Acer in high-power, low-cost notebook race

BANGALORE: Acer India has introduced a Pentium 4 - sub Rs 54,999 notebook into the Indian market. The TravelMate TM243FX-P4 is based on the Intel Pentium platform and runs on the P4 CPU with a clock speed of 2 GHz.

It is equipped with a 128 MB RAM, 20 GB hard disk, integrated LAN and a 14.1-inch TFT monitor. The operating system is RedHat Linux version 9. According to the press release, the notebook is targeted at SME, SOHO, corporate, enterprises, education segments and mobile sales personnel.

Commenting on the launch in the Indian market, Acer India (Pvt) Ltd consumer products group sales and marketing general manager S Rajendran said, "It has always been our mission to provide users the best in technology at affordable prices. This launch along with the recent launch of our sub 50k Celeron notebook, is reflection of that goal. I anticipate that this move will ensure a definite increase in the market share for Acer notebooks since approximately 80 percent of the notebook market is P4."

The market for notebooks at the entry level is increasing at a rapid pace. According to IDC, the total number of notebooks sold from Q1 to Q3 of 2003 is 57,753 units indicating a growth of 69.04 percent. The number of units sold from Q1 to Q3 of 2002 was 34,165.

(CyberMedia News Service)