Acer unveils the second-gen Gemstone

Acer's never had an international press conference in New York before, but there's a first time for everything, and the company used the occasion to launch the second generation Gemstone laptops. Coming in a special blue ("Gemstone Blue," how wild), the new 16- and 18.4-inch machines feature 16:9 1080p screens, 1.5GHz Penryn processors, 512MB NVIDIA 9650m GS graphics, and those Blu-ray drives we heard about. The graphics chip is at the center of Acer's new CineReal system, which offloads BD playback to the GPU and provides Dolby headphone output (and real 5.1 sound on the bigger model). Battery life is estimated at 2.5 hours on the 16-inch and three hours on the 18.4, but what's really impressive here is the pricing: starting at $900 and up, with decently spec'd configs hitting around $1,700. Should be shipping in a month or so, according to Acer. Two more pics after the break.

Gallery: Acer unveils the second-gen Gemstone

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

[Shadowarrior13 @ Mar 12th 2008 4:06PM]

That's hot.

[Hax Or @ Mar 12th 2008 4:08PM]

I was just going to say that. Nice.

[phanbouy @ Mar 12th 2008 4:07PM]

Paris?

[Cris @ Mar 12th 2008 4:07PM]

No... that's cool ;-)

[mark @ Mar 12th 2008 4:43PM]

no thanks.

I'll wait a few months for centrino 2.

[wizzle @ Mar 12th 2008 5:18PM]

The star trek control buttons on the side will definitely help you get laid.

[phanbouy @ Mar 12th 2008 4:06PM]

headless models not included

[gfar @ Mar 12th 2008 4:55PM]

Headless and 55378008.
It took me a few minutes to figure out it was a girl.

[Reader @ Mar 12th 2008 10:07PM]

Took me longer to notice you meant boobless by '55378008'. |-|3114 1337?

[Jhongerkong @ Mar 12th 2008 4:10PM]

For $900 I might actually consider buying an Acer machine....

...MIGHT consider it.

[Mitch @ Mar 13th 2008 5:46AM]

Whats everyones deal with Acer. I have had an Acer for a little under two years now. I am defiantly NOT the most careful person, and the only problem i have ever had was a screen crack when i stepped on it, everything has ran smoothly.

[Jhongerkong @ Mar 12th 2008 4:13PM]

For $900 I might actually consider buying an Acer machine....

...MIGHT consider it.

[Jhongerkong @ Mar 12th 2008 4:14PM]

Stupid reply system

[konceptz @ Mar 12th 2008 4:14PM]

I like it a lot. Seems to have exactly what I've been lusting after. Doesn't try and kill it with SLI, just new tech in one machine.

Win

[horizontaleight @ Mar 12th 2008 4:15PM]

I think we are starting to see a very welcome trend from Gateway and Acer. It seems as if they are refocusing their efforts to differentiate themselves with innovation and luxury, something that is totally missing in the PC market. I'm excited to see what they can do in the coming years.

[Esat @ Mar 12th 2008 4:15PM]

This product is drenched in so much win sauce that the circuits may short circuit.

I'll only buy it if the circuits are water proof.

[agroupofletters @ Mar 12th 2008 5:17PM]

or sauce proof

[Chris @ Mar 12th 2008 4:16PM]

As a Mac user, its stuff like this that will continually piss me off. Apple has such a nerve to put out such expensive machines that are seriously behind the rest.

[Precision @ Mar 12th 2008 4:39PM]

i feel sad and pissed off as well.
i ordered my very first MacBook Pro this morning.
i've been waiting for the update since august last year since the macbook pro specs at the time didn't even come close to a similarly priced Sony Vaio with a HUGE difference in specs. it had a Blu-Ray drive, full HD screen as standard and a better graphics card. so i decided to wait for the macbook update hoping they'd atleast match the specs from a Sony laptop from over 7 months earlier. i can only say am disappointed with the update.

at the end of the day, Apple hardware is just plain old PC hardware thats way over priced and not the best hardware out there either. the only difference is in software, now i can understand if you tell me that 'Mac OS X' costs THAT much more then windows does and hence the price.

otherwise, its just another Laptop PC thats way overpriced.

[phanbouy @ Mar 12th 2008 4:41PM]

cmon Precision, tell us you're lying about the "i ordered one this morning" bit. you look pretty foolish from that post any way ya slice it

[Chris @ Mar 12th 2008 4:42PM]

Its not that Mac OS X costs that much, its just the premium to pay to have a machine that natively runs OS X. I can't blame Apple for keeping their OS proprietary, but the prices for their machines (can't believe I'm finding myself saying this after 20 years) are ridiculous. If I knew that I could run OS X easily on the Acer above I would... but I have a feeling drivers for the graphics card would probably be the biggest hindering setback.

Come on Apple, get off the high horse and back into the competition.

[Arkweld @ Mar 12th 2008 4:52PM]

Apple only cares about one project at a time. Last time it was the iPhone and Apple TV. This time it's the Air.

At the current rate don't expect Steve to even think about updating the tired old Mac Pro line for a few years. Maybe the Macbooks will get his attention later this year.

Sometimes I think Steve forgets Apple used to be a computer company, and some Mac users would actually like to work on them and not just watch iTunes content at various sizes.

[Precision @ Mar 12th 2008 4:57PM]

@phanbouy

no, am afraid its true.
my old laptop is dead for around 2 months now. i can't wait anymore, i need one right now. otherwise i would've waited 'til the june update.

unfortunately, even though i don't think its worth the money, i still took a shine to Mac OS X and so was still prepared to cough up the money.

