Acer is giving two of its portable Windows notebooks a spec bump by swapping out 4th-gen Intel Core “Haswell” chips for new 5th-gen “Broadwell” processors.
The Acer Aspire S7 ultrabook is a thin and light laptop that’s been available in one form or another for a few years, but which Acer says should now get up to 10 hours of battery life thanks to the new low power processor.
Acer’s Aspire R 13 is a convertible notebook that can also be used as a tablet, among other things. The new Broadwell model of this computer should also get up to 10 hours of battery life.
The Aspire S7 measures 0.51 inches thick, weighs about 2.9 pounds, has a touchscreen display with 180 degree viewing angles and comes with a choice of 1920 x 1080 pixel or 2560 x 1440 pixel display. The notebook has 8GB of RAM and 128GB to 256GB of solid state storage, and 802.11ac WiFi.
On paper the specs for the Aspire R 13 look a lot like those for the ultrabook. This model will also be available with Full HD or WQHD display options, 802.11ac WiFi and a 5th-gen Core processor.
But the Aspire R 13 is a multi-mode computer that can be used in laptop, tablet, tent, or stand modes. It also has an active digitizer for digital pen input and supports up to 1TB of solid state storage.
Both systems are premium computers that will be available starting in January, with prices and configurations varying by region.
If they’re as good as the old R7, they’re worth a look. I love my R7 and use it for graphic design.