Acer Aspire V5 and M5 laptops will be available with touchscreens this month

Posted on 11/10/2012 by Dana Wollman

Make no mistake, one of the biggest trends you'll see this fall is PC makers slapping touchscreens on their current machines so as to make them a little more Windows 8-appropriate. And Acer is no exception: the company is introducing touch-enabled versions of its existing Aspire V5 and M5 laptops, both of which will go on sale this month.

Starting with the M5, it's the touch-enabled version of the M5 Ultrabook we reviewed earlier this year. Though the standard version is available in 14- and 15-inch screen sizes, the touchscreen model (aka the 481PT, pictured above) will only be offered with a 14-inch (1,366 x 768) panel. This, too, has a Core i5 CPU and 6GB of RAM, though its 500GB hard drive is paired with a 20GB SSD for faster boot-ups. Like the non-touch version, it's rated for eight hours of runtime. Surprisingly, even though it's classified as an Ultrabook, it manages to make room for an optical drive -- impressive, given its 0.81-inch-thick chassis is still relatively slender. Both machines will be sold exclusively at Best Buy in the US, with the regular M5 starting at $700 and that touch-enabled version going for $800.

As for the budget-minded V5 series, the touchscreen will only be offered on the 14-inch version (the V5-471P). Max specs include up to 8GB of RAM and up to 750GB of HDD storage. (Either way, you get a 1,366 x 768 display, a Core i5-3317UB processor and your requisite Intel HD 4000 graphics.) That model starts at $750, though the non-touch models are priced at $500 and up.

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Filed under: Laptops, Acer

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The Ultrabooks of Computex 2012

Posted on 08/06/2012 by Dana Wollman

It was last year that Intel chose Computex, a computer tradeshow in Taiwan, to introduce its Ultrabook concept to the world. Twelve months later, 110-plus models are in the pipeline, which meant the Taipei Convention Center was overrun by skinny, lightweight laptops. Make that skinny, touch-enabled laptops. Between those new Ivy Bridge chips and Microsoft putting the finishing touches on Windows 8, this week's show was nothing if not a five-day-long wedding between two tech giants: almost every device on display here was a vehicle for showing off Microsoft's glossy new OS. At every turn, a celebration of touchscreen notebooks.

With more than 30 hands-on posts this week, we can see where one Core i5 laptop might look like the next, or how you might have failed to keep up with Jonney Shih's rapid-fire product announcements. Now that we're wrapping up here in Taiwan, though, we're ready to take a step back and think about what it is we just saw. Whether you felt overwhelmed by our wall-to-wall coverage or just need to catch up, we suggest you meet us past the break for a quick recap of all the new Ultrabooks. Oh, and if you're in the market for a new laptop, you can check your trigger-happy finger at the door. With few exceptions, we're not expecting these to go on sale until the fall, when Windows 8 is expected to start shipping.

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The Ultrabooks of Computex 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jun 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M5 hands-on (video)

Posted on 07/06/2012 by Dana Wollman

Acer's Aspire Timeline Ultra M5 laptops are hardly a mystery -- they've already been announced for the UK -- but until now we haven't had the chance to handle one in person. Luckily for us, then, both the 14- and 15-inch models are on display here at Computex, right alongside the similar M3 Ultrabook we reviewed earlier this year. Like the M3, they pack NVIDIA's Kepler-based GeForce GT640M graphics and can be configured with solid-state drives, but the M5's design is decidedly more polished, with a brushed metal finish, narrower bezels and backlit keyboard. Nonetheless, some things haven't changed: the keyboard layout is the same, as is the 1366 x 768 TN display and thin chassis, which measures around 20mm thick. No word on availability beyond what we already know, but for now enjoy the hands-on photos and comparison video.

Gallery: Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M5 hands-on