Very thin, very light, very beautiful...
Intel's program to create and bring to market a new class of laptops has entered the practical phase - the first ultrabook has entered the market, Acer Aspire S3. ASUS models will be officially presented in Russia in the near future.
Let me remind you that the concept of an ultrabook as thin and light, but at the same time productive laptop was formulated by Intel, and currently it is this company that coordinates the activities of manufacturers to launch ultrabooks on the market. In theory, the concept of an ultrabook looks interesting. According to Intel, it could lead to the formation of a new class of laptops. On the other hand, it is precisely in the concept and in the way it is being promoted to the market that there are a number of rather incomprehensible points that call into question its successful future. However, a separate material on our website is devoted to these issues.
But today we have a slightly different topic to talk about, namely: Acer’s first ultrabook, the Aspire S3. It has already gone on sale in the USA, and is now entering the Russian market. They gave it to us for a very short time, which excluded the possibility of serious research. However, a general impression of the model can be formed in three to four days.
To be honest, after reading Intel's mission statements, platform requirements, the main elements of the Ultrabook concept, viewing photographs created by different manufacturers models, I was left with the impression that the entire project is either a cloning or a response to the Macbook Air, and is based primarily not on the needs of the market, but on the functionality and charisma of this laptop.
In this regard, I was lucky: right during testing of the Aspire S3, a Macbook Air was brought to the office latest generation, so we were able to compare these two models head-to-head.
But we will start not with comparison, but with objective information. The Aspire S3 model was officially presented on September 2, began selling in the USA around October 11, and is entering our market now. So, what is the Acer Aspire S3? Let's see.
Line configuration
Well, based on the state of the Acer website, you can roughly assess the state of affairs in the ultrabook project. Firstly, ultrabooks are not singled out as a category, and something tells me that they are unlikely to be singled out (they are not singled out as a separate group even on the Intel website). Information about the Aspire S3 model is in the laptops section. Secondly, the description of the Aspire S Series line does not contain the word ultrabook or even ultrabook. Thirdly, there is only one model available in the section (the names of Acer models can only be transferred via copy/paste, otherwise you will certainly get confused). And this, as you might guess, is the cheapest announced.
| Acer Aspire S3 | ||
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i5-2467M, 1.6 GHz | |
| Chipset | Intel Cougar Point UM67, Intel Sandy Bridge | |
| RAM | 4 GB, DDR3 | |
| Video subsystem | Intel integrated | |
| Screen | 13.3″, 16:9, WXGA (1366×768), LED backlight | |
| Sound subsystem | Realtek ALC269 | |
| Hard drive | hybrid drive 320 GB, Hitachi HTS543232A7A384 (5400 RPM, SATA-II) 20 GB SSD |
|
| Optical drive | absent | |
| Network interfaces | wired network | No |
| wireless network | IEEE 802.11b/g/n | |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 4.0 | |
| additionally | No | |
| Card reader | SD/MMC | |
| Interfaces and ports | USB | 2 |
| VGA Out | No | |
| HDMI | Yes | |
| DisplayPort | No | |
| eSATA | No | |
| RJ45 | No | |
| ExpressCard | No | |
| headphone output | yes, combined with microphone input | |
| microphone input | yes, combined | |
| line output | No | |
| additionally | No | |
| Input devices | keyboard | standard |
| touchpad | standard, without dedicated buttons | |
| additionally | No | |
| Battery | 3260 mAh, 37740 mWh | |
| power unit | Parameters: 19 V, 65 W | |
| IP telephony | webcam | There is |
| microphone | There is | |
| Additionally | No | |
| operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit | |
| Dimensions | 323×219×17.5 mm | |
| Weight | N/A | |
| Warranty period | 1 year | |
There is nothing special about the configuration that is worth noting.
Appearance and ergonomics of the case
Acer designers chose a discreet gray shade for their model. Some people find it “mousy”, but I liked it. This laptop can be used for a long time; the calm, discreet tone of the case does not get boring.
When closed, the ultrabook (I’ll try to call the Aspire S3 by this word instead of the now commonplace “laptop”) looks like a beautiful, thin toy. Thin and light models always give such an impression; they are simply pleasant to hold in your hands. Previously, such thin and stylish models could be found mainly in model range Sony, but they cost so much that you could only buy them if you didn’t mind spending money on a toy. The Acer Aspire S3 claims to be a well-known democracy and should be accessible to a wide audience.
In general, I liked the look of the closed laptop. The first impression of it is what a beautiful toy. During testing, this impression largely remains.
The top cover is metal with a clearly visible corresponding texture and an imprinted Acer logo. The body is slicked, with softly rounded edges and corners. It does not look like a wedge, but rather rounded, reminiscent of a thick, thick folder for papers. At the back of the case, in the area of the hinges, there is a black insert; it enlivens the case a little more.
Despite the fact that the surface is smooth, the laptop is quite comfortable to carry and does not slip out of your hands. The laptop weighs a little, around 1.3 kg, i.e. weight will not be a problem either.
As for scratches, it is now difficult to say how resistant this ultrabook is to them. However, the bottom of the laptop, in my opinion, is plastic (possibly reinforced, but still), so there will be abrasions on it. The metal cover should not be scratched. By the way, it should protect the matrix well from slight shock or pressure, but due to the fact that it is very thin, it curls, and distortions may even appear on the matrix. But during normal operation the safety margin should be sufficient.
Although the movement of the hinges is relatively easy, it is still impossible to open the ultrabook with one hand - the lightweight case simply rises from the table following the lid. You have to hold the body with your second hand. When closing, somewhere starting from an angle of 8-10 degrees, the lid slams shut on its own. The hinges have an unpleasant drawback: they are not very tight, which causes the lid to swing when exposed to external vibration. For example, if you hit the keys hard or the laptop is on a soft surface while typing, it will wobble all the time. This is unpleasant, especially if you look at the top of the screen, where the amplitude is already noticeable.
An open laptop looks calm but nice. In principle, with such a small thickness of the case, other design refinements are no longer needed. The unusual location of the power button immediately catches your eye.
By the way, the Aspire S3 has poor weight distribution. We have repeatedly encountered this problem in netbooks, and ultrabooks, apparently, will also be susceptible to it. The fact is that in light laptops all the elements that weigh more or less are located practically under the matrix, and the front part of the case turns out to be very light. Therefore, the tilted screen already noticeably outweighs it - this laptop will stand unsteadily on your knees, and even on a soft surface with the lid pulled back too far it will fall back.
So, the Aspire S3 made a good impression on me purely aesthetically. An elegant, lightweight toy that is pleasant to hold in your hands. The thin body really looks attractive in person, and this Ultrabook doesn't hurt at all from the gray color. On the contrary, it creates the right mood.
Let's see how the ultrabook fares with expandability.
Case ergonomics
The connector section of the review should be much shorter for Ultrabooks than for regular models. Due to the very thin body with sharp edges, the designers’ imagination is seriously limited, and you can’t really go wild with the ports. Some ports such as jack wired network, VGA output, DVI, etc. can only be placed as a result of a small feat, and not all at once. In general, everything thick is prohibited. But relatively thin connectors (such as USB) have a hard time: they still won’t fit on sloping surfaces. Therefore, Acer made a forced, but controversial from an ergonomic point of view, decision: they left the smoothly rounded side edges, but moved almost all the connectors to the rear edge.
So, there can be nothing in front; there is not even a front edge as such.
On the left panel, closer to the back, there is one universal headset jack (headphones + microphone).
On the right is the SD card reader slot. It is closed with a terribly inconvenient plug, which you can only get out by picking it up with your fingernail. If you often insert cards into the port, then it’s easier to throw out the plug altogether and put up with the fact that dust will accumulate in the connector. The inserted card sticks out of the port.
All ports are located on the back, in the central black insert and towards the center of the laptop. That's why every Since, in order to connect something, you will have to either unfold the laptop or close the lid, risking that it will slam shut and the laptop will fall asleep.
