The Acer Aspire One is among the most popular products in the netbook craze. Like other netbooks, it is tiny, light, and adept at internet browsing, word processing, and e-mail but not much else. Don't get too attached to that approach though; Acer is changing the mold by adding a 10-inch version of the Aspire One to its repertoire.

Yep, other manufacturers have done similar things. After the success of its Inspiron Mini 9, Dell announced similar 10 and 12-inch models. But there's a nasty rumor going around that this new 10-inch Aspire One is a replacement, not a supplement. Inside sources have said the company is considering axing its 8.9-inch netbooks.

The good news is that the 10-inch Aspire One is a fine machine, with 1 GB of RAM by default (twice as much as the barely-adequate 512 MB in the 8.9-inch model). It reportedly has metal palmrests instead of plastic, so it should feel more solid when you're using it. You can see for yourself when it rolls out in February at a price of $399.

This story around the web: