Photos: Acer Aspire One Pro 531, TravelMate Timeline 8000 series, Veriton N260G

Acer is getting businesslike with the Acer Aspire One Pro 531, TravelMate Timeline 8000 series and Veriton N260G, a netbook, nettop and notebook series aimed at people in suits

Richard Trenholm

Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.

See full bio

Richard Trenholm

July 28, 2009 10:43 a.m. PT

1 of 10

Acer has unveiled a selection of business-like TravelMate laptops alongside a new netbook and nettop.

The Acer Aspire One Pro 531 is a business-oriented addition to the Aspire One netbook range. It boasts a 10.1-inch backlit LCD and claims up to 7.5 hours of battery life. With a thickness of 2.5cm and 89 per cent standard-size keyboard, it nonetheless feels a little heavier than we'd expect at 1.1kg. Options include a 160 or 250GB hard disk, or a 64GB solid-state drive. Wi-Fi is built-in and Bluetooth is optional, with a 3G version due sometime this year.

The Veriton N260G is a diamond-shaped nettop aimed at schools, libraries or call centres, as well as "demo/showrooms, hotel countertops or airline check-in kiosks". How specific. It's either free-standing or is small enough to clip neatly onto the back of a monitor. It packs the Intel GN40 Express Chipset, Atom N280 processor and up to 2GB of memory.

The TravelMate Timeline 8000 series comprises the 8371, 8471 and 8571. They're claimed to have an impressive battery life of more than 8 hours. Acer reckons you'll even be able to extend this with a tap of the PowerSmart button.

Each model comes with Intel Core Duo or Solo processor, up to 4GB of RAM. Hard drives of 160-500GB or a 80GB solid-state drive is included, as well as a DVD drive. Click through our gallery to find out more about each of the new models.

2 of 10

The TravelMate 8571 packs a 15.6-inch screen. It's even big enough for a numeric keyboard.

3 of 10

The TravelMate 8471 stretches to 14 inches. Each of the 8000 series sports a 16:9 LED backlit screen.

4 of 10

The TravelMate 8371 is smaller at 13.3 inches. Each model includes a fingerprint scanner next to the trackpad for added security.

5 of 10

The top of the Veriton boasts an all-in-one card reader, two USB ports, and headphone and microphone jacks.

6 of 10

At the other side we have another USB port. There's another USB port up top there, but we're darned if we could get the little plastic cover off without the aid of some kind of hooked device. Or longer fingernails.

7 of 10

The power button peeks over the screen for easy turn-on-and-offability.

8 of 10

Underneath, there are another two USB sockets, Ethernet, D-Sub VGA, HDMI and PS/2 ports, and power.

9 of 10

The Veriton clips into selected Acer monitors with two quick-release catches. So quick in fact, the hand is quicker than the camera! There's no release date just yet, but the home and work editions will cost around £200 and £300 respectively.