Acer Finally Unveils Aspire S3 Ultrabook
Acer officially announced its first ultrabook, the Aspire S3, on Friday during the IFA show in Berlin.
Friday during the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Acer finally revealed its Aspire S3 ultrabook to the public. As previously noted, it will sport a 13.3-inch ultra-thin HD LED display and a super-lightweight, high-density battery delivering up to 7 hours of juice. More importantly, it will measure just 0.507-inches thin and weigh less than 3 lbs.
"The Aspire S3 is truly designed to meet notebook users' needs, combining essential features of the smartphone and tablet PC, such as fast startup and Internet connectivity, with long battery life," said Campbell Kan, president of Personal Computer Global Operations, Acer Inc. "Matched with its slim form, the Aspire S3 will provide a fresh experience and set a major milestone in the history of Acer's notebook development."
Outside the ultrabook design, Acer is heavily pushing the Aspire S3's Acer Green Instant On and Acer Instant Connect features. On the Green Instant On front, the device will resume in 1.5 seconds if it's been in Sleep mode for less than 30 minutes. If the ultrabook has been in Deep Sleep, then it will resume in 6 seconds. Acer said the unit enters a deep sleep state after 30 minutes of no activity, and is part of the battery-saving measures that allows Acer to provide up to 50 days battery life. As for the Acer Instant Connect feature, the company claims the ultrabook can access the Internet in just 2.5 seconds.
With all that out of the way, here are some juicy specs to nibble on, broken down into an easy-to-read list:
- Choice of 2nd-generation Core i3, i5, i7 ultra-low voltage CPUs
- 13.3-inch glossy coated HD LED display with a native resolution of 1366 x 768
- Two USB 2.0 ports and an HDMI-out port, all three full-sized and located on the back
- Choice of a 240 GB SSD model, or a hybrid 320/500 GB HDD + 20 GB SSD (cache config)
- Up to 7 hours of battery life for the SSD-only model, and up to 6 hours for the HDD + SSD versions
- A 2-in-1 card reader that supports SD Cards and MultiMediaCards
- Integrated Acer Crystal Eye 1.3MP camera and microphone
- Acer InviLink Nplify 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED
- Bluetooth 4.0 + HSR
- Dolby Home Theater v4, combo audio jack
- Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional
- Magnesium-Aluminum alloy chassis and a lid with a fingerprint-free metal finish
- Full-size Acer FineTip chiclet keyboard
"The Aspire S3 features a vent-free bottom so the notebook rests comfortably on the user's lap," the company said Friday. "Warm components are smartly placed away from the palmrest and touchpad area, so users won't feel any heat discomfort. Further innovation is offered via a new airflow design that dissipates warm air from the rear of the notebook, preventing air from blowing towards the user's hands. Finally, the fan motor is optimized to enhance efficiency and lower power consumption to help increase system battery life."
The Aspire S3 ultrabook will start to roll out in select regions in September and ramp-up in October, priced between €799 and €1199. Acer does have plans to introduce the product to the U.S. market, but Acer isn't announcing pricing, specs or availability until later on at an unspecified date.


since the whole thing being pushed by Intel, what other GPU might there be? HD2000 i guess...
How is this anything new who really cares about it size.
1. its a weaker laptop then what can be bought today for 1000$
2 people who are looking for small and portable are going to buy a tablet not this. Just a smaller laptop thats not worth the money. And you can still get a cheaper laptop then this and still have the same or better power consumption then this.
+1 For Acer
-1 for Intel(NOT A NEW CONCEPT)
yes it is. The reason why the thin laptops look rather uncreative is because they are using standard components that can be had cheaply.
If a company was to use an original design that is unique, they would have to have custom components created which will increase cost as they will be the only company ordering the parts. But if you go with more standardized components that are being used by 50 other companies, then the production volume of those components will so high that the cost will be far lower.
The insane price tag is due to these companies wanting to make huge profits from early adopters.
It would, they're already over $1000 mark as it is.
Relax, they haven't
It'll be HD 3000 and greater (once Ivy comes out). I don't think mobile Intel APUs have HD 2000 on them, they've saved that junk for desktop users. But honestly, it's not a gaming laptop, it's for 2D work. HD 3000 is more than enough IMO (ok, maybe not pro vid editing). People tend to forget that laptops with CPU graphics did 2D fine too, though i think the older ones struggled with HD vids.
yeah i wished they'd drop the name ultrabook, but well, it's marketing really. Instead of getting people to say "thin notebook sponsored by intel" they say ultrabook.
I'd like a powerful ultra-portable though, much easier to carry around. Lack of an HDD, seperate gpu and a low-power APU will make these things run much cooler too. Low power means longer battery life. But again, i already have a desktop, so the only reason i'd want a notebook is work.
Electronics get more expensive when they're imported to India, so i'm really freaking out on the prices here (GTX580=$650 here!). Having said that, acer is well established here so maybe they'll hold the lid on the pricing...though honestly i'm not even planning to buy right now so can't care too much
Since when Intel has stated that his CPU'S ARE APU'S ? Unbelievable what people says...
No it isn't when compared to the competition..
Does the cheapest macbook air 11" in Canada costs $1334 CAD? No it doesn't, it costs 999$ but using your line of reasoning it should costs $1334 CAD because the macbook air in Italy and most of Europe costs 949€. The top of the line macbook air 13" in Europe costs 1499€ which equates to $2107 CAD yet in Canada the price is $1599 CAD. Please stop comparing prices from different countries.
Acer as yet to release the pricing in any country that uses Dollar as currency. So I fail to see how you can say they're over the 1000$ mark.