Today is a hot day for your Acer Windows 8-bound notebook family with not just the V5 series popping up for touchscreen laptop justice, but with the Aspire M5 Series Ultrabook as well. What we’ve got here with the M5 Ultrabook is a unit that will be sold exclusively by Best Buy stores in the United States – so don’t expect them anywhere else, basically. Here you’ll have an 8-hour battery life supporting a 14-inch Aspire M5-481PT and a 15.6-inch Aspire M5-581T. They come in different colors, too!
The smaller of the two units here comes in a lovely silver cover made of aluminum alloy while the larger model in a non-touch configuration comes in a dark gray magnesium alloy cover. The smaller rings in at 4.5 pounds while the larger is just about 5 pounds while they both work with Acer Green Instant On as well as Acer Always Connect.
The Instant On feature allows your device to wake up from sleep in less than 2 seconds and from a deep sleep in 6 seconds. Always Connect then connects to the web in 2.5 second by remembering wi-fi spots galore. AcerCloud technology is ready and willing here on the M5 series and both units work with 3rd generation Intel Core i5 processors with Turbo Boost Technology 2.0.
Both units work with two USB 3.0 ports, backlit keyboards, Dolby Home Theater v4, Acer AntiTheft, and a lovely HDMI port for HD connection to gigantic monitors. The 14-inch version of this series of computers features a 10-point multi-touch display for full Windows 8 touchscreen interaction. You’ve got a vivid HD display with “edge-to-edge” design as well as Windows 8′s full collection of touch-friendly abilities.
Best Buy will be carrying both units starting on October 26th, with prices being ever so slightly different for the two different models. The Aspire M5-481PT with full touch support begin at $799.99, while the 15.6-inch Aspire M5-581T configurations begin at $699.99. This may very well be the first time in history that a pair of notebooks were released that the larger display has the lower price – how about that!
If you’re after a no-nonsense Windows 8 experience and need a notebook to make it all happen, you’ll want to have a peek at the new Acer Aspire V5 Series revealed by the company today. This series of notebooks comes in three sizes, 11.6, 14, and 15.6-inch display sizes with retailers all across the USA and Canada so you’ll be able to check them out firsthand in stores – several of the models also have touchscreen displays for full Windows 8 multitouch experiences.
This update to the Acer universe brings on an edge-to-edge display, this meaning in this case that there’s NEARLY no plastic or metal holding the display glass in place on the edges, but there is just a bit. The display also needs a little bit of a bezel, but inside that you’ve got a lovely display at 14 inches on the Aspire V5-471P and 15.6 inches on the Aspire V5-571P. You’ve got a “larger trackpad” than the average computer too, so says Acer, so you’ll be gesturing all over the place regardless of how you choose to navigate your computer.
The V5 series comes with 3rd Generation Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processors of course and both of the larger models work with a built-in slim DVD drive and a 500GB or 750GB hard-drive inside. The brightness you’re seeing blasting your eyes out is a series of HD CineCrystal widescreen LED-backlit displays, and you’ve got a 1.3 megapixel web camera built-in regardless of the model right up front as well. These units work with DLNA for wireless media sharing as well as Acer clear.fi and Dolby Advanced Audio v2 for all the sharing and fabulous media playback you can handle.
The Acer Aspire V5 series notebooks will be up for sale on the 26th of October along with just about a billion other Windows 8 solutions from a variety of retailers. That said, you’ll have a hard time finding a better value at $749.99 for the Aspire V5-471P with touch support and starts $499.99 for the Aspire V5-571 without touch.
Vizio has updated its PC range with a pair of touch-capable all-in-ones, adding 10-finger multitouch to ready them for Windows 8, while also tweaking its notebooks with new trackpads. The new 24- and 27-inch All-in-One Touch PC models offer Intel Core processors, like their non-touch brethren we reviewed recently, as well as 1080p Full HD displays and 2.1 audio systems.
NVIDIA GeForce graphics using Kepler GPUs will be optional for some of the AIOs, while all will have SRS Premium Sound HD. The new models will be priced from $998, and they’ll be bloatware-free as Vizio has inked a deal with Microsoft to make them part of the Signature program.
