Red alert
Acer has officially launched a new netbook called the Acer Ferrari One, which possibly is possibly more significant to chip maker AMD than to Acer itself.
When we first wrote about AMD's new ‘Vision' consumer notebook brand, we revealed that its next generation thin-and-light platform (originally codenamed Congo) was going to play a big part in it, as will Windows 7, and that AMD has learnt from mistakes made with the first generation - codenamed Yukon - and will be prioritising working with OEMs to get products on the shelves.
The Ferrari One is the first product we're aware of that sports both the second generation AMD thin-and-light platform and is branded with Vision. Furthermore it is produced by what could be currently be considered the world's most successful mobile PC maker, will come with Windows 7 and is being called a netbook - until recently an Intel-only category. And it's nice and red.
Until now we have defined a netbook as a mobile PC that runs on Intel Atom and a thin-and-light as one running on Intel's CULV platform or AMD's Yukon or Congo. Acer has chosen to label this product a netbook and the reason is probably its price.
Thin-and-lights were originally positioned as affordable alternatives to the kind of super-notebooks made by vendors like Lenovo or Sony, and priced between £500 and £600. The street price of £399 advertised for the Ferrari One definitely puts it in a premium netbook price bracket.
