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Acer has revealed that its Aspire S3 Ultrabook refresh is now offered in Europe, Middle East and Africa, so we believed it was about time we got hands on with one at CES 2014.
Acer has taken the design from the trend-setting Aspire S7 and brought it to the mainstream Ultrabook segment. The S3’s key selling point is the truth it’s a lightweight Ultrabook, but one that’s some extra graphics grunt through Nvidia’s GeForce GT 735M.
That’s quite uncommon, since the majority of Ultrabooks just benefit from Intel’s built-in HD 5000 graphics and actually does broaden the appeal of the S3. The 13.3-inch screen is an IPS Full HD panel, as opposed to the bigger resolution QHD choice that you can choose to carry the S7. Still, although you can mention to the panel is not really a very high resolution, it still looks outstanding though. As you can see right here, reflections aren’t really welcome.
Expect the S3 to come in numerous setups – the one we saw had Intel’s latest-generation Core i7 under the hood, although you can specify it with different Haswell Intel Core units – the starting Aspire S3 cost is 999 Euros ($1,360 USD, ₤ 828 GBP, $1,525 AUD).
Various storage alternatives are also readily available. The S3 ships with a 128GB SSD, though there’s a larger non-SSD 1TB hard disk drive alternative.
The dual-torque hinge is back, so making use of the super-thin touchscreen is no issue in regards to screen wobble – you will not find yourself wishing for something more substantial.
Again, like the S7, you can bend the screen back flat. We are still undecided about whether this works, but it’s a fascinating little benefit.
The S3’s cover doesn’t showcase Gorilla Glass like the S7, however the look is the exact same and unless you are going to provide it some rough treatment we don’t believe you’ll see too much. The cover itself is made from aluminum, as is the keyboard surround, what the Acer press release information “the operation area,” a description I rather like.
The back features Acer’s TwinAir cooling – essentially dual apertures to enhance airflow.
As you ‘d expect from any half-decent Ultrabook nowadays, the keyboard backlighting also reacts to the amount of ambient light.
Software-wise, the S3 comes pre-installed with Windows 8 and features a bunch of Acer apps that you can see right here, in addition to McAfee security pre-installed.
The laptop computer is quite very little in regards to its density at a completely sensible 17.8 mm. It weighs 1.67 Kg, so it’s hardly the lightest, but it’s certainly more than workable to bring around in a bag.
Early verdict
We really like the S3 and it’s really an actually powerful notebook. Do not be deceived by the small watering down of the S7’s high design, this is no budget or mainstream gadget and you are paying for that performance, too. It’s an Ultrabook for those who need to get things done yet don’t need or want to pay the expensive rates of some high-end featherlight models.