Acer announces its Aspire Ethos laptops

LAPTOP MAKER Acer has announced two Aspire Ethos laptops for the multimedia enthusiast, which include detachable touchpads that double as remotes.

The Aspire Ethos series laptops will be available later this month starting at £999. There are two different sizes including a standard 15.6in model and a beastly 18.4in version.

The screens are Cinecrystal LED backlit units that offer full HD 1920x1080 resolution on the 18.4in model and 1366x768 on the smaller 15.6in model.

Windows 7 is the operating system pre-loaded in 64-bit versions of either Home Premium or Ultimate. Also pre-loaded is Acer's media sharing software called Clearfi.

Under the black brushed aluminium chassis is a Sandy Bridge Intel processor ranging from a Core i3 up to a Core i7. There is 4GB of DDR3 RAM and either 1GB Nvidia Geforce GT 540M or 2GB Geforce GT 555M graphics.

Multimedia nuts will be pleased to hear that the 18.6in Ethos 8951G comes with 5.1 channel surround sound whilst the smaller 15.6in Ethos 5951G comes with stereo speakers and Acer's Tuba Cinebass booster.

The laptops also have a unique feature where the touchpad on the laptop can be removed and used as a remote control. Acer said, "An orientation sensor allows the touchpad to be used either horizontally or vertically."

An Instant on Arcade key allows for fast booting and Acer said that the battery life is 5.5 hours. It also claimed that the battery has a longer life span of over 1,000 charge cycles, which is apparently more than three times that of a traditional notebook battery. µ