The Taiwanese PC vendor Acer has shifted its attention from the consumer market to the small- and midsized-business sector with its low-cost Extensa 4620 notebook. Surprisingly, the notebook has been first released on the North American market. The 14.1-inch low-cost notebook comes in two flavors: the Intel Core 2 Duo and the Pentium dual-core processor.

Acer is trying to get back its market share in the US and has adopted a low-price sales policy for the Extensa 4620 notebook. The Pentium-based laptop sells for $699, while the more powerful Core 2 Duo model starts at $799.

According to Acer spokespersons, this aggressive strategy is alleged to allow the company to face the smashing competition of industry giants such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell that dominate the North-American market. Some other dangerous competitors are the Asia-Pacific based PC Vendors such as Toshiba and Lenovo, that sell their notebooks for about the same price as Acer (about $699).

According to IDC's analyst Doug Bell, the sub-notebook vendors make fortunes out of SMB services and not out of selling hardware. "In many cases, the vendors' real value comes from the service to the SMB client, and not so much the box. Lowering the [average sale price] is a great way to get in and gain share. � SMBs need more of an IT package, rather than a cheap PC."

Back in August 2007, Acer has purchased Gateway for $710 million, in order to increase its presence on the retail channel on the American continent. The same consumer line allowed Acer grow as a company at an accelerated pace: Gartner estimates that in the third quarter, the company increased its worldwide PC shipments by more about 58 percent over 2006, but heavy shipment is expected as a result of Acer owning the PC vendor Gateway.