Acer set to launch Blu-ray-equipped 16-, 18.4-inch laptops

Acer certainly isn't starved for laptop offerings these days, but that doesn't seem to be stopping it from expanding its arsenal even further, with the company now reportedly set to release a pair of new models boasting Blu-ray drives and some high res screens to match. While it's apparently still not entirely official, DigiTimes reports that the laptops will consist of a 16-inch and an 18.4-inch model, both of which will sport a "Full HD panel" (which we assume means 1920 x 1080, though you can never be sure about such things). Unfortunately, there's no other details on the laptops (which won't necessarily look like the one at the right, though the standard Gemstone design would seem to be a pretty safe bet), but they'll apparently ring up at between $1,900 and $2,240 when they land sometime in the second quarter of this year.

[Via Electronista]

[holycow @ Feb 25th 2008 4:23PM]

wierd screen sizes..

[bldkcstark @ Feb 25th 2008 4:35PM]

Weird hump on your back from carrying it around all day. What does this thing weigh? Like 10lbs? When is a notebook not a notebook any more? When it comes with a cart to roll it around?

Hey look at my new laptop!! It comes with a coupon book for 5,000 extra large french fries from McD's and free shakes too so it won't crush my thighbones!!

[a ham sandwich @ Feb 25th 2008 4:41PM]

yeah really. way to keep with the norm there, acer. 16 and 18.4?! what the hell?

[phanbouy @ Feb 25th 2008 5:04PM]

You could always push one of these on a cart into a Starbucks as a prank

[THizzle7XU @ Feb 25th 2008 6:27PM]

Maybe you should hit the gym and not cry about a measly ten pounds.

[zargon @ Feb 25th 2008 4:45PM]

18"... you are almost better of getting a slim line PC and a 19" or 20" LCD. There is no way an 18" laptop is portable.

The Dell 17" we used for our developers at a previous jobs were beasts.

[ethana2 @ Feb 25th 2008 4:46PM]

Ohhh, I get it. The purpose of optical media and draconian control is to bring down prices on high resolution LCD's...

I guess I can live with that.
Hey guys, do we use libdvdcss for AACS and BD+, or does that code reside in separate libraries?

[techieguru16 @ Feb 25th 2008 9:45PM]

that movie made my day!

[Mike @ Feb 25th 2008 5:04PM]

Acer laptops got so fuggin' ugly.

[Chase @ Feb 25th 2008 10:20PM]

I agree.

I'd like to know who gave the O.K. on those designs.

That weird off-white color makes them look like they're 15 year old computers.

The previous generation of acer notebooks were pretty nice though. My brother owns one and likes it.

[Special_K @ Feb 25th 2008 11:51PM]

Maybe not 15 years ago, more like 8. Acer laptops used to be really nice; durable, rock-solid, dark, and sexy. Nowadays, their design department seems to be going back to the days of the tech bubble: white matte plastic, huge billowing curves, cracks the second you touch it. Think the 3Com Audrey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3Com_Audrey *shudder*

[Ktse @ Feb 26th 2008 1:25AM]

Ah yes, the "beauty" of BMW designed laptops. Yeah they look incredibly dated even beside their previous generation models.

[Frank @ Feb 25th 2008 5:07PM]

Laptops should be ultra-portable. No one needs a portable blu-ray player... not for another 5 years at least.

[THizzle7XU @ Feb 25th 2008 6:31PM]

Statements like that make you sound like the head patent guy who claimed everything was invented at the turn of the century 1900's.

[Pi = 3? @ Feb 25th 2008 9:47PM]

Sadly enough, you're correct

[Kevin-Mahalo @ Feb 25th 2008 5:42PM]

Exotic screen sizes are invading the market (Acer 16" and 18.4" as well as Dell XPS M1630)! Speaking of exotic, it is really tropical which makes me want some Pina Colada! LMAO! :)!

[tekdroid @ Feb 25th 2008 6:14PM]

It seems like very high-resolution on a portable has some uses, but they are certainly niche fancies next to portability and luggability (to me).

Certainly useful in a stationary-type mains-powered scenario, tho.
Oh,digital restrictions forever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#Digital_rights_management_.28DRM.29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Access_Content_System

[Erik @ Feb 25th 2008 6:36PM]

I think I'd have to invest in a trebuchet to get the 18-incher around.

[Intrepid @ Feb 25th 2008 7:37PM]

Gemstone = Ugly.

[Unknown @ Feb 25th 2008 7:34PM]

I believe the chassis is a new one named Opal they they are launching in March. Looks nice.

[techieguru16 @ Feb 25th 2008 9:47PM]

wow, that was supposed to by to phanbouy. hmmm. endgadget, please fix ur commenting section asap. thx!

[Tomas @ Feb 26th 2008 1:58AM]

Looks like I'm alone here, but I think they'll sell a ton of them. A 16" laptop that can edit HD footage natively? Count me in.

[aoi tsuki @ Feb 26th 2008 3:01AM]

18.4 is both odd and large for a laptop, but what some of you may not realize is that there's a fair chunk of computer buyers who will buy a laptop not with portability as one of the main determinants, but size. Laptops take up less. Having worked retail in the past, i've seen people who wanted a computer for a small desk and ended up with a 17" laptop over a micro-ATX desktop PC. When people look at a laptop for $700 versus a computer bundle for the same price and see the specs aren't that different (never mind the slower components and less and costlier upgrades), they start to see the laptop as the desktop that's portable. The majority of users probably don't even upgrade much aside from adding RAM or another hard drive, both of which a laptop can handle.