Acer Aspire 5738PG wants you to reach out and touch its screen

And with that, Acer jumps into the touchscreen laptop waters. Due out on the ever-so-popular October 22nd along with Windows 7 is the Aspire 5738PG laptop, with support for two fingers at once pinching, flicking and double touching their way across the OS, or if you'd prefer, it's also got a numeric keyboard and multi-gesture touchpad. Housed inside is an Intel Core 2 Duo with ATI Radeon HD 4570, a 15.6-inch LED-backlit screen with 1366 x 768 resolution, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, HDMI out, four USB 2.0 in, 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N. Starting price is $799.99, which from what we've seen isn't too bad of a deal. Press release after the break.

Acer Aspire 5738PG touch notebook

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ACER'S FIRST NOTEBOOK WITH TOUCHSCREEN CAPABILITIES DELIVERS HANDS-ON IMMERSIVE ENTERTAINMENT

Launching with Windows 7, the new Aspire AS5738PG multi-touch screen notebook delivers incredible new functionality, high-performance features, and mobile entertainment


SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 14, 2009 – Acer America, part of the world's third largest PC company(1) today debuts its new Acer Aspire 5738PG notebook PC – the company's first notebook with multi-touch screen capabilities that offer a natural and enhanced way to interact with the PC, applications and digital data.

The Acer Aspire 5738PG multi-touch screen notebook launches with Windows 7 Home Premium and will be available starting October 22 at select retailers.

The Acer Aspire 5738PG's high-quality multi-touch screen display and Windows 7 multi-touch support makes entertainment and multimedia experiences more intuitive and interactive. As a result, customers can touch anywhere on the screen using one or two fingertips to play movies, zoom in and out on websites, edit photos and video, handwrite notes, resize windows, launch entertainment applications and more.

Also, customers can use the multi-touch screen for a variety of gestures directly on the screen for intuitive and accurate access and control. For example, customers can pinch inward or outward to zoom in and out of photos, flick the screen to turn the page and browse through media and documents, as well as swirl their finger for quick and simple navigation of lists.

"Customers will experience an incredible level of flexibility and control in the multi-touch screen interface, as it frees them to interact with their digital world in a way that is familiar yet also new and exciting," said Ray Sawall, senior manager of product marketing for Acer America. "The Acer Aspire 5738PG's multi-touch experience takes advantage of the many new capabilities in Windows 7 and provides incredibly powerful first-rate technology such as ATI Radeon graphics and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor."

Sawall continued, "Until now, touch notebooks have been limited in capabilities and available only at a substantial price premium. The new Acer Aspire 5738PG changes all this with multi-touch screen capabilities and a price that is affordable for a wide range of customers."


Impressive Mobile Theater Entertainment

More than the sum of its touch points, the Acer Aspire 5738PG notebook combines first-rate technologies that deliver excellent performance for mobile theater entertainment and mainstream games.

The display was designed to provide an extraordinary cinematic experience that is immersive and incredibly realistic. The vibrant HD display is a 16:9 widescreen size that's ideal for enjoying movies and online entertainment. Plus, it's LED-backlit, which reduces energy usage compared to traditional laptop displays. Along with the 1366x768-resolution, the LED-backlit display contributes to the display's crisp clear visuals and is ideal for enjoying HD movies. Plus, the touch-control is remarkably precise.

Complementing the HD display, the system's Intel Core 2 Duo processor provides the horsepower to drive demanding applications with ease. In addition the high-definition ATI Radeon HD 4570 Graphics with 512MB Dedicated DDR3 VRAM enhances imagery with vivid color and crisp detail. Dolby Home Theater Audio Enhancement with built-in speakers and 5.1-channel surround sound output bring these incredible visuals to life with vibrant crisp audio.

Technology and Extras for On-the-Go Productivity and Fun

Customers will have plenty of ways to access, store, share and enjoy their digital media files. The spacious 320GB hard drive can store a vast library of music, video, photos, spreadsheets and email. An integrated multi-in-one media reader enables connection to peripherals and electronic devices, while an HDMI port allows the system to support any PC, TV or other device with an HDMI port via a single cable. The four USB 2.0 ports provide ample connections to peripherals and consumer electronics.

