Quickly following in the footsteps of its competitor, Acer America has announced today the launch of its first portable computer system with a multi-touch screen. Dubbed Aspire AS5738PG, the new Acer laptop has been designed to provide users with a new way to interact with the PC's applications and multimedia capabilities, also taking advantage of the touch-screen support enabled by Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 operating system. The new machine is due out on October 22, concomitantly with the launch of the aforementioned OS.

“Customers will experience an incredible level of flexibility and control in the multi-touch screen interface, as it frees them to interact with their digital world in a way that is familiar yet also new and exciting,” said Ray Sawall, senior manager of product marketing for Acer America. “The Acer Aspire 5738PG’s multi-touch experience takes advantage of the many new capabilities in Windows 7 and provides incredibly powerful first-rate technology such as ATI Radeon graphics and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor.”

At the core of the new Aspire AS5738PG there's an Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 processor, clocked at 2.2GHz and coupled with 4GB of DDR2 dual-channel memory. The system is also featured with a 320GB SATA hard drive and an ATI Radeon HD 4570 graphics slot with 512MB of dedicated DDR3 VRAM. Additional features include the 15.6-inch HD CineCrystal LED-backlit multi-touch screen display with a screen resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels, an 8x DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer drive, Intel WiFi Link 5100 with 802.11 a/b/g/Draft-N connectivity, HDMI and four USB 2.0 ports, built-in webcam and stereo speakers.

The laptop, which will be available in Acer's popular Gemstone Blue color, is slated to debut on October 22, with the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7. Price-wise you are looking at the starting price tag of US$799.99.