14 DAY TRIAL // Acer may not be planning on entering the tablet business and it also means to put its e-readers on hold, but it definitely has no intention of getting lazy when it comes to notebooks and netbooks. Recently, reports suggested that the second largest PC supplier might face strong competition from HP, Samsung and ASUS, but, now, it seems that Acer is already working on a new laptop line meant to increase its stature.
Digitimes reports that the Taiwanese company is already working on a new series of ultrathin laptops, based on Intel's Calpella platform. All these mobile computers will be less than one inch thick and will come in 13-inch, 14-inch and 15-inch variations.
The report also states that, according to Acer Chairman JT Wang, CULV laptop sales have dramatically decreased because their weak performance was not outweighed by the bonus in battery life. As such, Acer will be using the Calpella instead of the CULV, so as to bring higher performance and portability together.
The company will supposedly be naming its upcoming lineup Calpella Slim. Of these new devices, the 13-inch laptops will supposedly be manufactured by Wistron, whereas Quanta Computer will be responsible with making the 14-inch and 15-inch models. This might prove rather profitable for these two, considering that sales of Calpella Slim notebooks are predicted to reach as much as ten million. This amount of shipments is expected to boost Quanta's on-month growth in March and to improve Wistron's on-month notebook shipments by 30%.
In order to encourage sales, and to increase the chances of the new laptops reaching the intended amount of shipments, Acer will supposedly reduce the prices of its existing ultrathin notebooks in order to separate them from the Calpella line. In the end, ultrathin laptop models are expected to make up about 30% to 40% of Acer's total notebook shipments for 2010.