So, on the rear panel there are two USB ports, an HDMI video output and a power connector. By the way, the power supply plug, as usual with Acer, is angled, so if it is turned towards the ports, you won’t be able to insert anything into either the HDMI or the USB closest to it; you have to reposition the power cord.
Formally, there is nothing interesting at the bottom. A metal plate covers the attachment point hard drive, i.e. theoretically it should not be in models with SSD.
In general, in terms of the location of the ports, this model is clearly not a champion in ergonomics. About five to seven years ago, this arrangement was considered normal, but now users are spoiled by comfortable ergonomic cases (well, those who are familiar with them). Each time closing the screen and leaning over it to connect power or a USB mouse is overkill. There is another option to rotate the laptop back and forth around its axis, but the legs are rubber, so it turns reluctantly.
Keyboard
The Acer keyboard layout complies with modern standards, so there are no problems when typing. I should immediately note that the keyboard is made of gray color, matching the body. The letters are printed in white and have enough contrast to avoid any problems with legibility.
Although it is clear that the keyboard is compressed (for example, on the e key), there is still a lot of space on the sides of the case. The thought creeps in that Acer is either preparing to release 11-inch solutions, and they need a unified keyboard, or for some reason it was adjusted in size to the Air.
One of the features that immediately catches your eye is the unusual shape of the Enter key. This feature does not affect the work in any way.
That's what affects the work - it's an inconvenient cursor. The keys are very small, closely spaced, and PgUp and PgDn are also built into the cursor block. It seems convenient by design, but in real life it is almost impossible to press a small key without hitting the adjacent one. And my fingers are not quite large yet. In general, working with a cursor is very difficult and inconvenient.
By the way, according to rough estimates, there would be enough space in the case for an additional row of keys, i.e., additional editing keys could well be made in the form of a vertical row on the right, and not shoved into the cursor block.
In terms of layout, the keyboard is quite common for modern laptops; the layout does not have any specific features; overall it is good.
The sensation of printing is very strange and unusual. The fact is that due to the strict requirements for the thickness of the ultrabook, everything inside is very tightly packed. The keyboard did not escape this fate either: the depth of pressing decreased. In this regard, the keys are more reminiscent of telephone keys than the keyboard of a full-size laptop. I can’t help but remember the battles between supporters of desktop keyboards with long key travel and laptop keyboards, which at that time seemed very “small”. Now history seems to be repeating itself.
However, I can’t say that the keyboard is uncomfortable. On the contrary, with a very small depth of key travel, it turned out to be almost silent and at the same time with a clear feeling of pressing the key. When typing, you can only hear the soft clatter of keys, but it is inevitable. In terms of noise level, the keyboard is one of the quietest I have seen.
During the three days that I had the ultrabook, I tried to type more to get used to the keyboard and appreciate its merits. In general, after getting used to it, this keyboard is very pleasant to work with, and it is good to type at a high pace. True, at the same time I had quite a lot of typos from the “key was not pressed” series. This is especially noticeable when you start editing the text of an article.
So, the keyboard is very unusual, but I liked it. Objectively speaking, you can type on it quickly and at a high pace. I think, due to the ease of pressing, it will also be suitable for women.
Additional keys and indicators
There are no additional keys, traditionally there is only a power button.
It is located very unusually, but uncomfortable. First of all, it's just unusual. Secondly, to press it, the movement must be horizontal, and not vertical, as usual. If you are sitting in front of a laptop, then you have to poke the key, and if you are standing in front of it, then starting it is generally difficult and inconvenient. Thirdly, if the ultrabook is standing on a soft surface, then when you press a button (even softly) it may start to wobble.
Additional key functions are standard. F3 controls the connection of wireless interfaces (when you press the button, a control utility appears on the screen with two sliders - for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth), F4 - sends the laptop to sleep mode, F5 - switches image output to the external interface, F6 - turns off the screen backlight to save money energy (i.e. the diodes are cut off, but the image on the screen remains active), F7 turns off the touchpad, F8 turns off the sound.
Everything would be fine, but it’s inconvenient to perform combinations, because you have to reach for the keys, while the F1 and F2 keys “closest” to Fn are left without functions.
Brightness and sound level are traditionally adjusted using the cursor keys.
There are only two indicators: operation and battery status. The indicators are small, like pinheads. Both indicators have two colors, orange and blue. For the work indicator: blue - the laptop is working, blinking orange - sleep (by the way, the ultrabook should go into hibernation!). For the battery indicator: blue - charged, orange - charging. In principle, the goal has been achieved: they are visible both with the lid open and with the lid closed, readability is above average. But they are very small, i.e. a person with poor eyesight may simply not be able to see them.
In connection with Intel's announced initiative to switch to SSD, the access indicator hard drive missing as a class. The problem is that initiative is initiative, and hard drive in this model there is, and it is the main one. And an indicator wouldn't hurt at all. Moreover, the absence of an indicator does not at all mean the absence of brakes when working with a disc.
Touchpad
All announced ultrabooks (except one) have a large, uniquely shaped touchpad and no distinct buttons. Just for information: 99% of laptops in the PC industry always have wide touchpads with clearly visible or two or three buttons separated from the touchpad, as well as dedicated scrolling areas. All Apple laptops, despite the fact that there was traditionally one button, the touchpad is large, almost square, does not have pronounced buttons, and pressing a button means pressing the entire touchpad. This raises the question, what are Ultrabooks more like - laptops or Macbook Airs?
The touchpad is slightly recessed into the body. Not the worst option, but I still had chaotic cursor jumps when typing, which caused the text input location to move and printing became almost impossible. Because of this, when actively printing, you have to turn off the touchpad and connect an external mouse, which is somewhat uncome il faut for a portable ultrabook, and connecting it is inconvenient.
The touchpad has a fully touch surface, i.e. the button areas also participate in the operation. At the same time, there was no inadequate response to button presses, which was so annoying on older HP models (which also had a single touchpad). Everything is set up here and working well.
The touchpad, unfortunately, has another problem - it does not always respond either to the first movement after a pause (i.e., it falls asleep), or to a slight movement of the finger on the surface. I didn’t understand exactly, but often the movements simply weren’t practiced. It's incredibly annoying when you swipe your finger on the touchpad, but it doesn't work and you have to swipe it again.
There are no buttons here, you have to press the touchpad itself. It determines which button is pressed by where the finger is.
Screen and sound
The matrix in this ultrabook, frankly speaking, did not impress.
Firstly, it is very specular (or specular and with a low level of backlight). When watching movies, your own reflection is much more visible than what is happening on the screen. In general, reflections are very noticeable in this model.
Secondly, brightness. The screen has LED backlighting. At the same time, subjectively it seemed to me that at the maximum level the brightness is not bad, especially with normal room lighting. However, during a formal study (when you work in different ambient lighting conditions and look closely), you still get the impression that the brightness is not very high. Given the glossiness, working with the screen in very strong or very low light conditions may not be entirely comfortable.
Thirdly, the vertical angles of the matrix are bad. When working, especially with text, this doesn’t really affect it; as a rule, there is a contrasting picture (although the glossiness interferes). More or less enough to work with the Internet. In movies or when viewing photographs, corners are missing because either the top or bottom of the screen fades.
The sound is bad, even for a laptop. Perhaps, with some reservations, it is enough for Internet telephony, but even watching movies was not very pleasant. However, this may not be considered a disadvantage: after all, it’s hardly possible to squeeze normal speakers into an ultra-thin laptop. And in terms of price, the Aspire S3 seems to belong to the economical series.
Testing
So, let's move on to analyzing the configuration and performance of the Acer Aspire S3. And let's start traditionally with the processor.
This model has a processor. This dual core processor with Hyperthreading. The nominal operating frequency is 1.6 GHz, the maximum is 2.3 GHz. The thermal package of this processor is 17 W with a 32 nm process technology. Graphics integrated into the processor Intel core HD Graphics 3000.
Let's look at the performance of the memory subsystem.
In the Aspire S3 ultrabook, the memory operates in single-channel mode. For this mode the results are normal.
