Acer to Replace Netbooks with Sandy Bridge Tabs
While many tablet makers are eying up Nvidia’s dual-core Tegra 2 for future products, Acer has plans to use Sandy Bridge in its tablets.
One of the bigger things to come out of CES (apart from more 3DTVs than you can shake a stick at and about a gazillion tablets) was Intel’s Sandy Bridge platform, and apparently Acer has every intention of embracing it. Acer Taiwan sales manager Lu Bing-hsian told ComputerWorld that the company will be launching two tablets later in the year and that both will boast Sandy Bridge under the hood.
Lu didn’t give us a whole lot to go on, but he did say that aside from Sandy Bridge, they’d run on Android, come in 7- and 10-inch flavors and are being launched with the intention of phasing out netbooks because, “That’s the direction of the market.” He said that though Acer would continue to manufacture netbooks, they would be simple models and they’d be churning out fewer compared to recent years.
No word on pricing just yet, but if Acer plans for these tablets to replace netbooks, they’ll need to be a little more full-featured compared to the likes of the Galaxy Tab or iPad. Earlier this year, the company showed off several tablet options that it had planned for 2011. Among them was the dual-screen 14-inch Iconia and a couple of smaller, nameless single screen options.
(via Electronista)
Same here. But these devices are targeted for surfing, light office work, and multimedia. If the interface is right, you won't be using a keyboard much. And if the price is right, it'll be a great device. I don't think they'll release these until Sandy Bridge is mature enough (lower power consumption, lower heat).
So is this about Lenovo or Acer??
Oops, thanks! Melty brain. All fixed now.
makes sense now that there's a lot tablets based on ARM already.
second thought "hmmm wonder how long the battery will last, 32nm is nice but i don't see it being as efficient as other options"
third thought "how are they gonna properly cool it... must be undervolted/clocked... but then is it really gonna be any better than anything else out there"
guess onyl time will tell to answer my questions >_<
Sandy Bridge
Android
wtf?
Have you ever tried using a Atom netbook? I usually a 3.7GHz i7 920, and the few times I've had to use one, I've wanted to tear my eyes out.
Here's one guy who's all for the Sandy Bridge. We had some great, ultra low voltage Core 2 chips, but the ULV i3's still had a significantly higher TDP. I don't care if the newer Atoms have a 1-2.5W TDP, I'm not running Windows 98 on them.
As for the keyboard, give me a kickstand and some bluetooth. I'll figure it out.
SB is not as battery draining as the previous generation.
In fact, I think the battery life comparison for laptops was something along the lines of 2x higher for SB ones.
Of course, since we are talking about tablets, my theory is that the SB cpu's used here will have to be clocked down a bit in order to have the same, if not better battery life.
Ivy Bridge would likely be a better solution due to it's smaller form factor though.
And I can definitely see netbooks going under because of this.
Besides, you can easily get an usb keyboard for pads now, so that solves that issue.
To be honest, I would find it very nice to own a tablet like this one, because I wouldn't have to haul my laptop along for the ride.