Articles about Acer

Today, at the Intel Developer Forum, Google and OEM partners unveiled plans to release new Chromebooks using Haswell chips. That means long battery life, on the order of MacBook Air, for a fraction of the price. Six top OEMs will produce Chromebooks, which isn't the best news for Microsoft and Windows 8.1. ASUS and Toshiba join Acer, HP, Lenovo and Samsung.

"Intel’s latest processors consume less power to improve battery life by more than 2X over previous generations, while offering increased performance", Caesar Sengupta, Google's Chromebook product manager, claims. "This means these new Chromebooks can last all day so you can focus on getting things done".

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New design concepts are certainly not in short supply these days, with manufacturers throwing just about everything against the wall in hopes that a product sticks. This has resulted in some rather weird concepts seen at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas every January. A number of those products never see the light of market and, honestly some really shouldn't.

Now Acer unveils a new model of an idea that apparently worked -- the Aspire R7, shown off today at IFA, a trade show held in Germany -- is an update to a model already on the market. The notebook comes with a  rather unique hinge that allows for a range of different positions. The notebook is clearly intended for more of an art design crowd thanks to the screen movements and the included pen for the touchscreen.

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I continue to hear about the death of the PC, but trust me, I am not writing this story or anything else, on a tablet. I have three of them, and enjoy using them -- "Under the Dome" looks great on the Kindle Fire HD while I am "Under the Covers" at night -- but they are essentially useless for my job. In fact, I mostly work from a two-year old Gateway laptop -- the device is more than suitable for my needs and I rarely venture to my home office to touch the desktop.

Acer, however, has decided to try and tempt me away from what I had been considering more than adequate at this point. I write this latest missive from the brand new Aspire M5 that FedEx dropped off to me for review, courtesy of the hardware maker.

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I’m not the sort of person who gets excited about monitors. It’s what’s on the screen that matters after all. However, I have to say Acer’s new line up of LED display models has me salivating. In fact I had to turn down the offer of a review unit because I knew I wouldn’t want to give it back afterwards.

The three models boast up to an ultra-high 2560 by 1440 WQHD resolution and offer large 27 and 29 inch screens for multitasking, and viewing two images at once -- so they can be used to replace a multi-monitor set-up if you desire.

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This week Microsoft rolled out two new video adverts -- one pitting Surface RT against the iPad, and the other putting the Acer Iconia W3 next to the iPad mini. The adverts follow the same format as previously with a side by side look at the features on offer.

Of course the comparisons aren’t fair. Microsoft picks areas where its tablet/operating system is strongest, and avoids the areas where it’s weakest -- apps and popularity, for example. It’s a lot like comparing apples with oranges (or, yes, lemons in the case of poorly selling Windows devices) and then pointing out that it’s easy to peel an orange, but you need to buy a separate peeler to accomplish the same task on an apple.

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Listening to music or watching movies on your PC can be a slight disappointment if the audio equipment isn’t as good as it could be. So with that in mind, Acer has developed a new all-in-one desktop system with two 3W front-facing Harman Kardon speakers built-in.

According to Acer, the speakers "leverage thorough and precise scientific methods to accurately produce crystal-clear audio that’s as close to the original recording as possible". The sound quality is further improved with the addition of Dolby Home Theater v4 optimized digital output technologies.

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I love both Windows 8 and the 8-inch tablet form factor. So, when I was given the opportunity to test and review the Acer Iconia W3, I was very excited. Acer has a good reputation for quality hardware, so I expected a real home-run result. Unfortunately, this device is more of a foul-ball.

Upon opening the box, I was presented with an attractive white tablet. However, handling the product revealed a different story -- it is made of a very cheap-feeling plastic. I don’t mind plastic; I recently bought the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 which is made of the material. However, not all plastic is created equal -- the Acer tablet feels low quality which lessens the user experience. On the back of the tablet are stickers for "Windows 8" and "Intel Inside" which are unnecessary.

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Haswell is the latest catch-phrase in Intel processor architecture, designed as a successor to Ivy Bridge. A low power processor that is made with today's Ultrabooks in mind, the chip debuted early last month and is finding its way into today's hardware. Now Acer announces it will be powering the latest Aspire notebook.