As for the newly-updated notebooks and ultraportables, they’ll gain a new multitouch trackpad which supports all of Windows 8′s gestures and taps. Intel’s third-gen Core processors are inside, just as with the desktops, and there are options for 14-, 15.6-inch Think + Light Ultrabook and 15.6-inch Notebook depending on your bag capacity and bank balance.
The Vizio Thin + Light range kicks off at $849, while the 15.6-inch Full HD Notebook starts from $1,129. Like the AIO PC they’re part of the Signature program and so bloatware-free.
As is all the rage right now, Vizio is upgrading its lineup to support Windows 8’s more touch-centric UI. The company’s 24-inch and 27-inch all-in-one PCs will receive touch panels, resulting in a price bump to $998 for the base 24-incher with Ivy Bridge and Kepler internals, 1920 x 1080 display and 500GB hard drive. Meanwhile, Vizio’s Ultrabooks — both the 14-inch and 15.6-inch models — and its heftier 15.6-inch Full HD notebook will all get “enhanced multi-gesture touchpads” that will allow exactly the same swipes, taps and pinches as a touchscreen. These laptops will start at $849 for the smaller Ultrabook and $1,129 for the notebook. Expect the whole lot to arrive as part of the late October crush.
Here’s the thing with Windows 8: staring at those live tiles feels kinda weird if you can’t reach out and touch them. That’s why Sony has upgraded its Vaio T13 Ultrabook with a touch panel (making it technically the T13-2), allowing you to reach out across the keyboard and swipe away to your heart’s content. We’ve just left some fingerprints on a high-spec model with a Core i7 processor, 1366 x 768 resolution, 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM, which will sell in the UK from October 26th priced somewhere north of £1,000 (or $1,600, though Sony doesn’t set exact prices). A more modestly equipped i7, with 4GB and a 500GB hybrid drive should be somewhere around £900 ($1,400), while an entry-level i3 will start at £700 ($1,100), give or take. Bear mind that the dollar prices will be much lower than these currency conversions suggest — for reference, the original T13 starts at just $770.
Our first impression was that enabling touch on this traditional form factor was slightly awkward, especially if the purpose of touching the screen was to achieve something that would have been more readily accomplished with a tap on the keyboard — such as adjusting brightness, scrolling or returning to the home screen. On the other hand, the UI was incredibly responsive on the Core i7 processor and over time the touchscreen may well come to feel more natural than the touchpad within Microsoft’s new OS. Just bear in mind that enabling touch comes with a couple of sacrifices, aside from any price premium: it adds 100 grams and 1mm in thickness to an Ultrabook that was already on the chunky side, due to the addition of tougher hinges as well as the extra layer in the display. Check out our hands-on video after the break and make up your own mind.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga is a lovely rather-bendy converting notebook-to-tablet that we saw back at CES 2012 – both an 11-inch and a 13-inch version of this device are appearing today with assurances for launch side two new guns in the industry as well. Lenovo is also showing off the IdeaTab Lynx and the ThinkPad Twist, two more twisters and turners for the next generation of PC power with Windows 8, Windows RT, and more!
The IdeaPad Yoga is coming in two iterations, one of them with a 13.3-inch display, the other with an 11.6-inch display, both of them with great battery life and the ability to move 360 degrees and fold from laptop to tablet. The 13 model has Dolby Home Theater, IPS display technology, and a multi-touch screen so you can make full use of Windows 8! The Yoga 11 is just 15.6 mm thin and is made to balance power and mobility – so they say! You’ve got an NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor inside and Windows RT for a full tablet experience.
The IdeaTab Lynx is a device that’s made for Windows 8 action in full-on tablet mode. You’ve got an 11.6-inch display with Dolby Home Theater as well as connectivity with printers, hard drives, and more with a full sized USB port via its base. The base of this device will also help to type out your plans for the future as it presents a full keyboard bringing on a full-function PC experience. Microsoft Word is aboard, as is 16 hours of battery life (provided you use the base, of course.)
