Acer's Chromebooks, gaming PCs, and convertible notebooks got a refresh today at the IFA trade show in Berlin, with ultra-thin options, bigger screens, and the latest generation of Intel Core processors.
The company is billing its Chromebook R 13 as the first convertible Chromebook with a 13-inch display. Thanks to its to its 360-degree hinge, the R 13 can be used as a tablet, tent, or conventional laptop. It goes on sale in North America in October for $399.
For that price, you get admirable power and efficiency for a Chromebook, in addition to a 1,920-by-1,080 Full HD touch screen. Acer says the battery will last up to 12 hours, thanks in part to the efficient MediaTek quad-core processor under the hood. Chromebooks rely heavily on a stable Internet connection, which the R 13 should accomplish with a Wi-Fi radio that supports 2x2 MIMO 802.11ac.
If you're in the market for a svelte convertible but want to stick with Windows, Acer also unwrapped the new Spin series. The flagship $1,200 14-inch Spin 7 has a Gorilla Glass-reinforced Full HD IPS display. That touch screen is complemented by a wide glass touchpad offering that ultraportable owners have come to expect. Under the hood is a seventh-gen "Kaby Lake" Intel Core i7 processor, up to 8GB of memory, and a 256GB SSD.
The Spin lineup also includes the slightly smaller Spin 5, which has a lower $599 price tag but can be configured with better performance and storage options, including up to 16GB of DDR4 memory and up to a 512GB SSD. There's also a larger Spin 3, with a 15.6-inch display, and a budget-friendly Spin 1, which starts at $249.
The Spin lineup is thin and light, but Acer is willing to go even thinner and lighter. It also unveiled the new Swift 7, billed as the world's first laptop to measure under one centimeter thick. At 9.98mm, though, it just barely claims that title and weighs in at 2.48 pounds.
The lack of heft and girth doesn't mean it skimps on components: there's a 13.3-inch Full HD IPS display, a nine-hour battery, a seventh-gen Core i5 processor, 256GB SSD and up to 8GB of RAM. It ships in October starting at $999, and will be joined by other Swift models with lesser specs and more weight—starting as low as $249 for the Celeron-powered Swift 1.
Finally, PC gamers can lust after the Predator 21 X laptop, the latest addition to the Predator lineup. Acer says it's the world's first notebook with a curved screen—a 21-inch IPS display. Couple that with eye-tracking technology, dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics cards, a full-size Cherry MX mechanical keyboard, and five cooling fans, and you get an immensely capable—and just plain immense—gaming machine.
Alas, Acer has no immediate plans to sell the 21 X in the US.