While Microsoft Windows 8 tablets have generally been sized at 10.1-inches or larger, the company is rumored to be working on a smaller Surface tablet. That would mean it relaxed the hardware requirements an allow for a device such as the W3, which will offer an optional keyboard to help with text input. Will the market support these smaller slates?

I’m not sold on the full Windows 8 Pro experience on such a small device. Yes, the formerly-known-as-Metro touch interface should be fine — quite good, in fact — on the Iconia W3; after all, the same design is great on smaller screens using Windows Phone 8. The bigger challenge is the Windows desktop and legacy app support, which is one of the three major points Acer calls attention to: “The Iconia W3 comes with Microsoft Office so you can edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint docs on the go,” for example.

With the 1280 x 768 resolution, running Office and other apps designed for Windows will present a challenge to most. The smaller screen and relatively lower resolution means smaller touch points, for starters. For maximum productivity in the desktop environment, a mouse will be the better option because the Windows 8 Desktop environment is similar to the Windows desktops of yesterday. Simply put, while Metro has evolved for touch and smaller screens, the Windows desktop hasn’t.

I could be wrong about this, but I do have a few years of experience that tells me it’s not likely. I used 7-inch touchscreen tablets running Windows XP and 7 on several UMPCs, often as a full-time computing device.

It took a ton of patience to make the systems work because apps weren’t designed to fit and run on them. These were the precursors to netbooks, and to a degree that’s what the Iconia W3 reminds me of: A cross between a modern UMPC and a netbook. Like those devices, Acer is using an Intel Atom to power the W3.

I’m sure to hear contrary opinions on this, but what would make the W3 more appealing would be for the tablet to run only the Metro interface and apps. (Ironically, none of the W3 product images even show the desktop, which I think is telling.) Of course, Microsoft doesn’t offer a Windows 8 license with just that part of the platform. I wish it did and did so at a reduced price since one would give up access to legacy Windows apps. In that case, and at the right price, I’d be far more interested in the W3.

Sure, one could buy the device and simply ignore the desktop completely. But you’re paying for it in the product price, which includes the cost of a Windows 8 Pro license. If Microsoft wants to allow partners to make small tablets, a better strategy would be to go Metro only at a lower license cost and truly embrace the touchscreen tablet market.

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The new A1 is targeted to budget-conscious shoppers. Similar to the HP Slate 7 at the same price, the A1 cuts corners that keeps it from using premium components. Acer is keeping costs down with a 1.2 GHz quad-core chip from MediaTek and includes only 8 GB of internal storage capacity. Customers can expand storage through a micro SD card or spend $50 more for a 16 GB model. The 7.9-inch display uses the same 1024 x 768 resolution of Apple’s iPad mini; it also has the same 4:3 aspect ratio.

Even with a lower range of specs, the A1 has all the features you’d expect in almost any useful Android tablet: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, a 5MP rear-facing camera that can capture 1080p video at 30fps, a front-facing camera, micro USB 2.0 and microHDMI ports. Acer says the battery is rated for seven hours of use, which is a little light for this category, but not awful either.

I’m more intrigued by the Aspire P3, partially because I liked the Acer Aspire W510 Windows 8 tablet. That was powered by an Intel Atom, but the new P3 has your choice of either an Intel Core i3 or i5 processor for improved performance. Of course, there’s a hit in battery life — I saw a good 12 hours from the Atom-based units; more with the keyboard dock — but Acer says six hours of run-time is possible. I expect that will rise a bit when the next-generation of Core chips, called Haswell, arrives in June.

The 3.06-pound Aspire P3 has an 11.6-inch IPS display with HD resolution. Instead of a traditional keyboard dock, the slate slides into a hinged case. That allows the screen to be propped up while also offering a standard chiclet keyboard. Unlike the dock of the W510, there’s no secondary battery in the P3 dock. Overall, the device looks like a large iPad in a keyboard case.

Acer says the price of the new P3 is $799.99 for the Core i3 model, which is available now.

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According to a blog post early on Tuesday, Samsung’s Chromebook has been a best-seller on Amazon U.S. for 150 days, and over 10 percent of laptop sales in the UK electricals stores Currys and PC World have been Chromebooks.

Chromebooks go on sale from Tuesday in the aforementioned countries, where Google will also be pushing the devices on businesses and schools. Availability will differ somewhat from country to country, although generally the Acer and Samsung Chromebooks are on sale now, with HP’s effort on its way soon.

I get the feeling that Google has spotted a gap in the market here. At the size and price point we’re talking about (roughly between $250-$350), people will most likely be buying and using Chromebooks as they would have netbooks. With the manufacturers having more-or-less abandoned the netbook market, those who want a cheap, portable, notebook-format device may very well find themselves looking in Chrome OS’s direction.

