Acer has stressed the importance of delivering a touch experience to consumers through Windows 8 products.
Jerry Kao, Acer’s associate vice president of consumer business unit, said consumers are entering an age where the quality of the “tactile experience” is effectively more significant than the amount of RAM or speed of the CPU. He also predicted that tablets and laptops will merge into a single entity soon, as has been showcased through a variety of hybrid products powered by Windows 8.
“Windows 8 is a great opportunity for us, because it makes the world a more touch-friendly place. Acer understands this, and we want to be the first to bring this capability to the market. So we are very aggressive in terms of touch product promotion,” said Kao.
"We have a range of All-in-One PCs, Iconia tablets, notebooks in various form-factors – the entry V series, and the flagship S series. In terms of product offering, we are already the most aggressive company,” he added.
Kao continued on to explain why Acer has invested a considerable amount of money and time into touch technology. “In addition to a wide product portfolio, our touch experience is much smoother and much more responsive that that of the competitors. Today, the focus has shifted away from the demand for faster CPU and more RAM. The new battlefield is the touchscreen technology – how smooth and precise it is, how enjoyable the touch effect is. We have invested a lot of time and money into this technology, to stay ahead of the competition.”
Acer boasts a range of touch-enabled devices. Prior to the launch of Windows 8, the firm announced its W700 Windows 8 11.6-inch tablet PC, 7-inch Iconia A110 tablet, W700P, W510P Windows 8 Pro tablets, as well as ultrabooks and notebooks.
“The reason we offer so many products is simple: our customers want different things. For example, with S7, our surveys have shown that most of our female customers want an 11.6-inch laptop, while men want 13-inch. So we offer both. There’s a lot of conflicting feedback like this. Unfortunately we have certain resource limitations, otherwise we would offer even more different devices.”
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Despite Acer's confidence in Windows 8-powered touch-enabled devices, it has delayed its Windows RT plans in order to see how Microsoft's Surface tablet performs.
Zak Islam is a freelance writer focusing on security, networking, and general computing. His work also appears at Digital Trends and Tom's Guide.
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shmung Too bad they haven't released a good laptop with touch yet not everyone wants a dam ultra book thin and light translates to me as under powered and overpriced I don't mind paying 1500+ for a laptop but i will not pay more than 500 for something with a low voltage cpu and integrated graphics.Reply -
bystander I was very unhappy with the touchpad on the last Acer laptop I had. Hopefully they do better with the touch screen technology. I am impressed with the 3D Vision Acer monitor I got from them, however.Reply -
I just got an Acer notebook for $599. I returned the HP I bought as I found the touch pad horrible. The Acer is infinitely better and my primary reason for purchasing it. As far as integrated graphics go, I was very skeptical about this as well being that I have a high end desktop. Turns out the HD 4000 is quite capable. Guildwars 2 runs around 40fps and even Xcom runs respectably. Not turned all the way up but, I can game on the go if needed (rarely).Reply
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A Bad Day As of now, a lot of software for tablets weren't exactly programmed for keyboard usage. A lot of software for laptops and desktops weren't exactly programmed for touch-screen usage either.Reply -
dimar I wonder how much of this investment went for developing touch screens that don't leave finger residue?Reply -
bystander LenogenI just got an Acer notebook for $599. I returned the HP I bought as I found the touch pad horrible. The Acer is infinitely better and my primary reason for purchasing it. As far as integrated graphics go, I was very skeptical about this as well being that I have a high end desktop. Turns out the HD 4000 is quite capable. Guildwars 2 runs around 40fps and even Xcom runs respectably. Not turned all the way up but, I can game on the go if needed (rarely).Maybe they improved the touchpad hardware in the last year, but back a couple years, the problems with their touchpad was all over the internet.Reply -
damianrobertjones "“Windows 8 is a great opportunity for us" ... I thought that Acer wasn't happy with Windows 8?Reply -
killerclick damianrobertjones"“Windows 8 is a great opportunity for us" ... I thought that Acer wasn't happy with Windows 8?Reply
They weren't happy with Microsoft selling Surface, they're otherwise fine with everything that may create demand for new products.
As for touch on non-handhelds, it's a fad they're trying to force ... like 3D. -
bystander killerclickThey weren't happy with Microsoft selling Surface, they're otherwise fine with everything that may create demand for new products.As for touch on non-handhelds, it's a fad they're trying to force ... like 3D.I don't see it as a fad, but I don't ever see us completely doing away with the mouse and keyboard, and for a while, I see touch on the desktop as a limited use item.Reply -
GeoMan I played with an Asus VivoBook 202E at the local computer shop. Despite it's very modest Pentium 987 Proc (basically an ULV SB with a whole bunch of stuff turned off) Win 8 was very snappy on it and the touch screen worked really nicely with Win 8. If I wasn't a broke student I've have bought it on the spot.Reply