Acer–to stay on with the netbook

Articles

Acer will stop making cheap crap, but keep selling netbooks. Discuss. — Engadget

Acer VP: ‘We’re never gonna give netbooks up, let them down, run around and desert them’ | Engadget

My Comments

These articles had outlined the way the development of portable computers has become and the way Acer has stood on with the netbook computer even though other companies are dumping this product class and focusing on ultrabooks and tablets. This has been emphasised with their classy Aspire One series of netbooks which also use Android as an alternative operating system. Here they have worked on this product class and refined it so that it isn’t an ordinary product anymore.

On the other hand, Windows 8 and its “Metro” touchscreen user interface may legitimise the convertible notebook form factor where the notebook has a touchscreen on a swivel so it can be turned in to a tablet, an example of which is the Fujitsu TH550M which I reviewed previously. If Acer had developed a convertible netbook that had the touchscreen and ran Windows 8, they could create a perfect “bridge” product.

This is where one could benefit from a proper keyboard for text entry wile having a 10” touchscreen like all the good tablets have. It is in a similar way to how camera manufacturers have established the “bridge” cameras which could work as point-and-shoot cameras but had increased levels of configurability for advanced photographers, with some such cameras being able to work with accessory lenses or flashguns.

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