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Acer's super-thin S7 ultrabook and W510 convertible: hands-on

IFA provided an opportunity to get a closer look at some of Acer's upcoming Windows 8 devices.
By David Meyer, Contributor
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1 of 6 David Meyer

At the IFA show in Berlin, Acer has been providing a chance to get hands-on with some of the Windows 8 devices it first unveiled at Computex in June.

The star of its line-up is the Aspire S7 ultrabook, which comes in two sizes: 11.6-inch (pictured) and 13.1-inch.

The 11.6-inch version is, Acer says, the smallest HD touch-enabled ultrabook out there. It can run for up to nine hours, while the 13.1-inch version can be used for up to 12 hours.

Acer president Jim Wong told ZDNet at IFA that the S7 will have to do for now, for those professionals who want an Acer-made, touch-capable Windows 8 ultrabook. He said a TravelMate business equivalent would only come out in a year's time.

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The MacBook Air may have spurred PC-makers to thin down their designs, but Acer's S7 makes Apple's lightweight runaround look positively obese.

The MacBook air is 17mm thick. The 11.6-inch S7 is 11.9mm thick, while the 13.1-inch model is slightly more deep at 12.5mm.

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Inside, the S7 models will feature Intel Ivy Bridge Core i5 or i7 processors, and up to 256GB of SSD storage.

The 11.6-inch version weighs 1.3kg. It comes with two USB 3.0 ports, a microSD slot and micro-HDMI.

As with most Windows 8 products, the exact pricing is yet to be released.


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Acer's spin on the hybrid/convertible genre is the 10.1-inch Iconia W510.

It is similar to HP's Envy x2 and Samsung's Ativ Smart PC, in that it is essentially a touch-capable Windows 8 ultrabook with a screen that can be removed and used as a tablet.


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The W510's keyboard dock contains an extra battery that, according to Acer, allows for 18 hours' usage.

The W510 will run on an Intel Clover Trail processor. As is the case with other devices running on the same system-on-a-chip (SoC), such as the Envy x2, the manufacturer is staying vague on the precise specs.

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One neat feature of the W510 is the ability to clip the removable full-HD tablet screen in backwards, which could be handy for presentations.

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