Acer Aspire S3 is the first ultrabook on the Russian market. The first serial ultrabook in Russia: Acer Aspire S3 review Positioning and output

Very thin, very light, very beautiful ...

Intel's program to create and market a new class of laptops has moved into practical phase- the first ultrabook, Acer Aspire S3, entered the market. In the near future, ASUS models will also be officially presented in Russia.

Let me remind you that the concept of an ultrabook as a thin and light, but at the same time productive laptop was formulated by Intel, and now it is this company that coordinates the activities of manufacturers on the release of ultrabooks to the market. In theory, the Ultrabook concept looks interesting. According to Intel, it could lead to the formation of a new class of notebooks. On the other hand, it is in the concept and in the way it moves to the market that there are a number of rather incomprehensible moments 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 for conversation, namely: the first ultrabook from Acer, the Aspire S3. It has already appeared on sale in the United States, and is now entering the Russian market. They gave it to us for a very short time, which excluded the possibility of serious research. but general impression the model can be drawn up in three to four days.

To be honest, after reading Intel's policy statements, platform requirements, key elements of the Ultrabook concept, viewing photos created by by different manufacturers models, I got the impression that the whole project is either cloning, or an answer to Macbook air, and is primarily based not on the needs of the market, but on the functionality and charisma of this laptop.

In this regard, I was lucky: right during the testing of the Aspire S3, the latest generation Macbook Air was brought to the office, so we were able to compare these two models with each other face to face.

But we will start not with comparison, but with objective information. The Aspire S3 model was officially presented on September 2, it began to be sold in the USA around October 11, and is entering our market now. So what exactly is the Acer Aspire S3? Let's see.

Line configuration

Well, according to the state of the Acer website, you can roughly estimate the state of affairs in the ultrabook project. First, as a category, ultrabooks are not highlighted, and something tells me that they are unlikely to be highlighted (they are not highlighted in a separate group even on the Intel website). The Aspire S3 model information is located in the notebook section. Secondly, the description of the Aspire S Series line lacks the word ultrabook or even ultrabook. Thirdly, there is only one model available in the section (the names of Acer models can be transferred only through copy / paste, otherwise you will certainly get confused). And this, as you might guess, is the cheapest of the announced.

Acer Aspire S3
CPU	Intel Core i5-2467M 1.6GHz
Chipset	Intel Cougar Point UM67, Intel Sandy bridge
RAM	4 GB, DDR3
Video subsystem	Intel Integrated
Screen	13.3 ″, 16: 9, WXGA (1366 × 768), diode backlight
Sound subsystem	Realtek ALC269
HDD	Hybrid disk 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 a microphone input
	microphone input	yes, combined
	line-out	No
	additionally	No
Input Devices	keyboard	standard
	touchpad	standard, no dedicated buttons
	additionally	No
Battery	3260 mAh, 37740 mWh
Power Supply	Parameters: 19 V, 65 W
IP telephony	Webcam	there is
IP telephony	microphone	there is
Additionally	No
Operating system	Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Dimensions (edit)	323 x 219 x 17.5 mm
Weight	N / A
Guarantee period	1 year

There is nothing in the configuration that should be noted separately.

Appearance and ergonomics of the case

Acer's designers have chosen a discreet gray shade for their model. Someone thinks it "mouse", but I liked it. Such a laptop can be used for a long time, the calm, discreet tone of the case does not bother.

When closed, the ultrabook (I'll try to call the Aspire S3 with this word instead of the "laptop" that has already become a commonplace) looks like a beautiful thin toy. Thin and light models always make such an impression, they are simply pleasant to hold in your hands. Previously, such thin and stylish models could be found mainly in lineup Sony, but they cost so much that you could buy them only if you do not mind the money for the toy. The Acer Aspire S3 claims to be a well-known democracy and should be available to a wide audience.

Overall, I liked the way a closed laptop looks. The first impression of him is what a beautiful toy. During testing, this impression is largely preserved.

The top cover is made of metal with a clearly distinguishable corresponding texture and an imprinted Acer logo. The body is slick, with softly rounded edges and corners. It looks not like a wedge, but rather rounded, like a thick thick folder for papers. In the rear part of the case, in the area of the hinges, a black insert is made, it enlivens the case a little more.

Despite the fact that the surface is smooth, the laptop is quite comfortable to carry, it does not slip out of your hands. The laptop weighs a little, in the region of 1.3 kg, that is, the weight will not be a problem either.

As for scratches, it's hard to say now how resistant this ultrabook is. However, the bottom of the laptop, in my opinion, is plastic (perhaps reinforced, but still), so it will wear scuffs. The metal cover should not be scratched. By the way, it should protect the matrix well from a slight blow 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 enough.

Although the movement of the hinges is relatively easy, you will still not be able to open the ultrabook with one hand - the light body simply rises off the table following the lid. You have to hold the body with your other hand. When closed, somewhere starting from an angle of 8-10 degrees, the lid slams shut itself. The hinges have an unpleasant drawback: they are not very tight, due to this, the lid shakes with external vibration. For example, if you hit the keys hard or the laptop is on a soft surface while typing, it will vibrate all the time. This is unpleasant, especially if you are looking 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 delights 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 encountered this problem on netbooks a number of times, ultrabooks are likely to be affected as well. The fact is that in light laptops, all the more or less heavily weighed elements are practically under the matrix, and the front part of the case turns out to be very light. Therefore, the folded-back screen already noticeably outweighs - this laptop will stand unstable on its knees, and even on a soft surface with a strongly retracted lid, 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 slim body does look attractive live, and this ultrabook does not harm the gray color at all. On the contrary, it creates the right mood.

Let's see how the ultrabook is doing with extensibility.

Ergonomics of the case

The review section on connectors for Ultrabooks should be much shorter than for regular models. Due to the very thin case with sharp edges, the imagination of the designers is seriously limited, and you can't really roam with the ports. Some ports such as connector wired network, VGA, DVI, etc. output can only be accommodated as a result of a small feat, and even then not all at once. In general, everything thick is prohibited. But relatively thin connectors (such as USB) have a hard time: they still do not fit on beveled surfaces. Therefore, Acer made a forced, but controversial decision in terms of ergonomics: 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 face as such.