The ThinkPad Twist is made specifically for Small Business Computing and has a 12.5-inch display to get it done. You can use this device as a fully functional Ultrabook or just twist the display and push it back down for a lovely next-level tablet. The ThinkPad Twist works with a 3rd generation Intel Core i7 processor, up to Windows 8 Pro, and optional 3G mobile data connectivity. Inside you’ll also have up to 500GB of storage or 128 GB SSD. The Twist also works with a 350nit HD display – bright as heck – and mini-HDMI and DisplayPort jack for HD video on your 3rd party gigantic displays.
The IdeaPad Yoga 13 will be available starting on October 12 at Best Buy stores around the country for PRE-ORDER, after which the device will be in-store starting on the 26th of the month for $1,099 MSRP. The IdeaPad Yoga 11 will be available starting in December for MSRP $799. The ThinkPad Twist will be available starting on October 26th at a variety of retailers for MSRP $849, and the IdeaPad Lynx and optional keyboard will be available starting in December – MSRP $599 for the tablet and $149 for the keyboard.
See a selection of additional press images of the devices in the gallery below and get pumped up for their final release!
If you’re in the market for a no-nonsense travel-ready notebook you can take with you on any business-related trip where data input, web browsing, and typing in general are your game, the Acer TravelMate P243 may be just the device you’re looking for. This machine has proven itself to be both reliable and deceptively simple in the way it both looks and feels, bringing with it more power than you might ever need for a price you’ll be well satisfied with. With features like a spill-resistant keyboard and a lovely 1366 x 768 pixel resolution ComfyView LCD, you might just find that this notebook is just the right combination of light computing in a relatively small package you need.
Hardware
Inside you’ll find several possibilities for what you’ll be able to work with, with a 3rd Generation Intel Core i5 processor to start things off right with current-generation processing power – backed up by Intel Turbo Boost technology, of course. You’ll also be working with 4GB of DDR3 memory (that you can upgrade easily under the hood to 8GB if you wish. You’ve got a SATA hard drive 500GB large as well as a collection of connection ports for several different purposes.
This device is made for business, and that’s definitely what you should be using it for. It’s tough – though not necessarily tough enough to bring along with you camping. It’s powerful – though not really for video processing, when it comes down to it. It’s got security – Acer’s own ProShield pre-boot authentication makes for that added bit of calm in your mind when you’re thinking about your data being destroyed – not here it wont!
Of course before we launch into the software side of things, we’ve got to have a peek at all those ports. You’ve got one USB 3.0 port and a couple of USB 2.0 ports, HDMI and display port in addition to Wireless Display technology (WiDi) if you’re into the wireless HD display era. Built-in ethernet port keeps you wired if you’re not all about wi-fi data, and your wi-fi connection can be turned on and off with a physical button up in the left next to the power button right above your keyboard.
The keyboard itself is rather nice, certainly generous for the intent of the notebook and more than ready for a business environment. Several lights sit in the lower left below the area where your wrists will be sitting with notifications for your power, wi-fi connection, and more. Next to this is an SD card reader that you’ll be able to use for your camera and – if you’ve got a converter – your micro-SD card-holding smartphone as well.
Notice that the display does not have perfect viewing angles as its given the hands-on treatment in the video above. It’s not perfect, but it’s certainly bright and sharp enough for your everyday web browsing, email reading, and document typing needs. The build of the notebook is also, again, solid and ready to work for you for many years to come.
Software
Inside you’ve got a lovely Windows 7 build that you can read just a bit more about in the readout we’ve got below this paragraph. It’s a relatively standard build and won’t bring on a whole lot of surprises, but you will get items such as the ability to run Acer Video Conference with your video camera (above the display) and Acer Backup – more than helpful for those of you that accidentally download your fair share of adware. Back it all up on the regular!
You’ve got Acer Office Manager as well, this made for the small business to be able to easily deploy security policies and monitor IT assets. You’ll be able to schedule maintenance tasks and roll out with a full set of solutions for basically anything you’ll want to do with your employees working with the TravelMate. Connect and make it work!
System – Acer TravelMate P243
Manufacturer
Acer
Product Type
Notebook
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)
Motherboard
Acer BA40_HC
Processor
Intel Core i5-3210M
Processor ID
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Frequency
2.50 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
4.00 GB DDR3 SDRAM 666MHz
FSB
99.8 MHz
BIOS
Insyde Corp. V1.01
Benchmark
Have a peek at our standard benchmark readout here with Geekbench and take note that this should be more than enough of a processing beast to get you going throughout the day. Compared to gaming rigs and high-powered notebooks with no need to be transportable, this isn’t the biggest and the most beastly – but it’s certainly fine for your business needs.
