Acer beats arch-rival Asus in Q3 netbook match
Aspire One quarter's most popular machine
And the most popular netbook in Q3 was... the Acer Aspire One, closely followed by - surprise, surprise - the combined collection of Asus Eee PCs.
So says market watcher DisplaySearch, which measured a 38.3 per cent market share for Acer, a good way ahead of Asus' 30.3 per cent.
That's good news for Acer, not simply because it was ahead of the company that effectively started the netbook market, but that it did so with one machine. DisplaySearch counted 1.70m Eee PCs and 2.15m AA1s that shipped in Q3. But while there are a handful of AA1 SKUs, there are dozens and dozens of Eee PC variants.
HP took the third place - perhaps surprisingly, given the generally so-so reception its VIA-based Mini-Note 2133 netbook got - with 330,00-odd units and a 5.8 per cent market share. That was just ahead of MSI, which shipped 320,000 Wind netbooks for a 5.7 per cent share of the market.
Mind you, we see Medion's in the chart, in joint sixth place. Medion's netbook is a re-branded MSI Wind, and adding its contribution to MSI's own, lifts the Wind to 450,000 units and an eight per cent market share.
Either way, Dell shopped 160,000 Mini 9 netbooks, to give it a 2.8 per cent market share. Not bad, that, since it didn't ship its machine until the very end of the quarter.
The OLPC XO has been around longer, but it only racked up shipments totaling 130,000 units, giving it a 2.3 per cent share.
Rounding off the top ten, Intel's Classmate PC partners together shipped 60,000 machines for a combined share of one per cent - figures matched by Japan's Kohjinhsha. Lenovo shipped 40,000 IdeaPad S9s and S10s, yielding a share of 0.7 per cent, just ahead of Toshiba's 0.5 per cent share, built on the back of 30,000 units shipped.
Overall, some 5.61m netbooks shipped globally in Q3 - 160 per cent more than the number that shipped in Q2, DisplaySearch said and forecast some 14m netbooks will ship in 2008, up from a mere million last year.
"We expect the mini-note PC market to settle at approximately 16 per cent share of the notebook PC market by 2011," DisplaySearch's notebook research chief, John Jacobs, said.
Acer Aspire One review
Plus: top ten tweaks and UI customisation guide
Netbook and Mini-laptops
Buyer's Guide
COMMENTS
re: black NC10 stock.
"Wanna show me where I can get 'em?"
At the time of writing:
"In stock now" @ dabs - £321, delivered.
"More than 50 in stock for next day delivery" @ ebuyer - £321.50, delivered.
"Stock : > 20" @ laptopsdirect - £325, delivered.
"Expect shipment in 3 working days @ expansys - £318, delivered.
"In stock" via Amazon 'used & new' - £325, delivered.
It'll be available for under 300 notes before you know it.
No-one said the entry-level AA1 wasn't cheap and decent enough value, but the NC10 bests it on virtually every count, solving some *commonly cited* shortcomings of said entry-level AA1 whilst having virtually no *commonly cited* failings. And for that you'll have to drop a few extra notes.
The general concensus is that the NC10 hits the sweet spot and does what it says on the tin.
You pays your money, you takes your choice.
Touched a Nerve . . . Did I?
AA1 - £179
NC10 - £Spank Monkey!!
Is it my fault you bought ASUS/Acer netbooks??!!!
Or am I the scourge of all you behold with the SCC you have laid before you??!!
Chrimbo sales? You'll be lucky to buy one next April !!
Me? Gotta get 2 of 'em before Xmas . . . Wanna show me where I can get 'em??
\Paris . . . Need I say it again? Bed . . . Crawl over . . . For NC10 . . . NUFF SAID!!/
Agree with Art of Shadow
I can't agree with Art of Shadow more... just look at the new Asus N10 compared to the Asus Eee S101. Both 10 inch toys priced about the same (£400) but the N10 adds up to 320GB storage and a dual GPU (Intel 950 and nVidia 9300), though it is slightly larger/heavier than the S101. Battery life on the 9300 is about 3 hours as well so not too shabby all told, but with this out suddenly the high end part of the market is all about Asus competing with Asus Eee! If I were a non-exec director I would want to be questioning the overall strategy of the firm rather closely... Then again, in a few short years Asus has established itself as more than a mobo maker and brought out a huge range of machines covering the full spectrum of user wishlists, and has even got the C90, the first notebook designed to be upgradeable as well as start the entire netbook industry.
I was close to getting the 701, but then the 901 came out and I thought about getting that, and the 1000, but then the price was a bit much for something my 4 year old, previously mothballed, Vaio TR5 could do (second machine for holidays/travels). If I got a small machine now I'd consider either a £200 one or the N10 so I could frag on the move!
re: samsung nc10 vs acer aspire one (vs EEE 901)
"NC10 - £299
Aspire One - £179"
To continue the story...
NC10 - 10.2" matte screen, 7+ hrs battery, 1GB RAM, XP, easily upgradeable hardware, touchpad w/ gestures.
Aspire One - 8.9" mirror, <2 hrs battery, 512MB, Crippled Linux, gittish to upgrade hardware, acquired taste small touchpad and buttons.
And "Spec for Spec", the Aspire One is the same price as the EEE 901 (SSD notwithstanding, as there's no equivalent).
Thought I'd buy an XP EEE 901 when they hit £250 and put up with the keyboard, small/oddly configured SSD & looks.
You can get them for that now. But now I'm after an NC10, no question.
But it's so close to Christmas that I'll be waiting for the post-Chrimbo sales & pick up an NC10 then.
But knowing the way it goes, there'll be an NC10 with built in 3G and 32GB SSD around the corner...
_____
Come on Reg, where's the NC10 review?
Asus has got to big for its boots and are overcharging
I have used both the Asus EEPC and the Acer Aspire One and id choose the Acer anyday. Its cheaper, higher spec and better looking then most models of the Asus