On the left panel, closer to the back, there is one universal headset jack (headphone + microphone).

On the right is the SD card reader slot. It is closed with a terribly inconvenient plug, which you can get out only by picking it up with your fingernail. If you often insert cards into the port, then it is easier to throw out the plug altogether and put up with the fact that dust will get into the connector. The inserted card is sticking out of the port.

All ports are located at the back, in the central black insert and closer to the center of the laptop. That's why each Since, in order to connect something, you either have to unfold the laptop or close the lid, risking it slamming shut and the laptop falling asleep.

So, on the back panel there are two USB ports, an HDMI video output and a power connector. By the way, the power supply plug, as usual for Acer, is angular, so if it is turned towards the ports, then you cannot insert anything into HDMI or into the USB closest to it, you have to shift the power cable.

Formally, there is nothing interesting at the bottom. The metal plate covers the place where the hard drive is mounted, that is, theoretically, it should not be in models with an SSD.

In general, in terms of the location of ports, this model is clearly not a champion in ergonomics. Five or seven years ago, such an arrangement was considered normal, but now users are spoiled by comfortable ergonomic cases (well, those who are familiar with them). Every time, closing the screen and bending over it to connect power or a USB mouse is overkill. There is also an option to turn the laptop back and forth around its axis, but the legs are rubber, so it turns reluctantly.

Keyboard

Acer's keyboard layouts are up to date, so typing is straightforward. Immediately, I note that the keyboard is made in gray, matching the body. The letters are written in white and look contrasting enough so that there are no problems with readability.

Although you can see that the keyboard is tight (for example, by the ё key), there is still a lot of room on the sides in the case. The thought creeps in that Acer is either preparing 11-inch solutions for release, and they need a unified keyboard, or for some reason they have adjusted its size to the Air.

Of the features, the unusual shape of the Enter key immediately catches the eye. This feature does not affect work in any way.

That's what affects work - it's an awkward cursor. The keys are very small, they are closely spaced, so PgUp and PgDn are also built into the cursor block. As planned, it seems to be convenient, but in real life it is almost impossible to press a small key without touching the next one. And these are still not quite large fingers. In general, working with the 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, that is, additional editing keys could well be made in the form of a vertical row on the right, and not crammed into the cursor block.

From the point of view of the layout, the keyboard is quite common for modern laptops, the layout has no specific features, on the whole it is good.

The feel of typing is very strange and unusual. The fact is that due to strict requirements for the thickness of the ultrabook, everything is very tightly packed inside. The keyboard did not escape this fate: the depth of pressing in it decreased. According to this parameter, the keys are more reminiscent of the keys of phones than the keyboard of a full-size laptop. One can involuntarily recall the battles between the supporters of desktop keyboards with a long key travel and laptop ones, which at that time seemed very "small". Now history seems to be repeating itself.

However, I cannot say that the keyboard is uncomfortable. On the contrary, with a very shallow depth of key travel, it turned out to be almost silent and at the same time with a clear keystroke feeling. When typing, only a quiet clatter of keys is heard, but it is inevitable. In terms of noise, the keyboard is one of the quietest I've seen.

All three days that I had an ultrabook, I tried to type more in order to get used to the keyboard and appreciate its merits. In general, after getting used to it, it is very pleasant to work with this keyboard, it is good to type at a high tempo. True, at the same time I had quite a few typos from the "key was not pressed" series. This is especially noticeable when you start editing the text of the 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 suit women as well.

Additional keys and indicators

There are no additional keys, traditionally there is only a power button.

It is located very unusual, but uncomfortable. First, it's just unusual. Secondly, to press it, the movement must be horizontal, not vertical, as usual. If you are sitting in front of a laptop, then you have to poke at the key, and if you are standing in front of it, then launching it is generally difficult and inconvenient. Thirdly, if the Ultrabook is on a soft surface, then from pressing a button (even a soft one), it can start to sway.

Additional key functions are standard. F3 controls the connection of wireless interfaces (when the button is pressed, a control utility appears on the screen with two sliders - for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth), F4 - sends the laptop to sleep mode, F5 - switches the image output to the external interface, F6 - turns off the screen backlight to save energy (that is, the diodes are cut off, but the image on the screen remains active), F7 disables the touchpad, F8 - the sound.

Everything would be fine, but the combinations are inconvenient, since you have to reach for the keys, while the F1 and F2 keys "closest" to Fn were left without functions.

Brightness and sound level are traditionally controlled via the cursor keys.

There are only two indicators: operation and battery status. The indicators are as small as 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, the readability is above average. But they are very small, that is, a person with poor eyesight may simply not see them.

Due to Intel's announced SSD migration initiative, the hard drive access indicator is missing as a class. The problem is that the initiative is an initiative, but HDD this model is, and it is the main one. And the indicator would not hurt at all. Moreover, the absence of an indicator does not at all mean that there are no brakes when working with a disc.

Touchpad

All announced ultrabooks (except one) have a large touchpad, a peculiar shape and do not have pronounced buttons. Just for information: 99% of notebooks in the PC industry always have wide touchpads with pronounced or separated from the touchpad by two or three buttons, as well as dedicated scroll zones. 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. In this regard, the question arises, so what are ultrabooks more like - laptops or Macbook Air?

The touchpad is slightly recessed into the body. Not the worst option, but I still had chaotic jumps of the cursor when typing, due to which the place of text input moves and printing becomes almost impossible. Because of this, with active printing, you have to turn off the touchpad and connect an external mouse, which is somewhat not comme il faut for a portable ultrabook, and it is inconvenient to connect it.

The touchpad has a fully touch-sensitive surface, that is, the button zones are also involved in the work. At the same time, there was no inadequate response to pressing a button so annoying on older HP models (which also had a single touchpad). Everything here is set up and working well.

The touchpad, unfortunately, has a different problem - it does not always react either to the first movement after a pause (that is, it falls asleep), or to a slight movement of the finger over the surface. I didn’t figure it out exactly, but often the movements simply didn’t work out. This is insanely annoying when you run your finger over the touchpad and it doesn't work and you have to swipe again.

