Acer launches Gemstone laptops

ACER HAD SOME new laptops on display with a unique finish. These new Aspires have some interesting features that are more than skin deep though.

I don't usually rant about aesthetics, (cough, Ed.) but this one is really different. Instead of the usual logo on the case lid, Acer has gone above and beyond the call of duty to make it pretty. The case lid is black on the outer edge and about an inch in. The centre is sparkly carbon fiber-esque in look, but it is subtle, if the light doesn't catch it right, it just looks black.

It has a clear coat of plastic, several mm thick on top of the sparkly stuff with the Acer logo embedded in it. The logo itself is cut metal, and since it is floating in plastic, it looks quite 3D. OK, it is 3D and it casts a shadow and everything. The overall effect is pretty nice, and the Acer folk were quite proud of it. You just can't capture it in pictures.

The interior is a white coating that Acer calls ceramic-like. It is not bright white but slightly off bright white and has a unique textured feel about it. Think duller than Apple, but to me, that's a good thing. The inter and exterior are branded Gemstone.

There is an actual laptop under the plastic however and it's the usual Intel Centrino branded parts. Some of them also have an Nvidia GPU, and they all have Dolby Home Theater certification. Nothing to write home about technically speaking other than the camera and the mic.

Once again, the Acer people are quite proud of the camera going as far as branding it Crystal Eye. It is the usual swiveling webcam on the top of the screen but they claim to have built in a very high quality camera this time.

It will do 640*480 video at up to 30FPS, so not bad overall. The trick they say is that it is very good at low light situations, something that you can't really demonstrate on the show floor effectively. If you are out and about under non-ideal circumstances, this may make things a lot more usable.

Something else worth talking about is the sound system. It has a directional microphone that works fairly well. If you are video conferencing with this laptop, it has a 120 degree or so pickup field, and even at Computex on the floor you could see the difference - there was a VU meter program running so you could see the sound levels. Talking in front of the laptop was picked up, behind was almost ignored.

Basically what you have is a line of high end laptops with a unique look. I like most of it, and think the rest would probably grow on me. If you are looking at laptops, take a peek at the new Acer Gemstone line, they are certainly better looking than most laptops. µ