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Acer America has a slimmed-down, sped-up offering in its new Aspire V5 notebook. Introduced June 7, the notebook runs third-generation Intel Ivy Bridge Core i3 or i5 processors and is 30 percent trimmer than Acers comparable 2011 offering.
The end of the school year waves the white flag for back-to-school releasesas Dell this week also released devices well-suited for dorm rooms, in its Inspiron Z and R series laptopsand Acer says it intends the V5 for students and other value-driven shoppers.
The V5 is available with a 14- or 15.6-inch high-definition CineCrystal widescreen LED-backlit display. The former measures 0.79 inches thin and weighs 4.6 pounds, while the latter measures 0.83 inches and weighs 5 pounds.
For a better movie-watching or video-editing experience, the Core i5 versions of the V5 have Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 built into the processor. Theres a 500GB hard drive, a DVD drive, a USB 3.0 port and a 1.3-megapixel HD Webcam thats capable of 24 frames per second and, paired with a built-in digital microphone, is said to make for excellent video chatting. If living room entertainment is more a priority, theres Dolby Advanced Audio v2 on board and a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) port for connecting to a television, projector or monitor.
Keeping things moving, Acer Instant Connect technology on the V5 automatically scans available networks and connects a user in 2.5 secondswhich, according to Acer, is four times faster than conventional connections.
On the topic of wireless connections, included Bluetooth 4.0+ HS lets users wirelessly connect to other Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as printers and smartphones.
At the end of June, the V5 will come in purple, blue, silver and black. Pricing for versions running second- generation Intel processors will start at $450, while those running third-generation will start at $630.
In offering new devices running the Ivy Bridge chips, Acer has plenty of company. The same week, Fujitsu, Lenovo, Dell and Toshiba all introduced Ultrabooks running the processors, as well as other laptops and desktops, including options for families and for enterprises, all with the third-generation technology inside.
The announcements have coincided with the Computex trade show in Taiwan, where Intel executives said June 5 that there are now more than 35 new Ultrabooks running Ivy Bridge that will be available in the next 30 days, and that 110 more should be expected over the next year.
By research firm Gartners count, Acer was the fourth-largest global PC maker during the first quarter of 2012, having fallen from a second-place position a year ago. Behind Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Dell, respectively, it shipped 9.7 million units during the quarter, which was down 9.2 percent from its 12.2 million units toward the start of 2011. In the U.S. market, Acer also held the fourth position, despite a shipment fall of nearly 26 percent from a year earlier.
The new Aspire V5 Series, Acer Americas senior product marketing manager Eric Ackerson said in a statement, is yet another example of Acers commitment to delivering high-quality PCs with the latest mobile technology and enhanced industrial design at an excellent value.