When Acer first came out with the S3 last
year, just after the announcement of the Ultrabook form factor in Computex,
people were asking "Will this work? Will it sell?” Fast forward to today,
Ultrabooks are all the rage, and many companies are churning out the machines
like no one's business. Acer is no different. As literally the first out of the
door with an Ultrabook, they must uphold their pioneering spirit and position
in the market. Now we have their follow up to the S3, the aptly named S5.
Thinner
than thin?
At the time of publication, Acer is touting
their S5 as the thinnest 13 inch Ultrabook in the market. And we believe them
on that matter. Look at it - it is barely thicker than our sister magazines,
Majalah Tech and Business Today combined together! Even though it is super
slim, it is not lacking in processing power. As it uses an Intel Core i5 under
its hood, you know whatever you do on it will be fast and furiously powerful.
Rather
ports-less?
Of course the question is – if it is so
thin, where are the ports? Well, then you open up the lid and gaze your eyes on
it, you will notice a prominent button on the top right, next to the keyboard.
This is the button for their innovative IO panel, called the Magicflip I/O
Port. It is kind of magical, since when you press the button, a row of ports
will magically appear at the back of the S5. The ports available include one
HDMI, two USB 3.0 and a first on this generation of Ultrabooks, one
Thunderbolt. Notably, the HDMI port is full sized, so you can tell that Acer
isn’t really skimping on stuff. Of course we’d prefer having the ports on the
side instead for easy access. At least Acer did put in a warning system while
the ports are in use, so you know you will not accidentally damage your S5 if
you press the button for the Magicflip.
The
ports available include one HDMI, two USB 3.0 and a first on this generation of
Ultrabooks, one Thunderbolt. Notably, the HDMI port is full sized, so you can
tell that Acer isn’t really skimping on stuff.
Mixed
results
We ran our standard test of the Performance
Test, which had the S5 scoring 1125 points. This is just barely acceptable as
the processor is not the fastest in the market. What surprised us is the
battery life. We managed to squeeze about four hours and some extra minutes on
a full charge. So if you are looking for something light, thin and portable -
you can't go wrong with the Acer S5.
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Info
·
Price: $1,147
·
Dimensions (H x W x D): 324 x 227.3 x 11.2/15 mm
·
Weight: 1.2kg
·
Processor: Intel core î5-3317u
·
Memory: 4GB
·
Storage: 1,228GB SSD
·
Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium
·
Display: 13.3" 1,366 x 768
·
Performance test: 1,125
Verdict
·
An okay Ultrabook with a nifty gimmick
·
Value: 8/10
·
Features: 8/10
·
Performance: 8/10
·
Design: 8/10
·
Usability: 8/10
·
Score: 8.0/10
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