Let us separately turn to the data storage subsystem, it is interesting here.
The system shows two disks, an SSD and a regular hard drive. As you can see, the SSD is used for hibernation, and it may also be used for caching.
Let's look at the speed of both drives.
The SSD test results are very good, but the hard drive shows average speed.
Testing in synthetic packages
This time we're only doing very brief testing on a couple of synthetic packages. Such tests only give a rough idea of the speed of the system. For comparison, we took two laptops:
- ASUS U30s: has Core processor i3-2310M and weak external NVIDIA video card 520M.
- HP Probook 6360b: Core i5-2520M processor, integrated Intel video.
In comparison with their results, it is possible, at least approximately, to determine the level of performance of the energy-saving processor installed in the ultrabook.
To begin with - Windows 7 operating system rating. This is the simplest test, moreover, the rating is compiled for any computer and laptop with operating system Windows, so you can compare the results of the two systems instantly.
Cinebench test. A test from Maxon, which develops 3D modeling packages, i.e. the test is adapted version real engine. Both the old Cinebench R10 and the more modern Cinebench 11.5 are used.
Unfortunately, for version 10 the official description is no longer available. The package renders three scenes. The results include a rendering assessment: the performance of one processor core, the performance of the entire processor (calculations are parallelized across all available cores), and the performance of the graphics subsystem in OpenGL.
| Launch | Cinebench 10.0 | Cinebench 11.5 | |||
| 1 CPU | All CPU | OpenGL | OpenGL | CPU | |
| Acer Aspire S3 | 3559 | 7332 | 4020 | 11,5 | 1,93 |
| ASUS U30s | 3447 | 7559 | 4884 | 15,40 | 2,07 |
| HP Probook 6360b | 5114 | 10753 | 5038 | 8,41 | 2,85 |
In these semi-synthetic tests, the Core i5-2467M performs at normal levels Mobile Core The i3-2310M is either slightly behind it or significantly behind the 2520M. Moreover, the performance increase when using all available cores is only slightly more than 2 times, i.e., the increase from hyperthreading is minimal for this test.
Thus, the approximate performance level of the Core i5-2467 ULV version should be slightly lower than that of the Core i3-2310M. Of course, as soon as a laptop with such a processor falls into our hands for more long term, we will test this assumption in a full set of tests.
Testing operating temperature, heating and noise
Let's look at processor frequencies, system and case heating, and system performance under load. First, let's talk about the processor operating mode.
When idle, the processor operates at the standard Sandy Bridge frequency of 800 MHz. The supply voltage is 0.831 V.
After turning on the load, the processor frequency is immediately set to 2 GHz.
At the same time, the voltage increased extremely slightly, to 0.966 V (maximum - 0.971 V). The frequency under load is stable. Let's look at the processor temperature under load.
Before starting the test, the temperature conditions of the components are good.
As you can see, after turning on the load, the temperature does not rise so quickly.
And very quickly its growth slows down. This indicates either a good cooling system or that the processor generates little heat.
In general, nothing interesting - the temperature regime has stabilized, and at a very low level, below 70 degrees.
Nothing interesting happens in the future.
The laptop is slowly gaining temperature, but its increase is very slow. To summarize, the temperature under load is at a very good level.
And we move on to analyzing the heating of the system itself. To do this, we use data on the temperature of internal components obtained in the Everest test utility. If core temperatures differ significantly from the temperature of the processor as a whole, they are shown in parentheses.
When testing, the room was 24-25 degrees.
The data shown here is the same as in the graphs above. I repeat, the temperature conditions of the processor and hard drive are very good.
When it comes to heating the case, everything is also fine. The only thing is that for some reason the left stand gets warm, its temperature is around 30 degrees, regardless of whether the ultrabook is under load or not. A bit much, considering that there is nothing to warm up there; it should be empty underneath. The stand feels slightly warm in the palm of your hand. For comparison, the right stand was always 26 degrees, which is room temperature.
The hottest spot on the bottom warmed up from 32 to 35 degrees under load, but most of the bottom remained cold. The temperature of the plate at the bottom is always 31 degrees. Exhaust temperature under load is 50 degrees.
In general, the heating of the case is minimal. The laptop should not have any problems with temperature conditions under any usage scenarios.
But there are comments regarding the noise. The first time after the start, the fan operates at the lowest speed and you can only hear it if you put your ear almost to the grille. But, unfortunately, this ultrabook is not enough. Even if you only work in text editor, after about half an hour, from time to time the fan begins to turn on at higher speeds, and in this case it is already clearly audible even during the day in the office (cars are driving outside the window, and people are walking outside the door...). The noise is a high-pitched howl, like a turbine. At night at home, the sound of the fan can already be heard very well, and not only by you, but also by those around you. Moreover, the work did not go beyond the office and the Internet, well, at most - with a flash video.
Thus, Acer chose an operating scheme in which the fan works more actively (and noisier), but the case heats up less.
Battery life
Testing for battery life is carried out in two modes: minimal load mode (reading text from the screen) and when watching a movie. Tests are carried out without the use of test programs. Energy saving parameters: the power scheme is set to “balanced”; if the laptop manufacturer offers its own power scheme with similar characteristics, it is set. The monitor shutdown time is set to “never”. There are no other interventions in power management (switching graphics, turning off components, etc.), they remain at default values. The screen brightness is set to maximum, wireless interfaces are switched off. During testing, the laptop reboots, all utilities installed by the manufacturer are launched (except antivirus program, it is uninstalled before tests).
When testing for time battery life In reading mode, no programs are launched, except for a utility that measures battery life.
When testing for playing a movie from a laptop hard drive, the movie is played in AVI. For playback, the portable version of Media Player Classic is used, which contains built-in codecs.
Passport container with big battery- 37740 mWh.
From a user point of view, the results are disappointing.
From a technical and technological point of view, such a battery life is quite logical: the screen consumes a lot, this model has a hard drive installed, the processor, even if it is ULV, also consumes something. And with all this - a rather small battery.
But what does the user care about all this?
This level of autonomy today is an average level. Most inexpensive laptops have about the same battery life. For example, this is almost the standard level of performance of modern netbooks. And models designed to go without a power outlet for a long time can withstand up to 9 hours in the most economical mode. Not to go far for examples, both laptops with which we compared the performance level of the Aspire S3 are capable of battery life of 7-8 hours without load and 6-7 with load.
And from the point of view of work scenarios, the maximum level of four and a half hours is not very much. This is enough for a maximum of a not very long business meeting if it is one and you no longer need to use the laptop (here it is appropriate to remember about periodic “automatic” email checks with a sleeping laptop). Moreover, the thin and light Aspire S3 should encourage the owner to take the laptop with him everywhere. In the case of the Aspire S3, if we are not talking about a short trip to a business meeting, then you will have to take it along with a large and heavy power supply. On the Internet, the laptop will be able to work, God willing, for three and a half hours, which is also not very much.
Thus, the Aspire S3 is at an average level of autonomy today and is only enough for a short meeting or a movie and a half. It is not recommended to move away from the outlet with it
Impressions from use, additional information
So, what can we say based on the results of our three-day acquaintance with the Aspire S3?
First of all, it is a beautiful toy, i.e., to some extent, the effect of attractiveness of the ultrabook has been achieved. You really want to turn it in your hands, play with it... and want it to stay in your hands longer. I don't want to give it away.
At home, if you do not move away from the outlet, it is pleasant to work with it. He took it into the kitchen, took it into the room, and put it on his knees. Convenient to carry, it’s nice that he wakes up quickly (about 1.5 seconds). By the way, I discovered this peculiarity of my perception. Although all the laptops that I have tested recently wake up almost instantly, it has still been ingrained in my head since ancient times that allowing it to go into sleep mode is bad, better time move the cursor around the screen from time to time so that the laptop does not fall asleep. There are two reasons for this: firstly, old laptops really took a long time to wake up (up to a minute) and cracked the disk for a long time. Secondly, the transition to sleep and back does not always have a beneficial effect on programs. For example, I'm starting to have problems playing a movie from an external drive (for some reason the player can no longer receive data, but if I stop playback and start it again, everything is fine). I hope that new laptops will gradually break this stereotype.