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Acer is marketing the device to the education market but consumers interested in a low-cost Chromebook may want to take a look. I used the older C7 model for a few weeks as my daily computer and as long as I was able to find an outlet, it worked well. The new C7 device uses an Intel Celeron chip just like the prior edition (see performance marks here for the old model) and includes 4 GB of memory, which is double the memory of the $199 model.

Is the extra battery life and double the RAM worth an extra $80? I’d say yes. If you’re interested in the Acer C7, this is the model that I’d spring for. Another compelling option would be the $249 Samsung Chromebook, which just gained Netflix support yesterday, although that particular Chromebook is half-step slower. It uses an ARM-based chip, typically found in smartphones or tablets, instead of an Intel Celeron.

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As I note on camera, with the Intel Atom processor, the W510 won’t offer high performance. But it does offer stellar battery life, a touchscreen experience and a full Windows 8 desktop so you can install whatever software you’d like. The only full-sized USB port is on the keyboard dock, not on the tablet. The slate offers a micro USB port and microSD card slot for memory expansion.

I’ll follow up after a few more days of use. So far, I have more likes than dislikes — that trackpad isn’t the best, for example — and just don’t see why I’d bother with a Windows RT tablet after using this, especially when a comparable Surface RT in 64 GB with Touch Cover is $699. The 64 GB Acer W510 with keyboard dock has a $750 suggested price and I’ve seen it as low as $710 online; just a few dollars more with greater battery life and full Windows 8.

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Acer’s president, Jim Wong, has been one of the most vocal critics of Microsoft’s partners of late, first announcing disappointment in Microsoft’s decision to launch its own Surface computers and now suggesting that Windows 8 “is still not successful.” For its part, Microsoft has turned the finger-pointing back at PC makers, with The Register reporting last week that Microsoft feels partners didn’t build enough attractive Windows 8 tablets for the 2012 holiday season.

Blame game aside, the numbers are telling. This month, Microsoft announced sales of 60 million Windows 8 license sales, but that figure includes sales to hardware makers for new PCs that may not have been sold yet. And the overall PC market is down in terms of sales. In the final quarter of 2012, the industry experienced a decline of 6.4 percentage points over the year ago quarter.

A few reasons explain the sales decline. For starters, consumers and businesses may be holding on their older computers longer; unless you have a budget PC from a few years ago, you can very likely upgrade to Windows 8 or simply keep using Windows 7 for now.

Cheaper options for PC-like tasks are available as well: Smartphones to some degree and tablets to a much larger extent can handle many activities once reserved for computers. Plus, you can remotely connect to and use a computer from these tablets if needed.

The popularity of Google’s Chromebook is another example of less need for a traditional computer. It’s clearly not a full computer replacement but after using one since June of last year, it fits nearly all of my needs, for example. So much of today’s computing activities take place in a browser that the Chromebook can be a secondary device allowing an old computer to suffice for more resource intensive tasks or apps.

Ironically, Acer’s Chromebook entries are simply low-priced Windows laptops repurposed for Google’s Chrome OS. That cuts out any licensing fees to Microsoft, which if the market for Chromebooks grows, can hurt the company down the line. No Windows also means no Office; essentially a double whammy for Microsoft revenues if Acer’s Chromebooks become a hot seller. Samsung sells both Windows 8 computers as well as Chromebooks and it appears HP is entering this non-Microsoft market too.

Don’t think Acer is divorcing Microsoft, however. The company still builds Windows devices and surely makes the bulk of its PC division revenues from these.

In fact, I just received a Windows 8 tablet review unit from Acer — the Intel Atom-based W510 — and my initial impressions are mostly positive. The $599 tablet offers the benefits of touch when desired plus full Windows compatibility and an optional keyboard dock: A handy combination. But if that’s too much money for you, Acer’s Chromebooks start at a low $199; a price that will command more attention than any Windows 8 laptop on the market.

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This new model, known as C710-2605, is priced at $299 and looks exactly the same as the $199 model; on the outside at least. Inside, it still has the same 1.1 GHz Intel Celeron processor but Acer doubled the memory from 2 GB to 4 GB of RAM. That should help eke out a little more performance, especially when the Chromebook has multiple browser tabs open. (Related: Performance benchmarks of three recent Chromebooks)

With the new model Acer also improved the one sore spot I had with the old model: Battery life. The new Chromebook should get 6 hours of run-time on a single charge, thanks to a battery with double the capacity over the less expensive model. Since the battery is removable on the older model, I’d like to see Acer offer this extended battery for those that bought the $199 version.

There’s one more improvement in Acer’s new Chromebook, although I question the need for it. Instead of a 320 GB hard drive like the prior model, Acer swapped in a 500 GB drive. I’m scratching my head over this one, much like I did when I saw Acer opt for a high-capacity magnetic hard drive over a faster flash drive in the prior model.

