The Taiwanese manufacturer Acer has announced it is set to release a new version of dual core netbooks which will run both Windows 7 and Google’s Android operating system.
It’s believed the 2 operating systems will be featured in Acer’s dual core Aspire One ‘Happy’ netbooks which were launched in Taiwan earlier this week. The netbooks will be equipped with both Intel’s Atom 550 processor and Android and the move is set to strengthen Android’s position in the OS market. Before this week, Android had only really been welcomed by the smartphone industry but many industry insiders believe Acer’s decision could prove to be an important mile stone in the operating system’s history.
While the concept of netbooks with dual boot capabilities is not new, the new Acer netbooks stand out from the crowd because they allow the user to switch and change between the 2 easily without having to restart the netbook.
The new Aspire One netbooks have built in Wi-Fi, 3G connectivity and an impressive 10.1″ display. The netbooks also feature 250GB of storage and 2GB of RAM and are available in a range of exciting colours.
The manufacturer are hoping the feature will increase demand for netbooks – a product which has been hit hard by the sudden popularity of the tablet. New figures out this week from Gartner and IDC show that US sales of PCs and netbooks for Q3 are the weakest they’ve been in years due to growing consumer demand for new tablet alternatives.
“Consumer mobile PC demand, driven by low-priced notebooks, including mini-notebooks, slowed after very strong growth the past two years,” commented Mikako Kitagawa from Gartner.
“Media tablet hype around devices such as the iPad has also affected consumer notebook growth by delaying some PC purchases, especially in the US consumer market.”
