Acer Unleashes Latest Ferrari Formula One Notebook

Calling all race fans: Acer has released its latest notebook to give new meaning to descriptions of speed, performance and built-in drives.

The newest Acer Ferrari One notebook, available as of 9 Dec, weighs 3.31 pounds and features an 11.6-inch high-definition widescreen CineCrystal LED-backlit display and a 1.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor L310. Mimicking the color schemes of Ferrari’s celebrated Formula One racing team—of which Acer is a sponsor—Acer hopes to evoke the team’s spirit of high-tech high performance.

“Both Acer and Ferrari have a tradition of designing products built on passion, innovation and performance,” said Chris White, senior director of U.S. business management for Acer America. “The new Ferrari One notebook blends the ideas of racing and technology into a superior PC product.”

The operating system is Microsoft’s Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), and there’s a 250GB, 5,400-rpm SATA hard drive; an AMD M780G chip set; ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 graphics; and up to 4GB of DDR2 667MHz memory.

Connectivity options include 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N wireless and Gigabit LAN capabilities. There’s a CrystalEye Webcam with video conferencing software, a full-size keyboard with a multi-gesture touchpad, a multi-in-one digital media card reader, three USB ports, a VGA port and a six-cell lithium-ion for up to 5 hours of battery life.

On the entertainment front, there are two stereo speakers, third-generation Dolby Home Theater audio enhancement and a built-in optical drive.

Potentially also entertaining: The 1-inch-thin, cloaked-in-Ferrari-red notebook features a palm rest with a checkered-flag pattern and the Ferrari prancing pony logo on the palm rest as well as on the front cover.

“Ferrari enthusiasts will also note the tire-shape grips underneath the notebook’s body, racing-inspired wallpaper and calendar, as well as a quick access key to Kerrari.com,” states the Acer press release.

The Ferrari One FO200-1799 notebook is available in the US from major retailers and Acer resellers, starting at $599.99 (£370).

In the third quarter of 2009, Acer beat out Dell for the No. 2 PC market share position. According to iSuppli, it was the first time an Asian OEM had captured the No. 2 spot on a quarterly basis.

iSuppli analyst Matthew Wilkins credited Acer’s success to its aggressive pricing, strong netbook shipments and robust performances in European and U.S. markets.