Acer S3 Ultrabook Launched in Malaysia

If you followed me on Twitter, you’d hear that I was at an Acer event today. Yes, I attended the Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook Malaysian launch event.

Firstly, I have to thanks Rebecca Saw for the invite to the Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook launch this morning at Mandarin Oriental hotel.

As one of the many bloggers invited to the event, we get to witness the 1st ever Ultrabook to ship in the market.

The event was only open to Media and several bloggers and Acer’s Facebook fans. I feel privileged to be one of the few bloggers in attendance. Also, great to meet up with the other bloggers like Vernon Chan, Lucas Lau, etc.

After the registration and a bit of mingling at the foyer, the guests were all invited into the ballroom for the launch of the first ever Ultrabook to hit the market today.

In case you’re not familiar, Ultrabook is basically a new project spearheaded by Intel in competition with Macbook Air. You know, the super slim, super lightweight laptop market? Yeah, Ultrabook will be the series of laptop for all those who wants a Windows laptop on a slim and portable form factor. The other criterias Intel set for Ultrabook includes high security and (supposedly) sub-USD$1,000 devices.

A lot of manufacturers have already announced their participation in producing Ultrabooks. This includes Asus UX21, Lenovo U300s, Toshiba Protege Z830 and many more to come.

Acer’s Aspire S3 is the first manufacturer to release their line of Ultrabook in the market today. Key features of the Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook includes:-

• Acer Green Instant On : In Sleep mode, the laptop resumes in under 2 seconds; in Deep Sleep mode, it resumes in 6 seconds!
• Acer Instant Connect : Access the internet in 2.5 seconds, 4 times faster than conventional connections.
• Long battery life : Lasts up to 7 hours in operation, 50 days on standby / Deep Sleep mode.
• Ultra slim aerodynamic design : Measuring only 13mm at its thinnest point, weighing less than 1.4kg.

Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook also happens to be the only Ultrabook with a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) option.Traditionally, Ultrabook runs on SSD (Solid State Drive) like the Macbook Air, which is faster than HDD – meaning faster boot up and access than the traditional HDD options on most laptops today.

Today sees the launch of both Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabooks in HDD and SSD option. Here are the rough specs of both versions:-

For full specifications and detailed feature, check out the Acer Malaysia website product page here.

At the launch event, Acer was giving away one of this Acer S3 Ultrabook to one of the attendees. Unfortunately though, it wasn’t me.

I’m sure I can muster a better smile than him if it was me. Nevertheless, congrats to this member of the media for the lucky prize. He is the first ever person in Malaysia to own an Ultrabook. Lucky him!

In the Q&A session, me and some bloggers got all the questions out.

In summation, here are some questions answered:-

• This Acer Aspire S3 is the first of many in Acer’s S-series for their Ultrabook line to launch in the next 6 – 18 months.
• There will be an easy transition / evolution in the S-Series Ultrabook line to accommodate Windows 8 when they launch.
• There’s only currently these 13.3” Windows 7 versions launched. In future, there might be 11.6” or other sizes and no word on Linux version yet.
• Acer targets 5,000 units to be sold this quarter until year end. For 2012, they’re hoping to achieve 35% market share of the notebook market.

After the event came to a close, we all got to get all our dirty hands on the Ultrabooks on display.

Feast your eyes on these pictures….

Yours truly can’t wait to get my hands on the Ultrabook. The picture don’t do it any justice. It is seriously a lot more slimmer and lighter than it looks.

The brushed metal finishing is fingerprint-free Aluminium / Magnesium Alloy chassis. I love it.

The keyboards are chiclet style and is rather spaced. On a 13.3’ size, it’s easy to type on.

The bottom of the laptop is surprisingly simplistic. Completely devoid of the normal holes and vents that you see on conventional laptops. However, Acer assures us of their new air circulation and ventilation technology of the laptop and will not burn your lap… Hehehe.

On the right side of the laptop, you’ll see a 2 in 1 card reader.

On the left is a headset / speaker jack. Yes, a singular jack. There aren’t a secondary ne for microphone. So I’m guessing your wired headphone cum mic that you use on your smartphones will work here, too.

The weird bit is that the other ports are at the back of the laptop. Here you’ll find (L-R) Power jack, HDMI port and 2 X USB 2.0 ports. I call this weird as we’re more used to seeing this on the sides of the laptop. Especially USB ports as that’s where you plug in your mouse especially. Hmm…

OK. Since the biggest selling point on the Ultrabook is how slim it is. So, here’s a bunch of shots on the slimness of the Ultrabook, comparing it with other objects I have at hand.

The lid of the Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook, compared to my Mont Blanc pen.

Here’s a 20 sen coin propped at the thickest end of the laptop. Yes, thickest end. The thinnest end is only 13mm, remember?

Here’s my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 on top of the Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook. The SGT measures 8.9mm thin. As you can see, the lid of the Acer S3 is thinner than the SGT. It also kinda look like the bottom is about a hair thinner than the SGT, too.

PS. We don’t have an iPad 2 at hand to use for comparison. Sorry. But you do know that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is thinner than the iPad 2, right? Hehehe. I digress.

Here’s Rebecca taking her picture of the super slim Ultrabook.

So there you go. The pictures I managed to snap on the gorgeous, super slim, super feather weight Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook. The first ever Ultrabook to ship in the market today!!!

At the end of the event, we were given more good news. The media and guests in attendance at the launch today will get to purchase the Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook HDD version for a whopping RM 1,000 discount!! With a retail price of RM 2,599 that means I get to have the Ultrabook at only RM 1,599 – that’s cheaper than any decent tablet that you can buy today!

I was so excited about this news that I decided to grab one of the Ultrabooks on display and slipped it in my bag to take home immediately.

Hahahahah. No la. Just kidding.

I am going to take advantage of this offer from the lovely Acer folks. I have been planning to get an Ultrabook myself and am glad that I get to have this massive discounted price, too. Muahaha. Thanks, Acer!

Are you as excited about Ultrabooks like me? It’ll be hitting the shelves on 10 Oct, which is next Monday. Will you be dying to get your hands on one, too? Or will you be waiting for the other manufacturers to release theirs?