Acer doesn’t seem to have officially announced the Iconia tab A1-810 yet… at least not that we can see. But French retailer Rue Du Commerce already has the 7.9 inch listed, though, since it was first spotted the spec sheet has been cleared. Thankfully, MiniMachines caught the page before someone scrubbed it clean. If the numbers are to be believed, then the Taiwanese company has the Nexus 7 and iPad mini squarely in its sights. The A1-810’s crams some reasonably impressive internals into a diminutive and affordable package. Under the hood is 1GB of RAM, and a 1.2GHz quad-core processor. Granted, the Cortex-A9 chip is produced by MediaTek instead of one of the bigger boys like Qualcomm or NVIDIA, but it should prove plenty robust for everyday tasks. The 1024 x 768 IPS panel puts it right in league with Apple’s mini, but it also means a lower pixel density than the middle child of the Nexus family. You’ll also find 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS radios inside, along with a 3,250 mAh battery — which is quite a bit smaller than its competitors (despite its 10.5mm thick, 430g body being quite a bit larger). The biggest news about this Android 4.2 device though, is the price: it’s yet another uber-cheap slate, currently listed at €199, or about $259.
Another day, another tablet. Hmmm, is it me, or does the mobile device category in the consumer electronics seem to take a medical slant with the word “tablet’ being used? Well, the iPad mini might have wowed a certain segment of the market, but frankly, it would have been better if the iPad mini came with higher end specifications right from the get go, but that has not stopped the tablet from doing relatively well in the market. Well, the Acer Iconia A1-810 might prove to be quite the iPad mini competitor, considering how it will arrive with a 7.9” IPS display complete with 1024 x 768 resolution, which is similar in nature to the existing iPad mini. Of course, this does not do away with the very real possibility of the iPad mini being revamped very, very soon with a higher resolution display.
Other facts on the Acer Iconia A1-810 include Android 4.2 Jelly Bean as the operating system of choice, a quad-core 1.2GHz MediaTek MT8125 processor, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, GPS support, an HDMI port, a VGA front-facing camera with a 5-megapixel shooter at the back, 1GB RAM, 16GB of internal memory, and a microSD memory card support. The tablet itself tips the scales at 460 grams, where it will also be accompanied by a 3,250 mAh battery.
UK retailer GAME has been hunting for ways to stayrelevant during a shift to downloadable games — and now, that includes cribbing some style (just a little!) from Americans. Much like GameStop across the pond, GAME will soon sell a full range of tablets at 150 of its stores. The existing Nexus 7 offering will be joined by the seemingly obligatory 16GB iPad and iPad mini, although the rest of the lineup will be decidedly more frugal: options like the £100 Acer Iconia B1-A71 and £130 Archos GamePad will be bracketed by a raft of mostly DGM-built slates that dip as low as £60. It’s difficult to know how the expanded sales will help GAME’s bottom line, although the Nexus 7 reportedly fared well enough that it’s likely tablets are here to stay.
Acer has recently released their newest home theater projector, the H5370BD. This 3D-ready DLP projector provides 1280 x 720 HD resolution, 2500 ANSI lumens brightness, 13000:1 contrast ratio and up to 6,000 hours of lamp life (Eco Mode), and features dual HDMI, RGB, composite, S-Video and several audio ports. The H5370BD retails for $549.99. [Acer]
If Chromebooks from Acer, HP and Samsung have struck your fancy but haven’t been available in your country, your fortune might have just changed. Google’s proclaimed that Chrome OS laptops from the trio will see begin rolling out to folks in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands. Not only is Mountain View expanding its laptop initiative’s international horizons, but it’s bringing them to more than 1,000 Best Buy stores too, roughly 500 more than previously carried them. Ready to snatch one of the notebooks? Hit the source links to get crackin’.
Check out this newly released DLP projector from Acer, the S1213Hn. This 3D-ready projector provides 1024 x 768 XGA resolution, 3000 ANSI lumens brightness, 10,000:1 contrast ratio and up to 6,000 hours of lamp life (Eco Mode). In addition, it also comes with a built-in 2W mono speaker and has a number of connectivity ports including 2x D-Sub, 2x Stereo Mini Jack, Composite, RCA Audio, S-Video and HDMI. The S1213Hn is available now for $999. [Acer]
Chromebooks are not exactly known for their high end specifications, which is perhaps why they never really sold like hotcakes either. Well, the Acer C7 Chromebook is sorely in need of far more processing firepower than it packs at the moment, and where the original $199 model lacked in terms of a battery life that amounted to just 3.5 hours, the new refreshed Acer C7 Chromebook intends to compensate its weaknesses with a couple of key upgrades, namely a 6-cell, 5000mAh battery that offers (theoretically) twice the battery capacity as its predecessor, which should translate to around seven hours of computing, as well as 4GB RAM that doubles up on the previous 2GB.
Unfortunately, the processor will remain the same, with an Intel Celeron 847 1.1GHz processor running the show underneath the hood, but it ought to get the most basic jobs done without any hiccups, especially with the bump in the RAM count. How now, brown cow, is the refreshed Acer C7 Chromebook worth taking a look now?