But in general, autonomy is, of course, disappointing. This is precisely a subjective disappointment. With a laptop this thin and light, you really want to take it with you everywhere. But if you take it without a power supply, then it constantly discharges on its own. interesting place- at most, I managed to use it at a business meeting, but by the end of it I was already starting to wonder what would happen first - the meeting would end or the battery would run out?
Moreover, the ultrabook is really thin, light and takes up very little space in your bag. Much smaller than its own power supply with two cables. And the power supply adds 400 grams to the weight. Therefore, without a power supply it can be carried in anything, but with it - only in special bag. And in a special bag it becomes absolutely unimportant whether you have an ultrabook or a larger 14-inch laptop.
In my work, I found that the Aspire S3 has rather poor Wi-Fi sensitivity compared to other laptops and even a smartphone. The “regular laptop” standing nearby picked up our office network quite reliably, and I always sit in one place and never experienced problems with reception (although the signal level there is no longer very high). But it didn’t work out with the ultrabook: the signal level was worse (according to a specialized utility, 20% versus 30% for another laptop), but the connection was constantly interrupted, the laptop refused to connect when I was between it and the router - I had to sit sideways. At home in difficult places the situation repeated itself. It seems that the antennas had to be made in a black insert in the case, and when the router is behind the user’s back, both the laptop case with all the filling, and the user himself are in the path of the already not very powerful signal.
Finally, when I was quietly sitting on the Internet, checking how long the hero of the review would last on battery power, the ultrabook stopped picking up networks altogether, apparently offended by the passage about poor connectivity in the article. This, in my opinion, is generally beyond good and evil - especially considering that there are simply no other network interfaces in this model. After the reboot everything worked, but still.
Positioning and output
The most difficult question is to determine for whom the ultrabook is intended. The easiest way, of course, is to write something like “for those who want Air, but don’t have enough money.” We will touch on the topic of comparison with Air later, but now it’s worth deciding on the profile of the user of this model.
In my opinion, the problems with the positioning of this laptop lie not in the model, but in the very concept of the ultrabook - as Intel sees it.
Externally, the Acer Aspire S3 looks like a cute toy. Yes, its visual appeal may well add points to it when purchasing, especially if it were cheaper. A laptop for 32, and even more so for 39 or 45 thousand rubles is bought quite consciously (at least in large numbers; there are people who are able to just pay 32,000 rubles because they liked it, but there are not many of them, and they, rather, they will choose models from another manufacturer). However, if you approach the choice of your new laptop consciously, you will find a lot of competitors that are faster, more functional, and at the same time cheaper. Well, yes, not thin, but the overpayment for a thin body turns out to be too much.
If you look at the specification, although among ultrabooks the Aspire S3 is considered a simplified model, for modern laptop It has a pretty good configuration with some nice features. In principle, in terms of performance, the system is also at a good level for modern systems level. The speed of the ultrabook should be enough for modern tasks, even quite demanding ones. But functionality is limited, also due to the thin and light body. There are few ports and they are located inconveniently.
Moreover, based on the test results, the modest size and weight are wasted. Theoretically, it would be good to use an ultrabook as a traveling model, but due to the weak battery this does not work out very well. In other words, you can carry it with you all day, but you should turn it on infrequently and not for long. Moreover, if in the case of other, larger laptops you are philosophical about this, then with the Acer Aspire S3 this does not work out: firstly, with its entire appearance it hints at “road use”, and secondly, compared to a thin and light laptop, it is too Its power supply seems too big - if you take it with wires, then it takes up almost more space than the laptop itself, and at the same time weighs about 1/3 of the total weight of the laptop (their ratio is 400 g to 1.3 kg ).
Not very noticeable in use good screen and sound, I also didn’t like the loud hum of the cooling system. Although it is very nice that the ultrabook does not heat up, and you can always hold it on your lap.
In general, the ultabuk is not bad in terms of configuration and user impressions. Unfortunately, the short battery life negates the advantage of the thin and light design. But this is the only significant advantage of a modern ultrabook!
Even with this configuration and this price, the Aspire S3 is more expensive than, for example, the TimelineX 3830T, which has a faster platform, good external graphics, a sturdy body, and a large battery... Unless it doesn’t have a hybrid drive, and that, of course, significantly thicker. But it also costs 3-4 thousand less. Although I won’t draw conclusions now, since the Aspire S3 has just entered the market, prices for it are likely to fall.
By the way, let me remind you that Russian prices for Acer Aspire S3 ultrabooks are given in rubles.
| Aspire S3 Pre-Order | Price, rub. |
||||||
| LX.RSE02.095 | S3-951-2634G24iss | Core i7 2637M | Intel HD Graphics 3000 | 4 GB RAM | SSD 240 GB | BT 4.0 | 54 990 |
| LX.RSE02.030 | S3-951-2464G24iss | Core i5 2467M | Intel HD Graphics 3000 | 4 GB RAM | SSD 240 GB | BT 4.0 | |
| LX.RSF02.169 | S3-951-2634G52iss | Core i7 2637M | Intel HD Graphics 3000 | 4 GB RAM | HDD 500 GB | BT 4.0 | |
| LX.RSF02.011 | S3-951-2464G34iss | Core i5 2467M | Intel HD Graphics 3000 | 4 GB RAM | HDD 320 GB | BT 4.0 | |
The prices are impressive, but considering that even the website only contains a description of the cheapest configuration, the manufacturer soberly assesses the future popularity of the line.
Well, who is all this happiness for? As a result, we have a niche solution that people will buy either as a gift or because they liked it. Well, or for those who need something like a Macbook Air, but don’t want to buy a Macbook. But I want something very similar. And always thin and light, as thin and light as possible. There are probably such people, but they are few...
Positioning
“A new class of devices” – let’s leave such formulations to marketers. Let's immediately agree, looking at the Aspire S3: this is what ordinary “workhorses” will look like from now on. Lightweight, powerful enough for today's everyday tasks, with a runtime of over 4 hours. Acer Aspire S3 and similar devices, which one after another will soon begin to appear on store shelves, on the one hand, are simple, on the other hand, they provide their owner with everything necessary. If for you there is no difference between 11 and 13 inches, if you don’t feel the benefits of 1.4 kg of weight, and you absolutely don’t care how quickly the laptop wakes up from sleep. In all these cases, it will be very difficult for you to understand why manufacturers demand more than 35,000 rubles for ultrabooks. If all of the above is important to you, then welcome, let’s talk further.
Design
In fact, the positioning of ultrabooks described above is completely copied from the first-born – the brainchild of Apple called Macbook Air. It is not surprising that the devices are extremely similar in appearance to these laptops. One can argue for a long time about how otherwise it would be possible to implement appearance what materials to use. The fact is obvious: in many devices, if you remove the logo, they all become either one of the ultrabooks or Air from Apple.
However, it's hard to say that the Aspire S3 turned out to be ugly. Quite the opposite. People who are far from technical details, having twirled and weighed this device in their hands, nod affirmatively and say that they would be happy to take it as a working (read, typewriter with network access) device.
The design is cute, moderately strict - suitable for both boys and girls. The Aspire S3 is almost entirely silver, both outside and inside. The material used is officially called "magnesium-aluminum alloy with special coating." It feels like metal to the touch, especially when you take the device out of a bag or packaging and touch the lid - you will certainly like the pleasant coolness. Everything inside is painted silver. Even buttons. And only in the middle the area next to the hinges is made of black material.
Physical dimensions, as befits an ultrabook classification, are very modest: 323x219x17.5-13 mm, weight less than 1.4 kg
Keyboard, touchpad
As I wrote above, the buttons are silver. The symbols are printed in white. As a result, if you are planning to use headphones with your laptop, then the white option will work very well (unless, of course, you are even a little concerned about how the combination of different gadgets looks).
