14 DAY TRIAL // There is a certain wind of change blowing over at Packard Bell, a company that was acquired by the worldwide leading systems vendor Acer. After introducing its high-end iPower GX gaming notebook last week, the company also announced its very first portable system computer, specifically designed to meet the requirements of today's quickly developing netbook market.
Packard Bell has decided to enter this already over-crowded market segment with the release of dot, an 8.9-inch netbook that will have to compete with other major names like the Aspire One, Eee PC 901, MSI U90 and others. As is the case with the above-mentioned products, Packard Bell's solution has also been designed to accommodate Intel's already famous Atom N270 CPU, running at a good 1.6GHz.
“We've been watching netbooks ever since they first appeared. But we've always considered them too austere and too business oriented for consumers," says Sales & Marketing Vice President at Packard Bell, Emmanuel Fromont. "So we told our designers and engineers to rethink the netbook, to look at it through the eyes of a family, not a company. The result is the dot.” Fromont adds.
The dot will boast 1 GB of RAM memory and a maximum storage capacity of 160GB. In addition to that, the upcoming netbook will be provided with a 6-cell battery, a feature that perfectly fits this ultra-portable system and that is necessary to provide a battery life as long as possible. As with most other netbooks, Packard Bell's dot will sport 3 USB ports, a 5-in-1 card reader, built-in Wi-Fi, integrated webcam and an optional 3G module.
Aside from all that, the Windows XP-enabled netbook will also offer users a product that benefits from Packard Bell's overall experience in designing portable computer systems. Regarding pricing and availability, the company has announced that the dot netbook will become available in Europe starting this November, for an estimated starting price tag of €399.