I was window-shopping from Amazon again when this popped out, the product page for the Acer Aspire S3. It’s original price is $899.99 but you can now get the ultrabook for $799.99. Save $100.

For that price you get a machine with the following specs:

• 13.3″ HD Widescreen CineCrystal LED-backlit Display: (1366 x 768) resolution
• 2nd generation Intel Core i5-2467M Processor 1.6GHz
• Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 128MB of dedicated system memory
• 320GB SATA Hard Drive
• 20GB SSD Drive
• 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED; Bluetooth 4.0+HS
• 1.3MP HD Webcam (1280 x 1024)
• 3-cell Lithium polymer Battery; Up to 6-hours battery life

I was really thinking of getting myself a MacBook Pro when I finally upgrade my Windows 7 laptop but the Acer Aspire S3 looks like a good choice too.

The Acer Aspire One AOD270, Acer’s first Cedar Trail netbook, is finally up for pre-order from Amazon.

Tech specs include:

• 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N2600 Processor
• 1 GB DDR3 SDRAM
• 320 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
• 10.1-Inch WSVGA LED-backlit Display
• Intel GMA 3600 Graphics
• Windows 7 Starter, 8 Hours of Battery Life

The Cedar Trail processors won’t make a super machine out of your netbook but there are marked improvememts from the Intel Atom processors such as more powerful graphics as well as Intel’s WiDi wireless display technology, although not all Cedar Trail machines will have the latter.

The Acer Aspire One AOD270 also comes in aquamarine, burgundy red and espresso black for $279.99, while the seashell white model is $279.99.

The ultrabook market is heating up. Acer is introducing three new ultrabooks into their lineup, the Aspire S5 with a 13.3-inch display and two Acer Timeline ultrabooks.

The Acer Aspire S5 comes with an Intel Core i-series processor and solid state disk, and will feature quick boot and quick resume from sleep as well as “Smart Connect”.

According to Acer, it should be available by the second quarter of 2012.

The new Timeline Ultra notebooks will be added to their thin and light laptops. They will measure 14- and 15-inches and will have optical disks. Despite that, both models will only be about 0.79 inches thick. You will also be able to choose between a solid state drive or a hard drive. Battery life is said to reach 8 hours on a single charge.

These models will join the Acer Aspire S3 in the ultrabook category for Acer in the first quarter of 2012.

SOURCE: Liliputing

The Lenovo IdeaPad S110 isn’t the only netbook coming with the new Intel Cedar Trail processor. Acer is also going to be releasing one, the Acer Aspire One D270 (AOD270) that will come with the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N2600 processor.

There’s little to be said about the new netbook but it’s supposed to come with a 10.1″ screen, 1GB of RAM and 320GB hard drive as well as Hyperthreading and a 400MHz embedded graphics core.

This will be Acer’s first Cedar Trail netbook.

Pricing is €250 ($324 US) for a 3-cell model and €269 ($348 US) for a 6-cell model.

Stay tuned!

SOURCE: Netbook News

We’ve seen the Ultrabooks slowly creeping their way into the market although we can’t say that it has made its mark. Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors which will run more ultrabooks in the future is expected to come out in March, so Ultrabook production hasn’t really kicked in. Early adopters can expect to get devices for $800 to more than $1,500. The Acer Aspire S3 is currenly available from Amazon for $888.99. The Toshiba Portege S835 and the HP Folio Ultrabook are also expected to carry the same price tag. These machines are definitely higher end, thinner, lighter, faster than their notebook/netbook counterparts but in order for them to actually sell, prices would definitely need to be lowered.

DigiTimes reports that Acer president, Jim Wong, sees that happening. He says that prices will likely be $799 by the second quarter of 2012, and could actually sink even lower to $499 by 2013. Made me think of “good things come to those who wait”. Question though, isn’t this Catch-22 in play? In order for Ultrabooks to sell, they’re going to have to lower their prices. But in order for them to lower their prices, Ultrabooks have to be able to sell to justify the ramp in the supply?

Because right now, you look at an Ultrabook and think “it’s pretty and pretty expensive” then move on to get a less expensive machine with generally the same capabilities. Or, if you’re practical and can set your standards low, get a netbook. You can easily get four netbooks for the price of one Ultrabook.

Early adopters will and have clamored to get their hands on these machines, but as I said, good things (might) come if we give it a few more years.