The keyboard is somewhat unusual. But the point here is not the configuration of the keys (although there are nuances here too). At first, the typing experience is somewhat ambiguous. The fact is that the buttons have a short stroke, as a result of which at first there were multiple clicks when typing texts. The texts contained a large number of typos specifically regarding double letters.
Despite the fact that Acer decided to shorten some keys, when typing texts - I can do it blindly - this did not bring discomfort. In addition to micro-cursors, there is a small enter. The photographs show how it is implemented in S3.
The top row of buttons is also small. But this is a common option.
As a summary of the keyboard: typing texts is convenient and, by and large, familiar. The only note: you need to get used to the peculiarities of the key stroke. This happened to me literally in one evening of typing a couple of texts.
Unfortunately, there is no backlight here.
The touchpad is large. Its use is no different from that of other laptops. The only difference is that to scroll you need to use a two-finger gesture. But all manufacturers seem to be removing the separate scrolling area.
I used the touchpad extremely rarely - more often I just “tapped”. Pressing “ right button mouse” is performed using the lower right corner.
Screen
I'm glad that Acer didn't make the frame around the screen glossy - it, like the entire body, is made of silver matte plastic. The screen, despite its small thickness, does not bend, and physical impacts from the outside do not lead to streaks on the display. Diagonal 13.3 inches, Resolution 1366x768 pixels. The viewing angles are typical for laptops: they are quite enough for you for individual work. And even if someone decides to keep you company while watching a movie, you can easily look at the display from the side without observing a strong change in color.
The maximum opening angle of the lid is shown in the photograph.
Sound, ports
I wouldn't call the sound capabilities anything outstanding. Of course, you need to take into account that the body here is small, and at the same time the device can easily provide sound when watching a movie. Apparently, Dolby technology contributed here. Home Theater fourth generation.
Multimedia capabilities continue with an HDMI port for connecting to a TV or home theater, as well as a 3.5 mm jack for connecting headphones. For the first time I encountered the fact that when connecting headphones I had to turn down the volume to about 20 percent. Otherwise, the positive musical vibrations were ready to deprive me of my eardrums.
There is also a 2 in 1 card reader hole on the side (SD and MultiMediaCard). There are only two USBs - both on the rear end of the laptop. This arrangement, on the one hand, frees up the side edges (there simply would not be enough thickness of the case), and on the other hand, the location at the back may be inconvenient for use on the knees when connected to USB port-flash drive.
Food, working hours
The Aspire S3 has a three-cell battery with a capacity of 3260 mAh. This is not much by modern standards. And although Acer promises about 7 hours of work, during the test we managed to achieve a result of 4 hours of HD video viewing and about 4.5 hours when working with text and an active Internet connection.
Power consumption in sleep mode, as promised, is low: in 11 hours of inactivity, the Aspire S3 consumed only 6 percent of the charge.
The power adapter is small, although somewhat larger than those used to charge Aspire One netbooks. It takes about 3 hours to fully charge.
Performance
The configuration of our copy is as follows (S3-951):
- Processor: Intel Core i5-2467M, 1.6 GHz
- Video card: Intel HD Graphics
- RAM: 4 GB DDR3
- HDD: 320 GB
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth 4.0
Performance is basically as expected. Second generation Intel Core i5, frequency 1.6 GHz. The assembly of components inside the laptop is in front of you. To do this, you need to unscrew the 12 screws on the bottom. I’m not sure whether the manufacturer provides for the possibility of self-upgrade by users.
For high performance, an interesting combined storage system was used. In various configurations, the Aspire S3 contains an HDD (320 or 500 GB) or an SSD (240 GB), but there is always a small 20 GB SSD drive inside the case. It is present here to implement quick awakening, as well as speed up work system processes. I won’t provide any data on speed other than graphs.
But I can’t praise the time and speed of awakening. The technology is called Acer Green Instant On, a demonstration is in the video. But I will repeat: the Aspire S3 really wakes up in 1-2 seconds. That is, we close the laptop and go about our business. If we want to work, we open the lid, and after a moment the OS login window appears on the screen.
After a longer sleep, the laptop falls asleep a little deeper, but even from this state it takes about 6 seconds to be ready to work. Setting the behavior of the laptop when idle is carried out through special software.
Software:
Noise, heating
The Aspire S3 is noisy, like other laptops. That is, an ultrabook cannot be called absolutely silent; also, when the version with an HDD is running, the rustling of the drive can be heard. The cooling system copes with its job, you are unlikely to get burned on this ultrabook. If the temperature rises, it is to a “slightly warm” state, not more. I'm guessing that the material used played a role here too: if it weren't an alloy, you'd probably constantly feel the temperature rise in your knees.
Conclusions
We reviewed the first ultrabook to go on sale. Acer has created a very strong and balanced device. If there is one thing I would like to improve, it is the operating time. Still, the three-cell battery is “too small.” However, the demonstrated performance indicators are quite suitable for serious matters. As a last resort, you can take a power adapter with you for charging - it is not very big.
In all other respects, we have a working device: it is lightweight, productive, and does not heat up. At the same time, the Aspire S3 turns on quickly, has an HDMI port, and has an excellent keyboard - as they say, “I don’t want to work.”
Currently, only one configuration of the Acer Aspire S3 (S3-951) is on sale, and we tested it; at the start of sales, the price was 35,000 rubles.
During the 4th quarter of 2011, the following Acer Aspire S3 configurations will go on sale in Russian retail chains:
- Aspire S3-951-2634G24iss Core i7 2637M Intel® HD Graphics 3000 4Gb RAM SSD 240Gb BT 4.0 W7HP RUR 64,54,990
- Aspire S3-951-2464G24iss Core i5 2467M Intel® HD Graphics 3000 4Gb RAM SSD 240Gb BT 4.0 W7HP RUR 64,46,990
- Aspire S3-951-2634G52iss Core i7 2637M Intel® HD Graphics 3000 4Gb RAM HDD 500Gb BT 4.0 W7HP 64 40 990 rub.
- Aspire S3-951-2464G34iss Core i5 2467M Intel® HD Graphics 3000 4Gb RAM HDD 320Gb BT 4.0 W7HP 64 RUR 31,990
The conversation about ultrabooks will not end with this review. I can’t promise other reviews yet, but a comparison article (most likely in the format of a buyer’s guide) of other devices of this class will definitely appear on the site.
Igor Soprun ()
In principle, it was possible to get acquainted with this model much earlier - the engineering sample of the Aspire S3 reached the Russian representative office of Acer quite a long time ago. But we didn’t take risks - the first impression of the device can easily be spoiled due to shortcomings in the pre-production sample. And they decided to start right away with a full-fledged copy - exactly the same as those that will appear on the shelves in a few days Russian stores. So let's get started.
By the way, this is the first one we tested Acer laptop, sporting the company's updated logo. The laptop body is completely metal - made of painted magnesium alloy. The lid is made of metal with a rough polished effect.
It's nice to see that Acer paid attention to detail when designing the exterior. For example, colorful stickers from Intel and Microsoft always introduce a fair amount of disharmony into the design. Here they are dim, gray - the color of the laptop case.
In general, if we ignore the fact that the design was copied almost verbatim, the laptop is really pleasing to the eye. Even the bottom looks like it’s not a shame to turn this side of the Aspire S3 towards people - this is vanishingly rare among Windows laptops.
All the standard logos and necessary decals are neatly applied to the eye-catching shiny metal insert. In addition to the “bulletin board” function, this part has another, more prosaic purpose - but we’ll talk about this a little later.
The laptop can open to a fairly large angle. However, in this case the lid begins to overweight and the body rises above the surface.
The display on the laptop is glossy, which is not very good for an ultra-mobile device. The liquid crystal matrix is quite prosaic - a regular display from AU Optronics. I can't say it's bad. But he doesn’t have any notable advantages. The brightness is average, the contrast is about the same. Horizontal viewing angles are perhaps not the worst. But traditionally there are no vertical ones. In general, a TN matrix is typical for inexpensive laptops.
