Acer Aspire S7 ultrabooks to feature Windows 8, HD touchscreens

Acer’s next-generation ultrabooks will feature high definition touchscreen displays and the Windows 8 operating system. The Acer Aspire S7 series ultrabooks will also come in two sizes: you’ll be able to pick one up with an 11.6 inch or a 13.3 inch screen.

Up until now Acer has only offered ultrabooks with 13.3 inch or larger displays. But you’ll probably have to wait at least until Windows 8 is released this fall to actually get your hands on one of the new S7 ultrabooks.

Acer Aspire S7

While these computers are thin and light notebooks rather than laptops, the addition of touch support should make it easier to interact with the new Metro style user interface in Windows 8. Many Metro style apps will be designed for touch input, and while you can certainly use a touchpad or keyboard and mouse with Windows 8, some features will be more intuitive with touch.

Acer is also promising that the screens on the new S7 ultrabooks will tilt back 180 degrees — meaning you can kind of, sort of use them like tablets if you really want to… as long as you don’t mind having a big keyboard hanging out next to your touchscreen display.

The ultrabooks feature backlit keyboards and aluminum unibody cases. The 13.3 inch model has a glass lid as well.

Acer says you’ll be able to get up to 9 hours of battery life from the 11.6 inch model, while the larger laptop has a larger battery and offers up to 12 hours of run time.

via Engadget and Laptop Magazine

Posted on Sunday, June 3rd, 2012, 11:55 pm by Brad Linder | 15 Comments

Guest008

I really dont see the point in possessing a touch screen ultrabook…
Keeping your harm/hand/finger up for hours?

An hybrid? Maybe. But a laptop… What for?
The “cool” factor?
CyberGusa

Seems they’re pushing to evolve the traditional usage of these devices and adding touch screen is only one of many things they’ll be changing.

There are some things that are more useful doing it with a touch screen they just weren’t common with traditional desktop OS before, but Windows 8 will of course be different.
Guest008

“There are some things that are more useful doing it with a touch screen they just weren’t common with traditional desktop OS before”

Beside drawing?

And I just saw, to actually talk about this laptop, that the 11″6 has only 3 ports!!
Yes, you read correctly, 3 ports:
A thunderbolt, a µSD and a USB (3.0).
That’s it!

Sell us a piece of paper already… Thiness wise it sure deserves a 1000$ price tag.
CyberGusa

Yes, there’s more than just drawing you can do with a touch screen.

Touch screens on laptops aren’t new, both convertible and non-convertible goes back many years, and it does add certain conveniences. Especially on smaller devices, which is why for a time touch screen mod kits were popular for netbooks.

The reason they never went into wide use before wasn’t about having to reach the screen, but rather the lack of touch optimizations in the traditional desktop OS UI.

Like just to scroll you needed something like the Firefox plug-in Grab and Drag and that was only useful for Firefox.

Even with tablets, it wasn’t until they started pushing touch optimized OS did tablets take off and become more than a niche market.

This is not the case with Windows 8 though and that’s one of the reasons why they are starting to push them now. Especially considering how they’re pushing Metro.

Mind, besides hybrids they can also do slider designs where the screen simply slides down on top of the keyboard. Along with other alternatives like the Dell Duo flip screen design. So they’ll likely push the option to use them as slates as well and not just add a touch screen.

While they’re also adding motion sensors and will later add motion control like kinect. So you won’t even have to reach for the screen.

On the ports for the S7, it’s four counting the HDMI, and the larger 13.3″ model adds an extra USB 3.0 port.
Mark

I’m hoping for a matte black version of the 11.6″. Maybe separate the number and F keys into different rows. I’d really like to see how close the real world battery life is to the claimed 9 hours.

Anyone know what the footprint is?
Mark

@CyberGusa:disqus
What would be easier to do with a touchscreen instead of a keyboard, mouse and trackpad/wheel scrolling? To me , having to lift my arm to touch the screen is going backwards in user interface.
A Guy

In addition to that, I’d like an option to not have a touchscreen that I would hardly use. Maybe save a little bit of money too. Touchscreens are nice workarounds for smaller devices but with 11″+ screen notebooks, it’s just too awkward. Even with my 10″ Android tablet, it becomes a hassle.
CyberGusa

@25c3956656f1b3bc448d511551eab44f:disqus

It actually all depends on how the UI is optimized.

For example, just like how traditional Windows has been hard to use with only a Touch Screen. Touch Optimized OS like Android or iOS are hard to use with no Touch Screen and only a Keyboard and Mouse.

The OS has to be optimized to properly use either type of input methods. Otherwise you’ll wind up using more effort doing something with either.

Mind with laptops you don’t necessarily always have the option of using a mouse and the Touch Pads tend to be limited and that’s what will be compared most of the time to the touch screen.

For example, using the Metro Start Screen, along with Metro in general, will be easier with a touch screen than with a mouse. While using the desktop mode would switch the advantage to the mouse.

While versus the Touch Pad, a Touch Screen allows for things like quicker clicking of multiple items versus having to drag the cursor around with up to multiple times to get the cursor where you need it.

Also versus the Touch Pad, Touch Screens provide a much larger control surface for more precise control and accuracy.

Also mind that from a lap position, the screen isn’t really any harder to reach than the touch pad and it could also be easier to use than the touch pad while in a moving vehicle and you’re bouncing around a bit.

All of which is besides the advantage for drawing, digital signature, and similar.

While this isn’t the only change they’ll be offering. Motion sensors, GPS, and eventually Motion Controllers like Kinect.

Mind even if you don’t use it often, it’s still nice to have options when using your system, especially when using it under less than ideal conditions.
Guss

All I know is that if I have to physically move more than I normally would then the interface has gotten worse. That’s how I see touch screens.

Of course, I’m a TrackPoint fan which minimises extraneous movements by not having to move from the keyboard to the track pad and back.
Guest008

@CyberGusa:disqus

“On the ports for the S7, it’s four counting the HDMI, and the larger 13.3″ model adds an extra USB 3.0 port.”

I saw a video of the 11″ and I can assure you there’s no HDMI but a thunderbolt instead.
So, 3 ports (not counting the audio jack) indeed.
For me, it’s just ludicrous.

And I also read this “Intel Thunderbolt technology has made its way into 60 new devices on display at Computex “…
Intel’s pushing…
CyberGusa

Hmm, seems reports of the HDMI port didn’t specify that it is only on the 13.3″ model. So that’s two extra ports you get at 13.3″ but the 11.6″ only gets three.

Well, for ports then the S5 looks to be the better choice… It has a motorized pop out port dock. So squeezes a bit more into that size, but just doesn’t have a touch screen but you may prefer that anyway.
Dude

It’s on the back.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/06/zsh-s7-11009.jpg
Guest008

Ok, thanx.
A bit better then.
webdesignbizz

Nice informative article as always!Thanks for keeping us update about the features of this new version…Template Design
CyberGusa

lol. they snuck it in there ;-p

Acer Aspire S7 ultrabooks to feature Windows 8, HD touchscreens

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