You already know full well what these buggers look like, and you've even had ample time to roll that 8920 review around in your noggin. Now, the moment of truth has arrived. Both of Acer's Gemstone Blue lappies -- the 16-inch Aspire 6920 and 18.4-inch Aspire 8920 -- are finally available in North America. Prospective buyers can snatch either up starting at $849 / $1,299, respectively, though real hardware junkies will insist on paying more for those high-brow components. Shamelessly, at that.

First things first: just in case that headline didn't really sink in, this is an 18.4-inch laptop. In other words, those of you with even the slightest of back problems should probably just pass this one right on by. If you're still with us, however, you'll likely be totally engrossed by Laptop Mag's review of the Acer Aspire 8920G. The larger of the two second-gen Gemstones was said to feature a "gorgeous" Full HD display, impressive audio output, a respectable webcam and plenty of power under the hood. They also found the unique CineDash Media Console to be quite effective, save for accidentally activating the multimedia hub on occasion. Overall, critics deemed the lappie a "stellar" machine, but we'd certainly recommend browsing through the review just to make sure you're really interested in picking up a slab this gigantic.

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.

If you're checking out the new "Porsche designed" Acer Aspire 5520 and thinking it looks a little bit familiar -- take heart -- you've seen this guy before, when it was called the Gemstone. Apparently, Acer has axed the Gemstone's (AKA AS5920) Intel processor, dropped in an AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-58 (at 1.8GHz), and badged this baby up with a new number sequence. The system still rocks Vista (of course), features a 15.4-inch display, integrated NVIDIA GeForce 7000M graphics chipset, 1GB of RAM, a 120GB hard drive, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, and an ExpressCard 54 slot. Although it seems like the 5520 has been kicking around for a bit, there's no word on price or availability (especially for the States).

[Via AVING USA]

Yeah, we already knew the 5920 was making its way out, but Acer has finally (read: officially) cast two new Gemstones into the North American market. As you so very well know, the 5920 offers up a 15.4-inch display and an HD DVD drive for high-definition film watching on the go, and the slightly smaller (14.1-inches for those counting) 4710 packs a Core 2 Duo processor, a Dolby-certified sound system, built-in CrystalEye webcam, and Vista Home Premium. 'Course, these two readily available machines are certainly geared toward very different budgets, and while you can snag an Aspire 4710 for a mere $599, the far more potent 5920 touts an entry fee of $1,999.

[Via MobileWhack]

Acer has begun quietly introducing its Gemstone laptop to the US market by slipping the design-minded Aspire into Best Buy's retail catalog, thus marking the debut of the company's stylized new computer on these shores. The 5920, which we mentioned back in May, is officially on sale now at the chain stores for $1299 (but they'll want you to get that extended service plan too). To refresh your memory, the system is based on the seemingly-ubiquitous Santa Rosa chipset, with a Centrino Core 2 Duo turning the gears, a 15.4-inch, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT-powered display, an HD-DVD drive, and 802.11a/g/n. Other bells and whistles include Bluetooth, a 5-in-1 media reader, built-in webcam, and Acer's amazing V.92 high speed modem.

[Via TGDaily]

While Acer did make a quick stop to confirm that this Gemstone brouhaha was indeed becoming a reality, the firm has apparently gotten around to fleshing out the rest of its healthy Santa Rosa lineup. On the consumer side of things, the the Aspire 5720 touts a 15.4-inch CrystalBrite display, integrated CrystalEye webcam, Dolby Digital Live audio, and a choice of ATI graphics cards. The 7720 steps it up by packing more powerful Core 2 Duo processors, a 17-inch widescreen display, an ATI graphics card with up to 512MB of RAM, webcam, and an optional DVB-T tuner, while the 9920 takes things to the extreme with a 20-inch screen, NVIDIA's DX10-capable GeForce 8600M-GT, and an HD DVD drive to boot. Meanwhile, the TravelMates are also seeing updates, as the 6592 packs a Core 2 Duo CPU, 802.11a/b/g/n, dual-layer DVD burner or HD DVD drive, ATI's Mobility Radeon X2300-HD graphics, and a 15- or 15.4-inch display. The 6492 loses an inch of screen space, steps down to integrated X3100 graphics, but sports up to 8.5-hours of battery life with a secondary cell installed in the media bay, and the 6292 wraps things up with a 12.1-inch display, WiFi, ezDock II compatibility, and a lightweight design. No word just yet on pricing or availability, but at least you've got a smattering of choices on the Acer horizon to decide upon.

Read - Acer TravelMate lineup
Read - Acer Aspire lineup

There's no need to fix it if nothing's broken, and apparently Acer isn't deviating from the lucrative automotive partnerships anytime soon. While the Ferrari lineup tends to cater to the high-end laptop buyer, the company has now partnered with BMW to provide stylish, automotive-inspired machines to "the average consumer." The team will collaborate to refresh the Aspire series (dubbed Gemstone), and while specifics aren't entirely clear, we do know that users can expect a curvaceous design and a dash of Santa Rosa under the hood. Additionally, the BMW lappies will offer up WiFi, Dolby surround sound, and HDMI, and there was even a hint of a 17-incher and an option for HD DVD. Best of all, it sounds like users will have a choice between an AMD or Intel processor, and although pricing information wasn't divulged, Acer did state that "no premium for the extra design work" would be tacked on.

We really don't have much of a clue what Acer is up to here, but it's a bit of an exception when Acer isn't doing something completely predictable with its product lineup and design direction, so we though we'd give you a heads up. The "Gemstone concept" is apparently a new Acer Aspire laptop line, or so it seems -- the promo material is a bit obtuse. It could very well look totally gaudy, but we suppose we'll find out on Friday, and it's pretty much impossible to look much more ridiculous than Acer's Ferrari lineup, so how can we lose?

[Thanks, Olivier]