Staying in touch is fun and convenient with the notebook's integrated 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N wireless technology and Gigabit Ethernet. The Acer Crystal Eye webcam enables high-quality video chats and VoIP with friends, family and work associates. It can also capture still pictures and videos for sharing with others.

Hardware and Design Enhance the Touch Experience

The overall multi-touch screen experience is further enhanced by giving customers more ways to interact with their notebook through the multi-gesture touchpad. Affording easy PC navigation, the new Aspire 5738PG's multi-gesture touchpad lets users access their applications and media with the same sort of natural, intuitive gestures they can use on the touch screen, including pinch, flick and swirl. The convenient touchpad lock can be set to prevent unintended cursor movement.

The new Acer Aspire 5738PG multi-touch screen notebook also comes with helpful and easy-to-use one-touch buttons: the Acer Backup Manager for backing-up important files and information, and the PowerSmart button for maximizing battery life. In addition, the notebook is Energy Star qualified.


Availability, Configurations and Pricing

The Acer Aspire AS5738PG-6306 notebook is the first model available in the line. It will be available for U.S. customers with Windows 7 Home Premium beginning Oct. 22 at leading retailers. Specifications and pricing follow.

The Acer Aspire AS5738PG-6306 is available in Acer's popular Gemstone Blue color.

Acer® Aspire AS5738PG-6306 Multi-Touch Screen Notebook PC

· 15.6-Inch HD CineCrystal™ LED-Backlit Multi-Touch Screen Display (Widescreen 16.9 Aspect Ratio, 1366x768 Resolution)

· Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

· Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T6600 (2.2GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB)

· ATI Radeon™ HD 4570 Graphics with 512MB Dedicated DDR3 VRAM

· 4GB DDR2 667MHz Dual Channel Memory

· 320GB SATA Hard Drive(2)

· 8X DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer Drive

· Dedicated Numeric Keypad

· Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ Network Connection, Featuring MIMO Technology, Supporting Acer SignalUp™ With Nplify™3, 4 Wireless Technology

· Two Built-In Stereo Speakers With Dolby®10-Optimized Surround Sound System

· Acer Crystal Eye Webcam With 640 x 480 Supporting Acer PrimaLite™ Technology

· HDMI Port and Four USB 2.0 Ports

· Energy Star

· 6.16 lbs with 6-Cell Battery

· MSRP: $799.99

About Acer America

Since its founding in 1976, Acer has constantly pursued the goal of breaking the barriers between people and technology. Focused on marketing its brand-name IT products around the globe, Acer ranks as the world's No. 3 vendor for total PCs and No. 2 for notebooks, with the fastest growth among the top-five players. A profitable and sustainable Channel Business Model is instrumental to Acer's continued growth, while the successful mergers of Gateway and Packard Bell complete the company's global footprint by strengthening its presence in the U.S. and enhancing its strong position in Europe. The Acer Group employs more than 6,000 people worldwide. 2008 revenues reached US$16.65 billion. For more information, please visit www.acer.com/us.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 14th 2009 4:43AM]

I dunno, my past experiences with Acer have always been horrid.

Horrible materials, horrible components all equal to a bad computer.

Have they improved?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 14th 2009 7:36AM]

A lot.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 14th 2009 11:26AM]

@Psy
What year are we talking about?
I've been using Acer 5920G for about 2 years now and never had any problems with it.

[XIYL Posted Oct 14th 2009 12:39PM]

My mother has an Acer Aspire 5610z that is an older model and definitely feels cheap. My Aspire One feels like its made out of much nicer materials and all around feels sturdier. So I'm perfectly comfortable telling you Acer has gotten nicer.