There are no buttons here, you need 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, did not impress.

First, it is very mirrored (or mirrored and with a low backlight level). When watching movies, your own reflection is much more distinguishable than what is happening on the screen. In general, reflections are very noticeable in this model.

Secondly, the brightness. The screen has a diode backlight. At the same time, subjectively, it seemed to me that at the maximum level, the brightness is not bad, especially with ordinary room lighting. However, upon formal research (when you work in various ambient light conditions and look closely), the impression still remains that the brightness is not very high. Considering the glossiness, it may not be very comfortable to work with the screen in very strong or very low light conditions.

Thirdly, the vertical angles of the matrix are bad. When working, especially with text, this does not really affect, as a rule, there is a contrasting picture (although glossiness interferes). More or less enough to work with the Internet. In movies or when viewing photos, angles are lacking, as either the top or bottom of the screen fades.

The sound is bad, even for a laptop. Perhaps, with some reservations, it will be enough for Internet telephony, but even watching movies was not very pleasant. However, this may not be attributed to shortcomings: after all, it is 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. It is a 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. The graphics processor is integrated 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's take a separate look at the data storage subsystem, which 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, perhaps it is used for caching as well.

Let's look at the speed of both drives.

The SSD benchmark results are very good, but the hard drive shows an average speed.

Testing in synthetic packages

This time we are only doing very brief testing in a couple of synthetic packages. These tests give only a rough idea of the speed of the system. For comparison, we took two laptops:

ASUS U30s: has a Core i3-2310M processor and a weak external NVIDIA graphics card 520M.
HP Probook 6360b: Core i5-2520M processor, Intel Integrated 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 start - Windows 7 operating system rating... This is the simplest test, besides, 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... Test by Maxon, which develops 3D modeling packages, i.e. the test is an adapted version of a 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 give a rendering score: the performance of one processor core, the performance of the entire processor (calculations are parallelized to all available cores), the performance of the graphics subsystem in OpenGL.

Launch	Cinebench 10.0			Cinebench 11.5
Launch	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 the usual level Mobile Core The i3-2310M either lags a little behind it, and significantly lags behind the 2520M. Moreover, the increase in performance when all available cores are used 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 version of the ULV should be slightly lower than the level of the Core i3-2310M. Of course, as soon as a laptop with such a processor falls into our hands for a longer period, we will check this assumption in a full set of tests.

Testing operating temperature, heating and noise

Let's take a look at the frequencies of the processor, the heating of the system and the case, as well as the performance of the system under load. First, about the processor operating mode.

In idle mode, the processor runs at the standard Sandy Bridge frequency of 800 MHz. In this case, 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 insignificantly, up to 0.966 V (maximum - 0.971 V). Frequency under load is stable. Let's take a look at the CPU temperature under load.

Before starting the test, the temperature conditions of the components are good.

As you can see, after switching on the load, the temperature does not rise so quickly.

And its growth slows down very quickly. 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 afterwards.

The laptop is slowly gaining temperature, but its rise is very slow. To summarize, the temperature conditions under load are at a very good level.

And we turn to the analysis of the actual heating of the system. 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 processor temperature as a whole, they are given in brackets.

When tested, the room was 24-25 degrees.

Here is the same data as in the graphs above. Again, the temperature conditions of the processor and hard drive are very good.

With the heating of the case, everything is also good. The only thing, for some reason, the left stand heats up, its temperature is around 30 degrees, and regardless of whether the ultrabook is under load or not. A bit too much, given that there is nothing to warm up there, it should be empty under it. The palm rests feel a little warm. 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 - 50 degrees.

In general, the heating of the case is minimal. The laptop should not have any problems with the temperature regime under any scenarios of use.

But there are remarks about the noise. The first time after the start, the fan runs at the lowest speed and you can hear it only by putting your ear almost to the grill. 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 starts to turn on at a higher speed, and in this case it is already well audible even in the daytime 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 a fan is already heard very well, and not only to you, but also to those around you. Moreover, the work did not go beyond the office and the Internet, well, the maximum - with a flash movie.

Thus, Acer has chosen an operation 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: mode of minimum load (reading text from the screen) and when watching a movie. The tests are carried out without the use of test programs. Power 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 off time is set to "never". No other interventions in power management (switching graphics, disconnecting components, etc.) are performed, they remain at their default values. The brightness of the screen is set to maximum, wireless interfaces disconnected. During testing, the laptop reboots, all utilities installed by the manufacturer are launched (except antivirus software, it is uninstalled before testing).

When tested against time autonomous work in read mode, no programs are launched, except for the utility that measures the battery life.

When testing for playing a movie from a laptop hard drive, the movie is played in AVI. A portable device is used for playback. Media version Player Classic which contains built-in codecs.

The passport capacity with a large battery is 37740 mWh.

From a user perspective, the results are disappointing.

From a technical and technological point of view, this battery life is quite logical: the screen consumes a lot, this model has a hard disk installed, the processor, even if it is ULV, also consumes something. And with all that, a rather small battery.

But what does the user care about all this?

This level of autonomy for today is the average level. Most low-cost laptops have about the same battery life. For example, this is almost the standard performance level of modern netbooks. And models, focused on doing without an outlet for a long time, can withstand up to 9 hours in the most economical mode. Not to go too far for examples, both notebooks 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 - under load.

And from the point of view of work scenarios, the maximum level of four and a half hours is not very much. This will be enough for a not very long business meeting if it is alone and you no longer need to use a laptop (here it is appropriate to recall the periodic “automatic” mail checks with a sleeping laptop). Moreover, the thin and light Aspire S3 should provoke 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 unit. On the Internet, a laptop will be able to work, God forbid, three and a half hours, which is also not very much.

Thus, the Aspire S3 in terms of autonomy is at the average level today and it will only last for a short meeting or a film and a half. It is not recommended to move away from the outlet with it.

Operating impressions, additional information

So what can you say after a three-day tour of the Aspire S3?

First of all, it is a beautiful toy, that is, to some extent, the effect of the attractiveness of the ultrabook has been achieved. You really want to turn it over in your hands, play around ... and so that it stays in your hands longer. I don’t want to give.