Benchmark Score – Acer TravelMate P243
Section
Description
Score
Total Score
Windows x86 (64-bit) – Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)
Integer
Processor integer performance
6197
7769
Floating Point
Processor floating point performance
11453
Memory
Memory performance
5718
Stream
Memory bandwidth performance
4482
Wrap-up
Acer TravelMate P243 is available in many Acer reseller stores across the USA right this minute in a couple different iterations. The one we’re using here will cost you right around $999 USD, while a much more conservatively powered iteration with a 2nd Gen i3 processor from Intel will run you around $599.99 USD. That’s the one you want if you only want the basics – don’t expect to do the big tasks there, but traveling around with it will be a perfectly good experience.
If you’re thinking about getting in on the Windows Phone 8 game, you’ll likely be considering pre-ordering in the latter half of this month, with October 21st being the first of several waves of device pre-order announcements. What we’re to understand from sources speaking with The Verge is that AT&T and Microsoft have shook hands on October 21st for pre-order starts on several devices. The first two of these device releases will be the Nokia Lumia 920 and the HTC Windows Phone 8X, both of which will be popping up on AT&T right out of the gate.
This set of announcements also includes word on the Samsung Ativ Smart PC as well as the Asus Vivo Tab RT, both of which will be appearing with AT&T as well. Both of these devices work with a form of Windows 8, an operating system that’ll be coming out later this month as well. Microsoft is bringing on Windows 8 right alongside Windows RT, the system which will appear on the Asus device, it being a tablet-oriented version of Windows 8 to tie the whole galaxy together.
November will contain a rush of device availabilities for Microsoft’s new set of operating systems, with AT&T carrying several devices and at least one for each different OS. Windows Phone 8 will lead the pack at AT&T of course, but they’ll also be pushing for the whole desktop and mobile experience with several data-connected notebooks and tablet. AT&T’s notebooks and tablets with Windows 8 or Windows RT will be popping up on the 26th of October.
Have a peek at our timeline of AT&T releases working with Windows Phone 8 as well as Windows 8 and Windows RT. They very much appear to be all-in as far as Microsoft’s wave of “8″ software hits the market, several manufacturers coming along for the ride – stay tuned for more!
The folks at Samsung have sent out invites to a press event in which they’ll be revealing a set of new Windows 8-toting devices, not least of all notebooks with ultra-thin bodies and touchscreen displays. This event is set to take place at a museum, of all places, with “Framing the Future” as their key catchphrase. Here we’ll be seeing Samsung go all-in for Microsoft’s next-generation operating system, you can bet!
This event will certainly be home to a selection of never-before-seen devices that work with Windows 8 and perhaps give new glimpses of how they’ll be working with Windows Phone 8 as well. With the couple of images included in the invite you see above, we’re thinking thinness is on the table without a doubt – this is more than likely the location and time of the final Samsung Series 9 notebook reveal. The gray and blue colorscape presented here makes us feel as though we’re also already in a museum before we arrive.
What we’re also expecting is an even more refined presentation than Samsung has been presenting as of late. As the brand grows stronger, so too do they continue to present in a simpler way – here in a location we’re sure will play up their devices as fine art. Or fine design, as it were, with unibody casing, all-metal bodies, sharp lines, all that good stuff.
This is also just one of many Windows 8 – aimed events that will be popping up here on SlashGear over the next few weeks and months. Stay tuned to our Windows 8 tag hub to see all the operating system has to offer! Also be sure to keep your note tuned to the Samsung tag for all the new notebooks and PCs they’ve got up for grabs, too!
Ok I admit it, I always has been a huge fan of Panasonic Let’s Note line-up and this despite their rather unique and unsophisticated design. However I have to admit that I am rather unimpressed by Panasonic’s new AX2. Don’t get me wrong I like the overall look of the AX2, like other model this Ultrabook is well build and sturdy, but, and yes there is but I am not a huge fan of their design choice when it comes to Panasonic understanding of an Hybrid Laptop. As you can see on …
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