Acer Aspire R14 Laptop, Aspire Z3-700 AIO PC With Windows 10 Launched

The latest incarnation of the Aspire R14 features a thinner 360-degree dual torque hinge which lets you switch from using it as a standard notebook to a tablet. It has a 14-inch full-HD display with 10-point multi-touch support for Windows 10. Acer has refreshed the internals with Intel's 6th Generation Core processors so you have a choice between a Core i7-6500U or a Core i5-6200U. There's support for up to 8GB of DDR3L RAM, Intel HD Graphics 520, up to 512GB SSD storage (no option for HDD) and Wi-Fi ac with MU-MIMO technology. The notebook will ship with Widows 10 Home 64-bit. The Aspire R14 will first launch in North America and Europe in late October with prices starting at $699 (roughly Rs. 45,300) and EUR 799 respectively (roughly Rs. 59,000).

Acer also announced a brand new all-in-one PC called the Aspire Z3-700. It features a built-in battery which can last up to 5 hours when not connected to wall power. The PC sports foldable legs which transforms it into a giant tablet so you can easily move it around the house. The 17.3-inch full-HD display supports 10-point multi-touch for Windows and weighs around 2kg. Other specifications includes an option of a Pentium N3700 or Celeron N3150 CPU (Braswell platform), up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, Intel HD Graphics, up to 256GB SSD or 500GB HDD, and stereo speakers with Dolby Audio. The notebook will ship with Windows 10 and will be available by the end of the year for the EMEA region, with prices starting at EUR 799 (roughly Rs. 59,000).

The two newly-launched devices join the rest Acer's Windows 10 lineup which the company announced only a month back at IFA 2015. In India, we should expect these products to hit the market towards the end of Q4, according to Oliver Ahrens, Senior Corporate Vice President of Acer. The company is also heavily focusing on its Predator gaming products to take on the established brands like Republic of Gamers from Asus. This lineup includes gaming notebooks like the Predator 17 and 15, gaming desktops like the Predator G6 and G3, and monitors like the new Z35, a 35-inch curved display with Nvidia's G-Sync and a 200Hz refresh rate.

We also had a chance to play a bit with the Acer Liquid Jade Primo, which is its upcoming flagship Windows 10 smartphone with support for Continuum. The unit that we saw was a prototype device which was used to demo Continuum through a wireless mode by using Miracast. The phone itself felt very light and slim, and features similar specifications to the Microsoft Lumia 950 such as a 5.5-inch Super Amoled display, 21-megapixel rear camera, and a Qualcomm's Snapdragon 808 SoC. Acer has yet to announce the final version, which we suspect could come out during the holiday season around the same time as the new Lumia flagships.

Disclosure: Acer sponsored the correspondent's flights and hotel for the event in Taipei.