Acer Ferrari One Netbook on Pre-Order

[Chris]

It's been exactly 3 months since I first wrote about Acer's new Ferrari branded netbook but the wait is finally over. The Acer Ferrari One FO200-1799 is now available to pre-order at $599.99. I have always questioned the promotional pairing of auto makers and laptop makers to create branded netbooks and laptops. But then again, [...]

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A Farrari fanatic is just someone who gets more excited about them than the next guy. Nice to get excited, be enthusiastic, or make a commitment to anything. Do you think $600 is appropriate for a netbook? It would be easy to spend that much or more at a weekend race. The new Garth Brooks country program tickets are $125 each, plus hotel, drinks, casino and round trip to Vegas. He's booking 3,000 per weekend. I'm finding that businesses are designing customer specific services/products these days. Why not netbooks?

Sort of nice stats on the Ferrari. Be nicer with a faster platter drive or boost the price some and install an Intel SSD. Does it have a bottom door to swap drives or is this disassembly only? What's the screen resolution? Does it have a branded DVD player and branded power brick?

[ThisIsNot]

Those specs are really nice. That AMD processor would run circles around the current netbook Atom processors. I would even venture to say that it runs circles around the yet-to-be-released Pinetrail netbook configuration (which is a single core 1.66GHz processor, just as powerful as the Atom N280 but it consumes a lot less power). The GPU in this netbook also means it can playback 1080p media without issues.

However, $600 is way more than anyone should spend on a netbook. Best Buy is selling a Blu-ray equipped notebook for $730 this week. They are selling other notebooks for $600 or less that have great dual-core Intel/AMD processors, GPUs that put anything in netbooks to shame (including the ATI Vision and Nvidia ION platforms), 320GB+ hard drives, etc. In fact, there is an Asus notebook being sold at $599 with the following specs:
2.2GHz Core 2 Duo
4GB DDR2 RAM
500GB 5400 RPM hard drive
DVD+-R/RW DL
HDMI output
Intel GMA 4500MHD (which means that 1080p video playback is possible)
A battery that lasts for 4.5-5.5 hours
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

So what is stopping people from purchasing that over a $600 netbook? Absolutely nothing. I know that the Ferrari line carries some weight in terms of brand recognition and Acer has been milking this for a while. However, a high price and highly recognized name doesn't mean that it is the best purchase. Sure, the specs are rather nice but better speced out notebooks are going for the same price or less. Even better speced notebooks are going for $130 more. I would like to see a review but, much like the higher priced Sony netbook and not-a-netbook netbook, I just don't see people buying this.

I appreciate your spec dense posts TIN man but don't overlook the value added branding of netbooks. You run the risk of offending owners who identify with Ferrari (or any other brand) without drawing them into your spec camp.

Ferrari sold 3,000 of the $800K automobiles in the first half of this year. They have expanded to to 29 Ferrari stores with a 22 percent uptick in licensing and branding income. The important thing for Acer is the world wide merger of brand recognition and marketing distribution.

If I'm willing to spend $400 for a netbook then the extra $200 for my hobby is minor.

That's important for customer specific sales and should be recognized in a review.

Probably the same thing occured when the first basketball was made using the identical vulcanized process as a football. Football players asked how do you pass the thing? Now we have an important branded NBA from two types of balls.

[ThisIsNot]

I don't really care if I offend anyone who associates Ferrari with being a high-end brand name. I am just offering my opinion on what is an overpriced piece of hardware. I am not saying anything regarding the fans of the Ferrari line. Additionally, one cannot compare the Ferrari car company to a netbook with their brand. Ferrari has little to nothing to do with desktops, notebooks, PDAs, smartphones, and netbooks with their branding. That would be like throwing in Sony PS3 sales number when talking about their overpriced netbook. Two different market segments for two completely different products.

My point is that the brand name on a netbook shouldn't really matter. Will an Atom N280 perform any faster in a Sony $500 netbook over a $300 Asus netbook? Absolutely not. Will an AMD dual-core 1.2GHz processor perform any faster than the same AMD dual-core 1.2GHZ processor in the HP equivalent portable? Nope. So why are these companies charging $200+ more than others? You are paying for the brand. $600 is way too much for a netbook and many other companies are now offering notebooks with more than decent specs at that price point. A brand name is only hurting these products. HP, Asus, Toshiba, etc. are also brand names yet their products are $100-$200 less than the competition. Hence why this is overpriced. That shouldn't offend any Ferrari fan and, if it does, they need to come down off of their high horse and realize that this netbook is $200+ more than the competition (that is a fact).

Originally Posted by ThisIsNot

I don't really care if I offend anyone who associates Ferrari with being a high-end brand name. I am just offering my opinion on what is an overpriced piece of hardware...My point is that the brand name on a netbook shouldn't really matter.

Performance points are facts. Overpriced is an opinion. I say that respectfully because you have both a grasp of facts and good opinions.

The value added branding of a Ferrari netbook for a customer specific experience is worth every penny to that netbook owner sitting with his buds and buddettes in an automotive bar in motor city.

One thing I like about this site is the broad number of brands represented.

[ThisIsNot]

I would think both the person and friends in the bar would care more about what is in the parking lot rather than what netbook is sitting in that car's trunk.

We're sparring, parsing comments. That's good. Helps information exchange.

As far as I'm concerned, the more hits, posts, click throughs, ads, and sales of any type that Chris gets, the better.

If I were considering sending Chris a branded netbook like Ferrari's Prancing Pony (I liked your high horse pun BTW) I would check the forum to see how high value items were being treated. So, dissing a brand just does not make sense to me. Spec the hardware but leave it up to the customer to decide if the extra $200 is worth it.

If someone disses HP, post a positive. If someone favors netbook maps, post a pocket GPS note. If someone defines netbook as 8.9in/1024/600, spec a 11.6in hi-def with 1080p playback. That's all fair. There are lots of computers to satisfy lots of computer user's needs. Not-a-netbook netbook disses probably don't help the customer.

Back when Chris was running the Targus contest, we were encouraged to post threads on anything netbook to develop readers. I think we help the reader by posting netbook uses and showing actual hand's on experience. That's why I think you are such an awesome resource for tech and a variety of uses is a place where I can make a contribution.

I like it when threads run several pages and hits go above 150 to get color on the envelope. I like it when customer specific information gets posted. I don't get involved in personal bashes or bash backs but I like it when you spar and parse.

[ThisIsNot]

We don't have to counteract negative or positive opinions. The objective of this site is not to remain balanced so that others don't get their feelings hurt. We are here to offer our opinions however biased, balanced, or unbalanced they are. Hence why I say that this is an overpriced netbook and Acer thinks they can charge people an extra $200 just for the Ferrari name.