Acer Dual-screen Iconia Up for Preorder at $1200
We first clapped eyes on Acer’s dual-screen Iconia touchbook tablet back in November, but it’s only now that Acer is getting around to pricing and releasing the device.
Now available for pre-order for customers in North America, the touchy-feely Core i5-powered beast packs two 14-inch (1366x768) LED-backlit TFT Gorilla Glass LCDs, up to 4GB of DDR3, integrated Intel HD graphics, up to 750GB HDD storge, VGA and HDMI out, 802.11b/g/n, WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0+HD integrated 3G WWAN, gigabit Ethernet and Windows 7. At nearly 6 pounds, she’s a little on the hefty side, but not quite overweight.
As far as the touchscreen interface goes, the bottom display acts as a full screen keyboard, which can be chopped and changed to suit whatever task you're doing at the time. Placing five fingers on the bottom display will bring up what's called the Acer Ring. From there you can control media applications, such as music and video, or launch the virtual keyboard. You can also use the Gesture Editor to set customized gestures to perform certain tasks (like launch apps, show desktop, or lock computer), and close the keyboard completely for a more immersive browsing experience.
Pre-orders for Canada and the United States start at $1,199.99 in both USD and CAD. The Iconia is expected to launch at retailers nationwide in April, so that should give you some of idea of when you can expect your new machine to arrive.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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c0oim4n But can it play Crysis 2?Reply
No, but really, for BOTH of those displays, they should probably consider discrete graphics, because I'm sure there are going to be the people who will complain that it can't play HD videos because there is too much going on. And I also have a feeling that the battery life is going to be atrocious.
Just my $.02 -
krinkles619 it would be really interesting to see the iconia offer both sandy bridge and fusion processors in the future; i'd love to see how the two compare. maybe the i5 would be faster for certain tasks but the fusion would be a smoother experience overall? theorycrafting, of course, but still interesting to think about.Reply -
sudeshc what if android is customized to act as full OS in that case this is the perfect hardware for it.Reply -
Vorador2 A bit on the pricey side, but the hardware is pretty serious (excepting the lousy graphic card, but oh well) and the dual screens are awesome.Reply -
cablechewer It is certainly an interesting device, but before I get excited about it I would really want to try it to see how I like the keyboard. While the electronics companies might love it I don't want to end up with a smart phone, tablet, laptop and multiple desktops.Reply
Even if it has an external keyboard I think what I really want is an i5 or AMD powered tablet with a TPM module that can replace my aging corporate laptop. Of course if they could slap enough RAM in it to run about 8 Hyper-V VMs and an SSD array to run them I could replace my desktop as well. LOL that kind of horsepower in a tablet is somewhere between years away and complete fantasy :D