Aspire S3 'ultrabook' unveiled

MANILA, Philippines - It’s slim, it’s sleek, it’s lightweight. And it’s quite literally cutting-edge.

That’s the Acer Aspire S3 ultrabook, codenamed “Hummingbird,” which was launched recently by Acer Philippines Inc.

This latest member of Acer’s renowned Aspire line of notebooks features some of the most inspiring and innovative technologies that are both performance-centric yet a true sight to behold.

“Ultrabooks” are considered super-slim laptops with the power of a high-end notebook packed into a smaller, lighter and thinner form factor, yet do not shrivel in terms of connectivity or battery performance.

Powered by second-generation Intel Core processors, ultrabooks should measure up to certain standards before they get the “ultrabook” tag. Aside from razor-thin aesthetics, sheer processor speed and fast boot-up times of under seven seconds are the other qualities needed.

Ultrabooks also usually come with a metal chassis and a solid state drive (SSD) instead of just conventional hard disk drives (HDDs).

The Aspire S3, which retails for P44,900, boasts the Acer Green Instant On feature. This is a boon for users who are always on the go and have no time to shut down their notebook properly. The Acer Green Instant On lets users resume the Aspire S3’s operations from Sleep mode in less than two seconds, even with several applications open.

And even if in Deep Sleep mode, which happens after eight hours in Sleep mode, turning back on happens after only six short seconds.

Even more impressive is that the Acer Green Instant On feature helps extend battery life up to an astonishing 50 days on a full charge. Battery life under typical use is a generous six to seven hours already, thanks to its lithium-polymer battery technology.

The Acer Aspire S3 also boasts of being able to access the Internet four times faster than any other notebook in the market, especially when accessing previously visited sites. Connecting to the Internet is as easy as 1-2-3, thanks to the Aspire S3’s “Instant Connect” feature.

The aluminum/magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis, plus the revolutionary display technology that integrates the 13.3-inch frame and the 13-mm ultra-thin size (at its thinnest point), makes the Aspire S3 sleeker and more durable.

The fact that it’s feather-light — being just roughly three pounds — makes it the ultimate in notebook portability.

Cooling is essential to a notebook’s performance and longevity. And in this regard, Acer has pushed the envelope in this aspect. The Aspire S3’s “Thermal Comfort” airflow cooling technology has been designed specifically for its ultra-thin chassis and for the harshest environments.

The vent-less bottom design is an innovative feature where the airflow and heat goes to the rear and not the bottom so that performance is not be affected. Those who use their notebooks atop a bed or pillow need not worry about heat issues.

The highly efficient motor design of the Aspire S3 is also another advanced feature. The fan motor optimizes operational performance by lowering power consumption by at least 35 to 50 percent in order to increase system battery life.

The Aspire 3 runs on Intel’s high-performance Core i7 chipset with up to a super-fast 4GB DDR3 of RAM. Connectivity is via HDMI, Bluetooth 4.0, and Acer’s InviLink Nplify 802.11 b/g/n W-Fi.

Its 13.3-inch LED-backlit TFT LCD 16:9 high-definition widescreen display has a 1366 x 768 resolution and runs on an Intel HD Graphics 3000 system. Audio is via Optimized Dolby Home Theater v4 audio enhancement system. 

The Aspire S3 offers 320GB in hard drive storage space and sweetens it further with an additional 20GB through its solid state drive, which helps provide quicker access to files, and thereby puts the Aspire S3 as the ultrabook with the largest storage capacity to date.