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Acer announced a variety of new desktops today for consumers and business buyers. Among the highlights are two new all-in-ones, each for under $1,000.

The Acer-branded AZ5 is Acer's new flagship all-in-one. Starting at $750, the 23-inch AZ5 will feature second-generation Intel Core i3- and Core i5-series CPUs, along with a touch screen and Acer's Clear.fi media-streaming software.

Although this is a touch-screen-based desktop, the AZ5, in keeping with Acer's older all-in-ones, doesn't seem to offer an equivalent to HP's well-conceived touch software suite. At least the overall design of the AZ5 has … Read more

Earlier this year, we were bombarded with news about Ultrabooks, a new category of laptop given a new name by Intel--these machines were meant to be improvements on the laptop as we've come to know it, with smartphone-like startup speed and wafer-thin, future-sexy designs.

So far, so good: the first few laptops we've seen that categorize themselves as Ultrabooks have all been excellent products. The Acer Aspire S3, the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, and the Asus Zenbook UX31 all lived up to expectations, and all provide valid alternatives to the MacBook Air.

And yet, there's a problem. In my eyes, at least. And it's a big one. … Read more

Within the space of a few short weeks, we've seen the first wave of Ultrabook laptops come to life, making good on Intel's promise to create an entirely new laptop category with the unstated, but unmistakable goal of unseating Apple's MacBook Air as the king of ultrathin laptops.

We've taken plenty of shots over the past several months at the entire Ultrabook concept, calling it an Intel marketing push, rather than an organic new product category; joking about the $300 million investment Intel is said to be making with hardware partners to develop systems; and even making fun of the name (why not "superbook" or "skinnytop"?)

But then a funny thing happened. We got our hands on the first three Ultrabooks across the finish line, from Acer, Lenovo, and Asus, and they were all more than pretty good. In fact, we were downright impressed. None was a perfect product, and there needs to be some more-aggressive pricing (the Acer gets it right, coming in at $899, admittedly with some corners cut), but there's a good chance that the next year or two will see a wholesale change in what consumers expect from laptops, with sub-1-inch systems becoming the norm, and anything larger looking terribly old and clunky.

We've rounded up the first wave of Ultrabooks, as well as the MacBook Air, for you to peruse below. As of right now, the general office consensus is that among the Ultrabooks, the Lenovo wins for design, the Acer for price, and the Asus for overall value. But none outclasses the MacBook Air, and our advice to Ultrabook makers is simple. You can't create a laptop that's just about as good as a MacBook Air and just about as expensive. You need to either make something that's significantly better, or significantly less expensive. … Read more

When the history of laptops in 2011 is written, it will be said that this was the year of the ultraportable (not to be confused with the Ultrabook). We've seen more 11.6-inch laptops than ever before, along with a handful of 12.1-inch and 12.5-inch alternatives.

Below you'll find a quick roundup of some of the best ultraportables of this year, along with a few high-profile near-misses. In the coming months, keep an eye out for more high-end models, such as the 11-inch Asus Zenbook UX21, which will start at $999. … Read more

Are future mainstream Ultrabooks going to usher in the hybrid hard-disk drive?

Acer may have kicked off this trend with the hybrid-drive-packing Ultrabook Aspire S3, which sports a 20GB solid-state drive matched with a standard 320GB spinning hard disk. So, will others follow? Yes, says a report in Digitimes.

Though a hybrid system can't match the performance of a 128GB SSD-only laptop, an ancillary 20GB drive is a relatively large chunk of flash compared with, for example, the 4GB SSD (or flash drive, if that's what you choose to call it) in the Seagate Momentus hybrid drive.

How … Read more

Call us skeptical (please do, we like it), but the Ultrabook concept always struck us as being a bit suspect.

Intel has been pushing for several months the idea of a new class of laptops that are slim and powerful with excellent battery life, but simply putting out a list of suggested specs and coining a name isn't the same thing as creating an entire new top-level category that can stand alongside ultraportable or desktop-replacement laptops.

On paper, the Ultrabook concept seemed like just a way to pitch Windows-based versions of Apple's popular MacBook Air, but now that … Read more

Asus is due to release its Ultrabook lineup on Tuesday, as vendor momentum in this new Windows laptop category gains steam.

The Asus Zenbook line is expected to start at under $1,000 and be populated with 11- and 13-inch models ranging up to $1,499.

The UX21 model, for example, will come with an 11.6-inch display, a Core i5 Intel Sandy Bridge processor, and a 128GB solid-state drive. The high-end 13.3-inch UX31 will have a Core i7 chip and 256GB SSD.

Models are also slated to come with beefed-up sound and USB 3.0 ports. The latter … Read more

Intel has been busily promoting the Ultrabook as an inexpensive Windows ultraportable laptop that will start at under $1,000. Well, Acer delivered on that promise today with the Aspire S3 that starts at $899.99.

The S3 is truly thin and light, not like the faux "ultrathins" of years past. The 13.3-inch chassis is 0.68 inches thick and weighs 2.98 pounds. That thickness is identical to the more expensive--at $1,299--MacBook Air, which weighs 2.96 pounds.

And price is important. Intel CEO Paul Otellini promised Ultrabooks would appear priced under $1,000. That's requirement No. 1 to compete effectively with the popular MacBook Air, which starts at $999.

Acer's S3 isn't the first sub-0.8-inch featherweight Windows laptop made from metal but it's the first in this price range: an $899 aluminum-clad, half-inch thick 13.3-inch laptop is truly a Windows milestone.

Acer Aspire S3-951 salient specs:… Read more

What's the sweet spot for tablet pricing? We're finding out as Hewlett-Packard, RIM, HTC, and others learn that trying to sell a tablet at the iPad's starting price of $500 may be a fool's errand.

Lenovo and Best Buy are the latest to bring down pricing, selling the 10-inch Lenovo IdeaPad K1 tablet with 32GB today and Monday for $329, down from $499. And that 10-inch tablet comes with a dual-core Nvidia processor and Android 3.1.

At Best Buy, HTC also recently knocked down the 7-inch HTC Flyer to $299 from $499. This happened--probably not … Read more