The Acer Aspire S7 ultrabook is designed to run Windows 8, and it has the release date to prove it. Acer has announced that its first ultrabooks with touchscreen displays will launch on October 26th.
That’s the same day that Microsoft’s new touch-friendly operating system will hit the streets.
Acer’s Aspire S7 ultrabooks come in two sizes. Prices start at $1199 for a model with an 11.6 inch display. You can also grab a 13.3 inch model for $1400 and up.
Under the hood, both models will have 1920 x 1080 pixel IPS displays, Ivy Bridge processors, solid state disks, and backlit keyboards with light sensors for automatic brightness adjustments.
Acer says the ultrabooks get up to 6 hours of battery life, and the company will offer an optional second battery for up to 12 hours of run time.
The 11 inch model has an aluminum lid while the 13 inch laptop has a Gorilla Glass lid. You can also tilt back the 13 inch lid 180 degrees and fold the laptop flat to use it like a tablet… with a big keyboard sticking out. The screen doesn’t fold over the base to hide the keyboard.
The base configuration for the 11.6 inch model includes an Intel Core i5-3317U processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB solid state disk. The laptop measures 11.2″ x 7.7″ x 0.5″ and weighs 2.3 pounds.
For $1400 you can get a 13 inch model with similar specs, but a 12.7″ x 8.8″ x 0.5″ case and 2.9 pound weight.
Acer will also offer a $1650 model with a 13.3 inch screen, Core i7-3517U CPU, and 256GB solid state disk.
The Acer Aspire S7 is a pretty slick looking machine which ticks pretty much all the boxes you’d want for a premium ultrabooks. But with a starting price of $1199, it seems a bit pricey. Sure, that price includes an HDMI to VGA cable and USB to RJ45 cable, letting you hook up nearly any peripheral to the computer. But it looks like high price tags have been holding ultrabooks back so far, and it’s not clear if adding touchscreens or Windows 8 will change that.
via Engadget
The 5th paragraph mentioned “Asus”, it’s Acer but not Asus right?
“You can also tilt back the 13 inch lid 180 degrees and fold the laptop
flat to use it like a tablet… with a big keyboard sticking out. The
screen doesn’t fold over the base to hide the keyboard.”
I wish they made it tilt 360 degrees. I’d actually prefer that compared to a design where the screen is rotated and folded back over the keyboard because the latter designs look very jiggly and not very robust.
I’d like more info on how the second battery works on the 11.6″ version. The videos and photos didn’t really show a removable battery.
Yeah, the press release doesn’t make it clear. I suspect it’s an external battery pack or “slice” style battery like we sometimes see on business laptops. But that’s just a guess.
Nevermind. Just read the Engadget article.
Clearly I just skimmed that article too. 🙂 I’d still like to know what the battery looks like.
Hopefully, it’s an attached solution. If it’s just an external battery that can be plugged into the DC in port with a cable then I’m going to pass on the ultrabook.