[zed @ Mar 12th 2008 10:37PM]

@precision

you could have just bought an eee to hold you off till then :D

[Djunior80 @ Mar 12th 2008 4:17PM]

$1700 for a blue ray drive, 512MB NVIDIA, and Penryn...is that even possible! I am all over it if that is the case!

[Homeboy @ Mar 12th 2008 4:19PM]

Why are they holding and carrying the laptops around as if they were as light as the Macbook Air.....or should I say light as Eeeee!

[pewhite @ Mar 12th 2008 4:20PM]

But can it fit into a manilla envelope? I only by products that can fit into manilla envelopes! You should see the giant envelope I had to get to fit my TV!

[tumnasgt @ Mar 12th 2008 4:26PM]

You think the envelope for your TV was big, you should have seen the one for my SUV!!

[Jeremiah Zachary Hoffman @ Mar 12th 2008 7:08PM]

you think the one for your SUV was big, you should have seen the one for my house.

[LordFarkward @ Mar 12th 2008 10:06PM]

You think the envelope for your SUV was big, you should have seen my cond... cond...

dammit... damn my mom for making me not lie

[Dahk @ Mar 12th 2008 4:23PM]

I don't think Gateway and Acer are the ones to be focussing on innovation and luxury lol ESPECIALLY luxury.

Gateway's name is associated with the lower end stuff, and it's gonna be difficult for them to get out of it - and I don't think they should seeing as there's still a good market for it.

Laptop luxury is already dominated by the likes of Asus, Apple, possibly the Dell XPS's.

... and I still think these gemstones are too chunky looking, though they look pretty damn hawt from the front.

[eseiber @ Mar 12th 2008 4:23PM]

Do not buy an Acer! There is a reaspn it is so cheap they are. I have a year old Acer laptop that worked 3 months and now doesn't boot. It has been sent back twice at my expense for repairs and still broken.

[Cal @ Mar 12th 2008 4:29PM]

Out of the 2 people I know with Acers pretty much the same story for them too. But both are now out of warranty and have frequent visits from Mr BSOD

[Jeremiah Zachary Hoffman @ Mar 12th 2008 7:11PM]

out of the 6-7 people i know (myself included) who own Acer laptops none of them have ever and to be sent back, in fact most of them haven't had any trouble at all. you get what you pay for, if you buy the bottom of the barrel acer you get that, if you pay mid to high range for an acer (1000+) you seem to get something reliable with better specs than the competition for that price.

[element8 @ Mar 12th 2008 4:24PM]

is it just me or is that thing gigantic?

[ReggieXuk @ Mar 12th 2008 4:27PM]

Never ... ever buy a Fujitsu Siemens laptop!

thats all.

[Acerguy @ Mar 12th 2008 4:27PM]

I work doing acer customer service support. Just to warn you. We are terrible. GET THE EXTENDED WARRENTY. You will thank my poast later.

Seriously though...we suck.

[phanbouy @ Mar 12th 2008 4:31PM]

can i have some eggs with that poast?

[horizontaleight @ Mar 12th 2008 4:31PM]

Well, you won't have a job soon...

[Tony @ Mar 12th 2008 5:41PM]

It's a trick to get us to buy your warranties!
Is this how you make your commissions?

[Ma2T @ Mar 12th 2008 5:44PM]

I have had my Acer for 3 years, not a single problem. I also travel with it frequently. It's been around the world..

Im just wondering how small things will be at that high of a resolution on 16-inches.

[Ayle @ Mar 12th 2008 6:42PM]

As long has its hinges are not made from cardboard, there shouldn't be any problem...

[James Cameron @ Mar 12th 2008 9:09PM]

I bought a 3 years extra warranty for my Acer a year ago. I have a feeling after 3 years, then my Acer will probably die on me. Way to waste my warranty. Maybe I should short circuit it now and get a new one while the warranty still available.

[Markus @ Mar 12th 2008 4:28PM]

Nice, it comes with handy schematics of the Death Star next to the keyboard.

[martin @ Mar 12th 2008 4:31PM]

what the hell is that actually, media controls :-s .. without that oddness going on they could have put a num pad in

[horizontaleight @ Mar 12th 2008 4:29PM]

Gateway just released the 'One' which was a dramatic change from their previous designs. Apple maintains their own unique niche by marketing machines with their own unique operating system. If anything, you could have said HP which attempts to thrive on design aesthetics. But above all, it is more than possible for a company to completely reorient themselves and attempt a different strategy.

[phanbouy @ Mar 12th 2008 4:33PM]

"The graphics chip is at the center of Acer's new CineReal system, which offloads BD playback to the GPU"

Someone wanna translate that into non-marketing speak? I didn't know Acer was in the GPU business... thought HD offloading to GPU was handled through chipset drivers???

[Phil Perman @ Mar 12th 2008 4:47PM]

Pretty sure it means it will have one of the new Intel 4 series chipsets (probably the G45) which have hardware h.264 and VC1 decode acceleration, meaning they'll take a lot of strain off the cpu when you're watching an HD movie, or any other video file which uses those codecs.

[phanbouy @ Mar 12th 2008 5:07PM]

good to know... i've been meaning to build myself a HTPC. guess i found my mainboard chipset!

[Dubb @ Mar 12th 2008 5:09PM]

They are talking about the included GPU, 512MB NVIDIA 9650m GS graphics. It decodes HD so your CPU doesn't have to.