Nov 28, 2010 12:31 GMT  ·  By

Miniaturization has reached such a level nowadays that computer manufacturers are now able to equip even ultra-portable notebooks (bordering on netbooks) with powerful CPU solutions, one of the latest examples coming from Acer's subsidiary Gateway, who launched in Japan a 11.6-inch notebook packing an Intel Core i5 CPU.

[ADMARK=]As our Japanese colleagues from Akihabara News inform us, the EC19C-A52C / S, as this model is called, measures just around 285 x 204 x 25 ~ 28.9mm and weighs 1.35kg, but despite of this ultra-compact, ultra-portable dimensions, the system packs a lot more punch than the other solutions in this dimensions range.

So, Gateway has decided to equip their notebook with an Intel Core i5-470UM processor running at 1.33GHz, accompanied by the Mobile Intel HM55 Express chipset and up to 4GB of DDR3-1066 memory.

Furthermore, the device packs a 320GB SATA HDD and a 11.6-inch widescreen LCD with 1,366 x 768 pixels resolution.

The Gateway notebook packs plenty of connectivity and networking solutions, including 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX/1000BASE-T, IEEE802.11 b/g/n enabled wireless LAN, Bluetooth 3.0 + HS, USB 2.0 x 3 , HDMI, D-Sub, microphone input, headphone output, S / PDIF output.

Naturally, in order to enable fast and easy communications, the system also comes equipped with a 1.3-megapixel webcamera, built-in speakers and a built-in microphone.

Last, but certainly not least, we'll have to mention that this thing delivers about 6 hours of battery life and comes pre-loaded with the Windows 7 OS.

This ultra-compact, yet fairly powerful system got the official green-light on November 26 and will sell for somewhere in the vicinity of 65,000 Japanese Yen (the equivalent of roughly 775 US dollars), which, to be perfectly honest, is slightly expensive, unless you're actually looking for a device that combines the power of a Core i5 with an ultra-portable form factor.