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Acer brings options galore to new Aspire V5 and V7 laptops (hands-on)
Choice, you say? Acer's newest laptop duo is offering that in spades. At a gala this morning in New York City, the company rolled out quite the arrangement of new kit -- not the least of which was a revamped Aspire V5 and Aspire V7. The two lines ship with a 14- or 15.6-inch display, giving users the option of a 1,366 x 768 panel or a (highly recommended) 1,920 x 1,080 IPS panel; those seeking something even smaller will also find an 11.6-inch option in the V5 range, weighing just three pounds and measuring under an inch thick. The whole lot can be selected with dual- or quad-core chips from AMD and Intel, while select configurations are equipped with NVIDIA's GeForce GT7XXM series or AMD's Radeon HD8750 discrete graphics. In essence, the V7 only differs from the V5 by adding a "silky touch" finish on the bottom, the "latest Intel CPUs," optional SSDs and Intel's Wireless Display (WiDi) technology. Both ranges offer the new Acer Converter Port, which aims to make the act of connecting to an external display, HDD, router, etc. a lesson in simplicity. The newfangled V series will ship at the end of the month with prices starting at $499, but you can bet that the model you're really after will land far north of that. %Gallery-187475% %Gallery-187474%
Acer Aspire V5 11.6-inch notebook leaked with $450 price tag, unexpected AMD Temash chip
While AMD announced its new Temash APU (alongside others) at this year's CES, the only device we've seen sporting it was an intriguing reference hybrid that made the rounds at the show. Now, details of an Acer Aspire V5 notebook have emerged, indicating the company is preparing its first Temash-powered device for general consumption. Acer already has a trio of Aspire V5 models with Intel Core processors and NVIDIA handling the graphics, but a half-complete product page for an unannounced V5-122P-0643 swaps those components out for AMD's wares. Formally called the AMD A6-1450, the Temash APU combines a quad-core 1GHz processor -- or 1.4GHz in "Turbo" state -- with a Radeon HD 8280 GPU. When put into tablets, it has an unusually low, sub-5W power envelope that allows for passive cooling. While we don't know exactly what wattage this Acer notebook will have, the presence of Temash should bode well for battery life. Head past the break for more details.
Acer Aspire V5 and M5 laptops will be available with touchscreens this month
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.
Acer Aspire V5 review: an 11-inch Ivy Bridge laptop for $550
More Info Acer launches Ultrabook-like Aspire V5 series, we go hands-on (video) Acer Aspire V5 notebooks get Ivy Bridge treatment, shipping by end of June for $630 and up Acer Aspire V3 review: an affordable, Kepler-packing laptop for back-to-school season Acer first took the wraps off its Aspire V5 series at CeBIT in March, teasing the line of notebooks with designs that are 30 percent thinner than other laptops in their category. A few months later, in June, the company officially unveiled the 14- and 15-inch Aspire V5s, with Ivy Bridge processors and prices starting at $630. Rounding out that family is the 11-inch Aspire V5 171. We have a bit of an identity crisis on our hands with this guy: though it looks like a netbook and weighs a light three pounds, it packs a Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor befitting a full-fledged machine, but it costs a budget-minded $550 ($500 with Acer's current promotion). Many products in this price range are clunky 15-inchers, so where exactly does this Aspire V5 fit in? Join us past the break as we sort that out. %Gallery-163210%
Acer Aspire V5 notebooks get Ivy Bridge treatment, shipping by end of June for $630 and up
While many laptop makers held off on product refreshes -- not to mention new notebook lines -- till Intel's Ivy Bridge CPUs were ready, Acer went ahead and released its Aspire V5 series back in March. Still, that doesn't mean the company can't squeeze in some new models a few months later, and indeed it just trotted out two Ivy Bridge Aspire V5 notebooks. The 14-inch version measures 0.79 inches thick and weighs 4.6 pounds, while the 15-incher measures 0.83 inches and tips in at five pounds. Both laptops have optical drives and 500GB of storage, and like the V5s announced in March they feature Acer Instant Connect for finding and saving frequently used WiFi networks. Both machines have Intel HD Graphics 4000 and 500GB of storage space. You get your choice of Core i3 or Core i5 processors, with pricing starting at $630. Acer says the notebooks will be available by the end of June. As always, you can check out the full press release below.
