Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer might be working overtime to keep Apple at bay, but the PC market that his company largely built is hurting, if you ask researchers at Gartner and IDC. Both estimate that shipments of traditional computers dropped by a tenth of a point in the second quarter of 2012 — not a good sign when Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors and a wave of Ultrabooks were supposed to usher in a PC renaissance. While the exact numbers vary, the two paint a partly familiar picture of the world stage: HP and Dell are taking a bruising, while ASUS and Lenovo are making huge leaps forward. Depending on who you ask, though, Acer is either kicking Dell down to fourth place or occupying that all too comfortable spot itself. The economy and tablets are once again blamed for making would-be PC upgraders jittery, although this time it may also be the wait for Windows 8 leading some to hold off.
If there’s a point of contention, it’s the US figures. Gartner and IDC alike agree that Acer, Dell and HP all took a drubbing. The two analyst groups are at odds with each other when it comes to everyone else, though. Apple will have gained market share to as much as 12 percent, but either increased or shrank its shipments; it’s Lenovo or Toshiba completing the top five outside of the usual suspects. Accordingly, take results with a grain of salt until all the PC builders have reported in. Nonetheless, if the groups have the same reasonable level of precision as they’ve had in the past, Microsoft may have to defer its ambitions for a little while longer.
This week we’ve got our hands on the orange and black beast of a gaming desktop computer known as the Acer Predator AG3620G-UR21P. The build we’ve got comes with a beastly set of hardware, starting with the new Third Generation Intel Core i7-3770 processor, 3.4GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.9GHz. This tower also comes with NVIDIA graphics, a 128GB SSD drive, and so many ports on the top and back that you wont know what to do with all of them.
Hardware
The actual casing and set of ports is extremely similar to other Acer models such as the AM3970 – though that model is made much more for the everyday user while this Predator unit brings on a shape and color scheme much more suited to the gaming-specific user. Sharp angles are clear to be seen all around the unit while bright fire orange stripes run up and over so you’re ready to race.
Up on top you’ve got what Acer calls their Multi-in-One digital media card reader with essentially every sort of card port you can imagine. Though if you’re a modern gamer you’ll probably either be using disks or digital downloads, these will come in extremely handy when you switch camera types or are handed a strange card from a friend full of photos of your last LAN party – if you’re the kind of person to take photos at such an event, of course.
Also on top are 2 USB 3.0 ports and 2 USB 2.0 ports as well as a mic port and a headphones port. On the back you’ll see every sort of port you could need to get off the ground for a fabulous one-display gaming experience. This includes a couple of covered ports in our build that you’ll be able to have active should you choose them for your build (you might want that display port, for instance), but we’re perfectly alright with using the DVI Video and HD-capable HDMI ports for now.
Included with this tower, as it is with most/all Acer desktop units, you’ll get a pretty standard USB keyboard and optical mouse if you’re currently going without. They work fine, but you might want to think about an upgrade if you’re actually going to go hardcore with your gaming love. Also included inside are 10/100/1000 Gigabit LAN and 802.11b/g/n Wireless for some sweet connections, and High Definition 5.1 Channel Audio Support ready to go as well if you’ve got a massive room you want to fill with the crunching bone sounds of your digital enemies.
Up front we’ve got a 16X DVD+R/RW SuperMulti Drive, inside a 2TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive, and the whole bit is running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit – and of course it’s upgradable to Windows 8 if you do so choose in the near future. Inside we’ve also got the lovely NVIDIA GeForce GT630 Graphics with 2GB Discrete Video Memory as well as a 2TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive, Intel B75 Express Chipset, and again, that lovely new Ivy Bridge i7.
Have a peek at the results from our standard for desktop and notebook computing benchmarks, Geekbench, and certainly feel free to peruse the rest of our results from similar units in our Desktop Reviews portal. You’ll find that this device is right on the cutting edge when it comes to manufacturer assembled units, and
Benchmark Score – Acer Predator G3620
Section
Description
Score
Total Score
Windows x86 (64-bit) – Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Integer
Processor integer performance
12961
16071
Floating Point
Processor floating point performance
25559
Memory
Memory performance
8934
Stream
Memory bandwidth performance
8024
Have a peek at a few more details on the system in this readout as well:
System – Acer Predator G3620
Manufacturer
Acer
Product Type
Desktop
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Motherboard
Acer Predator G3620
Processor
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz
Processor ID
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Frequency
3.39 GHz
Processors
1
Threads
8
Cores
4
L1 Instruction Cache
32.0 KB
L1 Data Cache
32.0 KB
L2 Cache
256 KB
L3 Cache
8.00 MB
Memory
16.0 GB DDR3 SDRAM 666MHz
FSB
99.8 MHz
BIOS
American Megatrends Inc. P01-A1
Wrap-Up
In the end, what you’ve got here is an Acer machine, through and through, in an iteration aimed directly at the most high-powered and graphics intensive games you’ve got on hand. We’ve played everything from Diablo III to Batman: Arkham City on this device and have found that be it masses of characters smashing up the display or a vast playable world with realism in abundance, you’ll still be running strong.
The unit we’re using here will cost you a cool $1199.99 from Acer’s online store and it is indeed in stock right now. Head to our timeline below as well to check out additional Acer reveals and hands-on experiences we’ve had in the past couple of weeks!
