Acer today announced the availability of the Acer Aspire S5 in the U.S. - a lightweight ultrabook equipped with a Thunderbolt port.
The ultrabook measures only .044 inches at its thinnest point and weighs just 2.65 lbs. In addition, the company's first Ultrabook, the Aspire S3, has been refreshed with a 3rd Generation Intel Processor, solid state drives and a champagne color.
The Aspire S5-391-9880 is Acer's first Ultrabook to feature a smartly designed MagicFlip I/O port panel concealed just below the hinge. When needed, a press of the MagicFlip key opens the panel to reveal a selection of I/O ports: HDMI, USB 3.0 and 20 Gbps Thunderbolt.
Despite its razor thin design, the Aspire S5-391-9880 Packs a punch in terms of power and efficiency including a 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-35i7U Processor, a 256 GB solid state drive and a Thunderbolt I/O port. Thunderbolt connection technology brings together high-speed data transfer and high-definition display (HD) on to a single cable, enabling up to six Thunderbolt enabled devices, such as PCs, hard drives, displays, cameras, audio/video equipment and docking stations to be daisy chained together. It is running at 10 Gbps.
Long battery life is delivered via the PowerSmart battery pack which provides up to three times longer battery life cycles than traditional batteries (1,000 vs. 300 cycles). These batteries also maintain 80 percent capacity after the 1,000 cycle count, which means the battery will last longer, reducing the need to replace it. Acer Hybrid Standby Technology provides up to 15 days of standby power, or up to 6.5 hours of continuous use.
The ultrabook uses a 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit display (1366 x 768) and can be connected to an external monitor, projector or HDTV through a single cable using the HDMI port. An HDMI to VGA cable adapter is also included with the system.
Other features include a 1.3 megapixel HD webcam and
Dolby Home Theater v4.
The S5-391-9880 Ultrabook also features the Acer Green Instant On technology for fast boot and resume (in 1.5 seconds), and Acer Always Connect, which lets users manage their multimedia and data on all their devices at anytime, anywhere, even from sleep.
The Aspire S5 is also Acer's first product in the U.S. to ship with AcerCloud. This new feature provides S5 users with remote access to the digital data residing on their Ultrabook via their Android tablet or smartphone. Not only can they access the data, but they can download and share it among their other PCs and Android devices anytime, anywhere, even when the S5 is in sleep (standby/hibernation) mode. As long as the Aspire S5 is in sleep mode, Acer Always Connect technology can wake it up through Wi-Fi, allowing the media to be retrieved via a mobile device.
Other features of AcerCloud include:
- PicStream
Through PicStream, users can take snapshots on their smartphone, back them up on the main PC, and share them with other smart devices. Users can stream photos via clear.fi in the Cloud to PCs and other devices; photos are backed up permanently on their PC, and temporarily accessible for 30 days in their personal cloud and on other devices.
- clear.fi Media
With Acer's clear.fi Media application, users can also access all their multimedia at any time. They can use clear.fi to connect to the personal cloud and stream live, or download and enjoy content offline.
- AcerCloud Docs
Professionals can update sales documents on a PC and save them, and the documents will be put into the personal cloud and streamed to other devices. They can then go to their meeting with their notebook or tablet PC and have immediate access to all the updated files. The files will be temporarily accessible for 30 days in the personal cloud and on the devices, or they can choose to download the files onto other devices for long-term storage.
AcerCloud will be bundled on all Acer consumer PCs starting Q4 2012. It will support all Android devices, while future support is planned for Windows-based devices.
The Aspire S5-391-9880 will be available the last week in June across the U.S. It has an MSRP of $1,399.99.
Anyone who buys an Acer Ultrabook PC pre-loaded with Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate will be eligible to purchase Windows 8 Pro for only $14.99 (U.S.) ERP. The Offer is valid June 2, 2012 through January 31, 2013.
Acer has also updated its firstt generation Ultrabooks, the Aspire S3 Series, with 3rd Generation Intel Core i3 and Core i7 processors. In addition, models configured solely with a 256 GB solid state drive are now available.
The new Aspire S3 Series Ultrabooks will be available beginning next week at leading retailers across the U.S. Prices begin at $648 and range up to $999.99.