10-Inch Aspire One Goes on Sale in Hong Kong, Taiwan

Acer is reported to have started shipping its recently announced 10-inch version of the Aspire One netbook in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The PC vendor is now expected to continue its shipping plan, by making the netbook available for global markets, as soon as mid-February, according to market sources cited by Digitimes. In addition, it looks like retailers have already started to offer deals on Acer's first netbook, the 8.9-inch Aspire One, consequently preparing their stocks for the next generation of Aspire One netbooks.

 

According to a recent news-article on Digitimes, Acer, the world's third largest vendor of computer systems, has already begun shipping its new 10-inch Aspire One netbook to markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The company is said to have informed its panel partners that it may purchase up to nine million 10.1-inch panels in 2009, which indicates Acer's plans with the new netbook, in terms of sales. Also, according to an earlier statement, coming from the company's chairman, Mr. JT Wang, Acer is planning a more aggressive policy, targeting shipments of 12-15 million units, for its netbook business alone.

 

Following Hong Kong and Taiwan, other markets are expected to receive the new netbook in mid-February, with an approximate price tag of 400€, or about US$511. In the meantime, the 8.9-inch version of Acer's Aspire One netbook is now benefiting from a better deal, at select retailers and various online stores. For example, at Newegg.com, the netbook is priced at $239.99, offering users a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB storage on an SSD and a Linpus Linux lite OS. At Buy.com, the netbook is priced at $259.99, but this configuration sports a Windows XP operating system.

 

The new 10-inch version of the Aspire One netbook is built on Intel's highly successful Atom platform, featuring a 1.6GHz N270 processor, support for up to 1GB of DDR2 memory and a 160GB SATA hard drive. The system is said to weigh 1.33kg, with a 6-cell battery.