First Look: Acer Introduces New Aspire Notebooks

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Hot on the heels of the new Aspire One netbooks, Acer today announced the availability of four new notebook lines just in time for the back to school shopping season. We’ve got the full rundown including pricing and specs after the break.

It’s clear that the flagship of the new lineup is the Aspire AS8943G, aimed towards heavy multimedia users. The AS8943G features a 18.4-inch glass LED backlit display with a 1920×1080 (1080p) resolution, Acer CineSurround Dolby optimized sound system with five speakers and a built-in subwoofer, and a Blu-Ray drive. The series is powered by an Intel Core i7 processor, standard with 4GB or 8GB of memory (with support up to 16GB), a 500GB hard drive, and the ATI Mobility Radeon HD5850 graphics card with 1GB of dedicated VRAM. You’ll also get 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth, Gigabit Ethernet, a 1.3 megapixel HD camera, as well as a biometric fingerprint reader. The Acer Aspire AS8943G is available now starting at $1549.99.

The next line is aimed at bringing entertainment on the go and includes the AS5745 and AS7745 series notebooks. The AS5745 series features a 15.6-inch display with a 1366×768 resolution, while the AS7745 series has a 17.3-inch display with a 1600×900 resolution (both are LED backlit as well). All models include Dolby Home
Theater and Windows 7 Home Premium, in addition to Nplify 802.11b/g/n wireless and a digital media reader. The AS5745 series features options for Core i3, i5, and i7 processors, a 500GB hard drive, and a 6-cell battery that offers up to 3.5 hours of battery life. These models loaded with a Core i7 processor offer four memory slots to allow for up to 8GB of RAM more economically through four 2GB modules and start around $699.99 for the lower end models.

The AS7745 series is powered by the Core i7 processor, ATI Mobility Radeon HD5650 graphics, a 500GB hard drive (with support for a second hard drive), and a 6-cell battery which gives you around 2.5 hours of battery life. These models weigh around 7.1 pounds and start at $1,399.

While the press release doesn’t offer many details, Acer is also introducing a value line of notebooks starting at $429.99. This line offers users with the choice of Intel or AMD processors, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 15.6- or 17.3-inch display, 250GB to 500GB of strage, and a variety of graphics cards from ATI discrete graphics to Intel integrated graphics. All models come with a HDMI port for connecting to a HDTV. The option for a Blu-Ray drive is also available. The new models will be available later this month in black or silver with a textured mesh cover.