At home, if you do not move away from the outlet, it is pleasant to work with him. I took it to the kitchen, took it to the room, put it on my knees. It is convenient to carry, it is nice that he wakes up quickly (about 1.5 seconds). By the way, I discovered this peculiarity of my perception. Although all the laptops I've tested in recent times, wake up almost instantly, all the same it has been in my head since ancient times that it is bad to allow the transition to sleep mode, it is better to carry the cursor across 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 crackled with a 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 media (for some reason, the player can no longer receive data, but if you stop playback and start again, everything is fine). Hopefully 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 carry it around with you. But if you take it without a power supply, then it is constantly discharged on the very interesting place- at most, I managed to use it at a business meeting, but by the end of it I already began to wonder what would happen first - the meeting ends or the battery runs out?

Moreover, the ultrabook is really thin, light and takes up very little space in the bag. Much smaller than his own dual-cable PSU. And the power supply unit adds 400 grams of weight. Therefore, without a power supply unit it can be carried in anything, but with it - only in a 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 the Aspire S3 to have rather poor Wi-Fi sensitivity compared to other laptops and even a smartphone. A "regular laptop" standing nearby quite steadily caught our office network, 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 with the ultrabook: the signal level was worse (according to a specialized utility, 20% versus 30% for another laptop), but the connection was constantly torn, 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 stuffing and the user himself are in the path of an already not very strong signal.

Finally, when I was quietly surfing the Internet, checking how much the hero of the review would last from the battery, the ultrabook stopped catching 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 rebooting, everything worked, but nonetheless.

Positioning and output

The most difficult question is to determine for whom the ultrabook is intended. The easiest way, of course, is to joke something like "for those who want Air, but they don't have enough money." We'll touch on the topic of comparison with Air, but now it's worth deciding on the portrait 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 seen by Intel.

Externally, the Acer Aspire S3 looks like a cute toy. Yes, visual appeal may well add points to his purchase, especially if it was cheaper. A laptop for 32, and even more so for 39 or 45 thousand rubles is bought quite deliberately (at least in droves; 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 consciously approach the choice of your new laptop, 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 case turns out to be something too big.

Looking at the spec sheet, while the Aspire S3 is considered a simplistic model among ultrabooks, for a 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 sufficient for modern tasks, even quite demanding ones. But the functionality is limited, and also because of the thin and light body. There are few ports and they are inconveniently located.

Moreover, based on the test results, the modest size and weight are wasted. In theory, the Ultrabook would be good to use as a travel model, but due to the weak battery, this is not very good at it. In other words, you can carry it with you all day, but you should turn it on infrequently and for a short time. And if in the case of other, larger laptops you treat this philosophically, then with the Acer Aspire S3 it does not work out that way: firstly, with all its appearance, it hints at "road use", and secondly, compared to a thin and light laptop too its power supply seems to be 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 ).

In operation, you notice not very much good screen and the sound, I also did not like the loud hum of the cooling system. Although it is very pleasant that the ultrabook does not get warm, and you can always keep it on your lap.

In general, the ultrabook is not bad in terms of configuration and user experience. Unfortunately, the short battery life negates the advantage of a thin and light body. But this is the only significant advantage of a modern ultrabook!

Even with this configuration and at this price, the Aspire S3 is more expensive than, for example, the TimelineX 3830T, which has a faster platform, good external graphics, a sturdy case, and a large battery ... significantly thicker. But it also costs 3-4 thousand less. Although I will not 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 the Russian prices for Acer Ultrabooks Aspire S3, they are 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 given that even the website contains only the cheapest configuration description, the manufacturer soberly estimates the future popularity of the line.

Well, who is all this happiness for? As a result, we have a niche solution that will be bought 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 necessarily thin and light, as thin and light as possible. There are probably such people, but they are few ...

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 did not risk it - the first impression of the device can be easily spoiled due to flaws 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 of Russian stores in a few days. So let's get started.

By the way, this is the first one we tested Acer laptop sporting an updated company logo. The laptop case is completely metal - painted magnesium alloy. The lid is made of metal with a rough grinding effect.

It's nice to see that Acer paid attention to the little things when designing the exterior. For example, colorful stickers from Intel and Microsoft always bring a fair amount of disharmony into the design. Here they are dim, gray - in the color of the laptop case.

In general, if we ignore the fact that the design is copied almost literally, the laptop really pleases the eye. Even the bottom looks like it's not a shame to turn the Aspire S3 this side to people - among Windows laptops this is vanishingly rare.

All standard logos and necessary decals are neatly applied to the eye-catching shiny metal insert. In addition to the "bulletin board" function, this detail has one more, more prosaic purpose - but we'll talk about this a little later.

The laptop can open at a fairly large angle. However, in this case, the lid begins to outweigh and the body rises above the surface.

The display in 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. It cannot be said that it is bad. But he also has no remarkable advantages. The brightness is average, the contrast is about the same. The horizontal viewing angles are not the worst, perhaps the worst. But vertical - traditionally none. In general, this is a typical TN matrix for inexpensive laptops.

The height of the keyboard unit is the same as in Apple MacBook Air 13 laptops (and all the others, in general - in all MacBooks, the keyboards are the same). However, the Acer keyboard is about 2.5% narrower in width. And this, of course, is a serious blunder. Because Apple fits 79 keys in its block - and it turns out quite comfortably. And in Acer on less the square was shoved more the number of buttons - as many as 84 pieces.

The keyboard unit is perfectly secured and does not flex when you hit the keys hard. The mechanics of the buttons are typical for Acer: no serious flaws, but "tasteless": the buttons are pressed with excessive ease and are somehow empty, or something.

The touchpad in the Aspire S3 is of a fashionable "buttonless" type. There is a physical button, of course, but one, and it is hidden under the panel. Left and right clicks are determined depending on which part of the panel is currently being touched by your finger. If you touch your finger to the left side of the touchpad 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, the coating of the best samples of touch panels is still inferior - not "silk" enough.

