Acer’s strategy in the laptop market is volume. Its notebooks are usually commodity-type machines, but they typically offer low prices for what you get, and there are tons of SKUs available. The company announced additions to its Aspire laptop lineup that include new E-, F-, R- and S-series systems.The company also dropped a bit of a bombshell with the announcement of a liquid-cooled 2-in-1, the Acer Switch Alpha 12.
As is often the case, Acer offered some details, but omitted many, including any information on storage options and spotty details on display sizes and ports. We’ve put together all of the specs we have available, so here are the “full” specs of the refreshed Aspire laptop line, such as it is.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Aspire E Series | Aspire F Series | Aspire R 15 | Aspire S 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SKUs | Aspire E14, E15, E17 | F5-573 | R5-571T | S5-371 |
| Display | -Acer Exa Color technology-Acer BluelightShield | -Acer Exa Color technology-Acer BluelightShield | -15 inches, IPS-Acer ColorIntelligence technology | -FHD, IPS, LED-backlit -Acer BluelightShield-Touch |
| CPU | Intel Core 6th Gen (Skylake) | Intel Core 6th Gen (Skylake) | Intel Core 6th Gen (Skylake) | Intel Core 6th Gen (Skylake) |
| GPU | Up to Nvidia GeForce GTX950M | Up to Nvidia GeForce GTX950M | Up to Nvidia GeForce 940MX | Integrated |
| RAM | DDR4 | DDR4 | Up to 12 GB DDR4 | Up to 8 GB LPDDR3 |
| Ports | -USB Type-C | -USB Type-C | -USB Type-C | -USB Type-C (5 Gbps)-USB 3.0 w/ power-off charging |
| Networking | -802.11ac MU-MIMO | -802.11ac MU-MIMO | -Acer ExoAmp Antenna technology-2x2 MU-MIMO | 802.11ac (2x2 MU-MIMO) |
| Battery | -- | -- | -Up to 9 hrs | 54 Wh 3-cell Li-ion battery (up to 13 hrs) |
| OS | Windows 10 | Windows 10 | Windows 10 | Windows 10 |
| Dimensions | -- | -- | -- | -27 x 228 x 14.58 mm (WxDxH)-1.30 kg (2.86 lbs) |
| Misc. | -Acer TruHarmony-Skype for Business certification | -Acer TruHarmony-Skype for Business certification | -Convertible, rotates 360 degrees-Soft-close hinge design-Acer TruHarmony-Dolby Audio-Skype for Business Certification | -Acer TruHarmony-Dolby Audio-Skype for Business Certification-Glossy hinge, matte cover |
| Colors | Marble White, Steel Grey, Twilight Purple, Red Copper, Obsidian Black, Rococo Red, Indigo Blue | Sparkly Silver, Obsidian Black, Indigo Blue, Wine Red, Marble White | -- | Obsidian Black, Pearl White |
| Price / Availability | $399 / May | $499 / May | $699 / May | $699 / May |
It’s welcome but thoroughly unsurprising that Acer went with Skylake chips on these machines, but getting discrete graphics on most of them more welcome and less surprising. It’s also notable that all of these notebooks have USB Type-C ports, and all but the Aspire S 13 are rolling with DDR4 RAM.
The prices are attractive enough. The new E-series notebook will start at a mere $400 when they become available in May. (Because Acer was vague in its materials, we assume that the $400 model will use the integrated graphics of the Intel CPU rather than the discrete Nvidia, though. Still, four hundred bucks for a Skylake-based notebook with DDR4 RAM is none too shabby.)
Even the higher-end R 15--a convertible, mind you--starts at just $700. Again, we don’t know the base configurations of this system, so we don’t know how high the markup will be for the R 15’s premium Nvidia 940MX / 12 GB DDR4 RAM configuration.
U.S. pricing and availability is in the chart above. The E series is coming to the EMEA (May) and China (April) for €499 and ¥2,999, respectively. The F5-573 will be $499 in the EMEA and ¥4,499 in China in May. Only the U.S. and EMEA (May, €799) will get the R 15. The S 13 is coming to the EMEA (April) and China (May) for €699 and ¥5,499, respectively. All prices are starting figures.
Seth Colaner is the News Director for Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter @SethColaner. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.
