by CIO Staff

Acer Revs Up Dual-Core Ferrari Laptops

News
Jun 02, 20062 mins
Laptops

Acer has thrown down the gauntlet in its race-car rivalry with Asustek Computer, launching the latest upgrades to its Scuderia Ferrari series of notebook PCs, the first dual-core additions to the family.

The Ferrari 5000 laptop and smaller Ferrari 1000 are based on Turion 64 X2 mobile processors from Advanced Micro Devices, and are designed to compete with Asustek’s Lamborghini laptop, which is based on a dual-core Pentium M by Intel.

The main difference between the new Acer laptops is size. The Ferrari 5000 comes with a 15.4-inch screen, while the ultra-mobile Ferrari 1000 sports a 12.1-inch screen.

The 5000 is housed in a thin and light carbon-fiber casing and comes in black and Ferrari red, the same colors as all of Acer’s Ferrari laptops. It includes a voice-over-IP handset that connects to the laptop wirelessly via Bluetooth, as well as a 1.3-megapixel Web camera mounted just above the liquid crystal display screen.

Acer’s Ferrari 5000 Notebook
Acer Ferrari 5000 [1]

It’s also wireless LAN-ready for 802.11a/b/g, and has a high-capacity, 160GB hard drive, as well as a choice for users between a DVD super multi-double layer drive or an HD-DVD drive.

The Ferrari 1000, which also comes with a webcam, is designed for mobility, weighing in at 1.7 kilograms (3.7 pounds). Both laptops come with Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition or Microsoft Windows Professional x64 Edition installed, as well as Adobe Reader, Norton AntiVirus, and CyberLink PowerDVD and Power Producer.

Details about pricing and availability are expected at the Computex trade show in Taiwan next week. The Ferrari 4000, an earlier model with a single-core Turion processor, sells in the United Kingdom for between 799 pounds and 1,279 pounds (US$1,490 and $2,390), depending on the model, according to Acer’s website.

Acer’s Ferrari 5000 Notebook
Acer Ferrari 5000 [2]

-Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service

For related news coverage, read Greenpeace Plans Protests at Computex.

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