There’s a new hierarchy emerging in the ultraportable PC space: Today’s netbooks tend to have 10 inch or smaller screens, cost less than $400, and have Intel Atom or VIA Nano processors. The new class of “thin and light” computers have 11 to 12 inch displays, AMD Neo, NVIDIA ION, or Intel CULV chipsets. And they tend to cost between $500 and $600.

But there are a few models that straddle the line between netbook and T&L computers. For example, there’s the Acer Aspire 1410, which sells for just $399, putting it in the same price range as netbooks. With an 11.6 inch display, it’s also not much larger than a netbook, but it features something few netbooks have: a dual core processor.

The 1.2GHz Intel Celeron SU2300 is the cheapest dual core CPU in the Intel CULV line, but it’s still much more powerful than a typical Atom CPU, and allows for HD video playback and other CPU and GPU-intensive tasks that would choke most netbooks.

Now Fudzilla is reporting that Intel plans to update the SU2300. There’s pretty much zero information available on what kind of update we’ll see, but Fudzilla suggests that the new chips will likely be based on Intel’s Montevina or Calpella platform.

There’s no word on whether the new chips will drive up prices of low-cost T&L computers like the Acer Aspire 1410 in order to help differentiate them from lower priced, lower performance netbooks. But I certainly hope not.

Acer recently updated the Acer Aspire 1410 laptop to include a dual core Intel CULV processor and Windows 7 Home Premium. And for some reason, Acer knocked about $50 off the price at the same time, making this $400 laptop one of the cheapest computers you can find with an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display and a dual core processor.

I reviewed the original version of the Acer Aspire 1410 a few months ago, and the folks at B&H were kind enough to send me an updated model to review. The model featured in this review has a dual core 1.2GHz Intel Celeron SU2300 processor and integrated Intel GMA4500MHD graphics. It has 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, 802.11b/g/n WiFi and a 6 cell, 4400mAh battery.

The Acer Aspire 1410 is available for purchase from B&H for $399.99.

For the most part, the hardware is identical to the version of the laptop that I previously reviewed, so portions of this review are taken from that earlier article. The primary differences are with the operating system and processor, so I’ve made significant changes to the performance and software sections, along with minor changes to other departments.

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Acer recently launched an updated version of the Acer Aspire 1410. While the first version (which I reviewed last month) featured an Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 processor, GMA 4500MHD graphics and Windows Vista Home Premium the new model has a dual core Intel Celeron SU2300 processor, GMA 4500MHD graphics, and Windows 7 Home Premium.

The folks at B&H were kind enough to send me a demo unit to test for the next few weeks. You can purchase the Acer Aspire 1410 from B&H for $399.99.

Like its predecessor, this version of the Acer Aspire 1410 has an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and a 6 cell, 48WHr, 4400mAh battery. The keyboard stretches virtually from one edge of the computer to the other and the touchpad supports multitouch gestures.

I’ve just starting testing the computer’s performance, but it seems a tiny bit zippier than the Core 2 Solo version, which is impressive for two reasons. First, the single core version is already much snappier than most Intel Atom powered netbooks that are similarly priced and only a little bit smaller. And second, the new model actually costs a little less than the earlier version.

The first thing I wanted to see is how the laptop handles HD Flash video. Netbooked reported it works reasonably well, but my results were a little more mixed.

While Adobe has promised to bring GPU acceleration features to Flash Player 10.1 soon, as far as I can tell Adobe will be supporting NVIDIA, ATI, and other graphics processors but not Intel’s integrated graphics solutions. The Core 2 Solo version of this laptop played 1080p video from the hard drive without any problems, but struggled with HD Flash video. The dual core version appears to work much better with high quality Flash video — but it’s still not quite perfect.

I was able to play an HD video from YouTube in full screen without any hiccups. But standard definition video from Hulu is hit or miss. Some TV shows I looked at played smoothly in full screen, while others were a bit choppy. It wasn’t quite like watching a slideshow, but there was just enough lag when watching the sneak preview of ABC’s V to be annoying. HD video from Hulu was even worse, and did actually look more like a slideshow at some points than a video. It appears that Hulu handles Flash differently than YouTube and some other sites. For one thing, I know that Hulu doesn’t allow you to buffer more than a few minutes worth of a video, which makes it harder for users to download videos from the site.

I’ll be interested in seeing how the computer handles other tasks I can throw at it. But if HD Flash playback is high on your priority list, you might want to consider looking at an NVIDIA ION powered laptop like the HP Mini 311 which will eventually work with Flash Player 10.1, or a machine with a more powerful processor such as the Acer Aspire Timeline 1810T.

You can check out my unboxing video of the new Acer Aspire 1410 after the break.

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When I reviewed the Acer Aspire 1410 with a Core 2 Solo SU3500 processor and Windows Vista a last month, I found that it was much faster than your average netbook when it came CPU-intensive tasks like transcoding audio and video files. But there was one thing it still couldn’t do: play HD and high quality Flash videos on its high resolution 1366 x 768 pixel display.

But this week Acer released an updated version of the Aspire 1410. The new model has a 1.2GHz Intel Celeron SU2300 dual core processor and runs Windows 7 Home Premium. And according to Peter at Netbooked, it can handle HD YouTube videos reasonably well. But you don’t have to take his word for it. You can check it out for yourself by watching the… HD YouTube video below.

Playback isn’t 100% flawless, but the videos look very watchable. When you try watching similar videos with the older version of the Aspire 1410, it feels like you’re looking at a picture slideshow instead of a video. That’s no longer the case.

And that makes the new Acer Aspire 1410 the cheapest laptop I’m aware of with an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, 4+ hour battery life, and HD Flash video capabilities. You can order one today from Amazon for just under $400. Of course, the $400 HP Mini 311 will give the Aspire 1410 a run for its money once Flash Player 10.1 is released. That’s the upcoming version of Adobe’s Flash Player that will support NVIDIA ION GPU acceleration for Flash video, allowing you to watch 1080p Flash video on a netbook with a low power Intel Atom processor (provided it has NVIDIA graphics).

You can check out Peter’s video after the break:

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