Acer to Replace Netbooks with Sandy Bridge Tabs

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)

  • zachary k
    i will take a full, physical keyboard over a pure touchscreen any day.
    Reply
  • Nakal
    It seems many tablets will have Keyboard Docks or bluetooth KB capability.
    Reply
  • megamanx00
    WTF? Well, I guess we'll see. It will be interesting to see how a Sandy bridge tablet would compare to one armed with AMDs Lano or some of the higher power ARM devices.
    Reply
  • zorky9
    zachary ki will take a full, physical keyboard over a pure touchscreen any day.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).
    Reply
  • kuroneko007
    No word on pricing just yet, but if Lenovo 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.

    So is this about Lenovo or Acer??
    Reply
  • shovenose
    Wait a minute...i didnt know Lenovo and Acer were the same company???
    Reply
  • JMcEntegart
    kuroneko007So is this about Lenovo or Acer??shovenoseWait a minute...i didnt know Lenovo and Acer were the same company???
    Oops, thanks! Melty brain. All fixed now.
    Reply
  • dEAne
    Yes if acer wants their tabs to be juicy to the consumer it must have lots of goodies and a good price not just having a sandy bridge cpu.
    Reply
  • FloKid
    Tablets are a lot better than laptops imo. Better mouse control, they just need to be more featured like Acer said. Keyboard may be more harder on touch, but there is always and option to make a slide out one, or just get used to it. I'd probably get one sometime, but why are there no tablets for pen touch, for drawing?
    Reply
  • tbq
    My next portable machine will likely be an Asus Eee PC T101MT, or its direct sucessor. It has the best of both worlds with a multi-touch surface and a real keyboard. All it really needs for me is an HDMI port and support for 4GB of DDR3.
    Reply