Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook gets Intel Core i7 CPU, SSD: $1,299

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Summary: Considering that Intel was pushing vendors to keep its Ultrabook prices below $1,000, charging $300 more than that doesn’t exactly jibe with the plan to undercut the MacBook Air pricing.

Acer was able to keep the price on its first Aspire S3 Ultrabook under $899 by using a hybrid hard drive setup instead of a purely solid-state-drive solution. But for its latest iteration, the company is beefing up the S3’s specs — and its price tag.

The Aspire S3-951-6432, now available at major retailers, will come with a 240GB SSD and no hard drive, along with a Core i7-2637 processor. As a result, Acer claims that the new laptop is slightly lighter and will eek out an extra hour of battery life over the S3-951-6646 (7 hours compared to 6 hours). Specs are otherwise the same (13.3-inch screen, 4GB of RAM, 0.51 inches at this thinnest point, roughly 3-pound weight), but the price is significantly higher — $1,299.99.

Considering that Intel was pushing vendors to keep its Ultrabook prices below $1,000, charging $300 more than that doesn’t exactly jibe with the plan to undercut the MacBook Air pricing. At the same time, you get better specs on the $1,300 S3 Ultrabook than the $1,300 Air configuration, which only comes with a Core-i5 CPU and a 128GB SSD drive. Will someone spending that much on a super-light laptop choose a better-equipped Windows model than a MacBook? Acer is sure hoping so.

Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist.

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Ultrabook sales off to a disappointing start, thanks to high prices

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Intel has invested a lot of money into launching the new Ultrabook laptop platform, hailing the ultra-thin form factor as the future of notebooks. While that still may be the case down the line, initial signs are that Ultrabooks aren’t setting the world on fire, sales-wise.

According to DigiTimes, two of the main Ultrabook vendors — Acer and Asus — are expected to ship fewer than half the target number of systems for the fourth quarter that they expected: around 100,000 instead of 200,000 or 300,000 units.

The site’s sources claim that the first Ultrabooks available are priced too high to excite consumer demand. While Acer’s Aspire S3 (pictured) costs $899, other Ultrabooks cost as much or more than the lowest-priced MacBook Air ($999), the obvious inspiration for the Ultrabook platform. Even priced at $899, these laptops may be too costly for consumers who will settle for a $500 notebook instead, especially as the economy continues to sputter.

As Intel rolls out Ivy Bridge and Microsoft rolls out Windows 8, Ultrabooks may become more attractive to buyers, DigiTimes points out, especially if vendors can continue to find ways to lower the price tag for the new laptops. Thus far, however, those buyers haven’t responded to the new platform in the way Intel may have hoped.

Have you purchased an Ultrabook yet? Let us know your thoughts in the Talkback section.

Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist.

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Acer debuts Aspire S3 Ultrabook for $899

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Summary: And here come the Ultrabooks. Intel’s much-hyped alternative to the MacBook Air is finally reaching the market, with Acer launching its first Ultrabook today. At $899, the Aspire S3 Ultrabook comes in well below the magic $1,000 price point that could blunt consumer interest. For that price you get a 2.98-pound system that’s 0.51 inches thick [...]

And here come the Ultrabooks. Intel’s much-hyped alternative to the MacBook Air is finally reaching the market, with Acer launching its first Ultrabook today.

At $899, the Aspire S3 Ultrabook comes in well below the magic $1,000 price point that could blunt consumer interest. For that price you get a 2.98-pound system that’s 0.51 inches thick at its thinnest point, with a 13.3-inch, 1,366×768 resolution display. You also get an Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of memory, and both a 20GB solid-state drive and a 320GB hard drive.

Acer also promises a number of conveniences to help the S3 Ultrabook compete with the Air. Making use of that SSD drive, the Green Instant On feature can wake up the system from Sleep mode in just 2 seconds. When the laptop goes into Deep Sleep mode (after 8 hours of nonuse), it can wake in 6 seconds. Instant Connect Technology allows you to connect to the Internet from Sleep Mode in a mere 2.5 seconds.

The S3 Ultrabook promises 6 hours of battery life for continuous activity, and a whopping 50 days of standby power. Acer also says it’s tweaked the notebook’s construction to dissipate heat more efficiently, even after it removed the bottom vent. We’ll wait for the reviews to find out how those claims work out in real-world usage.

While $899 is still pricey for many buyers who don’t want to spend more than $500 on a new laptop, the Aspire S3 Ultrabook is certainly priced to compete with the MacBook Air — and other Ultrabooks. Does its announcement make you more likely to consider purchasing an Ultrabook? Let us know in the Talkback section.

Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist.

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