Ferrari Speeds Into Netbook Race
Acer will release a Ferrari-branded netbook next month without the sports car price.
Taiwanese manufacturer Acer plans to release a Ferrari-branded netbook next month based on its Intel-powered Aspire One netbook. Acer revealed the device at a recent launch event held at Ferrari's Monza racetrack, and admitted that it won't cost consumers and Ferrari fanboys the hefty pricetag associated with the infamous sports cars: it will instead cost around $727 USD on October 22. Splashed with hot red and branding the familiar prancing horse badge dead center, this netbook should raise a few eyebrows both visually and performance-wise... for a netbook, that is.
Under the hood, the netbook sports decent horsepower for the price, its engine consisting of AMD's 1.2 GHz dual core Athlon X2 L310 processor--backed by the M780G chipset--and AMD's ATI Radeon HD 3200 GPU graphics chip. The Acer netbook also provides a generous 11.6-inch display offering 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, and ATI XGP technology for external graphics expansion. Along with a six-cell rechargable battery to keep this sporty netbook revved for hours, the Ferrari One comes installed with 2 GB of memory, a 250 GB hard drive, a multi-format memory card reader, Bluetooth, Draft-N Wi-Fi, and 3G connectivity.
According to ITProPortal, the upcoming Windows 7 OS will come pre-installed (Premium or Starter) in addition to Dolby Home Theater, and will feature other notable bells and whistles like a chiclet keyboard, multitouch mousepad, and a stylish textured palm rest branded with the infamous Ferrari crest mounted on the right. Unfortunately, fans will still have to put up with the Windows and AMD Vision stickers on the palm rest however, glaring at consumers like ugly bumper stickers mounted on the left.
Look for the Acer Ferrari One to race onto store shelves next month just in time for Microsoft's debut of Windows 7.
- 802.11n Finalized After 7 Years in the Making
- Bethesda Sues Interplay Over Fallout Game
- Asus Eee Keyboard Launching in October
- iPod Touch Tear Down Shows Space for Camera
- AMD's Slides Showing That It's Faster Than Intel
- XFX's ATI Eyefinity Video is Unusual
- Intel Exec Pat Gelsinger Leaves for EMC
- Windows 7 Commercial Shows Strange Slideshow
- BioWare Wants More Sex in Games
- Intel Shows Off 32-nm Westmere CPU Wafer
- Microsoft Introduces Visual Search for Bing
- Apple Rumorama: Tablet in Feb '10, $800-$1000
- HP Envy Notebooks Have a Super Sweet Design
- Google Intros Fast Flip for Reading News Online
- DISASSEMBLED: The Zune HD
- Lightning SSDs Provide Crazy Fast Speeds
- HP Launches Ion-based Mini 311
- Lenovo Thinkpads X200, T400s Have Multitouch
Between the price, the size, and the performance, it's not really a netbook anymore... especially considering the price.
I'd consider it more an ultra-portable laptop that chooses a small footprint over being super-thin.
Ummm...no.
I guess Acer missed the memo. This product is not a netbook as it breaks a number of netbook specifications, making it a laptop:
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadge [...] 7start.jpg
I guess Acer missed the memo. This product is not a netbook as it breaks a number of netbook specifications, making it a laptop:http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadge [...] 7start.jpg
You're forgetting that Ferrari has enough money to break the rules just like they do in F1.
You're forgetting that Ferrari has enough money to break the rules just like they do in F1.
i'd have to argue that other teams break the rules rather than them. *cough*mclaren*cough*
I always wondered when we'd see this after noticing the acer logo on the Ferrari F60 formula 1 car. Not suprised that it's AMD based as Ferrari is also sponsored by AMD in F1 as are a good portion of the other teams. I think BMW-Sauber is Intel sporsored though.
Its a super pricey netbook!
opss.. its an affordable small laptop
It would have been funny if it cost $200.
I think the bulk of the $200 price overhead from a similiarly speced Acer model comes simply from the painting. Getting a nice auto finish can be a time consuming task if you don't have access to certain things.
A LADA logo would have made more sense! :-)
I would buy it if it costs $299 streetprice!
If it gets 5-8 hours straight battery life, I would have to say that it is one kick ass notebook.
yikes, its size doesnt make sense (to me) to be considered a netbook.
at least a 9-10 inch max would be, but 11? that has to be a notebook.
This is where some global organization like the IEEE comes out and says this is the requirements for netbooks vs. notebooks like they finally did with 802.11N. The only people who are capitalizing on this lack of public knowledge is netbook-driven manufacturers. I would say that 10 inches and below is netbook territory and not a blending of a non-standard 11.6".
How bout a Sportscar with a notebooks price!!
Did they miss the memo? Netbooks are for non-performance-oriented laptops. I'm not sure which demographic they're trying to reach with this one.
What's the difference in price with this and the sports car? They look the same 2 me...
I'm going to buy this after I douse my self with some ever potent Axe Body Spray and hair gel. I always go by the golden rule: The more a company spends on marketing, the more they must have spent on R&D.
forget it. I have a few acer laptops and all of them are flimsy. Keyboard key broke down only after 3 months, touchpad button becomes touch sensitive button (you know, the kind that you dont have to click, a mere touch would make it clicks)...
This is no longer a netbook.
well, I agree this is not really a netbook given the specs, but it is still a decent machine.. I have a Ferrari laptop a few years old and still goes strong; I don't know about other acer laptops, but they made a good product with their Ferrari line so far..
I am interested however when will any netbook manufacturer integrate the Pixel Qi screen (or something similar); that would be mmore useful than other bells and whistles.
Did the emblem on the front add to the price?
Did the emblem on the front add to the price?
Absolutely. Why do you think Macs are so expensive? It certainly isn't anything to do with more advanced hardware.
X2 L310 processor
Erm... what?
$727 for a netbook? That is a Ferrari price.
Yeah, $727 is a bit steep. And, this certainly isn't a netbook, as Zendax pointed out. Think I'll pass on this one.
HP's refreshed DV2 is the only other laptop that I know of to adopt AMD's Congo platform. I'll wait until both come out before making a decision.
It's probably the slowest Farrari money can buy!
$727 for a Ferrari netbook?
Sounds better than 70$ a month base plan for a phone that explodes when you try to use it.
*cough* ijob *cough*
with the AMD chipset, this notebook is better than the ION plateform. This netbook can be use to watch high definition materials.
ugh. AMD and ATI. Crap performance and bad for Linux then.
If it had intel and nVidia I might have bought one.
wouldn't that be like Ferrari launching a Honda jazz competitor...?