14 DAY TRIAL // Acer has just announced a pair of new notebooks in the Ethos line, the Aspire Ethos 8951G and the Aspire Ethos 5951G, which are based on Intel's second-generation Core processors and include Nvidia dedicated graphics.
Both models feature a refined design as well as a detachable touchpad, that can be used as a media remote, and are aimed at home entertainment and multimedia use.
The smaller of the two machines, the Aspire Ethos 5951G, is built around a 15.6-inch display with a native resolution of 1366x768 (rather low for such a screen) and can be fitted with Intel Core i3 to i7 processors up to the Core i7-2630QM.
This is one of Intel's most powerful mobile Sandy Bridge processors to date and packs four processing cores clocked at 2.0GHz (up to 2.9GHz in Turbo mode), 6MB of Level 3 cache, a dual channel DDR3-1033MHz memory controller and support for Intel's Hyper-Threading technology.
Users can pair this fast processor with up to 16GB of system memory, an Nvidia discrete graphics core (the GT 555M or the GT 540M), a 750GB HDD as well as with a Blu-ray burner.
Moving to its older brother, this can also be configured with the Nvidia GT 555M or GT 540M GPUs, a 750GB hard drive and up to 16GB of DDR3 memory, but, this time, the notebook features a bigger 18.4-inch LCD with Full HD resolution.
The processor options were also changed a bit as the fastest CPU available is now the Core i7-2820QM.
This features pretty much the same specifications as the i7-2630QM, but its base and Turbo frequencies were raised to 2.3GHz and 3.4GHz, respectively, while the L3 cache was increased to 8MB.
As far as the available connectivity options are concerned, both models get all the usual interfaces, including USB 3.0 and FireWire ports as well as an HDMI video output.
The Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G and the Aspire Ethos 5951G will debut in the middle of June with prices starting at £999 including VAT. (via SlashGear)