Unboxing the free PDC laptop (photos)

CNET has a look as one developer at the Microsoft PDC gathering in Los Angeles unboxes an Acer laptop, which were given to most attendees.

Ina Fried

Nov. 18, 2009 3:52 p.m. PT

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Acer PDC laptop

An unnamed developer unboxes his Acer PDC laptop for CNET on Wednesday at the Microsoft PDC gathering in Los Angeles.

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Hardware

On the hardware front, the machine comes with a 1.2GHz Intel Celeron chip, 2GB of memory, an 11.6-inch display, 250GB hard drive, and an Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics chip.

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Connectivity

Along with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, it also sports mobile broadband that works when a user puts in their own SIM card.

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Custom software

Although Acer plans to sell a similar model, the laptop given to PDC attendees has a custom software collection as well as a BIOS written by Microsoft.

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Software

Among the software included on the machine is the beta of Office 2010, along with the Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7, Windows Live Essentials, Microsoft Security Essentials, and Corel's Paint.

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Giveaway

Although most paid attendees were able to walk away with one of the laptops for free, it wasn't made available to volunteers, government employees, Microsoft attendees, conference staff, or the press.