New Acer Aspire model pioneers use of AMD’s Fusion chip

Acer’s Aspire One 522 netbook has begun shipping in the US, and is the first device powered by one of AMD’s new Fusion chips to do so.

The 522 – with its 10 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel display – follows in the footsteps of the Toshiba NB550D in being one of the first devices on the planet to incorporate one of AMD’s  lauded Fusion chips. The Toshiba device is not currently scheduled for a US release and is as yet unavailable in the UK.

The Fusion range is a raft of processors produced by AMD that combine extremely low power consumption with minuscule architecture to keep even the most slimline of devices running at optimum efficiency.

The particular Fusion chip causing all the fuss within the new Aspire is the AMD Ontario; the smallest and least gas-guzzling of all the Fusion chips.

Other specifications boasted by the latest member of the Aspire family include AMD Radeon HD graphics, 1GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive and 802.11b/g/n WiFi. The 522 will run Windows 7.

The netbook is available for UK shipping but this could incur heft import costs. An alternative is to wait for a general UK release or for the scheduled release of the NB550D on our shores in the next two weeks.

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