On the whole, "buttonlessness" works well - sometimes it even turns out to depict a click without taking the other hand off the touchpad. However, this trick does not always work, so it is better to get used to touching the panel with only one finger at a time. Moreover, there is support for multitouch movements (as usual in Windows - rather inconvenient). So if you still do not take off the second finger, in some cases the system may feel that they want something else from it - scrolling or zooming, for example.

The sides of the laptop are too thin for the sake of the ultra-slim design. Therefore, it would be problematic to fit the ports on them. Unlike Samsung, Acer hasn't experimented with flip-ups for connectors. The sides of the Aspire S3 are simply and uncomplicatedly left almost empty. A memory card reader is installed on the right, 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 is devoid of fixation - the card is simply inserted into it and held solely by friction force.

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. It is here that the digital output to an external monitor is located (there is no analogue at all) and both USB 2.0 ports are available. The power connector is also located here.

The layout is highly controversial. To connect a USB flash drive, you have to either turn the laptop with the back side towards you, or stand up and look behind the cover. Pulling the drive out by touch is even more or less realistic - although problems may arise with especially compact flash drives. But connecting something without visual control is simply impossible.

The fact that the power connector is located here additionally complicates life. The standard power supply is equipped with an L-shaped plug, so that the cable from the adapter lies along the back of the laptop - and with a 50% probability it obstructs the USB and HDMI connectors. Accordingly, when connecting, extra movement may be required.

Overall, ergonomics is not a strong point of this laptop. In terms of usability, 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, the shortcomings of existing ultra-thin laptops by Acer designers have certainly been studied up and down. What prevented them from avoiding when designing your own weightless model?

⇡ Specifications

AcerAspireS3
CPU	Intel Core i5-2467M: 1.6 GHz (up to 2.3 GHz in 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; Glossy finish, LED backlight (AU Optronics B133XTF01.0)
RAM	4 GB, DDR3-1333 (soldered on the motherboard, Elpida)
HDD	Two drives: 20 GB SSD (only used for sleep mode) 320 GB HDD SATA Rev. 2, 5400 rpm, thickness 7 mm (Hitachi HTS543232A7A)
Optical drive	Absent
Flash card slot
Interfaces	2 x USB 2.0 1 x HDMI 1 x combo audio jack (mini-jack 3.5 mm)
	802.11b / g / n (Atheros AR5B225)
Bluetooth
Network adapter
Sound	two speakers, microphone
Nutrition	3-cell battery, 36.4 Wh (3280 mAh, 11.1 V) 65 W power supply (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.

In the tested configuration of the Aspire S3, one of Intel's lower ULV processors, the Core i5-2467M, was installed. Unlike the i5-2537M, which we got acquainted with when testing the Samsung 900X3A, this CPU has a slightly higher nominal frequency - 1.6 GHz versus 1.4. However, the TurboBoost settings are less aggressive, so this processor can dynamically overclock to approximately the same frequency values - 2.1 GHz with a load on both cores and 2.3 with a load on only one of them. For the Core i5-2537M, the corresponding values are 2.0 and 2.3 GHz. So the processors are basically the same.

This CPU has support for the AES-NI instruction set to speed up encryption. The only thing he lacks is support. 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 processor family.

The memory capacity in any configuration of the Acer Aspire S3 is 4 GB and cannot be increased by any means. For the simple reason that the memory chips in this model are soldered directly on the motherboard, and the connectors for installing a standard (or at least non-standard) RAM module in the Aspire S3 are completely absent.

The Acer Aspire S3 uses the UM67 south bridge - the letter U in its name obviously hints at ultramobility. In terms of its main characteristics, this chip is almost completely analogous to the advanced south bridge HM67. The only difference is that the TDP value has been reduced from 3.9 to 3.4 watts. This is not as small a savings as it might seem at first glance. For example, it roughly corresponds to the difference between the nominal power consumption of 11 "and 13" LCD displays.

External graphics system for the Aspire S3 is not provided - the user will have to be content with an exclusively integrated Intel HD 3000 adapter, which in this case operates at a nominal 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 last frequency ceiling for the integrated graphics core is the 900 MHz mark.

The list of configurations available in Russia and recommended retail prices at the time of the start of sales is as follows:

Configuration	CPU	Storage device	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 one we are talking about in this review, looks extremely tasty. Apparently, the main sales will fall on it. More advanced versions are frankly expensive. Most likely, the recommended prices will not be respected for such configurations. We can expect with a high degree of confidence that in practice the older Aspire S3 will be much cheaper. Because it is difficult to imagine a person who will pay almost twice for a device, the only one who is significant competitive advantage which - let's call a spade a spade - is an affordable price.

How a laptop works

Since the case of the laptop is metal, the designers in this case did not have the opportunity to use the latches. The halves of the case are fastened with screws only. What is nice, with the usual cross recess - no non-standard mockery like a five-sided asterisk, as in the MacBook Air. In general, the laptop can be disassembled literally in a couple of tens of seconds, which we, of course, did.

The first step is to make sure that the bottom of the case is made of magnesium alloy. Unfortunately, it is almost invisible in the photo, but there is the AZ91D mark on the bottom - 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 Winchester is thin, in a 7 mm case, it still does not quite fit in thickness - we 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 to it. To completely separate the halves, unfortunately, interferes with the postings Wi-Fi antennas- it is fixed on a plastic insert transparent for radio waves, which, for some reason, is glued to the bottom for some reason - although nothing seemed to interfere with attaching it to the upper part of the case, making the structure completely collapsible.

The computer itself occupies hardly 20% of the volume of the case. Everything else is additional devices. First of all, the battery. It is arranged rather stupidly. It takes up decent space, and there are only three batteries in it. There is quite a lot inside the Aspire S3 and the emptiness caused by the too thin parts of the case. All in all, the designers of the Aspire S3 still have the potential to improve the layout. Obviously, they will be able to exhaust it somewhere by the S3.3 model.

As already mentioned, the memory is wired directly to the motherboard. As well as the processor, by the way. Proofpeak:

The disk system takes up about the same area as the main body of the motherboard. Most of the space, of course, goes under the hard drive.

The solid state drive with a volume of 20 GB, like the memory with the processor, is soldered directly to the motherboard.

