back to article Hands on with Acer's Aspire S3 Ultrabook

It's almost impossible to view Acer's Aspire S3 - the company's first laptop built to Intel's Ultrabook spec - and not think of the MacBook Air. Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook Acer's S3: shades of the MacBook Air? There's the metallic look, the sunken keyboard, the sparse port array, the - a first time for a Windows machine? - …

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  1. Buzzword

    Not an Apple clone

    It can't be a Mac - it has a Del key!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What screen resolution???

    MacBook Air's hidden gem is th 1440x900 screen resolution. Hopefully this feature has been copied as well...

  3. Fibbles
    FAIL

    "the - a first time for a Windows machine? - large touchpad placed centrally in the wrist rest area"

    I'm typing this on an ancient Compaq laptop that seems to prove it's not the first for a windows machine.

    Also, what use is it having a large 4:3 trackpad on this Acer when the screen is 16:9?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    First thing Monday...

    Apples *Lawyers* will be on the phone....

  5. dave 93
    FAIL

    You don't get what you don't pay for

    "Acer is pricing aggressively - from €799 (£699), it suggested this week - so the S3 looks set to undercut the Air significantly"

    Only $200 more for the entry MacBook Air is not such a huge premium for the original 'Ultrabook' and you get an actual metal body, not silver plastic. Rigidity and scratch resistance are really important for thin, very portable devices if you expect them to last very long.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Megaphone

    Screen resolution

    The CPU spec is pretty impressive, but can it match the Air's 1440x900 display? The one area that all laptops seem to be lacking these days is the bit you spend all your time looking at.

  7. Spanners Silver badge
    Meh

    Another Similarity

    The screen looks to be like the Air is said to be - so reflected as to make it hard to use anywhere except in darkened rooms.

  8. A 20

    see Title

    "Acer is pricing aggressively - from €799 (£699) ... so the S3 looks set to undercut the Air significantly, though I'll bet you won't get a directly comparable spec, despite the discount."

    Of course not. At the very least Acer supplied memory won't have the insane markup Apple apply to their RAM upgrades...

    This looks like a nice little machine for the price, although I'd like to see the full specs and prices!

  9. N13L5

    only 2 USB ports...

    Only 2 USB ports mean you can't even hook up an external DVD drive (with their usual dual USB Y cables) and a mouse at the same time.

    One more manufacturer following the current retarded hype over Apple products that are starved like fashion models into something less than useful.

    I can't wait till all this apple hype is over, the lemmings go home, all the religious apple zealots go home and spare the rest of the world with their gushing.

    1. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: only 2 USB ports...

      Y-cables are for laptops with low-power USB ports - this one will, I suspect, have a full-power USB port.

      FWIW, I have an LG external optical that runs of a single USB port on every machine I've used it with, from netbooks up.

      http://www.reghardware.com/2008/12/01/review_external_dvd_writer_lg_gp08/

    2. Bassey

      Re: only 2 USB ports...

      I believe the thinking with this (as indicated by them being at the back) is that you have a USB hub at home with everything plugged into the hub. Then, just plug the hub into one of the USB ports at the back leaving the other spare for anything requiring a decent pull of power. Certainly that is how I've done things in the past and it works rather well.

  10. Mondo the Magnificent
    Big Brother

    Airing my views

    I find it a little strange that the new Ultrabooks keep getting compared to the MacBook Air

    Apple's offerings extend beyond the external look of the system. Most [not all] people buy Apples due to there personal preference to OSX, some just want [to try?] something "different"

    Sure, the new Ultrabooks do mimic the look and feel of the Air, but perhaps we need to be a little patient and compare Acer's offerings to those of Toshiba and Samsung once their products are out and about. The only common denominators currently are a thin brushed aluminium chassis with an Intel Core processor. It goes way beyond that.

    Right now I do not believe we're really comparing "Apples with Apples"

  11. Fat Jez

    screen res...

    ... is apparently 1366 x 768, according to Tech Radar with a highly glossy screen.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Acer Aspire

    Just like my Acer Aspire one, a nightmare to upgrade?

    And just like it, an ideal candidate for Hackintoshing? :)

    AC.

  13. Jonathan White

    RAM upgrades?

    You can't upgrade the RAM on a MacBook air. Looking at the bottom of this, it may not be that easy to upgrade this thing either Maybe it might be an idea to temper the frothing mac-hate with a smidgeon of reality once in a little while?

    It is a clone and like most clones it will offer a cheaper product more cheaply manufactured so you pays your moneynand you takes your choice. People with good reasons to buy Airs (whatever those may be) will still buy Airs. Some other will buuy this. Some will buy tablets. Some will buy 'full fat' laptops.

    In short, the story claims itself as a mountain, when in fact it's more of a molehill.

  14. The New Turtle
    Boffin

    This could be just the thing.

    As someone who likes the design of Apple hardware but not the operating system or company ethos, this could be just the thing I might replace my Macbook with.

    Glasses-man, because I'd like to see one in the metal first.

  15. Ant Evans
    Thumb Down

    Incredible

    That even after public hangings, keyboard designers persist with Fn combinations for Home/End. Do keyboard designers have a super power that exempts them from Darwinian selection?

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