Nov 16

AT&T adds Samsung Go to netbook lineup, dumbs it down with Windows 7 Starter

Posted in: att, netbook, samsung, Today's Chili

AT&T just added a pair of Windows 7 Starter netbooks to its stable, and while we’ve got nothing against the Samsung Go and the Acer Aspire One, we just can’t help but feel preloading 7 Starter makes the already-dubious subsidized netbook value proposition even worse. Let’s break it down: both the Go and the Aspire One will set you back $199 upfront (well, after mail-in rebate), and then you’re on the hook for two-year data contract, which will cost you either $35 a month for a 200MB cap or $60 a month for a 5GB cap. Now, $35 a month for 200MB of data is basically worthless for a netbook — that’s what, a half-day of watching YouTube? — so assuming you do what most people do and buy the $60 plan, you’re out at least $1,639 over two years for last-gen netbook hardware running a gimped OS that doesn’t even let you change the desktop wallpaper. Not exactly a screaming deal. We’d say you’re much better off finding a netbook with XP on sale and just getting a regular free-on-contract USB data card, which you’ll be able to use on multiple machines — or, if you absolutely must have Windows 7, holding out for the coming flood of Pine Trail netbooks at CES, which we’re hoping will come preloaded with 7 Home Premium.

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AT&T adds Samsung Go to netbook lineup, dumbs it down with Windows 7 Starter originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 16

Acer Aspire Timeline 1820PT convertible hits Australia, gets specs

Posted in: laptop, multitouch, notebook, tablet, Today's Chili, windows 7, Windows7
Acer’s Aspire Timeline 1820PT lit up our radar today after going official in Italy and arriving unheralded on the company’s Australian site. Yet another 11.6-inch convertible notebook, this guy ships with Windows 7 Home Premium and features both multitouch display and touchpad, up to 1366 x 768 display resolution, an Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 (1.2GHz) processor, GMA X4500MHD, up to 8GB RAM and 320GB storage, 3G, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. In addition to all that, this bad boy sports the usual ins ‘n outs, including HDMI and a card reader, and boasts an eight hour battery life. Sounds like the company’s 1820P, eh? We thought so too. No word yet on price or stateside availability, but you can get a closer look in the gallery below, and be sure to peep the specs after the break.

Gallery: Acer Aspire Timeline 1820PT

[Via Netbooked]

Continue reading Acer Aspire Timeline 1820PT convertible hits Australia, gets specs

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Acer Aspire Timeline 1820PT convertible hits Australia, gets specs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 06

ASUS to dizzy eyes with G51J3D and G72GX 3D laptops

Posted in: ASUS, laptop, Today's Chili

Well, lookie here. ASUS has just jumped in on the 3D bandwagon. Just a few weeks after the 5738DG was unveiled, two more 3D laptops are now said to be on tap. Yeah — as if the planet really needs another duo of laptops that require glasses to fully enjoy. All misplaced bitterness aside, the 15.6-inch G51J3D and 17.3-inch G72GX both tout a fairly respectable NVIDIA GPU (the 1GB GeForce GTX 160M was specifically mentioned in the former), and while the tester was indeed stuck looking like the dude above (exactly like that dude, in fact), he felt that the 3D playback was nothing short of incredible. Both machines will also be equipped with a Core i7 processor, oodles of HDD space and the ability to show off 3D content to up to 15 people who circle around it. We’re told that the G51J3D will ship out next month, while the G72GX won’t land until Q2 2010 (at least in the UK).

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ASUS to dizzy eyes with G51J3D and G72GX 3D laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 05

Acer Liquid handled, evaluated, ‘not too shabby’

Posted in: Android, processor, qualcomm, smartphone, snapdragon, Today's Chili

Looks like quite a few folks have got their hands on the Acer Liquid as of late, and lucky for us they’ve been rather loose-lipped with their thoughts on the subject. As suspected, the handset is running a 1GHz Snapdragon that’s been under-clocked to 768MHz. And it looks like Acer didn’t go crazy with the User Experience either, pretty much staying true to its Google Android 1.6 roots, albeit with a number of additions, including: social networking integration (Facebook and Flickr contacts and photo sharing), nemoPlayer for multimedia files, DataViz for Microsoft Exchange support, and the Spinlets music streaming service. In addition, Acer has redesigned some of the widgets, including the clock and the task manager, which now includes a preview of open apps. All-in-all, it seems to be a pretty solid Android handset with a few useful additions — but as always, the verdict is out until we get our hands on one. In the meantime, hit up the read links below for a generous helping of screenshots, hands-on pics, and impressions.

[Via JK On The Run]

Read – PREVIEW: Acer Liquid Android 1.6 WVGA Touchscreen Smartphone
Read – Acer A1, Screenshot and Interface

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Acer Liquid handled, evaluated, ‘not too shabby’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 03

Acer wants the Aspire 8940 to be your Core i7-packing portable of choice

Posted in: CoreI7, intel, Today's Chili

You’d think you’ve seen all the Windows 7 holiday laptops to last you through this yuletide season, but in comes Acer with another offering, the Core i7-packing Aspire 8940. The 18.4-inch 1080p widescreen monitor brings with it a NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M, Blu-ray drive, 600GB HDD, and 4GB RAM. Let’s also throw in a webcam, 802.11 a/b/g Draft-N, webcam, multi-card reader, HDMI and eSATA ports and a 8-cell Li-Ion battery for good measure. Quite a hefty number, so expect a little bit of workout if you’re wanting to haul this around. Suggested price is $1,349 and all we know of the release date is “holiday season” so it should be safe to add this to your wishlist.