This SSD is not designed to store programs or user data. He is solely responsible for the implementation of REM 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-independent) sleep and immediately return from it. Accordingly, the SSD is used to store the contents of the memory.

In fact, Rapid Start is not a dream. But not exactly hibernation either. 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 understandable to the user.

And from the point of view of the interface, it works exactly like a dream. It happens in the following way. First, the laptop plunges into a normal sleep: it does not turn off completely, lazily winks with the indicator "I am not turned off, I am sleeping" and is brought out of the sleep state by any button. Or by opening the lid, if it was introduced into a dream, simply by slamming it. However, after a while - in the settings, you can set the values of 120 and 480 minutes, as they say, without regaining consciousness, the laptop independently performs the process of quasi-hybernation and goes into "deep sleep".

From the "deep sleep", it is displayed only by pressing the power button. However - and this is the most important difference from classic hibernation - the system does not fully boot. The laptop wakes up almost instantly. It feels like Intel Rapid Start is faster than the MacBook Air. Although we didn’t check it with a stopwatch, so we won’t swear on the Bible.

Finally, we have seen worthy competitors for the MacBook Air laptops! Ultrathin laptops, or simply ultrabooks, are the next generation of devices that deliver superior performance. In addition, ultrabooks have common features with tablets, so they not only amaze with the smallest possible body thickness, but also with a long battery life.

Interestingly, attempts to release something similar to Apple laptops were made several years ago. Then, focusing on the MacBook Air, other well-known companies Lenovo, ASUS, Toshiba, Dell and Acer already released 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 the equally famous model presented at the annual IFA 2011 exhibition in Berlin, Acer Aspire S3.

Specifications

CPU:	Intel Core i5-2467M 1600 MHz
RAM:	4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz
Data storage:	320 GB 5400 rpm SATA and 20 GB SSD
Display:	13.3 "1366 x 768 WXGA LED
Video card:	Intel HD Graphics 3000
Drive unit:	absent
Wireless connection:	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 comparing the appearance of each of the laptops, first of all I want to know their dimensions. So, the Acer Aspire S3 measures 323x219x13-17.5 mm and weighs only 1.36 kg. Frame MacBook laptop The Air is slightly thicker and measures 325x227x3-17mm and weighs 1.36kg. Ultrabook UX31 - 325x224x2.5-17.5 mm, weight 1.3 kg. In principle, Apple's ultrabook visually looks thinner, maybe even due to a gradual narrowing to 3 mm. It is also interesting that the S3 does not narrow, as we see in the other two laptops - its two planes are parallel.

All the compared notebooks have a fairly sturdy case 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 outer surface is above all praise - mechanical damage will not affect the integrity of the structure, and there is no need 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 any one laptop, all three ultrabooks, without exception, are incredibly durable - they do not creak, do not bend, the build quality is high.

Continuing to look at the ultrabook from Acer, you should pay attention to the pleasant metal cover with a polished effect. It is sleek, durable, and practical. Fingerprints are almost invisible on the dark gray matte lid. There are no sharp corners in the design.

The underside 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. The widescreen display with a resolution of 1366x768 pixels (for a laptop from Apple it is 1440x900 pixels, for a Zenbook - 1600x900) is equipped with LED backlighting and has an aspect ratio of 16: 9. It should be noted that the display also has a special CineCrystal coating. In general, the image on the screen will be bright, saturated. However, it is inferior to the displays of the other two laptops, since the contrast is good, the viewing angles are wide. So you can freely watch a photo or video in a small company. Most importantly, with a small form factor (13 inches), you get enough workspace.

The glossy finish is common on both this laptop and the Air 13 with Zenbook UX31.

You can't get away from reflections on such a display. In addition, the following detail was noticed: at the maximum opening, the screen outweighs the base, so the main part of the case rises above the table surface.

The laptop's display bezel houses a built-in Crystal Eye webcam. It has a resolution of 1.3 megapixels. The MacBook Air has an HD FaceTime webcam, which is a nice touch since it was analog in early models. The lowest resolution has a webcam in the Asus UX31 - 0.3 megapixels, and is suitable only for communication in Skype.

With acoustics, the situation is as follows. In ultra sports Aspire laptop S3 has two speakers located on the bottom panel. The modern audio system supports Dolby Home Theater v4, so you can hear balanced sound with both bass and high frequencies... Plus, with Dolby technology, you can enjoy surround sound and a home theater experience.

The 13-inch "apple" ultrabook is capable of providing no less 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 you can hear both low and high frequencies.

As for the Zenbook, this ultrabook is equipped with a high-quality sound card from Bang & Olufsen. It should be said that this is a well-known global brand that is associated with unsurpassed sound quality and unique technologies. So the sound in a laptop, by definition, cannot be bad. You can actually hear superb, crystal-clear, distortion-free sound even at maximum volume. What's more, ICEpower-enabled speakers deliver consistently powerful, realistic sound. We 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 the 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 the keys in this area are much larger. Whatever it was, but the keys are pressed softly, easily with a tangible impact. At the same time, deflections are not felt. There is no key backlight like the 13-inch Air.

Unfortunately, the manufacturers have greatly reduced the buttons of the arrow block, so you have to adjust, get used to it, in the end. Moreover, two "neighbors" were placed next to each other - function buttons and . As for the marking, it is clear enough, so there will be no problems with typing.

Unlike the Acer and Apple keyboards, which are made of plastic, the Asus keyboard is made of aluminum. The Acer S3 keyboard is characterized by great work, clear stroke, convenient layout and optimal spacing between buttons.

By the way keyboard Apple macbook Air 13 has LED backlighting.

The touchpad in the ultra-sporty Aspire S3 has a large, sensitive positioning area. The clear boundaries of the touchpad will not allow you to often jump out of the bounds, so you can work with comfort. The main thing is that there is support for multi-touch gestures, so you can zoom images, perform horizontal and vertical scrolling. It should be noted that visually "mouse" keys are not observed (in principle, as in the "apple" Air). This function is performed by the touchpad itself.

