Aspire

Acer's first Ultrabook arrives in North America this week. Priced at just $899, the Acer Aspire S3-951 powers on in a mere 2.5 seconds – that's four times faster than your standard connection – and provides up to a whopping 50 days of stand-by time, or 6 hours of continuous usage.

Boasting a 13.3-inch HD widescreen LED-backlit display, the Aspire S3 Ultrabook weighs only 2.98 pounds and is super-skinny at .51 inches thin. But just because it's skinny doesn't mean it can't perform. The first true MacBook Air competitor, this baby comes packed with an Intel Core i5 Processor, 20GB solid state drive, 320GB hard drive and 4GB of memory, delivering as much performance and storage capacity as a full-size notebook. Sound is good too, thanks to professionally tuned speakers with Dolby Home Theater v4.

Connectivity options include an HDMI port for big screen viewing, Acer Clear.fi for sharing music, photos and videos between Clear.fi enabled devices, Bluetooth 4.0+ HSR, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, and it has 2 USB ports. Read more

Shaking things up a bit in the notebook computer department, Acer just announced two new multimedia notebook PCs - the Aspire Ethos AS8951G and AS5951G - which include a removable touchpad that doubles as a remote control. The detachable touchpad can be used vertically or horizontally and features LED buttons that allow you to launch music, movies, or photos from across the room.

The new Ethos notebooks are available in two sizes - the AS8951G sports an 18.4-inch full HD widescreen (1920 x 1080) display, while the AS5951G includes a 15.6-inch HD widescreen (1366 x 768) display. Both models feature 'InstantOn' capabilities, Dolby-tuned speakers, a subwoofer, 1.3 megapixel HD webcam, bio-protection fingerprint reader, and come with either a Blu-ray drive or a DVD optical drive. An HDMI port is also included for HDTV connection.

The notebooks feature either a 2nd Generation Intel Core i7 Quad-Core or a 2nd Generation Intel Core i5 Dual-Core processor, up to 16GB of memory, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M graphics with 2GB of dedicated DDR3 VRAM. Hard drive sizes range from 500GB to 1.5TB. The Ethos 8951G also supports dual hard drives for additional storage. Read more

Acer today announced the Aspire AS8950G-9839, the company's highest performing model in the Aspire notebook line. Packed with technology, this baby is like your own portable high-definition personal theater. It features the new Intel i7-2630QM processor designed to handle HD and 3D, the latest ATI Mobility Radeon 6850 graphics processor with 2GB of dedicated video memory, and 8GB of DDR3 dual-channel memory (upgradeable to 16GB).

Its has a CineCrystal 18.4-inch edge-to-edge glass LED back-lit display with 1080p resolution, a Blu-ray drive, the new Dolby Home Theater v4 and Acer CineSurround sound system (five built-in speakers and a subwoofer), as well as an HDMI port for connecting to your big screen TV.

But that's not all. It touts a 750GB SATA hard drive, dual-hard drive support (providing up to 1.5TB of total possible storage), a firewire port for moving videos from a digital camcorder, and an eSATA port. The Aspire AS8950G-9839 is 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED and also has Gigabit Ethernet.Read more

Our hot holiday item of the week from Acer is the Aspire 8943G notebook PC (model AS8943G-9429). Giving you a personal theater experience, this notebook's 18.4-inch LED display has full high-definition (1080p) resolution with a 16:9 aspect ratio, making it great for watching Blu-ray movies.

Powerful enough to handle the latest video games, it features Intel's Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost Technology, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 Graphics with 2 GB of DDR3 discrete graphics memory and has full DirectX 11 support. In addition, ATI's Switchable Graphics technology switches between integrated and discrete graphics for maximum performance when needed and a long battery life when on-the-road. It also has a 500 GB hard drive (with support for a second drive), 8 GB RAM, a Blu-ray/DVD optical drive, HDMI Port and is 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi certified. Read more

We've got another hot holiday gift idea for you! This one is for those looking for a desktop computer packed with enough power to handle fast-action video gaming – but at an affordable price. The Acer Aspire Predator AG5900-U3092 has just what you need with its 8GB DDR3 SDRAM, Intel Core i7 870 processor with Intel Turbo Boost Technology, ATI Radeon HD 5850 graphics and 1GB of dedicated memory.

It also includes a 1.5TB SATA hard drive, ATI Eyefinity Technology and Microsoft DirectX 11 support. High-def 5.1-channel audio, a multi-in-one card reader and a combo/DVD super-multi optical drive round out the features of this powerhouse. But if you want more, it is expandable with an available 5.25-inch optical drive bay, three open 3.5-inch HDD bays as well as two open PCI Express x1 slots and a standard PCI.

Connectivity options include 12 total USB 2.0 ports (four on top, eight in back), an HDMI port, three audio jacks, an Ethernet port, display port and two DVI ports.

The Acer Aspire Predator AG5900-U3092 is available now for $1,349.99.

Yesterday we told you about the latest all-in-one desktops from Acer. Today, it's all about the gamers. The new Acer Aspire Predator gaming PC line-up includes the high-end Aspire Predator AG7750-U3222, and the more affordable (yet still powerful) Aspire Predator AG5900-U3092. Both models include Intel Core i7 quad-core processors and 1.5TB hard drives.

The Predator AG5900-U3092 is the newest model in the Predator line. It features 8GB DDR3 SDRAM, an Intel Core i7 870 processor with Intel Turbo Boost Technology, a 1.5TB SATA hard drive, ATI Radeon HD 5850 graphics with 1GB of dedicated memory, ATI Eyefinity Technology and support for Microsoft DirectX 11. It also includes high-def 5.1-channel audio, a multi-in-one card reader and a combo/DVD super-multi optical drive. Read more

Acer today announced two new slick-looking all-in-one desktop computers. The Acer Aspire AZ3100 boasts a 21.5-inch HD display, while the Aspire AZ5700 has a 23-inch HD multi-touch display.

The Acer Aspire AZ3100-U3072 runs Windows 7 Home Premium and features a 21.5-inch LCD display with 1080p resolution, 3GB DDR3 SDRAM, 500GB hard drive, AMD's Athlon II 170u (2.0GHz) processor, NVIDIA GeForce 9200 graphics, 802.11 b/g/n, and Gigabit ethernet. It also includes 5.1 channel audio, two built-in speakers, a webcam, microphone and wireless keyboard and mouse. As far as connectivity goes, it has HDMI and 6 USB 2.0 ports.

The Aspire AZ3100-U3072 is available now for $599. Read more