Netbook Scoop

The Aspire One by Acer was already one of the best netbook values.  Acer just announced large price cuts.  Here are the new manufacturer suggested list prices.

Aspire One with 8 GB SSD, 3-Cell Battery, Linux: $379 $329

Aspire One with 120 GB HDD, 3-Cell Battery, Windows: $399 $349.

Acer also announced a new version of the Aspire One:

Aspire One with 160 GB HDD, 6-Cell Battery, Windows: $399.

The new prices have not shown up at the online retailers, yet.  But you can use the “Compare Prices” tabs in our Netbook Buyers Guide to keep watch.  Here are the links:

Aspire One 8 GB 3-Cell Linux

Aspire One 120 GB 3-Cell Windows

It will be interesting to see how this plays out with the rest of the nebook manufacturers.

• Asus products are already higher priced than comparable products from the competition.
• MSI can’t make enough Wind netbooks to meet demand, so I don’t see them cutting prices.
• Dell is ready to introduce their first netbooks any day now.  Their rumored prices are very competitive.
• Lenovo won’t ship their first netbooks until October, at the earliest.

Things are heating up.

Update (8/25/08): I always quote my sources when I provide information like this.  Somehow, when I posted this at 3am this morning, I forgot to tell you that Engadget was the source.  Please visit them for more detail.