You know the holiday season is just around the corner when the Black Friday ads start to leak onto the web. Black Friday, for the uninitiated is the day after Thanksgiving. It’s often one of the busiest shopping days of the year, and it got its name, because it’s about the time when many retail stores are finally in “the black” for the fiscal year meaning they start turning a profit.

Anyway, one of the first ads to leak was for Office Max, and while the ad is no longer available online, the folks at Gizmodo documented all the important bits, including one of the best deals on a netbook I’ve seen. Office Max will reportedly have a 10.1 inch Acer Aspire One with 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and Windows XP available in stores on Black Friday for $149.99.

It’s not clear whether this is an Acer Aspire One AOD150 or AOD250, but the store only seems to stock the AOD250 currently, and that is Acer’s flagship model at the moment. Either way I expect that for that price you’re going to get a netbook with a 3 cell battery rather than the higher capacity 6 cell battery option.OfficeMax currently charges $299.99 for the Acer Aspire One AOD250 with Windows XP and a 3 cell battery.

For $150, I’d almost expect to see these netbooks hanging out with the candy and bubble gum in the impulse buy area by the cash registers.

via Netbook Reports

Acer is set to release a new version of the Acer Aspire One D250 soon with both Windows 7 and Google Android loaded up. You can choose between the operating systems at launch. And Acer has been busy sending out demo units to a handful of tech news sites (although someone at Acer apparently forgot to put me on the list). Here’s a short roundup of sites that have managed to get their hands on the Android enabled version of the laptop:

• Laptop Magazine – Android boots in 30 seconds and looks good on the large screen, but the UI is clearly designed for phones, not laptops.
• Register Hardware – You actually have to boot Android first and then choose the “switch OS” option to load Windows, which seems silly.
• Pocket Lint – There aren’t any keyboard shortcuts to support Android features, so you have to navigate with a touchpad and the Esc button.
• The Mirror – The laptop will be available in the UK on October 22nd for £279.
• ZDNET UK – Android supports email, chat, web browsing, and generally looks like the Smartphone version.

The long and short of it is that it looks like Acer kind of slapped Android on an existing netbook without spending much time ensuring that the hardware/software combination actually makes any sense. But hey, it’s two operating systems for the price of one… or something.

Acer is preparing to unleash its first netbook running the Google Android operating system on the world before the end of the year. The netbook will be an Acer Aspire D250 laptop which will actually dual boot Google Android and Windows XP.

Honestly, I’m not entirely sure there’s a huge demand for netbooks with both operating systems, since you’ll end up paying for the Windows license anyway. An Android-only netbook would undoubtedly be cheaper. But I suppose it’s nice to have the full capabilities of Windows when you need them, but the ability to load a fast-booting, low power OS when you just need to do some light weight tasks and want to prolong your battery life.

Anyway, PC World is reporting that the dual boot Aspire One D250 should be available worldwide sometime in Q4, 2009. And you can already pre-order the laptop from Amazon for $349.99.

via Netbooked

In case you haven’t looked at your calendar in a while, October 22nd is next week. I know, I was kind of shocked too, but there it is. And that means that Windows 7 will be available to the general public a week from Thursday. And along with the latest version of Windows we can expect a whole slew of new computers to hit the shelves, as well as minor updates to existing PCs.

Acer has announced it’s taking the latter route with its current flagship netbook, the Acer Aspire One D250. Starting on the 22nd, it ill be available with Windows 7 and a new high resolution 1280 x 720 pixel display. It will also have a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drie, and a choice of a 3.5 hour or 7.5 our battery.

The netbook will ship with Windows 7 Starter Edition and it will be available in Japan for ¥46,800 or about $520 US. Odds are it’ll be significantly cheaper in the US, although it’s not entirely clear whether it will ship in the US on the same day.

via PC World and Akhibara News

ePrice

Just over a week after a Chinese web site posted some hands-on impressions of a pre-release version of Acer’s upcoming netbook loaded with the Google Android operating system, Gizmodo is reporting that Acer’s Android netbook will be available to the general public by November.

