Microsoft shows off a $169 Acer Aspire One Cloudbook

[HEXUS]

Windows 10 powered 11.6- and 14-inch laptops will go toe-to-toe against Chromebooks.

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[cps1974]

so that will be £200 in the UK jeesh

[gordon861]

Order from the US (amazon.com) and pay the £30-40 import tax and still save money.

[DanceswithUnix]

I'm guessing the use the word cloud in the name because there isn't any spare storage on it.

[sykobee]

1366x768 TN screen, right?

[cptwhite_uk]

No it's a UHD IPS panel @ 144Mhz

[scaryjim]

I'm guessing the use the word cloud in the name because there isn't any spare storage on it.

That would be my assumption - a small amount of eMMC with a reliance on removable and/or cloud storage for the rest. Given bay trail tablets are available at < $100, I imagine the BOM would be not too dissimilar (exchanging the cost of a touchscreen for the cost of a keyboard/clamshell case and slightly larger screen). What interests me more is whether this is an indication of another OEM licensing deal my MS: these devices are above the screen size for the previous "free" Windows deals, but the pricing looks about right ...

[LSG501]

so it's basically a rebrand of the 'windows with bing' then with a slight reduction in price due to usual depreciation of value on parts or similar.

I'd be guessing atom, 1 or 2GB ram, 32GB storage on the 11 inch and 4GB/64GB if lucky on the 14inch, if extra lucky this might even push out to a 1440x900 display... although they're both likely 720p or 1366x768 screens. You can already get an ASUS EeeBook X205 with atom, 2GB/32GB and 11.6inch 1366x768 and upto 8 hours for £160 including 1 year office subscription.

Having said all that, for someone like my mum who literally uses the computer to access the web and use office that would be more than good enough for her if the battery life is ok.

[bluevaping]

Yay! Race to bottom is complete. I wouldn't even give this to 10 yr old trying to do basic word-processing and internet. Dell is selling budget Ubuntu laptops in the US, even that sounds better.

[Ttaskmaster]

Having said all that, for someone like my mum who literally uses the computer to access the web and use office that would be more than good enough for her if the battery life is ok.

My older Aspire One AO531H had a battery life of 7 hours.
Specs are OK for what it is (Atom, 10" 1024x600, 160GB, 2GB DDR2, etc). Came with XP but could possibly run this stuff. Would just about play Tomb Raider: Legend without issue.

I would hope the newer Aspire One is far superior...

[scaryjim]

... I would hope the newer Aspire One is far superior...

AFAIK the quad core bay trail Atoms (I'd be amazed if these weren't using a quad bay trail) have similar performance to the small core AMD APUs (but with slightly less graphical ooomph). My step-son plays warframe on his A4-5000 based laptop. So while this isn't going to replace your desktop any time soon, it's likely to be way beyond the minimum requirements for the majority of PC users. I think we sometimes get a skewed view of PC performance, being a forum of enthusiasts and gamers...

[DanceswithUnix]

Yay! Race to bottom is complete. I wouldn't even give this to 10 yr old trying to do basic word-processing and internet. Dell is selling budget Ubuntu laptops in the US, even that sounds better.

A 10yr old won't be doing word processing, they will be playing Minecraft. Might do OK at that

[Lanky123]

I got the Toshiba Satellite Click Mini 8.9" in the Prime Sale a few days ago...£150 for an 8.9" 1920x1200 IPS screen, Windows 8.1, probably similar innards to this Cloudbook (2GB RAM, quad core Atom Z3735F) and the option to use it like a tablet. So you can get cheap machines with a good screen these days, IIRC Toshiba also do a Chromebook with a 1080p IPS screen too. Why anyone still buys the 1366x768 TN models is beyond me.

AFAIK the quad core bay trail Atoms (I'd be amazed if these weren't using a quad bay trail) have similar performance to the small core AMD APUs (but with slightly less graphical ooomph).

Naturally the first thing I did was check if Crysis ran (it does, terrible frame rates though ), slightly older games like HL2/Portal are absolutely fine though, even running the Lost Coast benchmark at 1920x1200 with everything on high the FPS is still in the mid 20s, not too hard to get 60FPS playing with the settings. Similar with Age of Empires II HD, perfectly playable. Assuming the intended use for most people is movies/browsing it's more than powerful enough.

[Brewster0101]

I got the Toshiba Satellite Click Mini 8.9" in the Prime Sale a few days ago...£150 for an 8.9" 1920x1200 IPS screen, Windows 8.1, probably similar innards to this Cloudbook (2GB RAM, quad core Atom Z3735F) and the option to use it like a tablet. So you can get cheap machines with a good screen these days, IIRC Toshiba also do a Chromebook with a 1080p IPS screen too. Why anyone still buys the 1366x768 TN models is beyond me.

Was tempted with the Click mini, but started to look at the HP Pavilion x2 which is nearly the same but bigger at 10". There are some good value tablet hybrids for Windows now under £250. :-)

[andreipoe]

so it's basically a rebrand of the 'windows with bing' then with a slight reduction in price due to usual depreciation of value on parts or similar.

I'd be guessing atom, 1 or 2GB ram, 32GB storage on the 11 inch and 4GB/64GB if lucky on the 14inch, if extra lucky this might even push out to a 1440x900 display... although they're both likely 720p or 1366x768 screens. You can already get an ASUS EeeBook X205 with atom, 2GB/32GB and 11.6inch 1366x768 and upto 8 hours for £160 including 1 year office subscription.

Having said all that, for someone like my mum who literally uses the computer to access the web and use office that would be more than good enough for her if the battery life is ok.

If the 14-inch one has 4 GB of RAM and decent battery life, it might be interesting. It's better than a Chromebook anyway I guess.