Acer Switch 3, Switch 5 2-in-1 Windows 10 Laptops With Pen Support Launched

Acer at its Next@Acer event in New York on Thursday launched the new Aspire series and more Swift laptops, new Predator gaming laptops, new monitors, as well as a new wearable. The Taiwanese company at the event also expanded its Switch detachable laptop lineup. The company introduced the Switch 3 and Switch 5 - the latter is the more premium variant with a fingerprint sensor on board and Windows Hello support.

The Acer Switch 3 and Switch 5 both sport 12-inch displays and run on Windows 10. Both new Acer Switch 2-in-1 notebooks can be used with an Acer Active Pen on the touch screen, and have an attachable keyboard that snaps on with magnets and can be adjusted to an ergonomic angle for customer preference. There's also a U-shaped kickstand that holds up the display and can be adjusted to any angle up to 165 degrees. Both the Switch 5 and Switch 3 have front and rear cameras for video conferencing and capturing memories, and the front webcams provide 720p full-HD video recording. Both models also support the Micro SDXC slot, a thin and reversible USB 3.1 Type-C port, an additional USB 3.1 Type-A port and Bluetooth 4.0.

The Switch 5 incorporates the company's latest LiquidLoop fanless cooling system. It offers full-HD+ (2160x1440 pixels) resolution, and supports Intel HD Graphics 620. The Switch 5 is touted to be Acer's first 2-in-1 to be offered with seventh-generation Intel Core i7 and Core i5 processors, and is rated to deliver up to 10.5 hours of battery life. The Switch 5 has a backlit keyboard, and supports a 256GB or 512GB PCIe SSD and up to 8GB of LPDDR3 SDRAM4. The Acer Switch 5 is thin and light, measuring just 292x201.8x12mm and weighing 1.27kg when the tablet and keyboard are connected. The tablet alone measures just 9.6 mm in height, and weighs 0.92 kg.

The Acer Switch 5 will be available in North America in June starting at $799 (roughly Rs. 51,300); in EMEA in June starting at EUR 1,099 (roughly Rs. 76,800); and in China in July starting at CNY 7,4999roughly Rs. 69,800). There's also a Acer USB Type-C dock that can be purchased with the Switch 5, and it includes DisplayPort, HDMI, two USB 3.1 Type-C ports and three USB Type-A ports, as well as audio input for microphone and audio output for speakers.

The Switch 3 is the more budget offering of the two devices, and offers full-HD (1920x1200 pixels) resolution. It is powered by the Intel Pentium and Intel Celeron processors, and is rated to deliver up to 8 hours of battery life. The Switch 3 sports front-facing features, and supports 32GB, 64GB or 128GB eMMC memory and up to 4GB of LPDDR3 SDRAM4 . The Switch 3 measures just 295x201x16.3mm and weighs 0.9 kg when the tablet and keyboard are connected. The Switch 3 tablet alone measures just 9.95mm in height, and weighs 0.9kg. The Acer Switch 3 will be available in North America in June starting at $399 (roughly Rs. 25,600); in EMEA in June starting at EUR 499 (roughly Rs. 34,800); and in China in July starting at CNY 4,999 (roughly Rs. 46,500).