Here you are one of the most anticipated Android Tablet that is finally headed to Japan, the almighty ICONIA Tab A700! Sold in Japan in its 16GB or 32GB version at 44,800 and 47,800 Yen respectively, the ICONIA Tab A700 comes with a Tegra 3 1.3GHz Quad Core CPU, a gorgeous 10.1″ WUXGA screen, 1GB of RAM, Android 4.0 (ICS), MicroUSB, MicroHDMI, SD a 1Mpix front facing camera and a 5Mpix rear facing one! Now 3G or LTE on this model in Japan but the ICONIA Tab A700 comes with the usual …
The new Acer Aspire 5600U all-in-one PC is equipped with a choice of an Intel Core i3 or i5 processor. The computer provides a 23-inch Full HD touchscreen display, an nVidia GeForce GT630M graphics, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a built-in TV tuner and a card reader. The Acer Aspire 5600U also provides several connectivity options such as two USB 3.0 ports, three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, Ethernet and Wi-Fi. Sadly, there is no info on pricing or availability so far. [Geeky-gadgets]
Acer has today announced the introduction of its Aspire 5600U All-in-One PC. The company says the slim chassis is around 35mm thick, with the machine featuring a 23-inch screen with a 1920×1080 resolution, a 5ms response time, 250 nits of brightness, and 10 point multitouch. The PC is powered by Intel’s new Ivy Bridge processors, and there’s a discrete NVIDIA GPU too.
Acer will offer configurations with both Core i3 and Core i5 Ivy Bridge processors, with all models coming with NVIDIA’s GT 630M graphics. Up to 8GB of 1333Mhz DDR3 RAM can be installed in the machine, as well as up to 1TB of hard drive space with an optional 20GB SSD drive for faster boot up times. Two USB 3.0 ports are onboard, along with three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, HDMI input and output, a card reader, plus audio outputs. There’s also a Blu-ray drive upgrade option.
The company has also included TV tuners in the device, with options for dual DVB-T, hybrid DVB-T, or hybrid ATSC depending on your region. A webcam can be found at the top of the monitor capable of 1080p video, and the whole monitor can be mounted on a wall thanks to VESA compatibility.
Acer hasn’t mentioned what the 5600U will cost, or when it will be shipping, but it should be soon. In the meantime, check out our hands-on with the 5600U and the larger 7600U from Computex.
While parent company Acer eyes deeper pockets and higher margins, Packard Bell is soldiering on with its EasyNote range of laptops for thrifty Europeans. Spotted by the friendly folk at Pocket-lint, the EasyNote TE has just reached stores and should scrape under the €400 (£300, $500) mark — thanks partly to its avoidance of the premium Intel processor found in the EasyNote TV. Instead, the TE relies on AMD’s updated E-Series processor (the slower 1.4GHz E1-1200 version, to be precise), which comes with capable Radeon HD 7310 onboard graphics and supports a USB 3.0 port (in addition to twin USB 2.0) and HDMI output. You’ll also find a 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 display, 750GB of storage and a “multi-in-1” card slot — which means the only spec we’re missing is the RAM. Who’ll take a bet on 4GB?
The FCC can be said to be the final pit stop right before a particular device is ready to be released to the mass market, but sometimes, even when it has gained approval, it still did not make it to the market simply for reasons that are better known to the company itself. Well, the Acer Iconia Tab A120 which was first seen at Computex just in June last month was touted to offer a Q3 release date, but beyond that, nothing else was announced. I guess this 10″ tablet has finally gained approval from the FCC, which means it should be able to make its way to stores sooner instead of later. To know what else is available underneath the hood, it seems that we will need to check out whether there are any more filings down the road. Perhaps Santa will arrive a little bit early and give us something to bite on? Are you looking forward to this particular tablet that runs on Android, or do you prefer something from Apple?
Acer wasn’t divulging much about availability when we first caught sight of its Iconia Tab A210 at Computex last month (beyond a general “Q3”), but the 10-inch Android tablet has now at least cleared one hurdle on its way to a release. The device has just passed through the FCC, which could indicate that it’s headed for stores sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, there’s not much else to be found beyond the tablet’s label and a few test reports, so you’ll have to wait for a future filing if you were hoping for a peek inside the device — feel free to revisit our hands-on in the meantime.
This certainly doesn’t come as a huge surprise given where Acer has been focusing its attention as of late, but it looks like the company is truly intent on shedding its image as a low-cost brand — at least in Europe. Speaking with TechRadar, an Acer spokesperson said that “it can be a slightly conflicting message,” referring to it also offering computers under its Packard Bell brand, and that “Acer is moving away from the lower end.” In this case, Acer is defining low-end as under £400, or roughly $600, although it says there will be some crossover. The spokesperson further added that “Acer will become more premium,” also noting that “we try to separate the two brands as far as possible, so the average consumer has no idea that the two brands are associated.” What that means for Acer in North America (where the Packard Bell brand is long gone) remains to be seen, but we’ve reached out to the company for comment.
Back in March at CeBIT, Acer unveiled a slew of new laptops, among which the Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 Ultrabook was easily the most celebrated. But while slim designs and instant-on technology are shoe-ins for media attention, slightly thicker machines with revved-up internals and discrete graphics are champions of the “don’t judge a book by its cover” philosophy. And besides, not everyone is willing to part with a DVD drive, much less spend $1,000-plus on their next PC.
Hence Acer’s Aspire V3, which is available in sizes ranging from 14 to 17.3 inches (for the purposes of this review, we took a look at the middleweight 15.6-inch version). While it weighs a hefty 5.8 pounds and looks positively bloated next to 0.8-inch-thick laptops such as the M3, the V3 packs serious power in the form of NVIDIA Kepler graphics and a Core i7 Ivy Bridge CPU. And unlike many Ultrabooks trickling their way into the market, this guy is priced to compete, making it a viable choice for the back-to-school season. But is it the best mainstream notebook $850 can buy? Let’s see.
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