Computex 2013: Intel Demos Baytrail Tablet, Haswell Ultrabook, Ivy Bridge Passive Tablet

Subject: Processors, Mobile | June 6, 2013 - 04:01 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: computex, computex 2013, Intel, haswell, Ivy Bridge, k900, Lenovo, baytrail, silvermont, ultrabook, acer, aspire s7

Intel had a host of new technologies to show off at Computex this year, starting of course with the Haswell processor launch.  Hopefully you have read our review of the Core i7-4770K LGA1150 CPU already but thanks to some video sent our way, we have other interesting bits to share.

Below you will see Intel demonstrating four new products.  First is the Acer Aspire S7 using a Haswell dual-core platform playing back 4K content.  Next up is an Ivy Bridge tablet that is running completely fanless (passive) thus generating no noise at all while still offering impressive CPU and graphics performance.  Intel then pulls a Lenovo K900 Android smartphone out of its pocket powered by the Clovertrail+ enabled Atom Z2580 SoC.  Finally, we get a sneak peak at the next-generation of SoC designs with a look at a Silvermont-based Baytrail tablet running at 2560x1440. 

Computex 2013: Acer Liquid S1 Is a Quad Core 5.7" Phablet With 2,400mAh Battery

Subject: Mobile, Shows and Expos | June 3, 2013 - 06:36 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: tablet, smartphone, phablet, mediatek, liquid s1, computex 2013, computex, android 4.2.2, acer

During Computex Acer announced its new Liquid S1 smartphone. In fact, the term smartphone may not be enough to do the nearly tablet-sized 5.7” Liquid S1 justice, and Acer has even dubbed it a “phablet”.

On the outside, the Acer Liquid S1 has a massive 5.7” touchscreen with 720p resoultion surrounded by an aluminum side grip and a front 24mm and 8MP rear camera. The smartphone/tablet/phablet (heh) weighs in at 195g.

The new mobile device is powered by a quad core MediaTek SoC clocked at 1.5GHz, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, and a 2,400mAh battery that Acer claims will last “all day.” The Liquid S1 runs Android 4.2.2, and offers a stock experience apart from Acer's multitasking Float UI and Cloud Docs document software. Other features include DTS StudioSound audio, dual SIM card slots, and a microSD card support (maximum of 32GB).

Wireless connectivity options include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 3G radios as well as wireless display and wireless printing technology.

The Liquid S1 smartphone will be available in either matte black or white across Asia and Europe for 329 Euros. It is set for release sometime in the third quarter of this year (Q3'13). US users wanting a large smartphone (or small tablet) will need to either import the Acer model or look elsewhere as the company has not yet expanded its mobile offerings to this side of the pond, excluding laptops of course.

Computex 2013: Acer's Refreshed Aspire S3 Has Solid Internals, Odd Keyboard Layout

Subject: Mobile | June 3, 2013 - 04:09 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: acer, computex 2013, aspire s3, haswell, gt700m, nvidia, Intel, gt735m

Acer is showing off a refresh of its Aspire S3 notebook at Computex in Taipei this year that will integrate the latest technology from Intel and NVIDIA. The new Acer Aspire S3 (not to be confused with the existing model) is a 13.3” notebook that measures 0.7” thick and weighs in at 3.63 pounds.

The Aspire S3 will come with a Gorilla Glass lid that is available in either red, white, or yellow according to The Verge. External IO options include Thunderbolt, HDMI, two USB 3.0 ports, a LAN port, and an audio jack.

The red colored lid model in particular looks nice, though I have my doubts about the rather cramped-looking keyboard. Acer has performed some strange key acrobatics in order to fit all the needed keys into five rows. For example, the tilde key has been moved to the right of the caps lock and the delete key is at the bottom of the keyboard to the right of the right-hand Alt button. I'm not entirely sure what Acer was thinking there (that is solely my opinion/first impression though, I have not had any hands-on time with it).