Chromebooks are cloud-computing devices, meant for using the web. Local storage is useful, necessary even, but the 16 GB in the Samsung Chromebook I bought is more than enough for most users. And there are no moving parts to break down or wear out. Regardless, folks who want an Acer Chromebook with double the memory and run-time will get a larger hard drive as a bonus when the device goes on sale.

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I’ve been using all three base models for some time now. I spent $449 for the Samsung Series 5 550 model in June and it has become my primary computing device for work purposes. Last month, Google introduced an updated Samsung model, simply called Chromebook, that is lighter, thinner and cheaper at $249. The device runs on Samsung’s latest chip for smartphones and tablets.

And earlier this month, Acer introduced the $199 C7 Chromebook; a repurposed Windows laptop offers less battery life than the other two Chromebook choices. After the latest software update, the C7 is rated for 4 hours of run-time, while I routinely see between 6 and 7 hours on the Samsung models. But how does it perform?

I compared performance of the Samsung models last month, noting that the lower priced model runs a little slower in real world experience, with some benchmarks to validate what I’ve seen. After spending time with the latest model, I’m updating my becnchmark table as the $199 C7 has performed better than the $249 model in most cases, but is still not up to par with the $449 device:

At this point, I plan to stick with my $449 purchase because it offers the best performance and can still run as long on a single charge as the $249 version. If I hadn’t already invested the money, I’d likely consider the lower priced Samsung model over the even less expensive Acer C7, mainly because of the 50 percent boost in battery life. Even with some minor compatibility issues that are the process of being addressed, for me, battery life trumps many features in a mobile device.

I’m also finding that Acer’s use of a hard drive instead of flash memory brings some unwanted noise to the experience and even some web page stutters after opening multiple tabs. Previously opened web pages appear blank every once in while, for example, and I’ve heard some streaming music pauses as the device loads additional web pages. For basic use, the Acer, or even the $249 Samsung model, will surely work fine, but for Chrome OS “power users” — if there is such a thing — paying a premium for the $449 model is money well spent.

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First launched in 2006, Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics looks at environmental conditions for electronics manufacturers like if companies use toxic materials in their gadgets, if they take back old products for recycling, how much energy they use to produce and ship their gadgets, and how clean their energy sources are. Companies also score points by setting carbon emissions reductions goals and for advocating politically for sustainability. The top companies in the latest guide are Wipro, HP, Nokia, and Acer, while the bottom companies are Sharp, Toshiba and RIM.

This was the first time that Indian firm Wipro was on the list, and its debut at number one, was prompted largely by Wipro’s “climate leadership,” says Greenpeace. Wipro says it plans to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 44 percent by 2015 and achieve 85 percent of those emissions reductions through the use of clean power. Wipro also has worked closely with the Indian government on solar and clean power policies.

The Indian government has itself developed an aggressive clean power plan, which might be more aspirational than realistic. But India is hoping to install 3 GW of solar by 2016, compared with the 54 MW of solar installed in 2010. And to meet the growing demand for power — as the country’s economy grows — India plans to add 100 GW of power generation over the next five years, and that will be made up by mostly coal and clean power.

While Wipro is willing to be aggressive on clean power and greenhouse gas emissions reductions goals, the Greenpeace rankings find that in contrast almost all of the other electronics giants “are still heavily dependent on climate changing dirty energy sources in their supply and manufacturing chains.” A Greenpeace spokesperson writes:

Most consumers would be surprised to hear that many devices consume more electricity before they’re ever purchased just in their manufacturing than they do after we buy them and charge them every night. This “embedded energy” is the next big frontier for consumer electronics companies who want to be green.

Apple came in at the 6th spot on Greenpeace’s guide, down from its 4th spot in 2011, but up from a former ranking at number nine. Greenpeace has blasted Apple in the past, despite its massive solar and fuel cell farms being built in North Carolina.

Image courtesy of fraboof.

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So is this essentially a cut-rate Chromebook? Not really, as you can see in my video overview.

Although I’ve only used the new C7 for part of a day, it can certainly fit in my daily workflow: I’ve been using a $449 Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook full-time since I bought it in June. But you have to like glossy displays and be able to live with a 3.5 hour battery life on the C7. I’m not sure I could do that, but that’s a personal preference. Surprisingly, there are some things I like better on this $199 Chromebook: It has an HD front camera and a better keyboard layout that includes a Caps Lock key. And with the 1.1 GHz Intel Celeron 847 chip, performance is nearly that of my current device and faster than the $249 ARM-based Series 3 Chromebook.

I’ll have more thoughts as I spend more time with the C7, so stay tuned!

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