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Archive for August 2nd, 2009

No New Netbooks from Acer and Asus Until 2010

August 2nd, 2009

No New Netbooks from Acer and Asus Until 2010

Both Asus and Acer will not release new models of the Netbook – for today.

According to Digitimes, both companies could be expected for the release of Intel’s new Pine Trail-M platform, which is planned around 1st Quarter 2010.

So what are these two companies to do for the rest of the year? Focus on ultra-thin notebooks instead. But still we have some new Netbook to Watch, particularly the Eee PC-T91, 101, and the Android-based Netbook has already been announced for a second half release.

After that I think we all need to wait until the 2nd Quarter of 2010 ahead of us to see more new Netbook coming our way. But that is only for Asus and Acer, and does not cover other Netbook manufacturers.

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Tags: Acer Asus netbook

Acer netbook gets 1080p HD upgrade

August 2nd, 2009

Acer netbook gets 1080p HD upgrade

Acer Netbook gets HD support through Broadcom BCM70012 video accelerators.

One of the main shortcomings in the Intel-based Netbook is the lack of support for HD playback. This is because of the weak onboard GMA 950, which is not powerful enough for high quality 1080p movies. The Intel Atom processors in most Netbook is also weak, with HD-media playback. The result is that HD content is not on most Watchable Netbook.

One possibility is to use Nvidia’s Ion platform, which supports HD-media playback via the onboard Geforce 9400M GPU. But it comes at a price higher than the conventional Intel-based systems and the life of the battery decreases.

The new Broadcom BCM70012 is published on a Netbook with a mini-PCI-e card and supports Full HD 1080p hardware decoding. This implies less burden on the CPU, all the while playing HD media easily. This new solution has been to Acer Aspire One Netbook Series and it worked flawlessly. Its low price is a big advantage, as well as power consumption of only 1 W at full load, making it ideal for cost-effective and energy efficient Netbook.