Acer, the world's third largest PC vendor, is planning to launch a netbook next year with a 10.2-inch screen, the largest netbook screen from Acer so far, a company representative confirmed.

The Taiwanese company's Aspire One netbook has been a hit this year. Launched at mid-year, the device now has Asustek Computer's popular Eee PC in its sights. Acer has forecast shipments of 6 million Aspire One's this year, against estimates of 5 million from Asustek for its Eee PCs.

The Aspire One out now has an 8.9-inch screen, but most companies are putting out netbooks with 10.2-inch screens now. The slightly larger screen sizes are more popular with people who like to view Web pages without scrolling left and right to see the entire page.Asustek, which has offered a 7-inch screen on its Eee PCs, has said it does not plan to offer the small screen size in the future because people don't seem to like it as much.

Netbooks are mini-laptop PCs designed for mobility, typically sporting 7-inch to 10-inch screens and weighing less than 2 kilograms. Most netbook components, including the microprocessor, are less powerful than those of full-fledged laptops so batteries last longer. Netbooks are designed for dealing with e-mail, browsing the Internet and working on word processor or spreadsheet documents, not for heavy-duty gaming, video editing or other multimedia work.

Reports also indicate that Acer plans to launch a rival to Asustek's Eee Top, which is a low-cost competitor to Apple's iMac, a display with computing functions built-in.

A small group of Maximum PC readers (and editors) tend to glaze over at the mere mention of the Eee PC. For those of you that fall into this category, I’ll do my best to keep it interesting and you’ll be glad to know, this isn’t an ordinary netbook announcement. The now household name that spawned a generation of inexpensive PC’s have unveiled a new form factor that brings the Eee product line closer to being a desktop solution than ever before. First impressions of the product are obvious, it is clearly intended to appeal to the budget conscious crowd who can’t afford an iMac, or simply don’t care to pay the Apple tax. Asus isn’t the first to take on the iMac, but the Eee brand name, and touch screen interface gives it an interesting advantage over its competitors.The Eee Top will come in two variations, the ET1602 and the ET1603. Both models feature a 15.6” touch screen display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of Ram, and a 160GB Hard Drive. Other less critical features include 802.11n networking as well as a built in card reader and web cam. The two models are almost completely identical with the one exception being the ET1603’s inclusion of the ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450 for graphics. The ET1602 by comparison will only sport Intel integrated. No pricing has yet been announced for either model, and both systems will feature Windows XP Home with a custom touch screen GUI.

So, is this the form factor of Eee PC you were waiting for?

While Apple's older iMacs (Late-2006) boast an impressive pair of stereo speakers (considering the all-in-one design and their small size), the same thing cannot be said about the company's 20-inch and 24-inch aluminum iMac (Mid-2007).

However, both Apple's Late-2006 and Mid-2007 computers have their speakers placed at the bottom of the system, facing down. This leads to a considerable loss in sound quality, as the sound hits your desk and bounces off in all directions. Given this, some high pitched sounds (but not only) barely make it to your ears. There is a way to capture all the sound coming from your Mac's speakers, and direct it all towards your ears.

Buy a pair of headphones! Just kidding. No headphones. You do, however, need two extra items on your desk to make this happen. A couple of ashtrays, for instance. Just place them underneath each of your iMac's speakers. What happens is this:Channeling the sound (click to enlarge)


The sound waves hit the two hollow-shaped objects, becoming trapped inside the round walls for a short period of time. In a fraction of a second, the now-channeled sound bounces back out, upwards, since there's no other place to go. Simple, isn't it?

Go ahead, give it a tray… er, try! You don't necessarily have to use ashtrays. For once, they're not that aesthetic; second, we don't encourage smoking, and third, you can use some nicely designed pottery or something like that. You'll have to see what suits your room best, so the objects don't attract too much attention. After all, you don't want folks thinking that your all-in one computer actually needs additional hardware to work well, now, do you?

Notes
· You will see (hear) a significant difference in sound quality only when the volume level is above medium. The effect still applies even on a low volume level, only it's not so observable;
· For this to work, the sound first has to hit one of the inner-sides of the object, not the bottom directly. Check out more pictures below, to see exactly how you want to place your objects of choice.

Good luck and let us know how this trick worked for you.

Normally, when we see an Apple rumor, we look the other way. Barely anything that "leaks" from Apple has any truth to it, so we scroll down on our RSS feeds and look for something else to care about. This time, however, it s different. The last rumors came true to an alarming degree, so we'll attach some credence to this one. That is, unless it turns out to be bollocks.

AppleInsider now tells us that in the next month or so, we might see Apple updating the iMacs as well. Obviously, the idea would be to have a spanking new product line ready for the traditional blow-your-savings-on-cool-stuff festival (also known as Christmas).

However, the updates won't just be driven by business--there will be technology reasons as well. For one, since the last update in April this year, Intel has developed the Centrino 2 platform, which is already featured on the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Secondly, there s the shift to NVIDIA's graphics solutions--it is quite likely that the new iMacs will ditch the ATI chipsets.There may be more news on October 21--though not likely--when Apple holds a conference to announce its quarterly results.