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Acer wants the Aspire 8940 to be your Core i7-packing portable of choice originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 02

Acer Liquid’s Snapdragon processor to be clocked at just 768MHz?

Posted in: Android, processor, qualcomm, smartphone, snapdragon, Today's Chili

Ugh. Just weeks after we figured that Acer’s first Android-based handset would indeed ship with a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a new slide over at an international Liquid presentation is suggesting otherwise. As you can clearly see above, it looks as if the Qualcomm-sourced CPU will be underclocked to just 768MHz, which makes little to no sense on the surface. Granted, most average consumers couldn’t care less about the CPU in their next smartphone, but it seems reasonable to think that the Liquid will lag behind its 1GHz contemporaries when used side-by-side. Who knows though — maybe this is just the thing necessary to squeeze a full week of battery life out of this thing. Or not.

[Via MobileTechWorld, thanks Gully and Jose]

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Acer Liquid’s Snapdragon processor to be clocked at just 768MHz? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 29

Acer debuts 23-inch T230H multitouch monitor

Posted in: monitor, multitouch, Today's Chili
Acer hasn’t exactly been slacking when it comes to Windows 7-related hardware, but it looks like its still putting the final touches on its launch line-up, with it now rolling out a new multitouch monitor to complement its range of laptops and desktops. What’s more, at a full 23-inches, the company’s new T230H monitor best similar offerings from Dell and HP in terms of sheer size, and it packs some respectable specs across the board, including a full 1920 x 1080 resolution, a 2ms response time, a promised 80,000:1 contrast ratio (take that with the usual grain of salt), and an HDMI port in addition to DVI and VGA. Still no official word on US pricing, it seems, but this one will apparently run €349 in Europe (or just over $500).

[Via Engadget Korea]

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Acer debuts 23-inch T230H multitouch monitor originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 29

Acer Aspire One AOD250 impressions: Android gone bad

Posted in: Android, Features, netbook, Today's Chili

We admit, we were pretty stoked when we first saw the Acer Aspire One AOD250 running Android in dual-boot mode. What could possibly be bad about it? Fast start-up, Google apps… other good things that aren’t coming to mind at the moment… what could go wrong? Turns out, just about everything. See, the Aspire One AOD250 has an unfortunate lack of Google blessing, so that means no Gmail, which is really Android’s killer app, and no Marketplace either — so no opportunity to track down a different killer app. You can use your Google account for hooking up with Gcal, Gtalk and Google Contacts, but your Gmail account gets set up as a webmail shortcut to the included Firefox app — which does an alright, slightly hacked-on job of augmenting the standard Android browser, including support for Flash. Unfortunately, with connection woes over WiFi and Ethernet (as seen on the video), there wasn’t much redeemable even there, and perhaps the best news about the device is that it can be fully booted to XP at any time by clicking on the corner of Android’s home screen. We still think there’s promise for Android on a netbook, but it’s going to need some serious TLC (also, Gmail) before it’s ready for prime time. Check out our video impressions after the break.

Continue reading Acer Aspire One AOD250 impressions: Android gone bad

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Acer Aspire One AOD250 impressions: Android gone bad originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 23

Aspire 1420p tablet cameos on Acer’s US site, at Chinese press event

Posted in: multitouch, tablet, Today's Chili

He’s twisting away from the camera because he’s shy, obviously. Acer’s Aspire 1420p tablet made an appearance today at a Chinese press event, and our regional Engadget correspondents were there to grab as many glimpses as their cameras would allow. What makes it even sweet, though, is knowing this little guy’s coming to the states, as a rough product page was found on Acer’s US site. From what we read, it’s got a 11.6-inch LED-backlit multitouch screen with WXGA resolution, an Intel Celeron processor with integrated graphics, up to 8GB RAM and 320GB HDD, 802.11b/g/Draft-N, Bluetooth, a multi-card reader, webcam, and optional 3G. Some secrets remain, of course, like price and release date — where’s Encyclopedia Brown when you really need him?

[Thanks, Dennis L]

Read – US product page
Read – Engadget Chinese hands-on

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Aspire 1420p tablet cameos on Acer’s US site, at Chinese press event originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 23

Acer’s Aspire Z5610 all-in-one spotted in the wild

Posted in: Today's Chili
Acer’s Aspire Z5610 all-in-one desktop certainly stood out from the pack when the company announced it last week, and it looks like it also managed to impress in person — at least if Le Journal du Geek‘s brief hands-off look at it is any indication. As you can see above, that includes a glimpse at the desktop’s nifty ambient lighting system (which we presume can be turned off), a look at the system’s slim profile, and a peek at the port situation ’round back. The site also reports that the system will be available on October 30th in France, although Acer still isn’t saying more specific than “this holiday season” for a release over here. Hit up the link below for a closer look.

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Acer’s Aspire Z5610 all-in-one spotted in the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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