Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Asus set a target of 5 million units of its Eee PC netbook to be sold this year, which they appear to be reaching.  The only problem is that shipments of the Acer Aspire One are creeping towards its ambitious target of 6 million sales, 20% more than the Eee PC.

The title of “best selling netbook” is one that Asus will be incredibly reluctant to give up as it was mainly them who came up with the netbook idea, and it has been through them that the craze has spread.  However the numbers do not lie, Asus only shipped 1.7 million in the third quarter while Acer managed 2.4 million, and advantage they intend to continue into the fourth quarter with predicted sales to exceed this quarter.

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We all have them.  Old gadgets and gizmos tucked away that we don’t use anymore, but for some reason…we just can’t find it in our heart to toss them.  For some, it might be that we don’t want to “clutter the environment,“ for others, “but I paid freakin’ HOW MUCH for that five years ago?!“  And for others still, well, we don’t even know why it’s still shoved it the closet or drawer.  Well, you might be heartened to know that Radio Shack is now providing a way for you to get some cash for those old tech goodies.  Well, not cash exactly, but the next best thing.  Gift cards for more tech goodies.

Launched just yesterday, Radio Shack is now offering a “trade-in policy“ for your old stuff.  It’s pretty much what it sounds like.  You give them your stuff, and you get a gift card for their store for a specified trade-in amount for your item.  They obviously don’t take every single item from every manufacturer from the dawn of time, but there is a pretty broad range on their trade-in site.

Keep reading to find out what a laptop is worth to Radio Shack.

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Despite the growing popularity of netbooks and ultraportable PCs, at the end of the day we consumers still turn to our old, reliable, and trustworthy desktop PCs for our more sophisticated and power-hungry computing needs.  Knowing this, Acer is not abandoning its desktop PC product line, despite the success of its Acer Aspire One.  To address our power-hungry computer needs, the company is rolling out the new X3200 Phenom-powered desktop PC.  And, what better way to appreciate this machine’s power, but to pair it up with a 24-inch LCD, right?

Plenty more after the break.

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To coincide with the official launch of Sprint’s 4G mobile broadband service called XOHM (its WiMAX network), four top PC brands have introduced new notebook products which support XOHM.  For those not in the loop, WiMAX is faster than what you usually get from a mobile phone 3G network. 

If you are seriously considering getting a new notebook that fully supports the XOHM WiMAX network, we have a rundown of the new notebooks from Acer, Asus, Lenovo and Toshiba after the break.

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You know that WiMAX over in Baltimore?  The one you have to buy an external device to connect to?  Now there’s another option, two options actually.  Acer has announced two laptops that can connect to the XOHM WiMAX in Baltimore. 

The notebooks.com article seems to hint that they will only be available to those in Baltimore.  Though since they are being sold on NewEgg and TigerDirect, it would make sense anyone could buy them.  The WiMAX presumably would only be useful in the cities that have WiMAX, or at least those that have WiMAX from XOHM.

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While most likely not their only game plan, Intel ponied up to the netbook game by buying netbook.com.  By combining the grim economic outlook with one part of tech that continues to boom, Intel is hedging their bets that netbooks will continue to thrive, perhaps even more so in the run up to the holidays.

But what’s a netbook?

Find out by clicking more

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The latest collaboration between two renowned brands, Acer and Seagate, has produced an outstanding improvement in notebook hard disk capacity, up to 500GB for new Acer laptops.  I, for one, am glad that Seagate has managed to meet the increasing demand for higher hard disk capacity on laptops.  As a frequent laptop user, I know how limiting it is to find out that I don’t have enough free space to meet my excessive multimedia needs.

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I guess with all the available options for netbooks, you have to stand out in some way. Acer has decided to make their attempt by lowering the price of the Aspire One just in time for the back-to-school shopping rush.

The price drops are pretty nice and are offering quite a bit of savings. The Windows XP based model has been lowered from $399 down to $349 and the Linpus Lite based model has been lowered from $379 down to just $329. Of course, considering the Aspire One has already gotten quite a few good reviews, this just makes it a little more appealing.

Via [SlashGear]

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Acer America has just unleashed a new compact desktop PC geared for business use, the Veriton S461 touting an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with high-capacity hard drive and a dual channel RAM. This energy efficient PC is best suited for office environments since its dual core-processing power helps reduce noise when the PC is powered on. The Veriton S461 boasts of Acer’s LANScope 3.5 application which makes it easy for system administrators to manage and maintain asset inventory, diagnose, reboot and repair systems remotely.

Other features and specifications of the Veriton S461 include an Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100, 2GB DDR2 RAM (upgradeable to 8GB), an 80GB SATA II hard drive, DVD-Dual drive, low-profile expansion slots, Gigabit LAN, PS2 keyboard, and USB optical mouse. This desktop PC runs Windows Vista Business but comes with the XP downgrade CD.

The Veriton S461 is now available at all North American Acer resellers and will set you back $546.

Read [Business Wire]

• Acer releases the X3200 desktop plus a 24-inch LCD
• Trade in your old gadgets for a Radio Shack gift card
• Aspire one to overtake Eee

Acer has recently begun shipping their Gemstone 8920G, and for lack of a better guess, I can only assume the “G” after 8920 stands for gigantic.

The Gemstone 8920G is sporting an 18.2-inch display, and weighs in at about nine pounds. Otherwise it does offer a solid set of specs which include the previously mentioned 18.2-inch display that offers a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1920 x 1080 screen resolution.

The 8920G is powered by a 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 processor, has 4GB of RAM and also features two internal hard drives which total out at 640GB of storage, a 512MB nVidia 9650M GS card for graphics, Wireless-N Wi-Fi, an HDMI out as well as a DVD writer with Blu-ray reading capability.

While technically a laptop, the 8920G would certainly fall into the desktop replacement category, but it should make a nice

semi-portable HD movie player. Of course all these high-end specs will not come cheap, expect to pay nearly $3,000 for one of your own.

Via [Trusted Reviews]

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