The other two laptops have the same glass touchpad functionality - you can scroll, rotate, zoom out and zoom in on images. The only thing that sets the ASUS touchpad apart is the key area. While the Air 13 and Aspire S3 have the mouse buttons completely hidden by the touch area, the Zenbook has markings that separate the left and right buttons.

Processor and packaging

The Acer S3, like the Asus UX31, has a 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium operating system on board. Basically, this OS works stably and has an intuitive interface. In the event of a failure, you can recover your operating system thanks to software on your hard drive. MacBook Air 13 comes with a preinstalled operating Mac system OS X Lion 10.7, which starts up from an SSD in 15 seconds. Interesting that 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 justifies the concept of being productive. Acer S3-951-2464G34iss package includes a second generation dual-core processor Intel Core i5-2467M with a clock frequency of 1600 MHz and a cache of 3 MB. This CPU is powerful enough to handle demanding applications with ease. Core i5-2467M on Sandy Bridge supports various technologies, including Turbo Boost, which allows the processor to overclock up to 2.3 GHz. Recall that the processor in the MacBook Air and in the new product from ASUS is no less powerful. Core i5-2557M with a clock frequency of 1.7 GHz will allow you to work quickly and efficiently, to solve problems of varying complexity. In general, in terms of performance, there is not too much difference between these three devices.

Ultrabook from Acer has one RAM slot, where there is a 4 GB bar. The RAM has the DDR3 standard. The same storage capacity is available on the MacBook Air 13 and Zenbook UX31. Only in a laptop from Apple is the memory built-in motherboard, therefore, it cannot be increased.

In the S3 we are dealing with a hybrid drive. This reflects the desire of manufacturers to save money. For data storage, only a 320-gigabyte hard drive is used, but an integrated SSD-drive located on motherboard, has a capacity of 20 GB and is used only for storing the contents of memory (caching information) when the laptop is in sleep mode. In fact, this drive is needed to implement "fast falling asleep" and instant recovery from sleep. The rivals do not have a hard drive, they only have solid state drive... The MacBook Air has 256GB of storage, while the Asus models The Zenbook UX31 comes in either 128GB or 256GB SATA III variants. Anyway, latest models"Win" because the flash drive is twice as fast as a conventional hard drive. Accordingly, you can instantly load the system, launch applications very quickly. In general, the SSD-drive implements everything that is paramount for a laptop - exceptional speed, reliability. And the noiselessness will not be superfluous either. However, it is too early to rejoice in competitors, since Acer has some configurations with a 240 GB flash drive.

Let's pay attention to the graphics processing. The Aspire S3 Ultrabook (as well as the other two) comes with an integrated graphics card Intel HD Graphics 3000... This controller uses allocated memory from RAM. It's nice that in addition to decoding video, working with office applications, photo editing, integrated graphics capabilities are enough for smooth Full HD playback. But, in general, a discrete video card cannot be replaced by it.

Testing the MacBook Air, UX31 and S3 in 3DMark06 showed that the large quantity points received graphics in Apple - 4236 points. The performance in Ultrabooks from Acer and ASUS was 3257 and 3761 points, respectively.

Ports and communications

All ports in the Aspire S3 are located at the back. Moreover, the side faces are practically empty.

So, on the left you can see only the combined audio jack.

On the right, only a card reader is provided, though shortened. But this is better than its complete absence.

There is nothing in front at all. How do you want something else to fit by 3 mm?

The rear panel contains all possible ports, but there are not so many of them. Rather, only necessary: 19-pin digital HDMI interface (Asus Zenbook UX31 has microHDMI), two USB 2.0 ports and a charging jack. Note that the laptop does not have an analog video output.

Here in the updated laptop from Apple, the ports were allocated, on the contrary, 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 will also help you connect to the ultrabook through special adapters at the same time about six various devices which have VGA, DVI, HDMI, FireWire and USB connectors. Moreover, Apple has a proprietary Apple power connector and input / output for connecting a microphone and headphones.

In general, these two ultrabooks have a different set of ports. But here's what you say, the Zenbook UX31, in addition to USB 2.0, has a USB 3.0 interface, as well as support for Charger + technology, which allows you to charge via USB port other mobile devices... A micro-VGA port is also provided.

When it comes to wireless communications, the S3 Ultrabook has wireless Wi-Fi module 802.11 b / g / n. This will make it possible to surf the web. By the way, with the help of Instant Connect technology, you can “get to the Internet” from sleep mode in two and a half seconds. On the other hand, the other two laptops do the job 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. Characteristic Bluetooth feature 4.0 + HS is low power consumption, achieved due to the fact that the transmitter is activated only at the moment of sending data. Interestingly, this standard allows you to transfer information at a speed of 1 Mbit / s with a data packet size from eight to twenty-seven bytes.

Battery

The Aspire S3 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 entire working day. Naturally, it is supposed to surf the web, browse text documents rather than watching a number 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 accumulator battery will be fully charged. Your Zenbook laptop will last for just 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-playing” business device that will be appreciated by users who need a lot of mobility. So in the ultrabook everything is provided for this: long battery life, high performance. Compared to its rivals, the MacBook Air and Zenbook UX31, it does not lose in the least. The same ergonomic keyboard, though made of plastic, but no less resistant to bending. No less attractive design. And this ultrabook does not complain about performance either. In terms of functionality, the S3 has everything a businessman needs.

If you try to single out a clear leader among the three laptops, it is unlikely that you will be able to do it more or less objectively. The only thing is that Acer's ultrabook still takes the leading position in terms of cost - about 900-1000 US dollars. Compare, the Asus UX31 is 1099, and the Air is two hundred dollars more expensive.

So there is a choice, it remains only to decide in favor of one of the companies and purchase one of the productive supermobile laptops.

Positioning

“A new class of devices” - let's leave such formulations to marketers. Let's immediately agree, looking at the Aspire S3: this is how ordinary "workhorses" will look from now on. Lightweight, powerful enough for today's everyday tasks, with over 4 hours runtime. 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 - they provide their owner with everything he needs. If for you there is no difference between 11 and 13 inches, if you do not feel the benefits of 1.4 kg of weight, and also absolutely do not 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 "licked" from the firstborn - the brainchild Apple called Macbook Air. It is not surprising that outwardly the devices are very similar to these laptops. You can argue for a long time how else it would be possible to implement the appearance, what materials to use. The fact is obvious: in many devices it is necessary to remove the logo, and they all become either one of the ultrabooks or Apple's Air.

