Where are the Arrandale 'netbooks'?

[Winterpool]

By 'netbook' here I of course mean < 13-inch ULV notebook. The sort of machine exemplified by the Acer Aspire 1410 series.

Last year, it seemed the arrival of 11-12-inch dualcore ULV notebooks would take care of my concerns with weak Atom and singlecore ULV machines. I was shocked to see Acer / Gateway offer a dualcore SU2300 model with 2+ GB memory and Windows 7 Premium for $400. Little did I realise this would be as brief a buying opportunity as AAPL at < $80...

Half a year later, the dualcore Gateway ECs are gone, and the remaining dualcore Acers often cost 25 per cent more than last year. I presume the ULV 'Penryn' supply is drying up (the Celeron SU2300 in particular), but where are the 'Arrandale' ULV chips? I have seen the odd Core i3 system here and there, but always overseas, and the prices are in a different league from netbooks or the more affordable 'Penryn' machines.

Have Intel and the notebook manufacturers decided it was a big mistake permitting dualcore ULV systems to be available for < $500? (I did wonder if there was profit margin there...)

 

[Brainonska511]

They've been trickling out. The ULV Arrandales were delayed due to supply issues and should be in full swing by the end of the summer IIRC.

And I wouldn't consider a CULV in the same league with a netbook.

Just take a look at the Lenovo IdeaPad U160.

 

[Bateluer]

By 'netbook' here I of course mean < 13-inch ULV notebook. The sort of machine exemplified by the Acer Aspire 1410 series.

Last year, it seemed the arrival of 11-12-inch dualcore ULV notebooks would take care of my concerns with weak Atom and singlecore ULV machines. I was shocked to see Acer / Gateway offer a dualcore SU2300 model with 2+ GB memory and Windows 7 Premium for $400. Little did I realise this would be as brief a buying opportunity as AAPL at < $80...

Half a year later, the dualcore Gateway ECs are gone, and the remaining dualcore Acers often cost 25 per cent more than last year. I presume the ULV 'Penryn' supply is drying up (the Celeron SU2300 in particular), but where are the 'Arrandale' ULV chips? I have seen the odd Core i3 system here and there, but always overseas, and the prices are in a different league from netbooks or the more affordable 'Penryn' machines.

Have Intel and the notebook manufacturers decided it was a big mistake permitting dualcore ULV systems to be available for < $500? (I did wonder if there was profit margin there...)

I've seen Acer TimelineX 1810 and 1830s around Core i3s and i5s showing up sporadically at Newegg and Amazon.

 

[wbynum]

I know what you mean about the prices. I have been looking for an 11.6" notebook with decent power. I cringe when I see the Gateway Core 2 Solo one going for $350 now at TigerDirect when last year the dual core was going for about this price. The new i3 model is $520 after BCB and it is not supposed to be that much faster than the dual core 1410 models from last year. ~$150 is a steep price increase for minimal performance gain.

 

[Bateluer]

Acer is launching some new models.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-821-_-Product

Aspire 1551, AMD Turion II Neo K625 1.5Ghz model, 4GB of RAM and Radeon 4225 IGP. At 550, its the cheapest model, but still almost double the Atom netbooks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-803-_-Product

TimelineX 1830T-3927, Corei3 based, 3GB of RAM, Intel IGP. 600 dollars, steep cost.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-802-_-Product

TimelineX 1830T-3721, Core i5 based, 4GB of RAM, Intel IGP. 700 dollars, very steep price.

Dell's also announced a Neo II, 11.6in product in the Inspiron Slim line, but its not available for sale yet and has no pricing.

I am definitely in the market for an 11.6in notebook. Currently have a 14in Studio 14z, C2D T6600 powered and 9400M IGP. Decent machine, but I want some thing a bit smaller. The 10.1in netbooks are too underpowered for anything practical though.

 

[Winterpool]

Like wbynum, I find it particularly galling when I see singlecore ULV notebooks sold for prices one could have got a dualcore last year. Aside from memory, this is one of the few tech categories that's substantially deteriorated in pricing (for the consumer). I suppose one could argue relative pricing of cutting-edge graphics cards also sucks right now...

Ugh, those new 'Arrandale' notebooks are what I feared. The Core i3 model costs 50 per cent more than the old Acer 1410 with SU2300 -- how much better is the performance of 'Arrandale' than 'Penryn' at 1.2 GHz? Not 50 per cent superior, I suspect.

Helas, summer is when a light and cool notebook would come in most handy. True netbooks are too weak (Atom!) and perhaps a tad too small (a few more pixels, please, esp vertical). I suppose a singlecore ULV notebook might suffice, but I'm not sure -- plus I don't know if could live with myself buying one now, given what was available at this price before... (Of course this logic kept me from buying AAPL in the 100s after buying insufficient shares in the 70s and 80s, ha. But tech products, if not tech shares, are supposed to get cheaper!)

 

[ASTOCADDIDS]

33 views and no replies? Also where can I find the Aopen XC case?

 

[cbn]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3800/alienware-m11x-r2-first-look

Here is one undergoing testing.

 

[maniac5999]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3800/alienware-m11x-r2-first-look

Here is one undergoing testing.

I wouldn't exactly call the M11x a 'netbook'. Yes, the LCD is 11.6", but the chassis itself is at least as big as your average 13.3" laptop.

 

[Bateluer]

I wouldn't exactly call the M11x a 'netbook'. Yes, the LCD is 11.6", but the chassis itself is at least as big as your average 13.3" laptop.

Agreed. Also, the point of a netbook is 'low cost'. Nothing made by Alienware fits that description.

Right now, I'm looking at the Aspire 1551. The 1830T is nice, but with a 700 dollar price tag, its priced out of range.