Internal hardware will include as as-yet-unnamed Intel Haswell processor, a NVIDIA GT735M (384 CUDA cores at 889 MHz with an unknown capacity 1GHz memory on a 64-bit bus), and a 1TB laptop hard drive (spindle speed not listed). It should be a decent performer and the Haswell CPU should get good battery life. If this comes in at or around the original Aspire S3's $650 price tag, and as long as the keyboard passes muster with the review sites, it might be a good buy if you don't need something super thin and/or lightweight.

Unfortunately, Acer has not yet talked about pricing or availability for the 13.3" Aspire S3 notebook.

Podcast #222 - NVIDIA GTX 650 Ti, Western Digital RE 4TB, Windows 8 Tablets, and more!

Subject: General Tech | October 11, 2012 - 02:17 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: windows 8, WD, RE, podcast, Iconia, gtx 650 Ti, acer, 7990, 650ti, 4TB

PC Perspective Podcast #222 - 10/11/2012

Join us this week as we talk about the NVIDIA GTX 650 Ti, Western Digital RE 4TB, Windows 8 Tablets, and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Josh Walrath, Jeremy Hellstrom, and Allyn Malvantano

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI!

Program length: 1:15:10

Podcast topics of discussion:

1. Week in Reviews:
   1. 0:01:15 Corsair Dominator Platinum Contest!
   2. 0:03:30 ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe Motherboard Review
   3. 0:04:45 Interface Design: Think like an Engineer
   4. 0:06:50 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB Review
   5. 0:21:30 Seasonic X-Series 1250W Gold PSU Review
   6. 0:23:55 Western Digital RE RAID 4TB Review
2. 0:29:45 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI!
3. News items of interest:
   1. 0:30:33 AMURICA! JERBS! Lenovo Opening Line in US
   2. 0:31:15 Qualcomm Joins HSA Foundation
   3. 0:36:00 Acer Talks about Their Windows 8 Tablets
      1. Acer Iconia W700
      2. Acer Iconia W510
   4. 0:41:40 7990 is a Thing? Well Now There's a Cheaper Thing of the Thing
   5. 0:44:20 AMD Z-Series APU for Tablets
   6. 0:48:15 Logitech Makes Their First Mechanical Keyboard
   7. 0:49:40 Thermaltake Level 10 GT Battle Edition Case
   8. 0:52:20 AMD Radeon Memory RAMDisk
4. Closing:
   1. 1:01:00 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
      1. Ryan: Galaxy Nexus Extended Battery
      2. Jeremy: Play with some MRAM
      3. Josh: Video cards are cheap
      4. Allyn: 45 3.5" HDD's in a 4U rack - DIY (3TB = 135TB / 4TB = 180TB)

1. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
2. http://pcper.com/podcast
3. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
4. Closing/outro

Acer Details Iconia W510 Convertible Tablet With Windows 8

Subject: Mobile | October 9, 2012 - 12:09 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: windows 8, tablet, microsoft, Intel, iconia w510, atom, acer

Earlier this month, Acer announced its Ivy Bridge powered W700 tablet, and now it is time for its little brother to be announced: the Iconia W510 convertible tablet.

The Iconia W510 is a 10.1” tablet that will run Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 operating system and any x86 applications. The tablet itself is 1.27 pounds and 0.35” thick. On the outside, the W510 features a LED backlit IPS display with resolution of 1366 x 768 that can accept touch input and is protected by Gorilla Glass 2. Also present are two speakers, as well as a 2MP front facing camera and 8MP rear camera. Both of the cameras are capable of recording 1080p video.

Ports on the Iconia W510 include a microSD card slot, micro HDMI video output, and a micro USB 2.0 port.

Internal specifications include an Intel Atom Z2760 Clover Trail processor (which we recently reviewed) with two cores running at 1.5 GHz, 2GB of RAM, and either a 32 GB or 64 GB solid state drive (SSD). This configuration should result in a decent system for web browsing and running Office 2013, among other everyday tasks. It will not be nearly as speedy as the Ivy Bridge-powered W700, but this tablet is also coming in at a much lower price point.