The height of the keyboard unit coincides with that of the Apple MacBook Air 13 laptops (and all others, in general - the keyboards are the same in all MacBooks). However, the width of the Acer keyboard is approximately 2.5% smaller. And this, of course, is a serious mistake. Because Apple fits 79 keys into its block - and it turns out quite comfortably. And in Acer on less the square has been crammed more the number of buttons is as many as 84 pieces.
The keyboard block is perfectly secured and does not flex when the keys are hit hard. The button mechanics are typical for Acer: without serious flaws, but “tasteless”: the buttons are pressed with excessive ease and somehow feel empty, or something.
The touchpad in the Aspire S3 is a fashionable “buttonless” type. Physical button, of course, there is, but only one, and it is hidden under the panel. Left and right clicks are determined depending on which part of the panel you are in at the moment finger touches. If you touch the left side of the touchpad with your finger and press something non-conductive on the right, it will work exactly like a left click.
The dimensions of the panel are quite large, but not record-breaking: 81x65 millimeters. The coating is not bad, the finger glides over it well and positions the cursor quite accurately. However, covering the best samples touch panels it is still inferior - not “silky” enough.
“Buttonless” generally works well - sometimes it’s even possible to simulate a click without lifting your other hand from the touchpad. However, this trick does not always work, so it is better to immediately get used to touching the panel with only one finger at a time. Moreover, there is support for multi-touch movements (as usual in Windows - quite inconvenient). So if you still don’t lift the second finger, in some cases the system may feel like they want something else from it - scrolling or zooming, for example.
The sides of the laptop turned out to be too thin for the sake of ultra-slim design. Therefore, fitting ports on them would be problematic. Unlike Samsung, Acer did not experiment with folding panels for connectors. The sides of the Aspire S3 are simply and uncomplicatedly left almost empty. There is a memory card reader on the right, and a combined audio jack on the left.
The slot for memory cards is shortened, the card inserted into it sticks out half the length. The connector has no fixation - the card is simply inserted into it and held solely by friction.
The front side of the case is even thinner - nothing at all would fit on it. Therefore, all the most interesting and useful things are placed on the rear edge of the case. This is where the digital output is located. external monitor(there is no analogue at all) and both available USB 2.0 ports. The power connector is also located here.
The layout is extremely controversial. To connect a flash drive, you either have to turn the back of the laptop towards you, or stand up and look behind the lid. Pulling out the drive by touch is even more or less possible - although problems may arise with particularly compact flash drives. But it is simply impossible to connect anything without visual control.
The fact that the power connector is located here further complicates life. The standard power supply is equipped with an L-shaped plug, so that the wire from the adapter lies along the back of the laptop - and with a 50% probability it obscures the USB and HDMI connectors. Accordingly, extra movement may be required when connecting.
Overall, ergonomics is not this laptop's strong point. In terms of ease of use, the Acer Aspire S3 is inferior to both the original and the most successful copy. This is not only sad, but also incomprehensible. After all, Acer designers have probably studied the shortcomings of existing ultra-thin laptops inside and out. What prevented you from avoiding them when designing your own weightless model?
⇡ Specifications
|
AcerAspireS3 |
|
|---|---|
|
CPU |
Intel Core i5-2467M: 1.6 GHz (up to 2.3 GHz with Turbo Boost); 2x256 KB L2; 3 MB L3; two computing cores |
|
Chipset |
|
|
Graphics controller |
Intel HD 3000, integrated into the processor |
|
Screen |
13.3 inches, 1366x768; |
|
RAM |
4 GB, DDR3-1333 (soldered on the motherboard, Elpida) |
|
Hard drive |
Two drives: 20 GB SSD (used for sleep mode only) 320 GB HDD SATA Rev. 2, 5400 rpm, thickness 7 mm (Hitachi HTS543232A7A) |
|
Optical drive |
Absent |
|
Flash card connector |
|
|
Interfaces |
2 x USB 2.0 |
|
802.11b/g/n (Atheros AR5B225) |
|
|
Bluetooth |
|
|
Network adapter |
|
|
Sound |
two speakers, microphone |
|
Nutrition |
Battery of 3 flat cells, 36.4 Wh (3280 mAh, 11.1 V) Power supply 65 W (19 V; 3.95 A) |
|
Other |
Metal body and cover, webcam |
|
Size, mm |
|
|
Weight, kg |
|
|
operating system |
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64 bit)* |
|
Official manufacturer's warranty |
12 months |
|
From 31,990 rub. |
|
The tested Aspire S3 configuration had one of Intel's low-end ULV processors installed - Core i5-2467M. Unlike the i5-2537M model, which we met at Samsung testing 900X3A, this CPU has a slightly higher nominal frequency - 1.6 GHz versus 1.4. However, the TurboBoost mode settings are less aggressive, so this processor can dynamically accelerate to approximately the same frequency values - 2.1 GHz when both cores are loaded and 2.3 when only one of them is loaded. For the Core i5-2537M, the corresponding values are 2.0 and 2.3 GHz. So the processors are, in general, almost the same.
This CPU has support for the AES-NI instruction set, which speeds up encryption. The only thing it lacks is support for Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) and Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d). Otherwise, this is a fully-fledged Core i5 with all the advantages of this family of processors.
The memory capacity in any Acer Aspire S3 configuration is 4 GB and cannot be increased by any means. For the simple reason that the memory chips in this model are soldered directly to the motherboard, and there are no connectors for installing a standard (or at least non-standard) RAM module in the Aspire S3.
The Acer Aspire S3 uses the UM67 southbridge - the letter U in its name obviously hints at ultra-mobility. In terms of basic characteristics, this chip is almost completely similar to the advanced south bridge HM67. The only difference is that the TDP value is reduced from 3.9 to 3.4 W. This is not such a small saving as it might seem at first glance. For example, it roughly corresponds to the difference between the nominal power consumption of 11- and 13-inch LCD displays.
External graphics system it is not provided for the Aspire S3 - the user will have to be content exclusively with the integrated Intel HD 3000 adapter, which in this case operates at a standard frequency of 350 MHz with the ability to dynamically increase it to 1150 MHz. By the way, in this regard, the Core i5-2467M looks more interesting than the Core i5-2537M - in the latter, the frequency ceiling for the integrated graphics core is 900 MHz.
The list of configurations available in Russia and recommended retail prices at the start of sales is as follows:
|
Configuration |
CPU |
Storage |
Price, rub. |
|
S3-951-2634G24iss |
Core i7-2637M (1.7-2.8 GHz) |
SSD 240 GB |
|
|
S3-951-2464G24iss |
Core i5-2467M (1.6-2.3 GHz) |
SSD 240 GB |
|
|
S3-951-2634G52iss |
Core i7-2637M (1.7-2.8 GHz) |
HDD 500 GB |
|
|
S3-951-2464G34iss |
Core i5-2467M (1.6-2.3 GHz) |
HDD 320 GB |
The price for the junior configuration of the Aspire S3 is the same one we're talking about we're talking about V this review, looks extremely tasty. Apparently, the main sales will come from it. More advanced versions are downright expensive. Most likely, the recommended prices will not be observed for such configurations. You can expect with a high degree of confidence that in practice older Aspire S3s can be purchased much cheaper. Because it’s hard to imagine a person who would overpay almost twice for a device whose only significant competitive advantage - let’s call a spade a spade - is its affordable price.
How does a laptop work?
Since the laptop case is metal, the designers were not able to use latches in this case. The housing halves are attached only with screws. What’s nice is that with a regular Phillips slot, there are no non-standard mockeries like a pentagonal star, as in the MacBook Air. In general, you can disassemble a laptop in literally a couple of tens of seconds, which we, of course, did.
The first thing you can do is make sure that the lower part of the case is made of magnesium alloy. Unfortunately, it’s almost invisible in the photo, but on the bottom there is the marking AZ91D - this is the most popular brand of Mg alloy among laptop manufacturers.
At the same time, here you can see the reverse side of the shiny plate on the bottom. It turns out that this part covers the hard drive. Although the hard drive is thin, in a 7 mm case, it still does not quite fit in thickness - I had to make a cutout in the thick magnesium bottom and cover it with a thin (steel?) plate.
