Monday, April 23, 2012

The ultrabook breaks the 40K barrier: The Acer Aspire S3-391-32364G52a

 The Acer Aspire S3 is the companies line of lower cost ultrabooks. In order to cut cost, Acer equipped its S3 with a hybrid drive. A 320 GB hard drive combined with a 20 GB was used in the Acer Aspire S3. On one hand this is more storage than one could expect with a laptop equipped with a SSD drive. Anything larger than 256 GB of SSD storage right now is insanely expensive. Acer has released a newer version of the S3, this time with an Intel Core i3 processor, instead of the more expensive i5's and i7's it was using in its S3. Instead of having Windows 7 Home Premium bundled with the Acer Aspire S3, the new version has Windows 7 Home Basic installed. The hard drive has been upgraded from a 320 GB unit, to a 500 GB unit.  This end result is the cheapest ultrabook we have seen in the Philippine market at a price of Php39,900.

Quick specifications:

Display: 13.3-inch (1366 x 768 pixel) LED back lit LCD
Operating system: Windows 7 Home Basic
Processor: Intel Core i3-2367M (1.30GHz, 3M L3 Cache)
Graphics: Intel HD 3000
Memory: 4 GB
Storage: 500 GB hard drive with a 20 GB SSD as a hibernation partition
Optical drive: None
Card Reader: Yes
 USB 3.0: Yes
HDMI Out: Yes
Battery: 3280 mAh 
Dimensions: 12.59x 8.52 x 0.51/0.68 inches
Weight: 3.1 pounds
Update: The Acer Aspire S3 carried locally, the S3-391-32364G52a, does not appear to have a SSD drive. The same model sold in Australia has a SSD companion drive.

One thing to note. The 16 GB SSD is used as a hibernation partition, only helps the the laptop wake up faster. It does not make the operating system boot, shut down or run faster. Still the Acer Aspire S3 gives you a 13.3-inch laptop which weighs just 3.1 pounds and comes with adequate power for the kind of task you would expect an ultraportable to be able to do, at less than 40K. 

3 comments:

  1. I went to Acer Store at Cyberzone SM North and asked about the SSD. The did not have a stock of any of the S3 models. The store people told me that there will no longer be i5 and i7 versions, only i3 but still order basis. About SSD, they said it no longer has it but the smart cache of i3 would let the S3 wake up instantly just like the older models. With that answer I decided to buy S3 at a very good price, delivered to my desk (local unit). I was surprised to find that the 500Gb HDD (port0) includes a 20Gb SSD (port1). The leaflet that comes with the box says it wakes up faster than you open the lid but unfortunately, it takes 3 seconds to wake up. Am I opening the lid too fast? I'm still so happy with it's performance, appearance and portability. It's so thin and light you can use it as a bookmark ;). BTW, thanks for this blog for letting me know about this product. I'm an Acer hater ever since but I can't wait for other brands to release an ultrabook that is as affordable as this.

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    Replies
    1. Hi. Thanks for the kind words and the input. So it does still have the SSD. I was surprised when the local retailer told me there was none. The SSD on the S3 has always been just used for hibernation mode, even on the older models.

      Three seconds would be okay with me.That is about how long it takes me to open the lid on my laptop.

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