Acer ASPIRE S3 Ultrabook Review

[siopao1984]

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Acer ASPIRE S3 Ultrabook Review by VR-Zone.com

The Ultrabook is a new category of thin and lightweight ultraportable laptop (defined by Intel) that are equipped with new Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge based Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage (CULV) Intel processors, integrated graphics and SSD storage. Taiwanese manufacturer Acer has recently launched their ASPIRE S3 Ultrabook in Taipei, and VR-Zone managed to get one in for review.



The Ultrabook was the most talk-about subject at the COMPUTEX 2011 computer expo in Taiwan this year. And a number ofmanufacturers also took the opportunity to launch their Ultrabook at the recent Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2011. Before we proceed, let's look at what is an Ultrabook. At the COMPUTEX 2011, the chip giant proposed the idea of making the notebook PC more portable and user-friendly with improved endurance to meet the needs of users for at least a day. But most importantly, the price would have to be below US$1,000.

The Acer ASPIRE S3 from Taiwan claims to be the first ultrabook on the market and it was officially launched on 28 September with announced availability details, specifications and pricing, listed below for your reference.

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The newly launched Acer ASPIRE S3 incorporates a 7mm 320GB SATA and 20GB SSD drives, 4GB DDR3-1333 memory and Intel Core i5-2467M 1.6GHz processor. Acer will also launch the 240GB SSD version, though the model will only be expected to retail in early October. In this review, we take a look at the ASPIRE S3 (ASPIRE S3-951-2464G33iss01) with the 320GB SATA and 20GB SSD drives.

For its structure, the ASPIRE S3 uses aluminium and aluminium-magnesium alloy, with the weight at approximately 1.33kg (including battery). In the I/O department, it is surprising that Acer did not include a USB 3.0 connector, though the company provided two USB 2.0, HDMI output, memory card reader that supports SD and MMC. From the current Ultrabook offerings we have seen, such configurations are minimal, to say the least.





On the left, we see a lonely 3.5mm audio port. The sides are smooth with metallic finish and the entire machine looks thin overall. On the opposite side is the memory card reader that supports SD and MMC cards.





At the rear of the ASPIRE S3 are the ventilation holes and connectors including two USB 2.0, HDMI output and power. The main consideration is the overall configuration of the motherboard. The rear is also the thickest part of the Acer Ultrabook.





Opening the laptop, the power button is on the left while on the right are the indicator LEDs. The ASPIRE S3 looks really slim with the thinnest point at 13mm, while the display measures a mere 4.99mm thin. On top of that, the Ultrabook also comes with Doby Digital audio technology for your audio listening experience.





The screen resolution is 1366x768, which supports 720p high definition videos. The two sides measure 13.55mm thick; the top at 19.8mm while the bottom is 30.96mm. Above the display is the 1.3-megapixel webcam for video conferencing. Our review unit incorporates chiclet-styled keyboard with keys measuring 14.85 x 14.85mm. The arrow keys on the lower right are of reduced sizes than the rest of the keys, which made it tedious to use, especially if you have large fingers.





The built-in microphone is actually very near to the Ultrabook's integrated speakers, located on the base of the unit.

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We are sure many people would be interested to know the internal architecture of the machine, and therefore, we took it apart to have a closer look. The motherboard is not a single piece design, but the use of flexible cable to link the plates. The advantage is when a certain problem arise, you just need to replace individual parts instead of the entire motherboard. However, maintenance could be a huge problem.





The radiator with a single heat-pipe design that connects the processor to the south bridge. Note that the heat pipe measures 8.77mm in diameter. The ASPIRE S3 also comes with 4GB DDR3-1333 memory which unfortunately is welded to the board and can not replaced.





Our review unit is the ASPIRE S3-951-2464G33iss01 model with 320GB SATA hard disk and 20GB SSD drive. The 20GB SSD is using the Phison controller with Toshiba memory chip. If the last two digit of the model number is "02", it means that the configuration is using SSD drive only.





The Ultrabook comes with a 3-cell 3280mAh 36.4Wh battery, and you can find out how good is the battery performance in the next page. We also found Nuvoton environmental control chip, as well as the streamlined I/O connectors.

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We had a look at the hardware specifications. Let's see the performance of the Intel Core i5-2467M processor and the endurance of the machine. Before we proceed, here's a CPU-Z that shows the processor and memory. The display chipset is Intel HD 3000 which should be sufficient for high definition video playback and some Facebook Flash games. Here are the benchmark results for CrystalMark 2005R3; CoresMark 2010; CINEBENCH R10 and R11.5; wPrime that measures the CPU floating point computing power; and FutureMark PCMark 7.

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In our temperature tests, the ASPIRE S3 can hit as high as 76-degree celsius while maintaining mostly at 45-degree with the surrounding temperature at 27-degree. It would also be interesting to see how well the 3-cell battery can last on the Ultrabook in high performance, balance and power-saving settings.

Here are the results:-

High Performance



Balance



Power-saving



Conclusion

The Apple MacBook Air has overtaken the various PC makers in the thin and light notebook PC category. But with chip giant Intel leading the effort, we can expect to see more Ultrabooks from other manufacturers. Considering the endurance and portability, the benchmark results should satisfy most consumers even though that cannot be compared head-on with the MacBook Air.

The Acer ASPIRE S3 is stylish, but aesthetically, it may not attract everyone. On the other hand, it weighs 1.336kg and only comes with two USB 2.0 and HDMI output. The official pricing of the Acer ASPIRE S3 is US$1,140 though the retail price would be between US$1,047 and US$1,096.

[breinrules]

Kutob ra gyud ko tan.aw ani. My laptops are dying too

[goldfinger]

A MAC Alternative....so nice. I doubt the price is too expensive anyway.