The laptop will likely retail for around $300 to $350, which is about what Acer charges for its current 10 inch netbooks. The reason is because while Google Android is available to Acer and other computer makers without a licensing fee, Windows isn’t. And this computer is going to dual boot Android and Windows. Acer wasn’t ready to take the risk of launching an Android-only netbook that may not appeal to consumers.

The move kind of makes me wonder what the point of installing Android at all is… especially considering it’s an operating system designed for cellphones. Google’s Chrome Operating System which is designed for netbooks is expected to be available early next year.

This is just a quick update to confirm that Verizon will begin selling the Gateway LT2016u netbook starting Sunday, October 4th. Earlier this week Engadget snagged a leaked document with all the details. But Verizon went and made things official today with a press release.

The Gateway LT2016u is basically a rebranded Acer Aspire One D250. The laptop has a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard dive, and a 6 cell battery. It runs Windows XP Home and features 802.11b/g WiFi and a 3G modem for connecting to Verizon’s wireless broadband service.

Verizon will offer the laptop for as little as $149.99 after a $100 rebate for customers who sign up for a 3G service contract. Plans include $40/month for 250MB of data transfers or $60/month for up to 5GB.

PC Support

A few months ago Macles reported that Acer would be launching a version of the Aspire One 571 netbook with a high resolution 1280 x 720 pixel display. While I haven’t rally heard anything about that since, it looks like the Aspire One D250 is getting the HD screen treatment… at least in Norway.

Norwegian retailer PC Support is taking pre-orders for the Aspire One D250 with a 10.1 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel display. 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 CPU, and all the rest of the usual netbook specs including a 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, WiFi, and Windows XP Home. It also comes with a 6 cell battery. The netbook has an estimated ship date of July 30th.

According to Fudzilla, Acer plans to offer the netbook with a higher screen resolution worldwide. Have you spotted this configuration anywhere else? Let us know in the comments.

via Netbooked

Gateway has introduced its latest netbook, the LT2000. And if the specs looks familiar, that’s because it bears a pretty striking resemblance to the Acer Aspire One D250. Gateway is, after all, a subsidiary of Acer. The Gateway LT2000 does have a few cosmetic differences. The touchpad button looks smaller, and the area by the screen hinges is designed a little differently. Oh yeah, and this version has the Gateway name splashed on the front.

The basic specs are pretty much par for the course. The Lt2000 has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 802.11b/g WiFi, 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. It weighs 2.6 pounds with a 3 cell battery and costs about $299.99

via Engadget

Acer has been shipping several new models of Aspire One laptops across the globe for a few weeks. But the company finally got around to adding product pages for its latest mini-notebooks to its US web site this week.

There’s now an official product page for the Acer Aspire One 751h, which is the first AspireOne to wear an 11.6 inch display. This netbook is available in a variety of configurations, but it looks like it comes standard with a 1366 x 768 pixel display and a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 CPU. You get a choice of Windows XP or Vista. XP models come with 1GB of RAM and a160GB hard drive. If you opt for Vista, you can get 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive.

Acer has also posted product pages for the Aspire One P531h “Pro” model” with a 10.1 inch display and the Aspire One D250 “Ultra-thin” netbook which we recently reviewed.

via Portable Monkey

The Acer Aspire One D250 is the latest 10 inch netbook from Acer. It has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU and 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, but fits into a smaller and lighter case than the Acer Aspire One D150.

Joe Rybicki is a freelance writer who’s spent the last 13 years covering the video game and technology industries. He lives in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, and laughs at your commute. He picked up his first netbook a few weeks ago and has been using his new Aspire One D250 to work on the road. Read more at joerybicki.com.

When last we spoke, I promised to report back on the Acer Aspire One D250 after spending a week lugging it around downtown Los Angeles. Let me tell you, after just the first day I was pretty much ready to declare this purchase one of the smartest in recent memory. Through a day of press conferences scattered throughout downtown L.A., I walked about five and a half miles with this thing nestled in a shoulder bag…and I barely even noticed it was there.

But it’s not just the weight that convinced me I’d made the right choice. It’s the battery life. Oh yes, the battery life. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

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