The upper half of the case is also made of magnesium alloy. All the filling is mounted on it. Unfortunately, the wiring interferes with completely separating the halves WiFi antennas- it is fixed on a plastic insert transparent to radio waves, which, in turn, for some reason is glued precisely to the bottom - although nothing seemed to prevent it from being attached to the upper part of the body, making the structure completely dismountable.
The computer itself takes up barely 20% of the volume of the case. Everything else - additional devices. First of all, the battery. It is put together rather stupidly. It takes up a lot of space, and it only has three batteries. There is quite a lot of emptiness inside the Aspire S3, caused by too thin areas of the body. In general, the designers of the Aspire S3 still have potential to improve the layout. Obviously, they will be able to exhaust it somewhere by model S3.3.
As already mentioned, the memory is soldered directly onto the motherboard. As well as the processor, by the way. Proofpick:
The disk system takes up approximately the same amount of space as the main part of the motherboard. Most of the space, of course, goes under the hard drive.
The 20 GB solid-state drive, like the memory and processor, is soldered directly to the motherboard.
This SSD is not intended for storing programs or user data. He is solely responsible for the implementation of “fast sleep” technology - Intel Rapid Start. In a nutshell, the point is that the laptop can go into a non-volatile (to be precise - energy-almost non-dependent) sleep and immediately return from it. Accordingly, SSD is used to store the memory contents.
In fact, Rapid Start mode is not a sleep mode. But not exactly hibernation. Rather, it is a kind of hybrid between these two states, combining the advantages of both modes. However, in the operating system this is called “Sleep,” which is more user-friendly.
And from an interface point of view, it works like a dream. This happens as follows. First, the laptop goes into normal sleep: it doesn’t turn off completely, lazily blinks with the “I’m not turned off, I’m sleeping” indicator and is woken up from the sleep state by any button. Or by opening the lid, if he was put to sleep by simply slamming it shut. However, after a while - in the settings you can set the values 120 and 480 minutes, as they say, without regaining consciousness, the laptop independently carries out the process of quasi-hibernation and goes into “deep sleep”.
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It is brought out of “deep sleep” only by pressing the power button. However - and this is the most important difference from classical hibernation - full load the system does not occur. The laptop wakes up almost instantly. It feels like Intel Rapid Start is faster than the same feature on the MacBook Air. Although we didn’t test it with a stopwatch, so we won’t swear on the Bible about it.
Finally, we saw worthy competitors to MacBook Air laptops! Ultrathin laptops, simply ultrabooks, are a new generation of devices characterized by excellent performance. In addition, ultrabooks have common features with tablets, so they not only impress with the minimum possible thickness of the case, but also with a long battery life.
It's interesting that attempts to release something like this Apple laptops, were undertaken several years ago. Then, focusing on the MacBook Air, other well-known companies Lenovo, ASUS, Toshiba, Dell and Acer were already producing competitive laptops, but they were all too expensive and were premium devices, although in fact ultrabooks should be aimed at a wide audience of users .
In our review we will try to compare the iconic MacBook Air 13, ASUS Zenbook UX31 and no less famous model, presented at the annual exhibition in Berlin IFA 2011, Acer Aspire S3.
Specifications
| CPU: | Intel Core i5-2467M 1600 MHz |
| RAM: | 4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz |
| Information storage: | 320 GB 5400 rpm SATA and 20 GB SSD storage |
| Display: | 13.3" 1366 x 768 WXGA LED |
| Video card: | Intel HD Graphics 3000 |
| Drive: | absent |
| Wireless: | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 + HS |
| Interfaces: | 2xUSB 2.0, HDMI, card reader |
| Additionally: | 1.3 MP webcam, sound with support for Dolby Home Theater v4 |
| Battery: | 6-cell lithium-ion 34 Wh |
| Dimensions, weight: | 323x219x13-17.5 mm, 1.36 kg |
| Operating system: | Windows 7 Home Premium |
Design
Having started to compare the appearance of each of the laptops, first of all I want to know their dimensions. So, the Acer Aspire S3 has dimensions of 323x219x13-17.5 mm and weighs only 1.36 kg. Frame MacBook laptop Air is slightly thicker and has dimensions of 325x227x3-17 mm and a weight of 1.36 kg. Ultrabook UX31 – 325x224x2.5-17.5 mm, weight 1.3 kg. In principle, visually, Apple's ultrabook looks thinner, perhaps even due to a gradual narrowing to 3 mm. Another interesting fact is that the S3 does not narrow, as we see in the other two laptops - its two planes are parallel.All of the compared laptops have a fairly robust body made from a single piece of metal. The body is made of magnesium-aluminum alloy (Acer calls its design aerodynamic metal design). The reliability of the external surface is above all praise - mechanical damage will not affect the integrity of the structure, and you don’t have to worry about the safety of the display. At the same time, each of these laptops will remain lightweight. By the way, in terms of reliability, it is impossible to single out just one laptop; all three ultrabooks, without exception, are incredibly durable - they do not creak, do not bend, and the build quality is high.
Continuing to look at the Acer ultrabook, you should pay attention to the nice metal cover with a polished effect. It's sleek, durable, and practical. The dark gray matte cover is virtually invisible to fingerprints. There are no sharp corners in the design.
The bottom of the laptop is also pleasant to the touch. There are four square legs along the entire perimeter of the bottom panel. Thanks to them, the ultrabook will not slide on the plane.
Display and sound
Like the ultra-thin MacBook Air and Zenbook UX31 laptops, the Acer Aspire S3 has a small, lightweight display. Its dimensions are 13.3 inches. A widescreen screen with a resolution of 1366x768 pixels (for an Apple laptop this is 1440x900 pixels, for a Zenbook - 1600x900) is equipped LED backlight and has an aspect ratio of 16:9. It is worth noting that the display also has a special CineCrystal coating. In general, the image on the screen will be bright and saturated. However, it is in no way inferior to the displays of the other two laptops, since the contrast is good and the viewing angles are wide. So you can freely watch a photo or video in a small company. The main thing is that with a small form factor (13 inches) you will get enough working space.
The glossy finish is common on both this laptop and the Air 13 with Zenbook UX31.
There is no escape from reflections on such a display. In addition, the following detail was noticed: at maximum opening, the screen outweighs the base, so the main part of the body rises above the table surface.
The laptop's display frame houses a built-in Crystal Eye webcam. It has a resolution of 1.3 megapixels. The MacBook Air has a FaceTime webcam with HD resolution, which is nice since earlier models had an analog one. The webcam in the Asus UX31 has the lowest resolution – 0.3 MP, and is only suitable for communicating on Skype.
With acoustics, the situation is as follows. The Aspire S3 ultraportable laptop has two speakers located on the bottom panel. A modern audio system supports Dolby Home Theater v4, so you can hear balanced sound that has both bass and treble. In addition, with Dolby technology you are guaranteed surround sound and a home theater feel.
The 13-inch Apple ultrabook is capable of providing equally high-quality sound output through two stereo speakers. The speakers take up space on the left and right and transmit sound through the keyboard. When listening to music, you will hear clear sound without distortion, in which both low and high frequencies can be heard.
As for Zenbook, this ultrabook is equipped with high-quality sound card from Bang & Olufsen. It is worth saying that this is a well-known global brand that is associated with unsurpassed sound quality and unique technologies. So, by definition, the sound in a laptop cannot be bad. You will actually be able to hear superb crystal clear sound, free of distortion even at maximum volume. Moreover, ICEpower-enabled speakers always deliver powerful, realistic sound. Let's add that along with Bang & Olufsen there is support for SonicMaster. In general, the acoustics offer better sound quality, at least in comparison with the MacBook Air.
Keyboard and touchpad
On the working surface of the Aspire S3 laptop we see an Acer FineTip island keyboard with a standard layout. All keyboard buttons are relatively large, the distance between them is increased. Relatively because, in comparison with the MacBook keyboard, the width is slightly smaller, and there are an order of magnitude more keys in this area. Be that as it may, the keys are pressed softly, easily with noticeable feedback. At the same time, deflections are not felt. There is no backlit keys like the 13-inch Air.
