New Acer Netbooks Hits 11.6-inch Territory

Acer has unveiled its latest AspireOne, the first netbook with an 11.6-inch screen.

When is a netbook no longer a netbook? Given the recent ‘expansion’ of the segment, we’re not sure anymore. Today’s netbooks are greatly different from the original Asus Eee PC with its 7-inch screen, as the latest models come with 10.1-inch displays with large hard drives and even an integrated optical drive.

The line blurs once again with Acer’s announcement of an 11.6-inch AspireOne. To be clear, it’s the display size that sets it apart from other netbooks, but otherwise the spec sheet will invoke a very strong sense of déjà vu with an Intel Atom stuck to the US15W chipset, a 160 GB HDD, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth and optional 3G.

Other notable features of the 11.6-inch AspireOne, but not completely unique to it, is a “multi-gesture” trackpad. It’s unknown if this is similar to the Elan trackpads on the Asus Eee PCs, but Acer describes its own as “allowing you to leaf through pages in the same manner as of a newspaper and allowing you to zoom with just a touch.”

The upcoming netbook should also be fairly sleek, with thickness at just under 1 inch and a weight of 2.2 lbs with a 6-cell battery. Check out more images of the netbook at Engadget.

Acer has not revealed pricing or availability, but we’ll keep you posted.