and an Aspire One netbook.

    The netbook is useful for if I want to type anything, or work with USB devices, or plug into a wired-only network, or if I want to do stuff with photos from camera cards, or if I want to record audio, etc…

    For simple web browsing I can use the phone, but writing a message such as this one is something you really need a physical keyboard for. None of these “OMG we have to release an iPad competitor!” tablets can replace my netbook.

    And don’t suggest I buy a full-size laptop – those things are barely portable at all. Ultra-portables are too expensive and still usually too big – I don’t want a big screen.

  4. 2011-01-19 12:54 am
    darknexus

    I wonder how many people care? Even if Acer exits the market, there will be others. I’ve never had good luck with Acer machines anyway, something always goes wrong with them within the first year. Tablets can’t replace my netbook; there’s nothing like a tactile keyboard when you actually need to write something. Perhaps a hybrid tablet with both a touch screen and a slide-out keyboard could, but no one seems to be creating these. Oh well, if Acer does stop making netbooks, it’ll only be their loss when the tablet buzz dies away.