Acer's new 38-inch UltraWide: FreeSync, 3440x1600 res

The first thing that jumped out at me was the resolution of this monitor. The following tweaktown blog article provides a quick rundown of this monitor specifications:

Acer's new XR382CQK is a 38-inch UltraWide monitor with a native resolution of 3440x1600 (compared to the 3440x1440 on 34-inch UltraWide displays) - with AMD's FreeSync technology offering up to 75Hz. We also have DTS Sound with 2 x 7W speakers, and Acer's impressive ZeroFrame design. Here's the full run down of what to expect:

• AMD FreeSync™ renders smooth, stutter-free gameplay
• Ergonomic stand promotes optimum comfort with adjustable tilt, swivel and height
• ZeroFrame design affords maximum viewing area and near seamless multi-monitor setups
• Dynamic sound effects thanks to DTS® Sound and two 7W speakers
• Excellent multitasking capabilities via picture-by-picture, picture-in-picture and daisy chaining

Display connectivity includes 1 x DP, 1 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C, and 4 x USB 3.0 ports.

I think the additional pixels on the XR382CQK will be interesting to see, with 3440x1600 being a nice addition to the 3440x1440 native res I've come to know and love over the years. The 75Hz refresh rate is a little disappointing, as we're in a world of 3440x1440 monitors with a native 100Hz refresh rate. But still, 75Hz with FreeSync will be great for UltraWide gamers who aren't playing twitchy first-person shooters.

Acer's new XR382CQK is available at US retailers for $1299 right now.

Looking for a really light, thin ultrabook?

Acer is releasing a new line of notebooks soon based on Intel’s new Kaby Lake processor. They are calling the new series of notebooks Swift and their flagship model looks really nice. Built with an aluminum case, the Swift 7 model is just 9.98mm’s thick, has a 13.3 inch IPS screen that sports 1920x1080 resolution and weighs in at 2.48 pounds.

Priced at $999, this ultrabook is based on the Kaby Lake i5-7300U processor, has 8gb’s of RAM and a 256GB SSD. It also has two USB 3.1 Type-C ports and for connectivity, a T2R 802.11ac with MU-MIMO wireless adapter.

All in all it looks like a pretty nice system for under $1000’s.

Ultrabook Theme at CES 2012

The MacBook Air has helped to create a new category of mobile computing where the manufacturers are offering systems that are small, light and powerful to give the ultimate road warrior a sexy machine to take out on the road with them. These devices are all going to hit in the upper end of the pricing scale start at about $850 and going up from there.

The first attribute that is striking is the thinness of the profile of these systems. Weighing in at around 3lbs their screen sizes vary quite a bit. Most of these devices are using Intel’s third generation Core processors or Ivy Bridge delivery more speed, more battery life and better graphics performance.

Most of these devices are missing optical drives, usually have around a 13 inch screen and usually either an SSD or gone big on the HDD side. The SSD versions usually drives the price a bit higher than the non-SSD version. The SSD will help with making it lighter and protect your data a little better with less moving parts.

So what systems are out there?

• Lenovo IdeaPad U300 – The Verge Review
• Lenovo T430u – 14 inch version CNET Review - engadget Review
• Samsung Series 5 – engadget Review
• Toshiba Portege Z830 and Z835 – Toshiba’s Site – engadget hands on report - Laptop Review
• Acer Aspire S3 and S5 – ARS Technica Report – PC Mag Report

Acer Iconia Tablet slated for release April 24th

One of the first sub $500 tablets is being released by Acer this week. This is a Honeycomb Tablet, WiFi only, for around $450. It is supposed to have the same specs as the Motorola Xoom with: a dual-core 1GHz Tegra 250 SOC, a 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 LCD screen, 1GB of RAM, a 5 megapixel camera around back and a 2 megapixel imager up front, HDMI-out, not to mention a pair of 3260mAh batteries that Acer claims are capable of eight full hours of life while playing HD video.While it is a bit thicker and heavier and only has half of the flash storage (16GB) it is positioned with a great price. You still have two cameras, a 2.0 megapixel on the front and a 5.0 megapixel on the back. The biggest negative will be its bulk but the biggest benefit will be its price. So if you are looking for a Honeycomb tablet this is one that you don’t have to give away your kid’s college fund away to obtain.

(PR) Acer Announces Iconia Touchbook Dual-Screen Tablet

Acer today announced that its much anticipated dual screen tablet, the Iconia-6120 Dual-Screen Touchbook is now available for pre-sale in North America. Providing a powerful, immersive touch experience like no other, it is the world's first and only tablet to offer two touch-enabled 14-inch high-definition widescreen LED backlit LCDs.

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Fall is going to be an exciting time for us hardware geeks

Two things will be be going on this fall and Christmas season, first Intel is releasing its new dual-core Atom processor for Netbooks and we are about to see Netbook Manufacturers like Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba and others releasing new models with this processor installed. This will begin to take the Netbook for internet browsing status to a system with a little more clout. The dual core will help manufacturer’s provide more energy efficient models for us to play with and hopefully we will see a whole slew of these products with full size keyboards and 11.6-inch screens. This will be a great boon for someone that wants a reasonably priced Netbook that will allow them to do more functions more easily…

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Looking for a Reasonably Priced Small Notebook

I've been doing some research recently looking for some smaller notebooks that will give me a little better function than a standard Netbook does. But I was looking for, was something that had a slightly larger screen to give me a larger working area on the screen and something closer to a full size keyboard to accommodate my big hands. Here are two systems that are lightweight and fit my other two criteria.

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