Acer jumps the gun with new S3 and S7 4th-gen Intel Haswell ultrabooks, 8-inch Win8 tablet at Computex

A small tablet, two ultrabooks and a new all-in-one round up Acer's hardware news from Computex in Taipei.

The Acer W3 Windows 8 tablet.

(Credit: Acer) 

TAIPEI--The time has come for PC manufacturers to start unveiling new hardware in association with Intel's forthcoming 4th-gen Core i-series "Haswell" processors, and some are doing it earlier than others. Acer, recently busy with their Star Trek-inspired Aspire R7 unveiling, have announced even more PC products: new 8-inch Windows 8 tablet, a second slim S3 ultrabook to accompany the also-updated S7, and a refreshed Aspire Z3 all-in-one desktop PC. Some of them feature Intel's newest fourth-gen "Haswell" processors. Here's the brief news on each.

The Acer Iconia W3 (picture above), outed via leaks over the last couple of months, makes its official debut. It's billed as the first eight-inch Windows 8 tablet, and bears a passing resemblance to the recently-announced Acer Iconia A1 7.9-inch Android tablet. Weighing 1.1 pounds, it's 0.45 inches thick. Running off a current-gen Intel Atom Z2760 processor (Intel's next-gen Bay Trail Atom CPUs won't be available until later this year), the $379 tablet runs full Windows 8 and has a 1,280x800 screen, 32 or 64GB of SSD storage, 2MP front and rear cameras, micro-HDMI and micro-USB ports, and a micro SD card slot that supports up to 32GB at a time.
Acer's clearly angling for productivity on a shoestring--the Iconia W3 comes with Microsoft Office pre-installed, and one of the press pics shows the W3 docked with an optional full-sized Bluetooth keyboard. The W3's available for pre-order in the U.S. starting June 4.

The Acer Aspire S3.

(Credit: Acer) 

The Acer Aspire S3-392 ultrabook (above) borrows from the design of the super-slim Aspire S7 released last year. Like the S7, it's also a 13.3-inch 1080p ultrabook, but goes more workhorse with Nvidia GeForce GT735M graphics and a larger non-SSD 1TB hard drive option. U.S. availability or pricing hasn't been announced, but the S3 does have the latest fourth-gen Intel Core i-series "Haswell" CPUs (specific models unspecified).
Just like the S7, its display bends back 180 degrees--but, instead of a Gorilla Glass back, the S3 is all-aluminum. It's a bit heavier and thicker than the Aspire S7, at 1.65 kg (3.6 pounds) and 17.8 mm (0.7 inches). Other features include a fast sub-one-second wake-from-sleep mode.
The new Aspire S7-392 touchscreen ultrabook is also receiving a fourth-gen upgrade to newer Intel processors. Acer claims a 33% battery-life increase thanks to the new CPUs, and there are other improvements including an optional 2,560x1,440 resolution display (same as the Toshiba Kirabook and similar to the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display) a new "electroluminescent" backlit keyboard.

The Acer Aspire Z3 all-in-one.

(Credit: Acer) 

 

Finally, Acer also announced an update to their all-in-one desktop PC, the Aspire Z3. A 23-inch 1080p IPS display and built-in Harman Kardon speakers suggest a push for AV enthusiasts, or at least an attempt to keep pace in a competitive all-in-one PC market. It's not clear what Intel processors the new Z3s will have, either. The Z3 should be available June 13.
Did you fall asleep a little reading this? Well, we did too. None of these products look to redefine the already fragmented Windows 8 landscape.