Phablets – love them or hate them, they are definitely here to stay. Samsung’s Galaxy Note was deemed to be ”too large” when it was first introduced to the world some time back, but who is laughing now? The Galaxy Note even has a sequel released, and more and more smartphone manufacturers have also jumped aboard the phablet bandwagon, too. Acer, the Taiwanese company that has failed to impress with their Android-powered smartphone collection to date, is glad to announce that they too, will be jumping aboard the phablet bandwagon this coming June at Computex.
Acer figured out that there is still a big enough market for new entrants in the phablet space, and will price their phablet collection slightly lower than what the market price dictates at this point in time. Jim Wong, Acer’s Corporate President, claimed that the upcoming Acer phablet will boast of “special features in terms of size, camera, and software”, so we intend to sit and wait this one out. Will it catch on? Only time will tell.
Back in November, we took a look at Acer’s $199 C7 Chromebook, which featured entry-level specs that were great for the everyday internet surfer and email checker on a budget, but Acer today announced an updated model that comes with some faster hardware. However, the price tag also saw a bump this time around as well.
The C710-2055 comes with an Intel Celeron 847 processor clocked at 1.1GHz with 4GB of RAM. There’s also a larger 320GB hard drive for storing various files, along with cloud storage that Chromebooks are known for. Acer claims that this new model will last six hours on a single charge, compared to four hours with the previous model.
Acer says that while the C7 is particularly aimed for educational uses, this new Chromebook is still a good choice for anyone needing a low-powered computer for everyday use. As for looks, the new model doesn’t seem to be all that much different from the C7 we reviewed late last year, but that’s not particularly surprising, since it’s mostly just a hardware bump anyway.
The new C710-2055 is priced at $279, which is a little steep compared to the $199 of the original C7, but you’ll also get better and faster internals if you need them, along with more storage space. The new model comes with a 11.6-inch display, and the whole unit weighs just over three pounds. The Chromebook is available now in the US at various retailers.
Acer has made quite the name for itself these past few years. What once was a company that many people ignored, is now a company producing quality products, the new Aspire M Touch being one of them. We ended up getting our hands on the new laptop to see what’s so special about the thing, and while it rocks a Core i5 with 4GB of RAM and even an SSD on the inside, there are a few design choices that Acer made to the Aspire M Touch that’s a make-or-break situation for the laptop. Let’s have a deeper look.
Hardware & Design
At first glance, the Aspire M Touch looks like your typical slab of aluminum gadgetry, which it is, but it’s really sleek. Both the lid and the palm rest are made from brushed metal, while the bottom is lined with plastic. It certainly looks like an expensive laptop, but the build quality from just holding it and grabbing onto it isn’t all that great. The lid caves in from very little pressure, as does the palm rest. It’s a little unnerving at first, but babying the laptop — as most people do — shouldn’t cause any problems.
The laptop comes with a great-looking 14-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1366×768, which is fairly odd for a computer screen, and we’re slightly disappointed that it didn’t come with a higher resolution, especially for a 14-incher. Viewing angles are average, but as with any typical LCD, colors start to get washed out if you’re not looking at it from the optimum, straight-on angle. The touchscreen is 10-point, meaning it’ll detect all ten fingers if need be, and we found responsiveness of the touchscreen to be fairly good.
Inside you’ll find an Intel Core i5 3317U dual-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz with 4GB of RAM. This particular model has a 20GB solid state drive along with a 500GB hard drive. The solid state drive allows for quick boot ups and launching your most-used apps, while the hard drive is there to store all of your bigger files, like photos, videos, music etc. As for graphics, there’s Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics, so you won’t be able to do any hardcore gaming other than the occasional casual title.
As for ports and different connectivity options around the outside edges of the laptop, there’s a small bevy of options, but the placement of the ports is rather odd. Most of the important ports are on the back, including the power port, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, ethernet, and the Kensington lock. On the left side there’s the lone DVD-RW drive, and on the right side there’s an SD card slot and a combined headphone and microphone jack. As for the power button, it’s placed on the front of the laptop near the status lights — an odd place for it considering that most laptops have the power button in one of the upper corners near the keyboard.
As for the capabilities of the keyboard and trackpad, I wasn’t too impressed by either, but it was definitely a better experience than other laptops I’ve messed around with. The keys have very little travel, making it awkward to type until you finally get used to it. However, the keyboard is backlit, which is perfect for typing into the wee hours of the night, but you can’t adjust the brightness of the LEDs — there’s just an on/off toggle. As for the trackpad, it’s simply just made of plastic, making it a bit more difficult to slide your fingers around on compared to the glass trackpads on MacBooks or even the new Chromebook Pixel. The trackpad is large, however, which is always a good thing to have, and it makes navigating much easier.
Software
The Aspire M Touch runs a full version of Windows 8 as usual, and there definitely is no shortage of bloatware on this bad boy. Acer includes a couple of their pieces of software, and the rest are mostly pre-installed apps that could prove useful to some users, but maybe not quite everyone. There’s Acer Explorer, which is an app that basically teaches you how to use the other apps on the computer, and then there’s Acer Cloud, which is the company’s own cloud storage service that shares files across multiple Acer devices. Lastly there’s Acer Crystal Eye, which is a companion app for the webcam, and it comes with a few features that you may find useful, such as different effects.
