Easy. It's not just Acer, it is Asus and MSI and possibly many more to come. And its not because they're doing something exceptional. The business of PC building has changed to their advantage because of two (harshly worded) trends:

1. Computers, even laptops, become commoditized and don't require much of R&D to design and produce.

2. The majority of PC sales are consumers' who, unlike business customers, prefer cheap disposable junk, hence there isn't a single 24-bit true-color laptop available to buy these days: they're all gone. (which makes me wonder: what is the point of these high-tech digital SLRs?)

Don't bring the Apple argument: their success rests on value-add services/software that just happen to run well on in-house hardware.

P.S. Suddenly, IBM's decision to sell off PC business several years ago looks even more impressive.