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Samsung Series 9[/caption]Acer has introduced its Aspire S5 as the "world's thinnest ultrabook". It seems like only yesterday that Samsung made an almost identical claim calling its Series 9 the "world's thinnest premium laptop", essentially making both companies' claims a distinction without a difference. It seems like only yesterday, because Acer made its claim only one day after the Samsung announcement. Notice the slightly different wording in the two announcements.
Here is what Samsung had to say: "The Series 9 is Samsung's premium line up, including its thinnest and lightest laptops. The new Ultrabook sets the new industry standard for portability and performance. Weighing less than three pounds and only 0.6 inches deep, it does not require a compromise on features, boasting the world's fastest boot-up time of just 9.8 seconds and Batterylife Plus Technology offering up to 10 hours of operation."
The Series 9 boot-up time and battery life are commendable, and should be remembered in a decision making process.
Samsung's "15 minutes of fame" was short-lived, because Acer issued their press release the very next day, claiming the title of "world's thinnest ultrabook". It turns out that the Acer Aspire S5, at 0.59-inches, is 0.01-inches thinner than the Samsung Series 9: yes, just one-hundredth of an inch thinner.
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Acer Aspire S5[/caption]The Acer Aspire S5's most notable features are the 'MagicFlip' I/O port panel and the claim to being the "first ultrabook to feature Thunderbolt™, the fastest way to transfer data between a PC and high-performance peripherals and high-definition displays, all over a single cable." When a dedicated key is pushed the MagicFlip port array panel pops out from below the hinge to reveal USB 3.0, HDMI, and Thunderbolt ports.
Here is what Acer says about Thunderbolt: "Thunderbolt connection technology brings together high-speed data transfer and high-definition display (HD) on to a single cable, enabling up to six Thunderbolt enabled devices, such as PCs, hard drives, displays, cameras, audio/video equipment and docking stations to be daisy chained together. It is up to 20 times faster at transferring data than USB 2.0; running at 10Gbps, it can transfer a full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds."
Acer claims its 'PowerSmart' battery pack will provide 1,000 recharge cycles instead of the typical 300 provided by traditional batteries. That claim also will have only it's 15 minutes of fame, because a variety of vastly improved battery technologies are currently in development.
The Acer Aspire S5 does provide independent display support for up to three screens, and images can be viewed across multiple displays. The S5 is offered in black, magnesium-alloy and brushed aluminum chassis.
Assessment & Rx
One-hundredth or even a few hundredths of an inch difference in thickness is a poor reason to buy one laptop instead of another. The laptop manufacturers will continue to bombard consumers with a series of mostly accurate claims including: 'world's lightest', 'world's thinnest', 'world's highest PPI count resolution', 'world's something-or-other'; and no one wants their laptop technology to get boring, so here's a prescription for magic, or at least a trademarked MagicFlip port panel.
If you want this prescription, when the doctor says "cough", just cough-up US-$1,400. The Acer Aspire S5 has already taken its magic-marketing pill.