The Aspire M5 (technically the Aspire M5-583P-6428) will be a Best Buy exclusive and packs a Core i5 processor, Intel Wireless Display technology (WiDi), four speakers, 15.6-inch display and multi-touch.

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To celebrate the theatrical release of Star Trek Into Darkness, Taiwanese PC maker Acer partnered with Paramount Pictures to create a limited Star Trek themed edition of its Aspire R7 touchscreen notebook. Just 25 of these special R7’s were produced, none of which were made available to the general public.

Until now. Acer is putting one -- and just one -- up for sale on eBay, with all proceeds going to two charities -- The Mission Continues and Save the Children.

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We all thought that smartphones would become smaller and more portable with the passage of time. However, the opposite seems to be true as smartphone manufacturers are all creating devices with bigger and better displays.

Today at Computex 2013, Taiwanese manufacturer Acer reveals its first phablet, the Liquid S1 running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and boasting a 5.7 inch HD display with 1280 by 720 resolution.

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On Monday, at Computex 2013, Taiwanese manufacturer Acer officially took the wraps off the 8-inch Iconia W3 tablet and unveiled two ultrabooks -- the refreshed Aspire S7 and the new Aspire S5. Each device features Intel processors and runs Windows 8.

The Iconia W3, which was quietly unveiled two weeks ago, packs an 8.1-inch display with a resolution of 1280 by 800. Power comes from an Intel Atom Z2760 processor, similar to a number of other Windows 8 tablets on the market. The device also sports 2 MP cameras on the front and rear and 32 GB or 64 GB of internal storage depending on the trim.

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Little over four weeks ago, during an earnings conference call, departing Microsoft CFO Peter Klein revealed the software giant is working with OEMs on smaller and cheaper Windows tablets. The new fondleslabs are expected to be available in the coming months, but Acer decided to give itself a head start.

On its Finnish website, Acer unveiled the new Iconia W3 which is touted by the company as the first 8-inch Windows 8-based tablet. The device is powered by Intel's Atom Z2760 processor (codenamed "Clover Trail") and Graphics Media Accelerator 3650 GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The Iconia W3 sports an 8-inch multitouch WXGA display and runs Windows 8 Pro.

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We've had to wait a tad longer than expected, but it's finally here. The team behind the popular custom Android distribution CyanogenMod unveiled the second monthly release based on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, more than a month after the last build.

Like it usually happens with monthly builds, with CyanogenMod 10.1 M2 the focus is on stability improvements rather than introducing numerous new features that have yet to pass rigorous testing. As a result some of the latest features found in nightly builds may be left behind for future monthly releases in order to provide a custom Android distribution suited for daily-driver use.

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Little more than three weeks since the last build, Android Open Kang Project, the team behind the popular AOKP green droid custom distribution, has unveiled Jelly Bean MR1 Build 3. The newest stable build sports the latest bug fixes and improvements added before Google released Android 4.2.2.

The team behind the project warns that issues related to Bluetooth should not be reported, as "it can’t/won’t be fixed before the 4.2.2 merge". The timing is rather interesting seeing as Google reportedly took charge and finally improved Bluetooth connections in the latest update, which arrives less than a day after the release of Jelly Bean MR1 Build 3. The new build introduces support for a couple of new devices, including the Acer Iconia Tab A510 (codename "a510"), the T-Mobile variant of the Samsung Galaxy S II (codename "hercules") and the LTE variant of the Samsung Galaxy Note II (codename "t0lte").

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Is it my imagination, or does each new Chromebook get bulkier than the last? Today HP joined the Google operating system family, introducing the heaviest model (1.8 kg/3.96 pounds) with largest display (14 inches). Lenovo's ThinkPad Chromebook, announced in mid-January, is a tad lighter but the Acer C7, with smaller screen, is thicker. Perhaps the problem is this: PC manufacturers adapt low-cal Windows notebooks to Chrome OS; new Acer, HP and Lenovo models are more licensing plays than any attempt to innovate.

For PC manufacturers looking to offer something other than Windows, pay nothing for an operating system or capitalize on Google's bulging brand name, Chrome OS is enticing option. The lack of real investment, which demonstrates no sincere commitment, is wrong way to win or satisfy customers. Samsung proves the better Chromebook partner, by at least making some effort around system design, including adapting ARM processors.

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