14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft, NVIDIA and Acer have jointly announced the Aspire Timeline Ultra, the first ultrabook to use a discrete GPU from NVIDIA's 600M series.
When we covered the NVIDIA GeForce 600M notebook graphics line, we didn't have many examples to give in terms of laptops equipped with them.
That situation has now changed, thanks to an apparently joint effort on the part of Microsoft and Acer.
The Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra has become the first ultrabook to incorporate one of the GPUs, specifically the GeForce GT640M.
As an extra divergence from the regular ultrabook mold, the 15-inch item comes with a DVD drive.
“It’s for the consumers who are looking for a laptop that will meet their needs today but also anticipate the things they’ll be doing nine months to a year out,” siad Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing for Acer’s Americas region.
“You are able to multitask, play premium video games and so on, but at the same time, it’s portable enough that you can take it with you at any time. Looking at that experience overall, we think it’s something that will become a must-have instead of nice-to-have today.”
By Acer's reckoning, as well as that of its launch partners, the Aspire Timeline Ultra is able to last for as much as eight hours on a single battery charge.
It is also possible to replace the SSD with a hard disk drive with built-in NAND Flash, making it a hybrid. That way, Acer Green Instant-On feature will always be supported.
The rest of the specs are the same as the usual: full HD LCD, Intel CPU, various ports and network connectors, speakers, etc.
“Acer truly focuses on the consumer,” says Johnny Liu, senior director on the OEM engineering team at Microsoft.
“But it also works closely with other companies to improve the overall experience, finding the right partners to help it improve sound quality, connectivity and other features that really matter to people today.”