Acer's Congo-based 11.6-inch Ferrari One: finally, a netbook with speed
By Darren Murph 
posted September 10th 2009 7:22PM
posted September 10th 2009 7:22PM
[Via TrustedReviews]
posted September 10th 2009 7:22PM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
That's pretty nice.
I concur. This looks like quite the laptop thanks to the XGP port it has. I've been yearning for something like that for a while, as I really don't need a lot of power on the go, but I want a powerful graphics card on occasion (that would be reusable).
Hopefully this won't be a bit of a letdown like the DV2 was. I had one of those for a while, but it ran really hot and stuttered thanks to the single core cpu (without hyperthreading). That was a platform that always made me want more, but this might just be enough.
And, frankly, the cost isn't that bad. Still, I'd wait for a few more Congos to come out before plunking down for another AMD platform. Maybe a few reviews. AMDs promised a lot so it'll be good to see if it comes through without some caveat.
never heard of a dual-cure cpu
So, now we call this a netbook? I'm waiting for a 17" "netbook" then.
Really, I think the point of a netbook, a cheap ultra-portable laptop, is history. It's all about upsizing and upselling to get more margins.
11.6" is...small enough...
13" is the upper limit in my mind.
It's not a netbook - it just has a "netbook" processor in it, because the industry has corrupted what the netbook originally was supposed to be: bare minimum components crammed into an ultra-small but still usable clamshell chassis and thus offered for very little money. What's happened is that the only real difference between a netbook and an ultraportable is 1) battery life 2) Atom vs. Centrino processor and 3) a couple more inches screen real estate.
AFAIC anything over $300 is a notebook.
This isn't, of course, trying to say that the product above is a crappy notebook - it's not. It seems to be a decently powerful package packed into a small chassis and is very competitive with the ultraportable category - but that's the point. Soon the industry will just merge the "netbook" and ultraportable categories into a $600-$1,000 price point for users who want something a little more portable than the $500 lapcraps they get on sale at Best Buy, and people will forget the promise of being able to buy a new, secondary machine for $200.
yeah, me too, i want the form factor to stay the same, but I want them to actually have worse and worse specs. and less hard drive space. 11.6 inches is mammoth! i can't even fit that in my chest pocket! there are at least 2 models of netbook smaller than this, and by almost 2 inches! that's rediculous! why on earth would i sacrifice 1.6 inches of my leather fanny pack for another stupid processor core, or a competitive gpu? who even uses gpu's anyway? well said pika, i think you really are on to something that no one ever thought of, they want to turn a profit. let's tell the world, we can't let this go unnoticed!
Way to miss the point, jed. pik2000 makes a very valid point. This is simply not a netbook, it's an ultraportable notebook. Netbooks are supposed to be cheap and cheerful.
dual-cure? I hope it's Cancer and AIDS.
Sorry, just alektorophobia and cypridophobia.
Fear of Chickens and venereal disease?
zing.?
How is $724 paying dearly? I payed $2600 on my laptop. Then again, it doesn't suck as much as this.
Because thats a hell of a lot for a netbook. I paid £229 ($382 USD) for my netbook which is the standard config (N270, 945 chipset, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, 3G modem, 6 cell battery, XP etc)
Engadget. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease, stop using direct currency conversions. It just invites stupid comments about how expensive stuff is. When was the last time we actually saw pricing done that way for electronics? It hasn't been the case for TV's, for mp3 players, for consoles, for notebooks, for any electronic. Hell I remember buying MD players with UK customers on forums bitching about how they had to pay 50% more for their players because a $200 player was 200 pounds.
Also, your $382 netbook has terrible specs compared to this. It uses the same weak atom processor as other notebooks, came with the same 1GB of ram that is likely only expandable to 2GB, and the same 160GB HDD, no HDMI out, blah blah blah.
On the other hand, we have a new slew of CULV packing netbooks from Acer, Samsung, Dell, Asus. These use much more powerful processors. Some are packing Core2Solo, which run circles around the Atom, and some even use Core2Duo and whatever AMD equivalent there is, which do even better against the sadly underpowered Atom. They often come with more HDD space. The Acer 1410 comes with 250GB and 2GB of RAM, which is expandable thanks to its dual RAM slots. 4GB helps a ton when using an OS like Vista or Win7. Meanwhile, your old line of netbooks is limited to 2GB.
The new netbooks have HDMI out. Very few of the old ones have that, and even if they do, unless you have one with ION, you're not decoding 1080p like these new netbooks can. They also come with a much better graphics chipset than the sad as hell 945 you're stuck with. Let's not forget the greatly increases real estate either. I can barely stand browsing on my sister's 1000HE with its tiny 1024x600 resolution. 1366x768 is much better. It's almost 50% more pixels to work with. The battery life is almost very similar. Only some of the better netbooks with Atom can push the 6-8 hour mark. Most of them hover around 5-6. These new netbooks with 6 cell batteries can do 5 pretty easily. The Acer1810T in Europe and Asia can do 8 all while running circles around any atom based netbook. The Acer1410 currently costs less than $450 bucks shipped. So for about ~ 70 bucks more than you paid for your netbook, I get a ton more power, a ton more pixels, more connectivity, blah blah blah.
I think I'll take it.
This isn't really a netbook, its an ultraportable. Probably one of the fastest ones released. I dare you to find a dual core ultraportable with a graphics chipset as capable as the 3200 for anywhere near this price.
1. take Acer netbook
2. add Farrari logo
3. skew trackpad stylishly, making it smaller than ever
4. ???
5. Profit
@Flowah
You're dead on about the difference between netbooks and consumer ultra portables like this.
However, I'd wait for some actual reviews, AMD mobile products are renowned for shitty battery life.
Also, people who declare how much they "payed" for something should shampoo my crotch.
Can I drive it?
Its too expensive I think, maybe $600 or less would be fair
shows that the name "Ferrari" can triple the price of anything.
i want a ferrari pint of red beer for $21 please
Interesting variant to the Acer 1410/1810 series.
My nuts are worth more than that!
Or at least I like to think that...
Will the only people using these be rich old white men with baseball caps?
Hey now, let's not be racist here.
Ferrari caps.
http://www.habamon.com/monster/Snuffy
Can i have it in all black without the ferrari logo and the Ferrari markup?
My exact sentiment Someone on the Internet. I'll take one w/o the Ferrari Logos please. I am really digging the stats on this thing.
it's XGP port, not XPG.
and what's up with the "dual cure"?
Acer makes premium products? In what parallel universe
the one with Apple making $100 OLPC.
woot, comes out on my birthday =)
If they throw out the Ferrari logos, the skewed trackpads and $200-$300 off its price, i'd definitely buy one for its portability.
Ya pretty much.
four words Raon Digital Everun Note. not only is it the same processor, its SMALLER than the one posted, and has radeon X1200 based graphics and a gig of ram, and a touch screen, and its pocket sized lol
Yeah, and it has about no hours of battery life and is horrible to use.
I bought my netbook because it was $350. For $700 I'd buy one of those slim VAIOs and get an even better processor for not that much bigger size.
Minus Ferrari logo and this is a great step in the right direction.
I hope it has a regular graphics port (pref. HDMI) for the internal graphics so you aren't forced to get an XGP box just to connect an external screen.
I don't think people with US passports will have any problem entering North Korea, leaving, on the other hand, is the issue.
It's eXternal Graphics Port you dimwits.