Acer plans new Timeline, ASUS new U to rival Apple

Acer, ASUS and Lenovo are all planning new generation ultraportables to rival the MacBook Air, tipsters said Monday. A new Acer Timeline and an equivalent ASUS U series would arrive in the spring, while a Lenovo IdeaPad would be ready in the summer. All of them are planning to put the price "below $1,000" while outperforming the Air, Digitimes heard, to both beat Apple's pricing and avoid the fate of expensive ultrathins like the Dell Adamo.

Not much is known, but the Timelines would be contracted out to Taiwan's Wistron, while ASUS' recently split manufacturing wing Pegatron would handle its former parent's U series. ASUS would focus on larger 13- and 14-inch models.

Whether or not the refreshes would be successful is uncertain. Apple is expected to have a Sandy Bridge MacBook Air update in June that would likely put its performance on par or better. Current Timeline and U series sales haven't been given out but aren't thought to be large despite having a theoretically faster design.

By Electronista Staff