14 DAY TRIAL // Quite some time has passed since we first heard about Ultrabooks, but these ultra-thin laptops have finally arrived and Acer seems to be the first company to launch such a device as it just announced its US and Canada customers will be able to get the Aspire S3 later this week for $899 (662 Euros).
For those of you that don't remember, the Aspire S3 Ultrabook is powered by Intel's ULV Sandy Bridge processors and can be configured to feature a wide series of Core i3, i5 or i7 CPUs.
These go all the way up to the Intel Core i7-2637M, which fits inside its 17W TDP two computing cores with support for the HyperThreading technology clocked at no less than 1.7GHz (2.8GHz maximum Turbo frequency), 4MB of Level 3 cache as well as an Intel HD 3000 integrated GPU.
Intel's fast processors are backed by 4GB of system memory, a 250GB solid state drive or by a 500GB hard drive, and the notebook also offers support for SSD caching.
On the connectivity front things are just as interesting as the Aspire S3 comes with a full set of features including 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0+HSR as well as an HDMI port and a pair of USB 2.0 connectors.
The rest of the features list includes a 1.3 Megapixel webcam, an SD card reader, a single headset jack and a 13.3-inch display with a native resolution of 1366x768 pixels, all packed inside a 13mm (about 0.5-inch) thin chassis.
"The combination of extreme mobility and affordability found in the Acer Aspire S3-951 Ultrabook will undoubtedly change the way people think about mobile computing," said Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing, Acer America.
"Consumers are going to love the value they find in the freedom and capabilities it offers," concluded the company's rep.
For the $899 starting price, Acer customers in the US and Canada will get an Aspire S3 powered by Intel's Core i5-2467M processor running at 1.6GHz, 4GB of system memory and a 20GB solid state drive combined with a 320GB HDD.