| MacUpdate Weekend Sale | :This weekend MacUpdate has slashed prices on Painter 12 and Painter Lite. Painter 12 retails for $429, but has been reduced by 54% to $199. Painter Lite has seen a 58% price cut from $69 to $29. Hurry, because these deals are only available until May 19th 2013. |
Taiwan computer manufacturer Acer is discontinuing its eMachines brand. The move, which will see the brand's operations come to a close, forms part of the company's overall move away from budget base models and towards ultrabooks and similar form factors, something CEO JT Wang started in late 2011.
Some of Acer's unveilings from CES came closer to reality today as its Aspire One 522 came up for pre-order at Amazon. The company's first netbook based on AMD's Fusion should sell for $330 and ships in three to five weeks. Amazon's edition comes in a single trim with the 1GHz dual-core C50 chip, Radeon HD 6250 graphics and a 250GB hard drive.
eMachines staked out an unusual first today with the first Athlon II Neo-based nettop in the US. The Mini-e uses AMD's very low-power 1.7GHz processor to provide an entire computer in a box just 7.1 inches across and 1.2 inches deep. Being so small lets the desktop either sit at an angle on a pedestal or graft on to the back of a desktop display or TV with VESA mounts.
Apple has slid back substantially in US market share in the first three months of 2010, IDC said in a study. An early estimate says Apple's share shrunk from 7.4 percent this fall to 6.4 percent in the winter with about 1.13 million. The number was also a drop from 7 percent a year ago.
The flyer for Best Buy's Black Friday/Thanksgiving sale has been leaked on the Internet ahead of its official release thanks to a copy posted today. Among the 'doorbusters' are a $300 PS3 bundle that includes two games, while an Xbox 360 bundle with six games will carry the same sticker price. Another front-page deal involves a 46-inch, 120Hz LED-backlit Samsung HDTV with free home delivery, hook-up and recycling for $1,600, or $1,000 off.
eMachines this morning formalized its first real all-in-one nettop for the US. The portrait-style EZ1601 is pitched as a den or kitchen PC and mates an 18.5-inch display with familiar nettop hardware in the form of a 1.6GHz Atom, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. Unlike some, it has its own DVD burner for optical storage. It depends on Wi-Fi for networking but, unlike some all-in-ones, omits a built-in webcam to keep the price down.
eMachines today gave a new look to its least expensive ET series desktops along with hardware upgrades to match. Like the recent EL1300 slimline PC, the ET1300 and ET1810 shed the company's previous black-and-silver look for a sleeker, glossy white. They all also make NVIDIA's lower-end graphics standard for slightly faster than usual performance in the category.
eMachines this afternoon hoped to spark new life in its desktops with both a cosmetic and performance upgrade to its most economic AMD-based models. The EL1300 series switches from the typical black and silver of most PC builders (including eMachines itself) to a glossy white eMachines considers friendlier. They continue to use the small form factor design that most eMachines systems now use without affecting their prices.
Last week's announcement by projector manufacturer InFocus that it is getting bought out by Image Holdings Corporation (IHC) for $39 million may have been premature, according to a Thursday Twice report. InFocus' board of directors said late on Wednesday that it received a last-minute take over proposal, but did not reveal the name of the new suitor. Little other information about the new deal was revealed, other than that the InFocus board will discuss the new offer, but still support the existing offer.
Acer has brought back its eMachines notebook line-up when it announced the launch of a 14.1-inch widescreen notebook, the eMachines eMD620-5777, on Thursday. The new notebook sports a 1.6GHz AMD Athlon CPU, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard-drive for a price usually associated with much smaller netbooks. Other features of the notebook include a full-size keyboard, integrated b/g Wi-Fi module, a DVD-R/RW drive and an ATI Radeon X1200 graphics chipset that can pull up to nearly 2GB of system memory for its own ends.
eMachines has chosen an unusual mid-Friday launch for the EL 1200, the company's first small form factor PC. The system's case is about 40 percent smaller than eMachines' normal mini-towers and consumes less power as well; all models carry a 1.5GHz Athlon 64 chip that demands just 15W of power by itself. The range potentially serves as a budget home theater PC with HDMI-out and more recent integrated GeForce video as an option.
Gateway's budget label eMachines today served up three new desktops that it says ought to appeal to students heading back to school in two months' time. The W3653 is the most complete system of the group with the company's 17-inch, 1440x900 bundled with the tower; the system also packs a relatively new 1.6GHz Celeron Dual-Core processor, 1GB of memory, and Vista Home Premium stored on a 320GB hard drive. The system sells for $500 at retail shops.
eMachines on Thursday released a pair of AMD-based towers that serve as the very entry level for desktops. At $300, the T3646 is the Gateway label's least expensive system and accomplishes the feat with a 2.2GHz Sempron, 1GB of memory, and a 160GB hard drive; Vista Home Basic also trims the price and reduces the operating system's demands on the computer.
Typically associated with notebooks, Acer's plans for next year include some form of game machine, according to the company's senior vice president. James T. Wong explains, however, that the company is not merely working on a performance-tuned Windows PC, but something intended to compete with the current crop of dedicated consoles. Furthermore, the machine is expected to be based on "open standards," a term which may refer to the Linux operating system.
Gateway today announced the shipment of several new desktop computers, the focus of which is the GM5664. Sold only at retail, the system is one of the few mainstream computers with a hybrid Blu-Ray/HD DVD drive, allowing playback of both HD media types, though it can only burn standard DVDs and CDs. The system is also equipped with a quad-core AMD Phenom 9600 processor, a 1TB hard drive, and a 256MB Radeon HD 2400 XT video card. It is currently selling for $1,150. As a cheaper option, the GT5662 switches to a DVD SuperMulti drive, a Phenom 9500 chip, and a smaller 500GB hard drive. Its price is $750.
The current and last independent CEO of Gateway, Ed Coleman, has announced that he will retire from his position at the end of January. The move will make room for Rudi Schmidleithner, the head of Acer's division in the Americas, who will take Coleman's place as he leaves. The Taiwan-based Acer finished acquiring Gateway in October, at a cost of $170 million; Gateway continues to exist as a subsidiary company though, and has been actively releasing products such as a 30-inch LCD and new notebooks.
