Acer has quickly become one of the world’s largest manufacturers of personal computers. This is especially impressive since the company does not have a history of producing PCs that goes back as far as some of their competition. HP and Toshiba have both been manufacturing computers for the consumer market for much longer than Acer. Acer is now the world’s ninth largest computer manufacturer. The first PC manufactured by Acer that truly made a dent in the market was the Aspire PC that was introduced in 1995. One year later the company expanded more heavily into consumer electronics and prepared to become the worldwide powerhouse that they are now.
In 1997 Acer purchased the mobile PC division from Texas Instruments. That purchase jump-started their presence in the laptop market. In 1998 Acer expanded its lineup of notebooks by utilizing the new multimedia processor made by Intel. They offered two new models that featured the 150 MHz Pentium MMX chip. The high-end unit was the AcerNote Light 386 which included a 2 GB hard drive, 32 MB of RAM and a CD-ROM. That unit was price at just shy of $3500. A lower priced unit, known as the AcerNote Light 383, had similar features but included 24 MB of RAM and was priced at around $2600.
While they may seem quaint by today’s standards, they were very technologically advanced pieces of machinery for their time. Acer also offered a few other laptop models in 1998 that were significantly cheaper but they had slower processors, less RAM and lower capacity hard drives. At the time, it was difficult for manufacturers to produce a laptop that could come anywhere close to the performance offered by desktop computers. The processors used in laptop computers were simply not up to the challenge posed by more powerful desktops.
Since those early days of laptop production, Acer has grown to offer devices in just about every category. From netbooks to high-powered gaming units, there is likely to be a laptop computer made by Acer to fit the needs of just about any consumer. While many consumers consider products made by companies like Dell or Sony to be at the higher end of the laptop spectrum, savvy consumers are beginning to realize that although they are priced competitively, Acer laptops do not lag behind in quality at all. As the company continues to grow, there is speculation that they may also enter the tablet and smartphone markets as well.
