NetbookShow

Last month Gateway introduces the LT32 notebook, which is basically a rebranded version of the Acer Aspire One 721  11.6 inch laptop with a 1.7GHz AMD Athlon II Neo K125 CPU and ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics. But it looks like Gateway also has a 10.1 inch model in its arsenal, dubbed the Gateway LT22.

The new model is basically the same machine as the Acer Aspire One 521 netbook which I recently reviewed. On the inside it’s virtually identical to the LT32, but the LT22 has a smaller 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display instead of an 11.6 inch 1366 x 768 pixel screen. It also has a smaller chassis and keyboard.

The LT22 also ships with Windows 7 Starter Edition while the LT32 comes with Windows 7 Home Premium. They’re available now in Canada for $350 and $450 respectively. The Gateway LT32 is also available in the US for $450, but there’s still no word on a US launch date or price for the Gateway LT22.

Acer is reportedly preparing to launch a new 10.1 inch netbook that chucks the Intel Atom chipset for an AMD chip. Macles reports that the Acer Aspire One 521 will have a 1.2GHz AMD V105 single core processor.

The V105 is part of AMD’s Nile lineup, and it has 512KB of L2 cache, support for DDR3 memory, and a total power draw of 9 watts, which makes it pretty efficient for an AMD chip. What we won’t know until someone gets a chance to run some benchmarks is how the AMD V105 compares to an Intel Atom chip when it comes to performance.

The Aspire One 521 will also reportedly have ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225 graphics and the AMD M880G chipset. As you can probably guess from the fact that the graphics processor has HD in the name, the netbook should be capable of HD video playback and it even has an HDMI output. I wouldn’t expect NVIDIA ION-quality 3D graphics performance here, but it seems like 720p and maybe even 1080p HD video support should be on the table.

According to Macles, the netbook will have optional Bluetooth 3 support and a compact charger with changeable plus. The battery is supposed to be good for up to 7 hours.

This wouldn’t be Acer’s first foray into producing an ultraportable lapotp with an AMD processor. The company has been offering the Acer Ferrari One with an 11.6 inch display and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual core processor since December.