Acer Aspire Timeline: A thin-and-light notebook with 8 hour battery, gestures for $598

The world's second-largest laptop manufacturer, Acer, today introduced the U.S. availability of its Aspire Timeline series of business notebooks that average more than 8 hours of battery life, the company says.

The Aspire Timeline is a thin and light mainstream notebook that combines Intel's ultra low-voltage processors with a palatable price tag: the series ranges from $598 to $899. The company is calling the series "all day computing" notebooks because you can (theoretically) work from 9 to 5 without stopping to plug in and recharge.

(Wondering about those battery life figures? The company says it measured systems using Bapco’s MobileMark 2007 Productivity benchmark test and got more than 9 hours per notebook [links are .pdf])

There are three flavors of Timeline: the 3.5-lb., 13.3-in. AS3810 is a road-warrior companion; the 4.2-lb., 14-in. AS4810 is best for bigger hands (and those who need an integrated optical drive); and the 15.6-in., 5.3-lb. AS5810 manages a dedicated numeric keyboard on the old laptop size standard.

All models are less than an inch thin (and just over an inch at their thickest).

Outside, a brushed aluminum finish provides a little bling and a multi-gesture touchpad (pinch, flick, swirl, scroll) provides the power to manipulate the system. Inside, you'll find either Intel Pentium, Intel Core Solo or Intel Core 2 Duo ultra low voltage processors and 3GB or 4GB of memory, a high-definition CineCrystal LED backlit widescreen display (16:9 ratio), Gigabit Ethernet or Wi-Fi 802.11b/g Draft-N, a Crystal Eye webcam, built-in digital microphone and two built-in stereo speakers.

The systems are also lead- and mercury-free.

Like Dell, Acer offers many configurations, but here are some examples:

Acer Aspire Timeline AS3810T-6415

• Intel Core 2 Duo processor SU9400 (1.40GHz, 3 MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB, 10 W)
• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1
• 13.3-inch HD Acer CineCrystal LED-backlit TFT LCD (resolution 1366 x 768, 16:9 aspect ratio)
• Mobile Intel GS45 Express Chipset
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
• 4 GB of DDR3 1066MHz dual channel memory (runs at 800MHz)
• 500GB SATA hard drive
• Acer Crystal Eye webcam
• Multi-in-1 digital media card reader
• Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11a/g/Draft-N wireless LAN WiFi certified
• Bluetooth 2.0
• 3 – USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI port
• Multi-gesture touchpad pointing device supporting circular-motion scrolling, pinch-action zoom, page flip
• Acer touch-sensitive hotkeys (Touchpad Lock, Backup Manager, PowerSmart)
• Standard 6-cell Li-ion (5600 mAh) Battery
• 3.5 lbs.
• 12.67” (W) x 0.92” to 1.13” (H) x 8.97” (D)
• Energy Star 5.0 compliant
• MSRP $899.99

Acer Aspire Timeline AS4810T-8480

• Intel Core 2 Solo processor SU3500 (3MB L2 cache, 1.40GHz, 800MHz FSB, 5.50 W)
• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1
• 14-inch HD Acer CineCrystal LED-backlit TFT LCD (resolution 1366 x 768, 16:9 aspect ratio)
• Mobile Intel GS45 Express Chipset
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
• 4 GB of DDR3 1066MHz dual channel memory (runs at 800MHz)
• 320GB SATA hard drive
• Acer Crystal Eye webcam
• Multi-in-1 digital media card reader
• 8X DVD SuperMulti double layer drive
• Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11a/g/Draft-N wireless LAN
• 3 – USB 2.0 ports
• Multi-gesture touchpad pointing device supporting circular-motion scrolling, pinch-action zoom, page flip
• Acer touch-sensitive hotkeys (Touchpad Lock, Backup Manager, PowerSmart)
• Standard 6-cell Li-ion (5600 mAh) Battery
• 4.2 lbs.
• 13.32” (W) x 0.94” to 1.13” (H) x 9.44” (D)
• Energy Star 5.0 compliant
• MSRP $699.99

Acer Aspire Timeline AS5810TZ-4657

• Intel Pentium processor SU2700 (2MB L2 cache, 1.3 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 10 W)
• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1
• 15.6-inch HD Acer CineCrystal LED-backlit TFT LCD (resolution 1366 x 768, 16:9 aspect ratio)
• Mobile Intel GS45 Express Chipset
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
• 3GB of DDR3 1066MHz memory (runs at 800MHz)
• 320GB(3) SATA hard drive
• Acer Crystal Eye webcam
• Multi-in-1 digital media card reader
• 8X DVD SuperMulti double layer drive
• Acer InviLink Nplify 802.11b/g/Draft-N wireless LAN
• 4 – USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI port
• Multi-gesture touchpad pointing device supporting circular-motion scrolling, pinch-action zoom, page flip
• Acer touch-sensitive hotkeys (Touchpad Lock, Backup Manager, PowerSmart)
• 6-cell (5600 mAh) Li-ion Battery
• 5.3 lbs.
• 14.88” (W) x 0.97” to 1.16” (H) x 10.19” (D)
• Energy Star 5.0 compliant
• MSRP $598.00

The Aspire Timeline is rolling out gradually now through June 21 at Staples, WalMart, Fry's, Costco, Microcenter, RadioShack, Office Max, Office Depot and others.