Acer on Tuesday started shipping three new Aspire laptops, including a thin-and-light laptop around an inch thick and priced from US$779.99.
The Aspire Timeline X 3830T has a 13.3-inch screen and includes a dual-core Core i5 processor, which is based on Intel’s Sandy Bridge microarchitecture, Acer said in a statement. The laptop weighs about 1.87 kilograms (4.12 pounds) and varies in thickness between 22.1 millimeters and 29.1 millimeters.
The company also announced Timeline X laptops with larger sized screens that include Intel’s latest Core i3 and i5 chips based on the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture. The Timeline X 4830T has a 14-inch screen and weighs 2.21 kilograms, while the Timeline X 5830T has a 15.6-inch screen and weighs 2.54 kilograms.
Companies such as Dell, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard have already announced lightweight laptops with new Core chips. Sandy Bridge chips are smaller and more power-efficient than predecessors, which has allowed PC makers to build thinner laptops with longer battery life.
The new Timeline X laptops provide battery life of up to nine hours with integrated graphics processors, and up to eight hours with a discrete graphics card, a company spokeswoman said. Acer is offering an optional Nvidia 520M graphics card on the laptops.
The laptops have strong multimedia features with Dolby Home Theater v4, a set of technologies to process and deliver crisp audio. The laptops also include an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) port to play laptop content on high-definition TV sets.
A USB 3.0 port allows the laptops to connect to high-speed external storage devices and other components. The 4830T, which is priced starting at $699.99, and the 5830T, which starts at $599.99, also have DVD drives.
The laptops are now available in the U.S. and Europe. A company spokeswoman was unable to comment about availability in Asia.
Acer has been hurt by the slower-than-expected growth in the PC market globally with the onslaught of tablets. The company has reiterated its commitment to developing PCs, but is now putting more resources into developing tablets. The company recently introduced its first Iconia tablets.