Unfortunately, the manufacturers have greatly reduced the buttons of the pointer block, so you will have to adjust and get used to it, in the end. Moreover, there are two “neighbors” nearby - functional buttons and . As for the markings, they are quite clear, so there will be no problems with typing.
Unlike Acer and Apple keyboards, which are made of plastic, Asus keyboard made of aluminum. The Acer S3 keyboard is characterized by excellent performance, clear operation, convenient layout and optimal distance between the buttons.
By the way the keyboard Apple Macbook Air 13 has LED lighting.
The touchpad on the ultraportable Aspire S3 has a large sensing area for positioning. The clear boundaries of the touch pad will not allow you to often jump out of bounds, so you can work with comfort. The main thing is that there is support for multi-touch gestures, so you can zoom images and perform horizontal and vertical scrolling. It is worth noting that visually there are no “mouse” keys (in principle, like the “Apple” Air). This function is performed by the touchpad itself.
The glass touchpad functionality of the other two laptops is similar - you can scroll, rotate, zoom out and zoom in on images. The only thing that distinguishes the ASUS touchpad is the key area. If in the Air 13 and Aspire S3 the mouse buttons are completely hidden by the touch zone, then in the Zenbook there is a marking that separates the right and left keys.
Processor and equipment
The Acer S3, like the Asus UX31, has a 64-bit operating system on board Windows system 7 Home Premium. In principle, this OS works stably and has an intuitive interface. In case of failure, you can restore the operating system thanks to software located on the hard drive. MacBook Air 13 comes with a pre-installed operating system Mac system OS X Lion 10.7, which starts from an SSD in 15 seconds. I wonder what Windows boot 7 on the UX31 took 29 seconds, and on the Acer Aspire S3 (from the hard drive) about 65 seconds.The ultrabook fully lives up to the concept of being productive. The Acer S3-951-2464G34iss package includes a second-generation dual-core processor Intel Core i5-2467M With clock frequency 1600 MHz and 3 MB cache. This CPU is powerful enough to handle demanding applications with ease. The Core i5-2467M on Sandy Bridge supports various technologies, including Turbo Boost, which allows the processor to overclock to 2.3 GHz. Let us remind you that the processor in the MacBook Air and in the new product from ASUS is no less productive. Core i5-2557M with a clock frequency of 1.7 GHz will allow you to work quickly and efficiently, and solve problems of varying complexity. Overall, there isn't too much of a difference between these three devices in terms of performance.
The Acer ultrabook has one RAM slot with a 4 GB stick. The RAM is DDR3 standard. The same amount of memory is provided in the MacBook Air 13 and Zenbook UX31. Only Apple laptops have built-in memory. motherboard, so it is impossible to increase it.
In the S3 model we are dealing with a hybrid drive. This reflects the desire of manufacturers to save money. Only a 320 GB hard drive is used to store data, but the integrated SSD drive located on system board, has a capacity of 20 GB and is used only for storing memory contents (caching information) when the laptop is in sleep mode. In fact, this drive is needed to implement “quick falling asleep” and instant recovery from sleep. Rivals do not have a hard drive, they only have solid state drive. In the MacBook Air, its capacity is 256 GB, while in the Asus Zenbook UX31 model there is an option of either 128 GB or 256 GB SATA III. Anyway, latest models“win” because the flash drive is twice as fast as a regular hard drive. Accordingly, you can instantly boot the system and launch applications very quickly. In general, the SSD drive implements everything that is extremely important for a laptop - exceptional operating speed and reliability. Yes, and noiselessness will also not be superfluous. However, it’s too early to rejoice at competitors, since Acer has some configurations with a 240 GB flash drive.
Let's pay attention to graphics processing. The Aspire S3 ultrabook (as well as the other two) includes a built-in video card Intel HD Graphics 3000. This controller uses allocated memory from RAM. It's nice that in addition to video decoding, working with office applications, photo editing, integrated graphics capabilities are enough for smooth Full HD playback. But, in general, it cannot replace a discrete video card.
Testing MacBook Air, UX31 and S3 in 3DMark06 showed that the most more Apple graphics received 4236 points. The scores in ultrabooks from Acer and ASUS were 3257 and 3761 points, respectively.
Ports and communications
All ports on the Aspire S3 are located on the rear. Moreover, the side edges are practically empty.So, on the left you can only see the combined audio jack.
On the right there is only a card reader, albeit a shortened one. But it’s better than none at all.
There is nothing in front at all. How would you like 3 mm to also accommodate something?
The back panel, although it contains all possible ports, is not that many. Rather, only the necessary ones: 19-pin digital interface HDMI (for Asus Zenbook UX31 it is microHDMI), two USB 2.0 ports and a charging socket. Please note that the laptop does not have an analog video output.
In the updated laptop from Apple, the ports have been given the opposite space on the right and left sides. Moreover, in terms of functionality, namely the ability to connect various equipment, this laptop is clearly superior. Judge for yourself: in addition to two USB 2.0 and a card reader, there is a high-speed Thunderbolt port. Thunderbolt technology not only allows you to transfer data at a speed of 10 Gbps, but also helps you connect about six devices to your ultrabook through special adapters at the same time. various devices, which have VGA, DVI, HDMI, FireWire and USB connectors. Moreover, Apple provides a proprietary Apple power connector and inputs/outputs for connecting a microphone and headphones.
In general, these two ultrabooks have a different set of ports. But what can you say if the Zenbook UX31, in addition to USB 2.0, has USB interface 3.0, as well as support for Charger+ technology, which allows you to charge other mobile devices. A micro-VGA port is also provided.
As for wireless communications, the S3 ultrabook has wireless Wi-Fi module 802.11 b/g/n. This will give you the opportunity to surf the web. By the way, using Instant Connect technology you can “get online” from sleep mode in two and a half seconds. But the other two laptops cope with this task faster - on average one second less.
Comparing these three ultrabooks, we note that they have the same bluetooth version 4.0 + HS, designed for miniature devices. A characteristic feature of Bluetooth 4.0+HS is low power consumption, achieved due to the fact that the transmitter is activated only at the moment of sending data. I wonder what this standard allows you to transmit information at a speed of 1 Mbit/s with a data packet size from eight to twenty-seven bytes.
Battery
The Aspire S3 laptop has a lithium polymer battery. It has a capacity of 3280 mAh (34 Wh). The operating time with such a battery is quite long, about seven hours. This will allow you to work on the road virtually the whole working day. Naturally, this assumes web surfing, browsing text documents, rather than watching a series of films. It only takes 5 hours to watch the video.I wonder what the rest Asus laptops Zenbook UX31 and MacBook Air last the same seven hours with a 50 Wh battery. In general, the competition is quite tough.
If we consider the standby time, the results are simply amazing: the Air will last about a month, while the Aspire S3 will last about 50 days, provided that battery will be fully charged. The Zenbook laptop will last the least amount of charge – only 10 days. In principle, the indicator of work in standby mode is not particularly significant for many.
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Conclusion
So, we see that the Acer Aspire S3 laptop is an excellent “long-lasting” business device that will be appreciated by users who need great mobility. So, the ultrabook has everything for this: long battery life, high performance. Compared to its competitors, the MacBook Air and Zenbook UX31, it does not lose at all. The same ergonomic keyboard, albeit made of plastic, but no less resistant to deflection. No less attractive design. And this ultrabook does not complain about performance. As for functionality, the S3 has everything a businessman needs.If you try to identify a clear leader among three laptops, it is unlikely that you will be able to do this more or less objectively. The only thing is that in terms of cost, an Acer ultrabook still occupies a leading position - about 900-1000 US dollars. Compare, Asus UX31 is 1099, and Air is two hundred dollars more expensive.
So there is a choice, all that remains is to decide in favor of one of the companies and purchase one of the productive supermobile laptops.