The Acer Chromebook originally launched for $350 some time ago, but you can now pick one up for the discounted price of $299.99 from Amazon.

Specs include the following:

• Intel Atom N570 Processor
• 2GB DDR3 Memory
• 16GB Solid State Drive
• 11.6″ HD Widescreen CineCrystal LED-backlit LCD
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150
• Google Chrome OS
• 6 Hour Battery Life

Chromebooks are basically netbooks that run on Google Chrome OS instead of Android or Windows. Iy comes with a tiny 16GB Solid State Drive as it runs on the idea that you can store all your date in an online cloud. The SSD is for documents, pictures, music, movies or files you’d like to store locally and access even without Internet access.

They generally have larger screens and keyboards but has fewer functionality as a typical netbook as Chromebooks run web apps instead of native applications. Windows and Android netbooks can run both and are lower priced. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that Chromebooks hasn’t really caught on since everything you can do on a Chromebook, you can also do on a netbook.

UPDATE: Looks like it’s already out of stock from Amazon.

Acer is launching a new model of their ultrabook. The Acer Aspire S3-951-6697 packs a 1.7GHz Intel Core i7-2637M processor. The rest of the specs include a 4GB of RAM, 240GB solid state disk, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, 2 USB 2.0 ports, and HDMI port. There’s a 1.3MP webcam, SD card reader and a 3280mAh battery thrown in too. It’s going to be available really soon for about $1,299.99.

Acer is one of the first companies to release an ultrabook, with the Acer Aspire S3-951-6646 Ultrabook, a 13.3-inch machine with a 2nd Gen Intel Core i5 processor. It also comes with a hybrid storage, a solid state disk for the operating system as well as a hard drive for additional storage.

The older model is still available from Amazon for $838.99.

Notebook Italia has spotted upgraded their AMD-powered 10″ Acer Aspire One 522 and 11.6″ Aspire One 722 with the newer AMD C-60 processors as well as more powerful Radeon HD 6290 graphics. While it’s not a major upgrade nor will it revolutionize netbook technology, this upgrade will allow your new netbook to be a smidge more powerful than the older models.

The Acer Aspire One 522 comes with a 10.1″ 1280 x 720 pixel display with 1GB RAM. The older models are still available from Amazon. The Olive Green one is available for $324.77.

The Acer Aspire One 722 come with an 11.6″ 1366 x 768 pixel display. It can also come with up to 4GB of RAM and up to 500GB of storage. Again, the old model is also still available from Amazon. You can get the HD netbook (in Aquamarine) is priced at $374.99.

We’re going to have to wait for word as to if and when it will reach the States, but they’re available in Europe.

Hey look! Samsung has already dropped prices on their Series 5 Chromebooks. A quick check on Amazon.com shows that both the 3G and the WiFi models have dropped as much as $50.

The Samsung Series 5 3G Chromebook gets a $50 price cut, bringing the price down to $449.99 from it’s original $499.99. The Series 5 Wi-Fi Chromebook gets a $30 cut from its original $429.99 down to $399.99.

We’re still actually waiting for Chromebooks to take off. Maybe because people are wary of new concepts? Or because Chromebooks sounds rather limited with only a web browser to run it. Maybe a lower price tag will help? Acer’s Chromebooks are cheaper though. The Acer AC700-1529 Chromebook (3G) is cheaper at $429.99. The Acer AC700-1099 Chromebook (Wi-Fi) is currently at $349.00.

So the Acer Chromebook AC700 (WiFi) had finally started shipping from Amazon for $349.00. They’d also come up with a 3G version for $429.00 which will come with 100MB of free data pero month for the first two years from Verizon Wireless. You’d need to sign a contract with the wireless carrier if you need more 3G bandwidth than that though.

For $349.00, you get the WiFi version with the following specs:

• 11.6″ HD Widescreen CineCrystal™ LED-backlit LCD: (1366 x 768)
• Dual-core Intel Processor
• 2GB DDR3 Memory
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150
• 16GB Solid State Drive
• 1.3 Megapixel HD Webcam (1280 x 1024)
• High-Definition Audio Support, Two Built-in Speakers
• 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED
• 2- USB 2.0 Ports, 1- HDMI Port
• Full-sized Chrome Keyboard with dedicated keys for the web, Oversized, Multi-touch Touchpad
• Memory card slot for storing photos, music, and video
• 6 hours of continuous use
• 3.2 lbs (system unit only)