ACER NETBOOKS BEAT ASUS

By D.E.Levine

I travel with an Acer netbook which I love because of it's light weight, high speed and wireless connectivity. I always thought I'd get an Asus, since they were introduced first, but the Acer offered me XP and a 160GB hard drive which the Asus couldn't match.

They're both good netbooks, serviceable, small, lightweight and after years of traveling with a heavy, clunky laptop, a journalist's dream.

But Asustek (Asus) was in the industry first and everyone though the company had an edge and the highest shipments since it introduced the original Eee PC.

However, as it turns out, Acer edged out Asus to become the leader in netbook shipments in 2008. The company claims it shipped 5 million netbooks in 2008, actually falling short of its 6 million target because of the global economy decline. It anticipates shipping 10 million to 12 million in 2009.

Asus shipped 4.9 million netbooks in 2008 and didn't comment on it's 2009 expectations.