However, that’s only the Acer apps. The company pre-installed a ton of other apps on the computer, such as Evernote, Skitch, Kindle, eBay, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus, Skype, Spotify, and McAfee. All of these will probably be useful to you, since they’re popular apps, but Acer also pre-installed a few apps that you’ll probably end up never using, including 7digital, Britannica, iCookbook, ChaCha, TuneIn Radio, StumbleUpon, Social Jogger, newsXpresso, and WildTangent Games. Obviously, you can delete the apps you won’t be using, but your first bootup into Windows 8 on this machine won’t be a clean one.
Performance
The Aspire M Touch runs off of an Intel Core i5 3317U dual-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz with 4GB of RAM. This keeps the machine pedaling along nicely, and the solid state drive allows for fast bootup times and quick app switching. Running the M Touch through Geekbench, we ended up getting a score of just over 7,000, which isn’t anything fantastic, but it’s also not terrible. This laptop isn’t really meant for the true power user, but rather the everyday average consumer just wanting to stay connected. The integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics prove that this laptop won’t be able to handle any intense gaming, but those wanting to watch a movie won’t have any problems.
System – Acer Aspire M5-481PT
Manufacturer
Acer
Product Type
Laptop
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
Motherboard
Acer MA40_HX
Processor
Intel Core i5-3317U
Processor ID
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Frequency
1.70 GHz
Processors
1
Threads
4
Cores
2
L1 Instruction Cache
32.0 KB
L1 Data Cache
32.0 KB
L2 Cache
256 KB
L3 Cache
3.00 MB
Memory
5.82 GB DDR3 SDRAM 666MHz
FSB
99.9 MHz
BIOS
Insyde Corp. V2.07
As for battery life, this is where we were pleasantly surprised. We were averaging around five hours of use, with the occasional six hour cycle if we purposely tried to stretch it. This may not seem that impressive, but with so many laptops today not even able to last four hours on a single charge, we have to give it up to Acer for being able to pull it off.
Benchmark Score – Acer Aspire M5-481PT
Section
Description
Score
Total Score
Windows x86 (64-bit) – Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
Integer
Processor integer performance
5173
7046
Floating Point
Processor floating point performance
9610
Memory
Memory performance
6351
Stream
Memory bandwidth performance
6026
Wrap-Up
The Aspire M Touch is a sleek-looking laptop, and there’s no doubt about that. Some of the design elements are a bit wonky, though. For example, most of the important ports that you need to get to are all located on the back, save for the headphone/microphone jack and the SD card slot. It makes sense to have the power port and the HDMI port on the back, that way you have cables sticking out from the sides, but having all the USB ports located on the back of the laptop is just a plain nuisance. However despite the low travel of the keyboard keys and the plastic trackpad, using both actually wasn’t too bad; it was certainly a better experience than other Windows laptops that I’ve played with, so I can’t complain too much in that respect.
You can grab an Aspire M Touch for around $800, which might seem a bit on the pricey side, but it’s actually relatively lower than most other laptops like it. It’s certainly a machine that we’d recommend to anyone looking for something portable to get them by with their everyday computing needs, and we’d have a hard time believing that users weren’t having a good experience with the laptop.
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Another day, another tablet. Hmmm, is it me, or does the mobile device category in the consumer electronics seem to take a medical slant with the word “tablet’ being used? Well, the iPad mini might have wowed a certain segment of the market, but frankly, it would have been better if the iPad mini came with higher end specifications right from the get go, but that has not stopped the tablet from doing relatively well in the market. Well, the Acer Iconia A1-810 might prove to be quite the iPad mini competitor, considering how it will arrive with a 7.9” IPS display complete with 1024 x 768 resolution, which is similar in nature to the existing iPad mini. Of course, this does not do away with the very real possibility of the iPad mini being revamped very, very soon with a higher resolution display.
Chromebooks are not exactly known for their high end specifications, which is perhaps why they never really sold like hotcakes either. Well, the Acer C7 Chromebook is sorely in need of far more processing firepower than it packs at the moment, and where the original $199 model lacked in terms of a battery life that amounted to just 3.5 hours, the new refreshed Acer C7 Chromebook intends to compensate its weaknesses with a couple of key upgrades, namely a 6-cell, 5000mAh battery that offers (theoretically) twice the battery capacity as its predecessor, which should translate to around seven hours of computing, as well as 4GB RAM that doubles up on the previous 2GB.
Phablets – love them or hate them, they are definitely here to stay. Samsung’s Galaxy Note was deemed to be ”too large” when it was first introduced to the world some time back, but who is laughing now? The Galaxy Note even has a sequel released, and more and more smartphone manufacturers have also jumped aboard the phablet bandwagon, too. Acer, the Taiwanese company that has failed to impress with their Android-powered smartphone collection to date, is glad to announce that they too, will be jumping aboard the phablet bandwagon this coming June at Computex.
