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Acer comes clean with new Aspire One availability and pricing
We've pretty much known about all of these Acer netbooks that are officially being announced today, but their very tempting price tags are definitely new to us. First up is the 11.6-inch Aspire One 721 and 10.1-inch 521, both of which we checked out last month. While the duo are powered by the same AMD Athlon II Neo K125 processors and ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics, the 721 will start at $429.99 while the 521 at $349.99. And let's not forget that, unlike Intel Atom powered netbooks, they sport HDMI ports and claim to be "HD capable." Speaking of Intel netbooks, Acer's got those in store too -- the 10-inch, Atom powered Aspire One D260 and 533 will also be available later this month. The D620 packs an Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM and a three-cell battery for $298. On the flip side, the $330 Aspire One 533 has a slightly faster N475 processor, a 250GB hard drive and a six-cell battery. Enticing, right? The full press release is after the break, but hopefully we'll be able to assist you in choosing one of these with some full reviews soon.
Acer Aspire One D260 arrives with some in yo' face branding, we go hands-on
Acer's Aspire One netbook line has done incredibly well over the past few years -- largely due to its competitive pricing -- but apparently that's given Acer the impression that people want to see the brand smacked in large letters on the lid. Yep, that's the first thing that struck us about the new 10.1-inch Aspire One D260 when we saw it last week at Computex. But, if you can overlook that, Acer has made some rather welcoming aesthetic tweaks, including subbing the glossy plastic cover for one with a softer matte coating, and extending that same feel to the palmrest. Internally, the D260 boasts an Intel Atom N450 or N455 processor, up to 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive. Interestingly, there's mention of it booting Android in the press release, which makes sense given that the D250 was available with the Google OS, but we didn't notice that option in our short hands-on time with it. Look for this little guy to hit the UK in early July, and we can only assume that the U.S. pricing and availability should be announced soon enough. Check out some more pictures of the machine in the gallery below and the full PR after the break. %Gallery-94896%
Dell joins the fray, offers SSD in Latitude D420, D620
Not a moment too soon, Dell has finally decided to bite and offer up solid state disc drives in a couple of its Latitudes. Joining Sony, Fujitsu, and Samsung (just to name a few), the Texas powerhouse has just announced that users can satisfy their SSD cravings by snapping up a D420 or D620 ATG laptop, both of which can contain a 1.8-inch 32GB SSD drive from SanDisk. According to the release, the drives should be available right now as an add-on option for the US market (Europe and Asia to "follow soon"), but opting for one of these suckas will cost you $549 more than a traditional HDD.[Via Electronista]
Dell throws down the Sprint EV-DO love
Hooo boy, there's nothing we love more than faster internet access available everywhere we go. Dell's just announced a new deal with Sprint to provide integrated EV-DO access on its D420, D620 (pictured), D820, XPS M1210 and M65 lappies. (Of course, Dell has offered EV-DO and HSDPA on the D620 and D820 previously, but this brings it to a few more models.) Alternatively, you can buy a Dell Wireless 5700-S internal mini-card for your existing lappie for $180 (whether Dell will also offer an ExpressCard version for Sprint remains to be seen) -- but in either case, you'll have to pay $60 per month for a two-year unlimited data access contract (if you have a voice plan, otherwise it's $80 a month). This'll give us yet another reason to consider forking over the coinage for serious connectivity; that EDGE stuff is getting real old.
