14 DAY TRIAL // Obviously, Acer has developed some all-in-one personal computers with touch support, since it isn't about to let Microsoft's launch of Windows 8 go by unattended, even if it does have to live with not releasing Windows RT tablets.
The two products that will start shipping by the end of the ongoing month (October 2012) are called Aspire 5600U and Aspire 7600U.
They measure 23 inches and 27 inches, respectively, in screen diagonal and have transparent stands, just like the T2 monitors.
What captured our attention here are the prices that Acer has decided to stick to these two products. We'd love to say they impressed us, but that would be a lie.
While the 23-inch system will be sold within reasonable limits ($1,000 / 1000 Euro), the 27-inch all-in-one computer will have a price of $1,900 / 1,900 Euro. This in an age where sub-$900 tags are sought.
Granted, the transparent stand is a promising element, and the computers are quite thin overall, but we can't help but feel that the premium is just too high, even though the 7600U does have a discrete graphics card (NVIDIA GT640M GPU with 2GB of video memory).
For those who want to at least know what made Acer decide on those sums, the AiOs have third-generation Intel Core i5 CPUs (HD 4000 integrated graphics) and 8 GB of DDR3 RAM (random access memory) backing them up. Storage space is provided by hard drives (1TB).
Acer decided on some HDMI inputs too (one on the 5600U, two on the 7600U), making it possible to use the systems as HDTVs.
As for the displays themselves, they have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (Full HD / 1080p). Owners can tilt them back at an angle of 80 degrees if they are so inclined.
Acer's 23-inch Aspire 5600U and the 27-inch Aspire 7600U are 1.4-inch thick and use the InstantOn technology to resume from sleep mode in 1.5 seconds. A touch-less version of the former will be available alongside the default machines.