In addition to the tablet itself, Acer will be selling a keyboard dock. The $150 keyboard docks adds a physical keyboard, trackpad, and second battery. The dock also adds one additional (full size) USB 2.0 port.

Without the keyboard dock, Acer is claiming 9 hours of battery life. With the dock connected, Acer is further claiming that users will get up to 18 hours of battery life.

There will be at least three SKUs of the Acer Iconia W510 tablet. It will be available for purchase in the US and Canada on November 9^th. The W510-1674 will feature a 32GB SSD and no dock at a MSRP of $499.99. The W51-1422, on the other hand, will have a 64GB SSD and a bundled keyboard dock for $749.99 (MSRP). Finally, corporate customers will be able to purchase a W510P SKU with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and a two year warranty for $799.99.

You can find more photos of the Icona W510 along with the full press release over at Engadget.

Read more about upcoming Windows 8 tablets at PC Perspective.

It's expensive but impressive, Acer's new Aspire S5 Ultrabook

Subject: Storage | October 7, 2012 - 03:33 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ultrabook, Aspire S5, Aspire S Series, acer

The Acer Aspire S5 is a 13.3", 1366x768 ultrabook with a Intel Core i7-3317U, 4GB of DDR3 and two 128GB SSDs in RAID 0.  At its thickest point it measures 0.59" and overall is a blazing fast ultraportable system, in fact TechSpot saw some results where the S5 outperformed a system with OCZ's RevoDrive X3 PCIe SSD inside. Connectivity options are very impressive as well with not only the usual suspects,USB 3.0 and HDMI, there is also a Thunderbolt port on the back.  The news is not all good however, as this ultrabook is likely to cost around $1400 which is much higher than the supposed sub-$1000 ultrabook price requirement.

"'Easier said than done' is the best phrase I can think of to describe Intel's ultrabook initiative. On paper, the plan seemed easy enough, although manufacturing partners and knowledgeable consumers alike would testify that it's been anything but. Aspirations to compete with Apple's ultrathin MacBook Air have been met with a number of compromises as hardware makers struggle to find the perfect blend of features while keeping the overall price somewhere around Intel's $1,000 target.

Could a few hundred bucks tacked on the top end make a difference between a vanilla ultrabook and something truly special? That's something Acer is willing to gamble on with its latest flagship ultrabook. "

Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:

More Mobile Articles

• Alienware M18x R2 Notebook Review: NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 680M in SLI @ AnandTech
• AVADirect Clevo P170EM: Has AMD’s HD 7970M Got Game @ AnandTech
• Dell U2713HM - Unbeatable performance out of the box @ AnandTech
• GIGABYTE P2542G Gaming Laptop @ Tweaktown
• ASUS G75VW-T1086V @ Hardware.info
• Lenovo ThinkPad Edge S430 @ Kitguru
• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon @ Kitguru
• Samsung Series 5 535 Review @ TechReviewSource
• Dell Latitude 6430u hands-on @ The Inquirer
• NZXT Cryo E40 Notebook Cooler Review @ eTeknix
• Cooler Master NotePal I300 Review @ Pro-Clockers
• Glacialtech Igloo Pad Series R15 Laptop Cooling Pad Review @ Frostytech
• Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 3G Review @ TechReviewSource
• Acer Iconia Tab A210 @ XSReviews
• Lenovo IdeaTab A2109 Review @ TechReviewSource
• ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700T) @ TweakTown
• Apple iOS 6 Mobile OS Review (on an iPad 3) @ TweakTown
• LunaTik Watch Band for the Apple iPod Nano @ TechwareLabs
• Apple AirPort Express review: new generation @ Hardware.info
• Nokia Lumia 900 Cell Phone Review @ Hardware Secrets
• Apple iPhone 5 Review: Thinner, Lighter, Faster @ TechSpot
• Apple iPhone 5 @ Tweaktown
• Apple Iphone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S3 head to head @ The Inquirer
• Samsung Galaxy Note II vs Apple iPhone 5 @ Hardware.info
• Hands-on with BlackBerry 10 @ Hardware.info

Acer Iconia W700 Detailed With Pricing - Available October 26

Subject: General Tech, Mobile | October 5, 2012 - 01:31 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: windows 8, w700, tablet, ssd, Ivy Bridge, Intel, acer

First announced at Computex 2012, Acer is finally ready to share all the details (including pricing) on its upcoming Iconia W700 Windows 8 tablet.

