The PC Report

If you feel like being an early adopter to 3D display technology then the Acer GD235HZ might interest you. It’s a 23.6-inch 16:9 120Hz display that is fully compatible with Nvidia’s 3D Vision shutter glasses, and is therefore perfect for 3D gaming, if you have a compatible Nvidia graphics card that is. It’s also got a 1920×1080 resolution so it’ll be perfect for Blu-ray 3D movies when they start being released.

The monitor will set you back US$399, so it’s more than your standard 24″ display, and the Nvidia 3D Vision kit will set you back a further US$199. If you really want 3D right now though, go ahead because the monitor is available now.

Looks like we have another contender for the netbook Pine Trail competition. Acer’s Aspire One AO532h is nothing special, really: it has a fairly standard 10″ display in a fairly standard looking case. It packs the latest Intel Atom “Pineview” N450 processor at 1.6GHz, GMA 1350 graphics, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive – again, nothing particularly special apart from the Pineview CPU.

It does pack a 4,400 mAh six-cell battery that is stated to last for 10 hours without a recharge, which isn’t bad although we’re always skeptical of battery life claims. It will come loaded with Windows 7 Starter Edition for US$299, which is cheaper than the other two Pine Trail netbooks we’ve seen (the Asus Eee PC 1001P and 1005P/PE). You should be able to grab one in the coming weeks.

It’s got a long name, and it’s mighty powerful – the Acer Aspire 8942G-728G1280TWN is the first laptop to use DirectX 11 for next generation graphics. But it’s not only this that makes this laptop so good, it also packs a 1.6GHz Core i7 mobile processor, 8GB of DDR3 RAM and the latest ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 graphics to push out the DirectX 11 graphics with (hopefully) amazing frame rates.

The laptop also packs an 18-inch full HD (1920×1080) LED display, dual 640GB hard drives for excessive amounts of storage and an 8-cell battery that probably lasts just over 30 minutes while gaming. Oh, and it will kill your back carrying it; it weighs close to 4.6 kg. We have no idea when it will ship, apart from the “2010″ ballpark and the price is still unclear but it’ll be expensive. Really expensive.

While it may seem like a gimmick to some people, I really like the ability that touchscreens give to devices, including laptops (of course, alongside a proper keyboard and trackpad). The Acer Aspire 5768PG seems to be a good choice for people like me: a 15″ touchscreen display along with Windows 7 Home Premium launching October 22nd – of course, if it makes it over here to Australia

Along with the aforementioned 15.6″ touchscreen, the Aspire 5738PG will come with a 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo, ATI Radeon HD 4570 graphics, 320GB of storage and 4GB of DDR3 RAM alongside the usual array of connectivity features including WiFi a/b/g/n, webcam and HDMI out. If you lust for a touchscreen to go alongside your Windows 7 installation, you’ll be able to grab this laptop for around US$799.

Another Atom device has been released today – but it it’s not a netbook for once, more  a business nettop. Packing an Atom N280 at 1.66 GHz, 2GB of RAM and a 160GB HDD along with GMA 4500 graphics and the standard connectivity options there isn’t much that makes this different from the next nettop.

However it does have a nice look to it, and the ability to hook to the back of monitors (see below) is a nifty feature for around the office. The way it’s mounted has the power button along with some important ports (USB, card-reader and audio) at the top which is nice. And all this comes only for the price of US$399 – check out Acer’s website if you want one

Read the rest of this entry »

Digitimes is saying that two of the biggest companies netbook wise are halting their development of new netbooks until the first quarter of 2010. Both companies are stopping making new netbooks with the Atom N200 series and are waiting on the next-gen portable CPU – Intel’s Pine Trail said to be released around early 2010. Acer is also postponing its dual-boot XP/Android machine because “demand for an Android netbook is not strong enough”

Still, both companies will keep releasing thin ultraportables between now and then, with ASUS planning new 12/14 inch models for August and Acer developing “models featuring discrete graphics cards and an optical drive based on market demand.” We’ll just have to wait to see how that goes