First Ultrabook Arrives from Acer October 16 for $900

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bennaye

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[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Apple lawsuit in 3...2...1...[/citation]

Lawsuit for what? Copying their design in the most vague manner, or for copying the idea of a slimmer laptop than a netbook, or for making it look like a Macbook Air by Acer's virtuous clever placement of its logo where MBAir's apple is...oh wait, I see. Never mind.

Yeah...what back_by_demand said.
 

lamorpa

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It look like this article is a cut and paste (no editing) from a couple of sources. I see that is has an HDMI port, and later in the article, I see it still has an HDMI port. It has a 6 hour battery life and an 8 hour battery life (alternating?), etc.
 

zanny

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So what, the new bandwagon in pc manufacturing lingo is "ultrabook"? After tablet and netbook from the last two years?

Every 2 years your new laptop is an ultrabook. They get smaller for a reason.

Also, Apple tried the slim thing. I have tons of friends with macbooks, but none of them have an air. What are you going to do with a slim laptop, its not like you can fit it in your pocket.

Or are you just gonna slide it into manila envelopes?
 

ojas

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20GB SSD? i'm sure pricing it $100 more and throwing in a 64GB SSD would have been more sensible. I mean, the Crucial m4 64GB is going for $115 on newegg, and i'm sure the 20GB SSD they've used must be the Intel 311, which costs almost the same. Hell, even if it's not the Intel, this still would have cost at least $40. Just add 60-70 more! sub-$1000 and ultra useful! 20GB for win 7?! There'll be approx 18.6 GB usable anyway...bad decision acer...

integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 128 MB of dedicated system memory and 4 GB of RAM.
i think you meant dedicated video (or graphics) memory? not a major mistake, but for the sake of accuracy...
 

amk-aka-Phantom

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Wow. The specs suck big-time. Pathetic. I won't buy a laptop which is so underpowered just because it's a bit thinner and lighter than the rest.

Then again, there's MacBook Air and lots of people like it... so I wouldn't be surprised if that sells.

[citation][nom]bennaye[/nom]or for making it look like a Macbook Air by Acer's virtuous clever placement of its logo where MBAir's apple is[/citation]

+1, I also thought it's an Air for a second :lol:

Anyhow, most of the laptops on the market nowadays are utter garbage. Keyboards suck, specs are unbalanced (saw some Vaio laptops with 3GB of RAM... 1GB stick and 2GB stick... freakin' stupid! Or how about a Core i7 and integrated graphics?) and most look like garbage. I wish we could build our own laptops like we do with desktops!
 

fancarolina

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[citation][nom]fancarolina[/nom]Windows 7 on a 20gb SSD. You have got to be kidding me. Run Windows Update once and that drive us full.[/citation]
Correction: Is full.
 

halcyon

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Well, these ultrabooks don't seem like they're meant for gaming or marketed to the gaming enthusiast (THG's general population). Intel realized that the MacBook Air is selling really well and [strike]came up with [/strike] copied this design idea. This example should be a peppy machine for Widows 7 & 8 for general MS Office-type work, web-use, and even a little Photoshop-type activity. ...just like the MacBook Air. If you've used a 2010/2011 MacBook Air you'll know its a pretty peppy machine given its specs. The 2008/2009 Airs were really underpowered for an enthusiast as far as I'm concerned...too slow...too many compromises...but my wife loves hers. So, if these non-Apple ultrabooks perform in the same class as the recent MacBook Airs they'd make a great 2nd machine or something for the executive that travels a lot. I have executives at my job that think 4lbs. is too much to carry...but 3lbs is okay (can't say I agree :pfff: ).

For those that hate the MacBook Air simply because its by Apple, these ultrabooks are an alternative.
 

Neverdyne

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So what, the new bandwagon in pc manufacturing lingo is "ultrabook"? After tablet and netbook from the last two years?

Every 2 years your new laptop is an ultrabook. They get smaller for a reason.

Also, Apple tried the slim thing. I have tons of friends with macbooks, but none of them have an air. What are you going to do with a slim laptop, its not like you can fit it in your pocket.

Or are you just gonna slide it into manila envelopes?

There's people like me who have a self build monster of a desktop, watercooled and all, and yet I need something portable to take to college classes. The MacBook Air is sufficient, it can run AutoCAD, Inventor, and Altium Designer pretty well which are the most demanding college apps I'll ever need.

Not everyone needs to game in their laptops you know. From my experience, no matter what laptop it is, it always ends up being a choppy, hot mess. I would rather game in my desktop and have the thinnest lightest laptop to move around and work.
 

amk-aka-Phantom

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Nah, I don't like any ultrabooks so far; let's see whaT Asus comes up with.

I used a 2010 MB Air. Slow as hell; I wrote about it in our home thread. Well... not slow, but just as fast as any other mid-range laptop. SSD doesn't really show.
 
G

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Apple won't sue in this case since the Ultrabook intiative comes from Intel (theya re the ones pushing the design and helping manufacturers make it). Even with Apple beign litigation happy they wouldn't go after their CPU supplier
 

lazygordon

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[citation][nom]_cacho[/nom]Apple won't sue in this case since the Ultrabook intiative comes from Intel (theya re the ones pushing the design and helping manufacturers make it). Even with Apple beign litigation happy they wouldn't go after their CPU supplier[/citation]

Aren't Apple suing Samsung for copying their iphone & ipad yet still buying chips from them to make the same devices?
 

halcyon

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[citation][nom]lazygordon[/nom]Aren't Apple suing Samsung for copying their iphone & ipad yet still buying chips from them to make the same devices?[/citation]

Yes. And? Gotta love those contracts.
 

back_by_demand

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[citation][nom]otacon72[/nom]What exactly do you want in something that's 1/2" thick.... some people make me wonder.[/citation]
Well, seeing as the SSD drives in 2.5" format are the same size regardless of 16gb or 500gb capacity then stripping off its casing and attaching just the PCB to the inside of an Ultrabook should at least allow a user to define how much drive space he has, same goes for RAM and CPU.
 

amk-aka-Phantom

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I agree, except for the CPU... don't forget these thin chassis don't have good cooling, so no proper CPUs.
 

halcyon

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[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Well, seeing as the SSD drives in 2.5" format are the same size regardless of 16gb or 500gb capacity then stripping off its casing and attaching just the PCB to the inside of an Ultrabook should at least allow a user to define how much drive space he has, same goes for RAM and CPU.[/citation]

Having a more customized configuration/design and trying to keep the device under $1K probably don't go hand and hand, they'll probably want to keep the internals as close to off-the-shelf as possible.

A chief selling point of this would be its $400 savings over the MacBook Air. Why else would you choose this over the Air. ...but to me 1400x900 is better than 1366x768, and I'd rather just have the 128GB Flash storage than an almost uselessly-sized SSD and slow HDD. Does it really cost that much more to put a 1400x900 screen in? Yes, when you're trying to cut costs and keep it sub $1K.

The more I think about it the more I wonder how well these will do. The folks that really want this type of machine (executives, I'm thinking) can typically afford the better spec'd Mac.

 

amk-aka-Phantom

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All this talk of laptops makes me want to get one, even though I don't need one :D

1366x768 is stupid resolution; I hate it. Many games don't recognise it and wallpapers scale weirdly.

Here's what I want in an "ultrabook": dual-core i7, 8GB RAM, 60GB SSD, 1TB 7200RPM HDD, good midrange GPU (GT555M?) and don't pretend like all that costs $3K, $1500 at best; then I'll buy it. G53 has all that save the small form factor and a dual core i7 would allow to scale it all down for cheap.
 
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