For the uninitiated, the W700 is the top-end tablet in its Iconia W series. It will be based on an Intel Ivy Bridge Core i3 or Core i5 processor, 64GB or 128GB SSD, HD4000 graphics (intel processor graphics) and a battery that allegedly provides up to 8 hours of usage. That hardware is powering a 11.6” IPS display with 10-point multitouch and a resolution of 1920x1080. It further features a rear 5MP camera with autofocus and 1080p video recording and a front-facing webcam capable of recording 720p video.

The tablet also includes 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi as well as various sensors for map applications including a(n oddly named) “G-sensor,” accelerometer, and an E-compass. [No mention of a GPS chip though, so it’s unclear how useful the other map technology will be…]

External I/O includes three USB 3.0 ports, a Thunderbolt port, micro HDMI port, headphone output jack, and DC power jack.

Because of the Ivy Bridge CPU, the tablet has ventilation slots along the top edge of the tablet. It is less than half an inch thick and weighs in at 2.3 pounds.

Also relevant is that the Acer Iconia W700 will have an accessory dock that will hold the tablet in portrait mode at 70 ° for reading or 20 ° for an angled touchscreen. The dock can also hold the W700 tablet in portrait mode for reading ebooks and the like. A Bluetooth keyboard and micro-HDMI to VGA adapter are also available as bundled accessories.

Engadget takes a tour of the Acer ICONIA W700 Windows 8 tablet.

As far as new information goes, the W700 will be available on October 26 (Windows 8’s release day). There will be several SKUs with different levels of hardware (ie. Core i3 vs Core i5). MSRPs of the W700 tablet will range from $799.99 to $999.99 depending on the particular hardware configuration. Further, if you are an Acer corporate customer, you will be able to get the W700 tablet with an extended two year warranty and Windows 8 Pro for $1,049.99. You can find read the full press release on the Acer website.

The prices do seem to be on the high end for a Windows 8 tablet, but ASUS’ leaked Windows 8 tablet prices are not far off.

Professional quality colour from Acer's new $300 IPS panel

Subject: Displays | September 11, 2012 - 04:17 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: acer, B243PWL, ips monitor, led lcd

IPS panels are overtaking TN monitors in popularity as the prices begin to decline and people familiarize themselves with the quality and viewing angles of IPS displays.  Acer has introduced their $300 B243PWL 24" 1920 x 1200 display into this crowded market, a fairly simple looking display which sports speakers that utilize ports cut into the back of the monitor as opposed to enlarging the bezel to provide space.  It has DVI, DisplayPort, and VGA ports but no HDMI if that is your connector of choice.  Hardware Canucks found the performance in gaming to be less than perfect as they witnessed moderate ghosting while playing games but for professional usage when colour gamut and accuracy matters more than speed.  Check out the full review here.

"With an IPS panel, low power consumption and a sub-$300 price point, Acer's new 24" B243PWL monitor seems to have what it takes for success. However, in a field that's saturated with competitors, does it have the necessary combination of features and quality to stand out?"

Here are some more Display articles from around the web:

Displays

• BenQ GW2250HM, GW2450HM and GW2750HM @ Hardware.info
• Samsung SyncMaster S27B750V 27" MHL LED Monitor Review @ ModSynergy
• Philips Blade 2 Full HD 24″ AMVA LED
• HP 2311xi IPS Monitor @ AnandTech
• Panasonic TC-P50U50 Review @ TechReviewSource
• Sony KDL-55HX750 Review @ TechReviewSource