14 DAY TRIAL // Acer's upcoming Pine Trail-based mobile computing platform was hinted at about three weeks ago, even as MSI, HP, Samsung, Dell and Toshiba also revealed, whether officially or not, their upcoming Pineview netbook models. The Acer Aspire AO532h will be the first Pineview-powered netbook that Acer releases this year and will last for up to eight or ten hours on battery power, depending on the battery itself.
"These new Aspire One netbooks offer mobile users some of the features and performance of a larger notebook, while providing a highly portable, compact design that's easy to take anywhere," Ray Sawall, senior manager of product marketing for Acer America, said. "Consumers can browse the Internet, check email, share photos, enjoy their entertainment applications, and even get work done wherever their travel takes them."
As most netbooks that have been released recently, the device is built with a 10.1-inch screen and is powered by the Mobile Intel NM10 Express Chipset and the Intel Atom N450 central processing unit. The screen itself is a WSVGA CrystalBrite LED-backlit display with a maximum resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. To the 1.66 GHz processor with 512KB L2 cache and 667MHz FSB are added 1GB of RAM and GMA 3150 integrated graphics for performance, while the storage space is provided by a 160GB hard drive.
The laptop makes use of a multi-gesture touchpad, three USB 2.0 ports, a 93%-seized keyboard and a built-in Multi-in-1 digital media card reader. The device also features a built-in webcam and stereo speakers and uses the Acer InviLink Nplify 802.11b/g/Draft-N Wi-Fi for connectivity.
The netbook will come with the Windows 7 Starter edition pre-installed and its 6-cell Li-ion battery will be either a 4400 mAh model (for a battery life of up to eight hours) or a stronger, 5600 mAh version capable of pushing the battery life to up to ten hours.
The Acer Aspire AO532h netbook measures 10.17" (W) x7.28" (D) x .99" (H), weighs 2.76 lbs. (1.25 kg) and comes colored in onyx blue, garnet red and silver matrix. It will start selling during the second half of the month and will have a minor estimated retail price of $299.99.