We were in New York yesterday to see the latest Acer product launch and left impressed with the view from one of the new World Trade Center tower, as well as from what products were shared. Above all, we were interested to see their tablets.
The Acer Switch Alpha 12, pictured above, is a 2-in-1 Tablet running Windows 10 on a 6th Gen Intel Core i processor. This is a serious effort to address the higher tier of the 2-in-1 Tablet market, dominated now by Microsoft and Apple with their Pro edition tablets. While many other vendors are also focused on this high-margin segment, there are a few things that stand out for the Alpha 12:
- The keyboard is included, meaning that the consumer (or enterprise) isn’t paying another $150 for the accessory which turns the tablet into PC replacement.
- The price is incredibly low compared to other Surface clones out there. Pricing and availability begins at $599 in the US starting in June, €699 in EMEA starting in May, and ¥5999 in China starting in May.
- This fan-less design saves space on the footprint of the device and Acer has turned to its gaming PC expertise to cool down the Core i3/i5/i7 processor: Liquid Loop cooling. A radiator, of sorts, is embedded in the device to cool the processor with liquid, rather than air.
While there was little fanfare for it, Acer did also show off their newest 10” Android tablet, the Acer Iconia Tab 10. Aside from running Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), the main differentiator for this tablet was four front-facing speakers with DTS-HD Premium Sound audio technology. The first thing I noticed before reading the spec sheet was how vibrant the sound was. Pricing is set at £180, or about $260, and goes on sale in the UK in June. Also noteworthy at this price range is the FHD (1920 x 1200) resolution.
The other tablet news was a review of Acer’s recent investment in GrandPad, a tablet company targeting the 300 million “Super Seniors” in the world, or those over 75 years-old. The UI is very easy to read and the biggest focus for this product is for family communications. Included with the GrandPad is an app for other family members’ phones and tablets to video conference, and share pictures and messages, with their grandparents. Instead of a singular device purchase, it is a $60/month device and service package, including a 4G LTE data package from Verizon.
Other products, like the Xplova X5 “cycling computer”, the Chromebook 14 for Work, the Predator 17 X, and the Predator G1 were also debuted at the show. Much of the traffic in the product demo areas was around the VR-ready gaming PCs and the Switch Alpha 12 2-in-1 Tablet, which wasn’t surprising given their capabilities on display.
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