However, it's hard to say that the Aspire S3 is ugly. Just the opposite. People who are far from technical details, twisting and weighing this apparatus in their hands, nod in the affirmative and say that they would gladly take it as a working (read, a typewriter with access to the network) apparatus.

The design is pretty, moderately strict - suitable for both boys and girls. The Aspire S3 is almost completely silver, both outside and inside. The material used is officially called "Special Coated Magnesium Aluminum Alloy". It resembles metal to the touch, especially when you take the device out of a bag or package and touch the lid - a pleasant coolness for sure and you will like it. Everything inside is painted silver. Even buttons. And only in the middle, the area next to the hinges is made of black material.

The physical dimensions, as befits the classification of an ultrabook, are very modest: 323x219x17.5-13 mm, weight less than 1.4 kg

Keyboard, touchpad

As already mentioned above, the buttons are silver. The symbols are printed in white. As a result, if you are going to use headphones with a laptop, then the white version is very suitable (if, of course, you are even a little worried about how the combination of different gadgets looks like).

The keyboard is somewhat unusual. But the point is not in the configuration of the keys (although there are some nuances here). At first, the feeling of typing is somewhat ambiguous. The fact is that the buttons have a short stroke, as a result of which, at first, when typing, multiple presses occurred. The texts contained a large number of misprints precisely on the part of double letters.

Despite the fact that Acer decided to shorten some keys, when typing - I can do it blindly - it did not bring discomfort. Apart from micro-cursors, here's a little enter. The photos show how it is implemented in S3.

The top row of buttons is also small. But this is the usual option.

As a result of the keyboard: typing is convenient and, by and large, familiar. The only remark: you need to adapt to the peculiarities of the key travel. For me it happened 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 you need to use a two-finger gesture to scroll. But a separate scroll area seems to be removed by all manufacturers.

I rarely used pressing the touchpad - more often I just “tap”. Pressing “ right button mouse ”is performed using the lower right corner.

Screen

I am glad that Acer did not make the frame around the screen glossy - it, like the entire body, is made of matte silver plastic. The screen, despite its small thickness, does not bend, physical influences from the outside do not lead to streaks on the display. The diagonal is 13.3 inches, the resolution is 1366x768 pixels. Viewing angles are familiar to laptops: they are quite enough for you for individual work. And even if, while watching a movie, someone decides to keep you company, it is quite possible to 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 photo.

Sound, ports

I would not call the sound capabilities any outstanding. Of course, it should be borne in mind that the body is small here, and at the same time the device can provide sound while watching a movie. Apparently, the fourth generation Dolby Home Theater technology has contributed here.

Multimedia capabilities are continued by the 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 was faced with the fact that when connecting headphones I had to turn down the volume to about 20 percent. Otherwise, the positive musical vibrations were about to rob me of my eardrums.

There is also a 2-in-1 card reader slot on the side (SD and MultiMediaCard). There are only two USB - both on the back of the laptop. Such an 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 position at the back can be inconvenient for using on your lap when a USB flash drive is connected to the port.

Power supply, working hours

The Aspire S3 has a 3-cell 3260 mAh battery. 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 watching HD-video and about 4.5 hours when working with text and an active Internet connection.

Sleep power consumption is as promised, low, with the Aspire S3 using just 6 percent of its battery in 11 hours of inactivity.

The power adapter is small, although somewhat larger than used for charging netbooks Aspire one... It takes about 3 hours to fully charge.

Performance

The complete set of our instance is as follows (S3-951):

Processor: Intel Core i5-2467M, 1.6 GHz
Video Card: Intel HD Graphics
RAM: 4GB DDR3
HDD: 320 GB
Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n
Bluetooth 4.0

Performance is, in principle, expected. Second generation Intel Core i5 1.6 GHz. The packaging of the components inside the laptop is in front of you. To do this, you need to unscrew 12 screws on the bottom. I'm not sure if the manufacturer provides for the possibility of self-upgrading by users.

For high performance an interesting combined storage system was applied. 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 inside the case. It is present here to implement quick wake-up, as well as speed up the work of system processes. As for the speed of work, except for graphs, I will not give any data.

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 repeat: 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 needs about 6 seconds to be ready to work. Configuring the behavior of the laptop during idle time is carried out through special software.

Software:

Noise, heating

The Aspire S3 is noisy, just like the rest of the notebooks. That is, the ultrabook cannot be called absolutely noiseless, and the rustling of the drive is also heard during the operation of the version with the HDD. The cooling system does its job, you can hardly get burned on this ultrabook. If the temperature rises, then to the state of "slightly warm", not stronger. I suppose that the material used played a role here as well: if it weren't for an alloy, perhaps you would constantly feel the temperature rise on your knees.

conclusions

We have reviewed the first ultrabook on sale. Acer has turned out to be a very strong and balanced device. If there is anything I would like to improve, it is the running time. Still, a three-cell battery is "small". Nevertheless, the demonstrated performance indicators are quite suitable for serious cases. As a last resort, you can take the power adapter with you for charging - it's not very large.

In all other respects, we have a working apparatus: it is lightweight, efficient, and does not heat up. At the same time, the Aspire S3 quickly turns on, has an HDMI port, has great keyboard- as the saying goes, “I don’t want to work”.

At the moment, only one configuration of the Acer Aspire S3 (S3-951) is on sale, and it was tested here, at the time of the start of sales the price was 35,000 rubles.

During the 4th quarter of 2011 the following configurations of Acer Aspire S3 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 64 54 990 rub.
Aspire S3-951-2464G24iss Core i5 2467M Intel® HD Graphics 3000 4Gb RAM SSD 240Gb BT 4.0 W7HP 64 46 990 rub.
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 RUB 31,990

This review will not end the conversation about Ultrabooks. I can't promise other reviews yet, but the site will definitely have an article comparing (most likely in the buyer's guide format) of other devices of this class.

Igor Soprun ()

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