Acer has been one of the big perpetrators in driving laptop prices lower with their aggressive push into the netbook space. Finding a sub $250 10” screen Acer AOD257 netbook powered by an Intel Atom processor is easy to do these days, you don’t even need to wait for a sale. However, in 2012 that all changes according to Acer CEO J.T. Wang. Acer will start to focus on more profitable and high quality products, namely the Ultrabook category. According to Wang who was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal:
"Ultrabooks will become our key growth driver next year as customers want a lighter, thinner notebook with longer battery life. Selling more ultrabooks will also help improve our profit margins as they command higher prices,"
Ultrabooks are generally priced above $800, have an ultra thin and ultra light build but still manage to provide good performance and battery life. Most importantly to the company, they’re also more profitable and they can make more than a couple of bucks off of each sale. Call it taking a page out of Apple’s playbook, who for a long time has enjoyed 30% margins on the premium MacBook products they produce. If Acer doesn’t start making more profit, they’re in trouble, as the past two quarters have resulted in net losses for the company. That’s right, they’re losing money simply by staying in business and selling cheap laptops.
At the moment Acer has just one ultrabook option, that being the Acer Aspire S3 that sells for $870 at Amazon.com. The Aspire S3 comes equipped with the following specs:
- Screen: 13.3" HD Widescreen CineCrystal (glossy) LED-backlit Display: (1366 x 768) resolution; 16:9 aspect ratio
- Processor: Intel Core i5-2467M Processor 1.6GHz
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 3000
- Storage:
- 320GB SATA Hard Drive
- 20GB SSD Drive (for InstantOn)
- Slots: 2-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader
- Wireless: 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED, Bluetooth 4.0+HS
- Webcam: 1.3MP HD Webcam (1280 x 1024)
- Sound: Dolby® Home Theater® v4 audio enhancement
- Ports: 2- USB 2.0 Ports, 1- HDMI Port
- Battery: 3-cell Lithium polymer Battery, Up to 6-hours battery life
- Weight: 2.98 lbs
The Aspire S3 has met mixed reviews, with complaints about the stiff touch button and battery life under the quoted 6 hours in real world usage. Obviously we can expect an Aspire S4 with improvements next year if Acer sticks to their CEO’s word and cranks out more ultrabooks.
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