Mobile Computing

Acer has just merged two of the hottest concepts in mobile computing right now, a netbook and a tablet PC, into one gadget with the new hybrid Timeline 1825PT.
Netbook meets tablet PC

The marriage of a netbook and tablet PC might seem obvious, especially after Apple’s relatively low-end iPad has been making so much noise as of late, but it really isn’t that common. In fact, tablet PCs, which aren’t anything new, have usually been of the higher end variety, stocked with premium notebook specs and offered at high prices. The new Acer 1825PT goes completely against this mould, and even the price part is closer to a netbook than your average tablet.
Slim and stylish

With an 11.6 inch screen diagonal, the 1825PT is just barely approaching the border at which it can actually be considered small enough to be a netbook and not an ordinary laptop, or tablet PC. It’s bigger than the much talked about iPad, for example, but Acer has at least managed to keep the weight down at a portable 1.72 kg. The Acer computer is also very slim and sleek, with a thickness ranging from 28.5 to 34.5 mm. In terms of appearance, it is available in Sapphire Blue and Ruby Red, on top of the standard black, so style won’t be an issue.
Multi-touch swivel screen

The 11.6 swivel screen can turn in a 360 degree arc and includes full multi-touch abilities, like pinch to zoom, flip and rotate, as well as two finger scrolling. The Windows 7 multi-touch features aren’t quite as good as the iPad’s, or even iPhone’s, but they will still make navigation much easier. Of course, the 1366 x 768 HD screen is also perfectly equipped for watching high-def content, along with an HDMI port that makes viewing content on your HDTV easy.
Decent specs

We keep calling the 1825PT a netbook because it possesses netbook like specs, which are fairly low-end. Surprisingly enough we don’t have any Intel Atom processor onboard, as Acer have instead given the model an equally slow, but energy efficient, 1.3 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Fortunately things quickly pick up from there, with up to 4GB of RAM supported, a 250GB hard drive, 3 USB ports and a giant 6 cell battery that lasts up to 8 hours. So you won’t be playing any brand new games on the Timeline machine, but for daily tasks, enjoying media or surfing the net, it’ll hold up nicely. Bluetooth, WiFi, a 5 in 1 card reader and 3G support round off the computer’s connectivity portfolio and ensure you’ll be able to stay in contact at all times

On the whole, the specs are largely uninspiring in typical netbook fashion, but they do allow the Acer Timeline 1825PT to have one major advantage, namely, an actually reasonable price. Starting at £599 in the UK and currently available right now, the Acer Timeline 1825PT won’t break the bank like most. It’s pricier than your average netbook, but still no more than a budget laptop.

The real question on people’s minds, however, is whether this price makes the 1825PT competitive with Apple’s tablet that starts at £529.00 for the UK iPad 3G version. It’s a tough sell, and there is no clear winner between the two; the 1825PT has an HDMI port, more RAM, storage, an HD screen, 16:9 aspect ratio, but at that the same time has a weaker battery than the iPad, is larger, similar speed CPU, worse touch screen controls and, of course, no apps. In terms of price they are largely even and while the 1825PT is a good iPad alternative, it’s not a clear iPad killer.

by Oliver on 21 May, 2010

Source news.idealo.co.uk

This entry was posted on Friday, May 21st, 2010 at 4:02 pm and is filed under Mobile Computing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.