Acer intros first Xohm-friendly notebooks
updated 12:20 pm EDT, Wed October 8, 2008
Acer intros WiMAX laptops
Acer on Wednesday announced the launch of its first notebooks that support Sprint's 4G Xohm WiMAX network, which officially debuted just over a week ago in Baltimore. The Acer Aspire 4930-6862 and Aspire 6930-6771 are identical in pricing and specs, with the exception of the latter’s 1366x768 16-inch LCD over the former’s 1280x800 14.1-inch display. The pair will use Intel’s combined WiMAX/Wi-Fi module, which is part of the Intel WiMAX/Wi-Fi Link 5050 Series. Either new notebook will also use the same 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor and 3GB of RAM, with graphics processing handled by the onboard Intel GMA 4500MHD.
The two ship with Windows Vista Premium pre-loaded on their 320GB hard drives and feature a dual-layer optical drive, a built-in webcam and 5-in-1 multimedia card reader. Either supports Dolby Home Theater audio, though the 6930-6771 is the entertainment center of the two thanks to its display's 16:9 aspect ratio.
WiMAX has proven to bring average downlink speeds of between 2 and 4Mbps while uplink rates are between 1 and 2Mbps. The 4G Sprint network promises to expand to markets outside of Baltimore in upcoming months. Either WiMAX-enabled notebook is available to customers in Baltimore now, priced at nearly $900.
