Both major players in the netbook market, Acer and ASUS, have 11.6-inch netbooks (with 1366×786 resolution panels) on the way and the plan looks to be vendors differentiating between 10.1-inch and 11.6-inch netbooks in to draw clear divides in price and functionality. This would (quite obviously) mean that 10.1-inchers would be the cheaper alternative to the more upmarket 11.6-inchers.

ASUS recently revealed that it is on the verge of axing its entire 8.9-inch Eee PC netbook range and all this just solidfy the trend of companies leaning lean towards bigger netbooks these days.

The as yet unnamed and even unconfirmed netbook will sport a 10.2-inch display (1024×600 resolution), a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, a 3-cell battery, and two SD card slots, one for extra storage when using Linux.

An 802.11a/b/g modem and BlueTooth will also be included in what looks to be Acer’s slimmest 10-inch netbook yet.

It is similar to Acer’s AOD150 in appearance but a slimmer chassis and two SD Expansion slots distinguish it as something completely different and not one of the countless new models we’ve seen from Acer.

Although absolutely no details have been revealed yet about this mystery netbook, the slim and lightweight look suggests it won’t be the most powerful of Acer’s line and could be a modestly priced addition to an already loaded range.

Matthew Wilkins, the principal analyst for computer platforms at iSuppli, said that the performance of Taiwan’s Acer, which shipped 3 million more notebooks in Q3 ‘08 than Q2 ‘08, had much to do with it, and the majority of those 3 million were Acer’s netbook products.

This surge is also bringing Acer closer to the number two manufacturers spot in the United States, currently occupied by Dell.

Source: CNET News

In Acer’s case, and we recently learned that they now have the biggest share of the netbook market, sales of Windows machines are outnumbering sales of Linux machines by more than 9 to 1!

It was basically a one-horse race in the netbook market until this April, with everything running Linux. The decline from Acer’s perspective has been staggering; now, less than 10% of its outgoing netbooks are running Linux, meaning more than 90% of new sales are running Windows XP Home.

Henry Lee, the senior product manager at Acer Computer Australia, told ITWire that not just in Australia but worldwide, Windows version sales are crushing Linux version sales, and that Linux machines appeal more to the niche, hardcore consumer who like to customize their system.

The specs are exactly the same as elsewhere, to no surprise: 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and options for Windows XP Home or Linpus Linux Lite as the OS. Available in a full selection of colors – Sapphire Blue, Brown, Black, Pink or White – the basic netbook is priced at Rs 7,499 (US$157) with the fully loaded XP version priced “under” Rs 20,000 (US$420).

Market research has shown just how hot the netbook market is right now, with a 160% growth recorded in the third quarter of 2008. While ASUS will no doubt want to take back the throne of industry kings, for now it is Acer and its Aspire One netbook that are in the lead.

Specs for the 10-inch Aspire One haven’t been revealed, but will most likely be the same as the 8.9-inch version, just with a bigger model. Lin also said that prices on notebooks in Taiwan are dropping and expected to keep dropping into the New Year, and that could include netbooks.

Acer, as we reported at the start of November, wants a 50% share of the netbook market next year, and the release of the new 10-inch Aspire One gives the consumer more options when mulling over whether to buy a netbook. They are also considering the “nettop”, a mini-PC and the desktop equivalent of a netbook.

Together as small, energy-efficient and low-cost devices, netbooks and nettops are considered emerging threats to the established “names” such as Microsoft, HP, and Dell, and according to Wikipedia, the International Data Corporation has predicted that sales could shoot up from 500,000 in 2007 to 9,000,000 in 2012.

The DigiTimes writes, “Since Acer expects Aspire one netbook shipments to surpass its goal of 12-13 million units in 2009, to prevent the nettop from impacting the company’s Atom processor supply, Acer is considering using processors from VIA Technologies or AMD, but will still leave the Intel Atom as a possible option.“.

Acer is considering three manufacturers to make the nettop – Quanta Computer, Wistron and Micro-Star International (MSI) – and are expected to make a decision in December. If that decision is a “yes”, Acer’s nettop will target both enterprise and consumer markets, and will be able to connect to a TV and LCD monitor.

The article cites netbooks as the fastest-growing segment in the PC industry and claims that their emergence is eating into Microsoft’s profits. Windows sales fell short of forecasts in the last quarter, causing Microsoft to cut growth projections, and actually admit that netbooks are the main cause for this. Netbook manufacturers who do use Windows – still 70% of models (but significantly lower than the 90% of PCs that also use it) – tend to use old versions of the operating system.

Microsoft is taking this seriously and is already taking steps to ensure it is ready for the netbook boom. Windows 7, the scheduled successor of Windows Vista, will work much better with netbooks according to Senior Vice President Jon DeVaan. DeVaan said, “People will be pleasantly surprised and excited” by how Windows 7 runs on low-cost machines. We’ll do well on those kinds of machines.”

Despite Microsoft’s initiative to stop this growing problem, Bloomberg claims that Windows will still be a tough sell for PC makers trying to develop the cheapest machines possible. Jenny Lai, a Taipei-based analyst at CLSA Ltd., says that Linux costs just $5 to put on computers, compared to with $40 to $50 for XP and about $100 for Vista, a huge difference.