Acer Aspire 1820PT convertible hands-on, priced for 599 euros

Craftily unhidden at the tail end of its press conference, Acer's long-awaited Aspire 1820PT convertible laptop has finally passed into our hands for ever the briefest of moments. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Strong hinge, accelerometer for tablet mode, capacitive multitouch, and the ability to use stylus for input (protected in a slot just below and to the right of the screen when not in use). Beyond that, seems like the typical underpowered laptop you know and love -- well, maybe not love, but you get the idea. Under the hood there's an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 8GB RAM, and 320GB HDD, all priced at 599 euro, which we'd venture a guess to mean it'll be about $599 when it comes to the US (actual release date MIA). Gallery below, and brief video demonstration after the break.

Acer Aspire 1820PT convertible hands-on

[talkingwalnut Posted Mar 3rd 2010 1:27PM]

I was looking at this recently when shopping for a new laptop (2 weeks ago). Far as I can make out they've been pushing back the release date for a good while. Was supposed to come out January. Still not available here (Ireland) from what I can make out. Ended up going with the HP TM2. €900 but came with switchable graphics card, actual Wacom digitizer for the screen and another few nice options. Plus it was actually out :-)

[EzB Posted Mar 3rd 2010 1:42PM]

Sooooo which is better. The HP TM 2 with 9.5 hr battery life, Core2Duo ULV, 4gb DDR3 memory, 500gb HD, aluminum finish

OR

This?

[Alan Strangis Posted Mar 3rd 2010 9:53PM]

@EzB: The tm2, especially with the optional ATI GP, would perform better, but even though the screen on the HP is marginally larger, the Acer is physically much smaller (less screen bezel on sides to cut down on width, and not nearly as thick either.

[easyone Posted Mar 3rd 2010 2:00PM]

@ EzB

very difficult question and thats my question as well.

I think without any real test of the acer its quite difficult to tell which one is performing better.

Based on emotions I prefer the tm2 because I think hp got more experience building tablets :)

In the end it depends on the size of ur wallet.

I think the tm2 is it money worth ...

[mhope Posted Mar 3rd 2010 2:41PM]

@easyone Eh, I don't know, HP has had several cases of insufficient shielding for the digitizers in their tablet PCs. My TC4400 has a crazy issue where, while in "laptop mode", the cursor jumps down to the bottom left-hand corner of the screen whenever the processor is under heavy load. Read up on it on HP's forums, looks like several other users have the same problem on the TC4400 and another model in the T-series.

I've since been skeptical of HP's tablets. :/

[Wowzers Posted Mar 3rd 2010 2:13PM]

So this will take 599 europeans to afford?

[easyone Posted Mar 3rd 2010 2:45PM]

@mhope

so whats ur choice?

This is going to be my first tablet so I am without any experience on this sector, do u have another tip under 1000 €`s?

I think there are reasons why most of the tablets cost much more than these two competitors but I feel as these are two good offers, anyway :)

[mhope Posted Mar 3rd 2010 5:13PM]

@easyone I couldn't tell you, since I've only owned one tablet PC. Although, the TC4400, despite its sloppy craftsmanship, is equipped with a Wacom digitizer with 512 points of pressure sensitivity. And when my TC4400 isn't messing up, it's great. With that said, it acts erratically every time I use it. So..

Check out www.tabletpcreview.com, and cruise their forums. You can figure out which tablet will work for you based on your needs.

[Cyrs Posted Mar 3rd 2010 3:14PM]

Is it too much to ask, for a tablet PC with active digitizer, CULV C2D or better CPU, discrete graphics, good battery life, and all for under a $1500? IS it that hard to design a tablet around something with Asus's UL80JT specs? Even the $1500 & up tablets from Levono and Fujitsu come with Intel graphics only (seriously wth ?_? ). Only HP's tablet doesn't push Intel's nonsense GPU's, but you'll never catch buying a HP PC.

[MM OBVIOUS Posted Mar 4th 2010 2:17AM]

@Cyrs

I think they're all in cahoots. It really is BS nonsense. Fujitsu offers the specs, but their hardware is a joke for the price. Why are large companies so utterly aloof to this type of thing?

We need a tablet PC project like open-pandora.

[grubish Posted Mar 3rd 2010 3:23PM]

I think I found a replacement for my laptop that I didn't know needed to be replaced. Tablet with multi-tasking, physical keyboard and accelerometer? Holy crap I'm in love.

[nefnet13 Posted Mar 3rd 2010 6:39PM]

I recently picked up the Gateway version of the Aspire 1440 with the single core ULV Celeron for my wife.

I gotta say that based on the performance of that machine (really great) that one of these with the tablet functionality and SU4100 dual core proc would be absolutely AWESOME for someone not into gaming.

I would consider shelving my Thinkpad for one of these, and that is really saying something.

[ComradeZ Posted Mar 3rd 2010 8:51PM]

I have the non-tablet version of this, and it's the best laptop I've ever owned. The battery lasts a good 5 hours plus with no compromises. The thing is the size and weight of a recent netbook but runs rings around any Atom-based machine. It runs video without a stutter and comes with HDMI, which is often omitted from lower-end machines. The only reason I'd hesitate upgrading to the tablet is that I imagine they will soon do a refresh to a Core-series chip. And surely by the end of the year something in this form factor will have allow for playable 3D gaming. But for anybody who needs a unit right now, this thing hits the sweet spot.

[AlfaCat Posted Mar 3rd 2010 9:56PM]

I love convertible tablets! Would be so nice if they made it with an all-aluminum case!

[feelings Posted Mar 3rd 2010 10:35PM]

How did everyone miss the greatest feature of all time? It has a dedicated CTRL-ALT-DEL button!

[MM OBVIOUS Posted Mar 4th 2010 2:14AM]

@feelings

How did YOU miss the fact that windows 7 doesn't restart when you press Ctrl + Alt + Delete, it takes you to a home screen with various useful options.

Do you have any challenge?

[feelings Posted Mar 4th 2010 9:54AM]

@MM OBVIOUS

How DID you miss the fact THAT Windows XP doesn't restart WHEN you hit CTRLALTDEL, it just LAUNCHES the Task Manager.

Do you have any challenge?

:p

[ChrisG Posted Mar 4th 2010 4:38AM]

@WiesiAut

These tablets were announced way back in October last year, and are impossible to buy in the UK and Ireland. I've been wanting to pick one up, and they're never in stock. I was beginning to suspect they were vapourware.