14 DAY TRIAL // Acer's booth at the IFA 2012 grounds in Berlin, Germany, is very big, which means that there were a lot of devices for us to gush over during our time there, but the Iconia W700 is proof that it is just as easy to be left nonplussed.
On paper, the tablet looks great. It has an Intel Core i3 or Core i5 Ivy Bridge central processing unit (third-generation Core series), plus an 11.6-inch multitouch screen and a Full HD LCD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels).
Overall, the hardware is more than good enough to flawlessly run the Microsoft Windows 8 operating system.
It is the design that left us ambivalent. We admit that we may be somewhat biased, having used a Transformer Prime during our time in Berlin, and having examined a whole bunch of other slates with much thinner profiles than the Acer Iconia W700.
Still, it says something that the Acer Aspire S7 ultrabook is just as thin as the A700 when closed (11.9 mm).
The thickness is really the only problem we had with this device. Well, besides not having been told what price the product would sport, or when it would appear. At least we can be sure the first half of October (2012) is the period everyone should be keeping an eye on, since that's when Microsoft unleashes its software.
And now we may as well provide a rundown of the specs, starting with the 11.6-inch, 10-point multitouch screen (resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, Full HD).
An SSD of 32 GB or 64GB is used as well (hinting at a larger price than usual), plus two cameras (1.3 MP front, 5 MP back) and the standard connectivity set (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB 3.0, micro-HDMI).
Finally, all this hardware is housed within an aluminum unibody case and powered by a battery than can last for up to 8 hours on a single charge.
