Hasta La Gadget!

Acer’s first venture into Windows Phone arrives in France as the Allegro originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Until now, Windows fans have had precious few alternatives to the MacBook Air. Sure, there’s Samsung’s Series 9, but just like the original Air, it’s far from cheap. Since then, of course, Apple has cut the Air’s starting price to $999, while the Windows options — now marketed as Ultrabooks — are about to mushroom in number. And so far, they’re all starting in the (more reasonable) neighborhood of a thousand bucks, making these pinch-thin, long-lasting laptops accessible to the budget-conscious masses.

Acer’s Aspire S3 was the first to hit the market here in the States, and with an entry price of $899, it’s currently the least expensive. That it’s skinny (just 13mm thick, to be exact), should be a given, but it also claims to wake from sleep in two seconds flat and reconnect to known networks in two and a half. But, as the least pricey Ultrabook on the shelf, it also forgoes some specs you might have liked to see — namely, all-flash storage and USB 3.0. But does that matter much when you’re potentially saving hundreds of dollars? Let’s find out.

Continue reading Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook review

Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We waited nearly the entire summer for the Acer Iconia Tab A501 to break daylight. Now that it’s finally shone its uber-glossy face, we were anxious to see if the “4G” HSPA+ model is worth the extra coin (or two year ball-and-chain, should you go that route) over the standard A500. If you have little fear of commitment, signing the dotted line will get you one 16GB slate for $330 — plus the added cost of a capped data allowance or a pay-as-you go plan. Not down to hitch up to the contract wagon? Cool with us… but you’ll pay $150 more to get your hands on one of these. So is settling down for two of the Earth’s rotations with the same tablet a wise move? Are you better off sticking with the WiFi-only model? Read on to see what we discovered when we took the A501 for a spin.

Continue reading Acer Iconia Tab A501 for AT&T review

Acer Iconia Tab A501 for AT&T review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dark stains aside, it looks like the S3’s WiFi and Bluetooth credentials are all in order so we’ll hopefully see its skinny 17mm (0.67-inch) form stateside before too long. The regulatory teardown pics don’t tell us a great deal, but then we already know plenty from our earlier hands-on: a choice of Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, a 13.3-inch (1366 x 768) display and a competitive €799 European price tag, not to mention some heavy expectations from the Ultrabook promoters at Intel.

Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook opened up for the FCC, should have showered first originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Sep 2011 09:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’ve already seen our in-depth hands-on with Samsung’s Series 7 Slate, boasting an Intel processor and running Windows 8, and now it’s time to give the other guys a little love. We got a chance to sit down with the folks at AMD, masters of the Fusion APU, before the Expo doors opened here at Build, and it would be an understatement to say that they’re excited about getting their x86 chipsets running on Windows 8 machines. As with Samsung’s Slate, AMD was showing off a pair of slates we’ve seen before, specifically the Acer Iconia Tab W500, running on the company’s C-50 APU, and MSI’s WinPad 110W, sporting the Z-01 APU. This is the first the company’s seen of the Metro UI running on its chipsets, and like them, we’re impressed with its performance. You’ll get the same speedy boot-up here, as well as fast and fluid touch navigation. Unfortunately, they aren’t giving up details on future devices, but we should see Brazos powering Windows 8 tablets, desktops , and notebooks in due time. For a look at AMD powering Windows 8, check out our video after break.

Continue reading AMD Fusion tablets running Windows 8 at Build 2011: hands-on with video

AMD Fusion tablets running Windows 8 at Build 2011: hands-on with video originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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