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Acer is bringing its Aspire Timeline series of thin-and-light notebooks to the United States.
The notebooks combine Intel’s ultra-low-voltage (ULV) processors with power management features, high-capacity batteries and LED backlit displays, which together contribute to longer-lasting battery life. According to Acer, technology assessment service Principled Technologies found the battery on the Aspire Timeline AS3810T could last up to 9 hours and 7 minutes and the AS3810TZ could go to 9 hours and 48 minutes.
Generally, however, Acer touts a work time of “more than 8 hours,” and Intel, too, introducing a new ULV processor for thin and light notebook designs, said it achieved battery life of more than 8 hours. Intel also emphasized that, more than netbooks, thin and light notebooks would be the new phenomenon come 2010.
The Aspire Timeline series is comprised of three models. The travel-friendly AS3810 weighs 3.5 pounds, features a 13.3-inch display, Bluetooth 2.0 and three USB 2.0 ports. It has 4 GB of DDR3 1066MHz dual-channel memory (at 800 MHz) and a 500GB SATA hard drive. The starting price will be $899.99.
The 4.2-pound AS4810 features a 14-inch display and includes an optical drive, three USB 2.0 ports, 4 GB of DDR3 1066MHz dual-channel memory (at 800 MHz) and a 320GB SATA hard drive. Pricing begins at $699.99
And finally the AS5810 weighs 5.3 pounds and features a 15.6-inch display, an optical drive and a keyboard with a dedicated numeric keypad. It has 3 GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory (at 800 MHz), a 350GB SATA hard drive, four USB 2.0 ports and starts at $598.
Each notebook is less than 1 inch at its thinnest point and just more than 1 inch at its thickest, according to Acer, and features a brushed-aluminum finish.
They offer Intel Pentium, Intel Core Solo or Intel Core 2 Duo ULV processors, either 3 GB or 4 GB of memory and a Mobile Intel GS45 Express chipset. Each also includes a CineCrystal LED-backlit TFT liquid-crystal display, a Crystal Eye webcam, a multi-in-1 digital media card reader and is Energy Star compliant.
Internet access comes via Gigabit Ethernet or WiFi 802.11b/g Draft-N, and users can interact with Websites, photos, music and other files using the multitouch gesture pad, or disable it with a one-touch button and use a mouse instead.
Each Aspire notebook also includes a PowerSmart button above the keyboard, which activates power-saving settings and extends battery life.
On May 18 Acer additionally expanded its netbook line by two, adding 11.6-inch Aspire One AO751h, which comes with a full keyboard, and the Aspire One AOD250, which features a 10.1-inch display and a weight of 2.44 pounds.