[Mr Smiley Posted Oct 14th 2009 1:43PM]

I've got an Acer One netbook. I use it and abuse it A LOT - the thing NEVER stays in one place for long. I run my graphics layout program (I letter vehicles), Photoshop, Word and Excel 2007, CorelDRAW! x4, iTunes, Opera multi-tabbed on an extended monitor setup with a hi-resolution and I must say, "This thing is awesome!!" I liked it so much that I bought one for my wife who goes to school and that one too is taking the beating pretty well.

[glenskey Posted Oct 14th 2009 4:59AM]

i'd prefer a resistive screen on it (or wacom tech). with a pen you can do so much more with windows, rather than using a finger(or two).

[glenskey Posted Oct 14th 2009 5:00AM]

NB: i prefer capacitive touch on phones and similar devices with smaller screens.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 14th 2009 5:34AM]

I find it hard to use the pads of my fingers on an iphone, now I've got used to using my fingernails like a stylus on my Nokia. I can type very quickly on the tiny full keyboard, and it doesn't smudge the screen. It seems odd that you can't use both on the iphone.

I agree on the Wacom tech thing. It would be wonderful if the laptop screen acted like a Cintiq... but the angle would be impractical. We need dual screen laptops for touchscreen to take off.

[Indefinite Implosion Posted Oct 14th 2009 6:15AM]

I agree with the Wacom thing, but not the resistive part. I have a tx2500 and unless you have the screen in tablet mode or the back hard up against something it just has too much play in it due to the force needed to use regularly; it rocks back and forward after every touch.
The ideal solution would be capacitive and wacom pen, like the new lenovo x200 has.

[umang Posted Oct 14th 2009 5:21AM]

History will be rewritten on Oct. 22 because of the number of notebooks and netbooks which will be launched!

[Chris Aubeck Posted Oct 14th 2009 5:30AM]

History won't be "rewritten" on October 22nd unless Dan Vasser inadvertently drops a Windows 7 upgrade disk on a business trip.

[Chris Aubeck Posted Oct 14th 2009 5:26AM]

If a laptop screen/lid could slide to the front of the keyboard, effectively turning the keyboard into a stand, I could see the point. Having a keyboard between me and a screen I'm poking at sounds a bit awkward.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 14th 2009 6:15AM]

Or the screen could slide over the keyboard and can be used like a tablet...

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 14th 2009 11:29AM]

I'd love it if I could at least rotate the screen and put it on top of KB, like most touchscreen laptops...

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 14th 2009 6:55AM]

I know this is kind of lame, but I like the fact that it has a number pad. The specs are pretty solid for the price too.

[kpgalligan Posted Oct 14th 2009 7:15AM]

I'm not a fan of windows and know nothing about Acer, but I want one. I imagine it will feel a little clunky, but having the number pad is sweet.

I generally use Linux on everything. I'm sure it'll be a little while before you could use the multi-touch, at least without wanting to occasionally punch the screen.

[umang Posted Oct 14th 2009 7:33AM]

You know why they chose Oct 22, 2009 and Oct 13, 2009 for the Windows 7 launch dates?

Add 22-10-2009 and 13-12-2009, 2 + 2 + 1 + 0 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 9 = 1 + 3 + 1 + 0 + 2 + 0 +0 +9 = 16,

1 + 6 = ...

Coincidence, I think not!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 14th 2009 7:37AM]

Not bad for the price. Except the screen res.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 14th 2009 8:31AM]

Holy low resolution Batman!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 14th 2009 9:14AM]

I'd be interested if they came out with something that has similar specs on a 13 inch.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 14th 2009 10:33AM]

yeah from my experiance acers were terrible, i had an acer ferrari it was more like a daewoo. and even if they have gotten better, they still look like crap!

[Old fogie late bloomer Posted Oct 14th 2009 11:06AM]

Eh, this one here doesn't look too hot, but the Aspire Timelines actually do look pretty nice. Black and gunmetal gray is a pretty classy combination.

[Old fogie late bloomer Posted Oct 14th 2009 11:00AM]

What, really? A shiny, glossy 15.6" touchscreen? It's one thing on a little media player where you can just wipe the thing on your pants when it gets too greasy, but....