The guys at Laptopmag, who generally do a respectable job of reviews, have not been impressed with the Acer Aspire S3. Their review gives it 2.5 out of 5.

You can read their full review here.

I want to pick up on a few things though. Firstly, keyboards. We’re going to see many people complain about key travel as Laptopmag have done. I’ve pondered over this myself and as I tested the Toshiba Z830 today I even mentioned it to Toshiba as a potential issue but after some extended typing tests I was actually starting to enjoy the short travel. It speeds up typing; If you can get used to the change. Laptopmag are reporting that keys had to be pressed harder though. That’s not how it should work so watch out for this in other reviews.

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Keeping close to the pre-tax Euro figures, the Amazon.com pre-order page shows that the Acer Aspire S3-951 will be available on the 16th October for a very competitive $899.

The price includes the Core i5 processing platform and, unique among Ultrabooks so far, a 320GB hybrid hard drive which includes a 20GB SSD partition that we assume is used by the fast-start process. There’s no USB 3.0, no Ethernet port and no VGA port though so although you’re getting a fast laptop for a low price, you’re sacrificing ports. You’re also looking at a little bit more weight than some of the more expensive options.

See our previous articles on the Acer Aspire S3 for an overview and some more thoughts on the package.

Via This is my Next

We reported last week that the Acer Aspire S3 had turned up for pre-order in Italy at €799. As expected, it’s Aspire S3 available for order in other countries too and for those of you that like to order through Amazon, it’s now available in the German and Italian stores. Again the price in €799 which undercuts the cheapest Apple MacBook Air model by at least €40 but there’s still no availability info.

One thing we found out this week that there are no Ethernet or VGA ports on the device despite many specifications lists, including some early Acer specification lists, highlighting this capability. This could be important to you. [Confirmation comes directly from Notebookitalia who kindly took our query to their local Acer contact.]

I’ve linked Amazon on our the Acer Aspire S3 information page for those of you visiting from Germany or Italy. As I find other Amazon country availability, I’ll link the relevant stores in so check the database regularly.

I don’t intend to cover all the country launch dates of all the Ultrabooks here on Ultrabooknews but some will be important enough to report. Like this one – the first official announcement of price and availability in Europe pf the Acer Aspire S3. From this news you’ll get a good idea of price and availability across the whole of Europe.

We’re looking at an initial availability of one Acer Aspire S3 model on 20th October. It’s a Core i5 version (i5-2467M) at 1.6 Ghz with the hybrid SSD+HDD (320GB storage) for an impressive €799. Acer have gone for processing power and storage over connectivity though because there’s no Ethernet port or USB3.0 which will put some off. [Note that many places are reporting Ethernet 10/100/1000 but we can’t find the port – we’re trying to track down the details on this]  It’s not the lightest either at a slightly hefty 1.4KG. In comparison, the Toshiba Z830 comes in at slightly over 1.1KG – a difference you’ll notice.

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The Ultrabook timeline is padding out nicely now. The latest date is from Acer India who will have the Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook in Croma stores from October 15th.

This is the first time we’ve heard official news of availability so we can now expect global activities starting from the 10th (Asus in New York) through the following week or two to follow with availability very soon after. I’ve been invited to visit Toshiba Europe on the 11th so hopefuly they’ll have something solid to say about availability and there’s also an Intel awareness campaign going on globally too this week with Taiwan getting some attention today, I hear.

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Not in the least bit surprising is the first US$ pricing for the Acer S3 Ultrabook which has broken the $1000 price barrier. One retailer has confirmed an $899 price.

Not only is Acer renowned for setting low price points but if you take a look at the spec sheet for the Acer Aspire S3 you’ll see that it’s missing a few features that could be important to many. No USB 3.0, No Ethernet port. Hybrid hard drive (Not full SSD.)

The price appears to be for a Core i5 version so that’s positive news. (Model number LX.RSF02.079) We’ve found mention of Core i3 variants though and while they could be simple typos, it would make sense to double check before ordering.

Prices are filtering in all over the world now and availability from one Swiss retailer shows a date of 30th Sept so check your local price comparison engine to see if it is showing up. If so, drop above below with models details and prices.

Source: CRN.com

Expected to be available later this month, the Acer Aspire S3 is likely to be one of the lower cost Ultrabooks and if the news from Hong Kong and Finland is anything to go by, one of the first to hit the market.

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At an entry level price of €799 and with the press conference stating that Ultrabooks are important for the PC business, it wasn’t surprising to see the S3 at the center of attention at IFA. We’ve got a video hands-on here but here is a gallery of images to add to that. Full specifications should be available in our database. 
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