15 Scenes From Acer's Budapest Conference

Buda Castle, the historical home to Hungarian kings since the original structure was built on a hill overlooking the Danube sometime in the mid-13th century, is home to the Hungarian National Gallery, home to Medieval and Renaissance stone art from the 11th century.

Acer executives discuss the company's new multi-brand strategy, in which the vendor will use the Acer, Gateway, Packard Bell, and eMachines brands to target different market segments and user types.



From left: Gianpiero Morbello, corporate vice president of marketing; Gianfranco Lanci, Acer CEO and president; and Jim Wong, senior corporate vice president and president of Acer's IT Business Group.

The Budapest Congress and World Trade Center, site of Acer's Global Press Conference 2008 event, bills itself as the largest conference hall in Hungary.

Journalists took their time filing into the conference, distracted as they were by the array of notebooks Acer had on display, with examples from each of its brand names.

The scenic Danube River flows serenely on a cloudy afternoon, with the Gothic-styled Hungarian Parliament Building in the right background.

Gianfranco Lanci, Acer CEO and president, fields questions from reporters about Acer's newly announced multi-brand strategy.

Built in 1839, the 1250-foot long Chain Bridge was the first to connect the Buda and Pest portions of the Hungarian capital. Its picturesque location in the shadow of Buda Castle makes the bridge a hot spot for artists and souvenir salespeople.

Acer representatives wait for journalists to arrive at the Budapest Congress and World Trade Center prior to the start of the Global Press Conference 2008 event.

Acer showed off several of its latest displays and notebook PCs that occupy the high end of its multi-brand marketing strategy.

Acer has resurrected the Packard Bell brand and says it's doing quite well in the European market.

A year after buying Gateway, Acer has steered the former direct PC manufacturer toward its own channel-only model, an approach Acer expects to help it make inroads in the U.S. market.

eMachines, the lowest rung of Acer's multi-brand approach, and one of the cheapest brands to have occupied the U.S. market, is designed to appeal to practical users who don't need lots of frills.

With the eMachines eMD520, Acer is bringing notebook PCs within the reach of users who normally wouldn't even think of buying anything but a standard desktop PC.

Slated for launch by the end of the year, Gateway's MC Series notebooks pack multiple bells and whistles into a sleek-designed package that Acer hopes will appeal to high-end 'power users.'

Launched in July, Acer's Aspire One is the vendor's initial foray into the NetBook mobile PC market. The Aspire One comes loaded with Windows XP ($349) or Linux ($329), an Intel Atom processor, and weighs in at just 2.17 pounds.