Acer Ultrabook Spotted Early For $1,130 USD
An Italian online retailer is currently listing Acer's Ultrabook S3 – previously dubbed as the Aspire 3951 – for a non-Intel-friendly price of around $1,130 USD (€786). The base unit features a 13.3-inch screen measuring just 13-mm thick, an Intel Core i5-2467M processor, 4 GB of RAM, 320 GB of HDD space coupled with 20 GB of SDD space, and Intel HD 3000 graphics.
Tuesday Asus chairman Jonney Shih said the he expects both his company and Acer to rule the Ultrabook market for a while given that Dell and Toshiba are supposedly taking a cautious approach, and because HP is "abandoning" its PC business. Asus plans to hold a Ultrabook-themed press conference in October to reveal 5 or 6 models that are expected to ship this year alone.
By comparison, the upcoming Asus UX21 will measure 7-mm at the back and thinning out to a mere 3-mm at the front. It will be powered by Intel's 1.7 GHz Core i5-2557M processor (up to Core i7) and feature metal chiclet keys, a glass touchpad, 64 GB or 128 GB of storage, a mini-DisplayPort, a mini-HDMI port, USB 3.0 ports and more.
In related news, Samsung's upcoming Series 7 notebooks reportedly fall within Intel's Ultrabook specs, measuring less than an inch thick. Consumers will have a choice of 14-inch and 15.6-inch models which will sport an HD+ (1600 x 900) high resolution, a matte display featuring 16 million colors and 300 nit brightness.
In addition to the screen, the overall specs will include the second-generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, AMD Radeon HD6750M or HD6490M graphics, up to 8 GB of DDR3 RAM and up to 750 GB of HDD space. There's also 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, 3W (1.5 W x 2) stereo speakers, a 1.3MP and card reader. The Samsung Series 7 will be available starting October 2, 2011, and will retail between $999 and $1,299 USD, depending on the model.
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Some competition in the aesthetic appeal category, finally.
Some competition in the aesthetic appeal category, finally.
You knew it had to be Acer.
Those asus ones sound pretty promising. Although I would still never buy one of these, sticking on an extra 25-50% to the price just for a thin notebook isn't worth it.
Any 16:10 screens? That's what keeps me buying MacBook Pro's...
Those asus ones sound pretty promising. Although I would still never buy one of these, sticking on an extra 25-50% to the price just for a thin notebook isn't worth it.
Yeah, I agree. Until mobile computing progresses through heat dissapation and battery power problems, I'll stick with the regular 500-750 dollar laptops. But, it is really good to see them packing that much hardware in such a small form factor. Very close till we see the next giant step in mobile computing since the laptop.
I'm very interested in these, a tablet is ok but I think an Ultrabook would be better.
Instantly put me off.
>> Intel HD 3000 graphics
> Instantly put me off.
Opposite for me. Guaranteed Linux support
That price is most likely including the 20% sales tax, this should put it under the $999 limit. Either way computer products are usually a bit more expensive in Europe than in the US so you can't just use the currency to calculate a equivalent US price.
Why is everyone trying to compete with Apple? And in this case they can't even beat the price, so it's going to be another disaster. Try being innovative and come up with low cost products everyone can afford. You're not Apple and never will be, so stop trying.
Instantly put me off.
you will have an option to choose a dedicated card from nvidia and amd
After seeing the Samsung 7 series features and price this Acer laptop will be pure fail.
It needs to cost no more that $950
"And in this case they can't even beat the price"
1) It is a price from Italy, many CE devices cost less in the US then they do there. This Italian website has iPads starting at 469 Euros, which would be around $670, more than 35% higher than the US pricing. Assuming that 35% is pretty close to the normal difference [I have no idea], then this $1130 notebook in Italy, might be more like $850 in the US.
2) All of that aside, did you even look at the specs? The 13.3" MacBook Air starts at $1299, not $999. The Acer has almost triple the storage, though the Mac has it all in SSD. Both have the same graphics and 4GB RAM.
I'm just hoping that one of these "ultrabooks" won't use apple's ugly white/grey and all rounded styling. I'd prefer a nice evenly square black aluminum notebook any day, both for more internal space at no more thickness, and just for aesthetic appeal.
People must stop comparing the price in an European country with the US price. Just to to put things in perspective in Italy the Macbook Air 11" starts at 949€ ($1355.45 USD) and the Macbook Air 13.3" starts at 1249€ ($1783.95 USD).
So it has the same CPU that comes with the Macbook Air 11" has twice the memory and a bigger screen and still manages to be 17% cheaper. I'm not even going to mention the Macbook Air 13" because it's 37% more expensive.
That price does not include SSD that is in every Macbook air and is kinda a big deal.
$999. That's the magic number. It's the price of the introductory Macbook Air.
Also a lot of people have barriers to seeing price tags over $1000.
Instantly put me off.
What are you planning on doing that HD 3000 graphics can't handle? If you're a gamer, you wouldn't be buying an Ultrabook anyways.
Besides, HD 3000 can play a large portion of games out nowadays, just on only low settings. And older games and Source Engine games play well.
That price does not include SSD that is in every Macbook air and is kinda a big deal.
It comes with a hybrid drive. It has 320GB of HDD and 20GB of SSD.
I saw this at the Microsoft store today - the hard drives are NOT replaceable. 1 failure = brick. That's a dealbreaker for me.