Packard Bell gets into the netbook arena, with the dot. According to a company spokesman, the netbook is aimed less at the business user and more toward families. Features Intel’s 1.6GHz Atom, 1GB of RAM and an 8.9-inch display running at 1024 x 600, and a 160GB hard-drive. It also sports a built-in webcam, 6-cell battery, three USB 2.0 ports, one VGA, microphone and headphone ports, and a 5-in-1 multicard reader. In fact, it’s alot the Acer Aspire One. It will be available in Europe in November, priced around $584, with Windows XP Home.

Netbooks are an interesting fad that was kicked off by the Asus Eee. The little systems are small, compact, and tend to be low cost. You can end up spending as much on a netbook as you could get a full-fledged notebook for though — if you are not careful. Back in July, Acer launched its netbook computer called the Aspire One.

Acer has now announced that the price of its Aspire One netbook has been dropped just in time for back to school. The Aspire One with Windows XP Home, 1GB of RAM, 120GB HDD, and a 3-cell battery will now retail for $349.99. A system with the same features running Linpus Linux will retail for $329.

The netbook category is relatively new and is already getting crowded with lots of competition. The first netbook to show up was the ASUS Eee and it has spawned a wealth of competitors looking for a piece of the low cost netbook market.

Back in June Acer unveiled its Acer Aspire One netbook and Acer has now announced that the Aspire One is available for purchase in the America. Acer says prices for the machine starts at only $379. For that amount of cash you get a 2.17 pound netbook that measures 9.8” x 6.7” x 1.14”. The CPU is an Atom N270 and it features 512MB of RAM, 8GB SSD, 8.9” LCD, webcam, 802.11 b/g and a 3 cell battery.

Tiny notebooks are all the rage right now in a fad that was kicked off by ASUS with its tiny Eee notebooks. The hallmark of the mini-notebook or netbook is small size and a low price tag. Systems are often powered by the Linux OS to keep prices down.

For some Linux works fine and for others a Windows environment is preferred. Not too long ago we talked about the $299 Linux powered RazerBook 400 mini-notebook. 3K computers, the makers of the RazorBook 400, have announced a new updated version of the tiny notebook.

I really do get the appeal of small notebooks that are really cheap. I can see having one for toting around town and sing at the coffee shop for surfing the net. I could even see using one for business if your work revolves around light data entry. To that end the Asus Eee looks pretty interesting and it’s cool to see more competition in the low cost, small notebook market.

One of the new competitors in that market is Acer and it has officially unveiled its Acer Aspire One at Computex. The little computer comes with 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and future version could come with integrated WiMAX as well. Battery life is promised to me 3 hours with standard 3-cell battery and 6 hours with the optional 6-cell battery. The LED backlit LCD is 8.9-inches and sports a 1024 x 600 resolution.