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"World's thinnest Ultrabook" has flip-out Thunderbolt port

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By Barry Collins in Las Vegas

Posted on 8 Jan 2012 at 22:31

Acer has laid early claim to the "world's thinnest Ultrabook" crown here at CES, thanks to a new model with I/O ports that flip out of the ultrathin-laptop.

The Acer Aspire S5 measures only 15mm at its thinnest point at the front, but the party trick occurs at the rear of the ultrathin laptop. Hold down the "MagicFlip" button on the keyboard, and the previously concealed I/O ports emerge from a flap at the rear.

Those ports include a 20Gbits/sec Thunderbolt port, still a rarity on Windows laptops, plus a HDMI and USB 3 port.

The 13.3in Aspire S5 weighs only 1.35kg, and resumes from standby in less than 1.5 seconds, according to Acer - a half second improvement on its first-generation Ultrabook, the Aspire S3.

Acer has refined the design for the S3, which still sports the brushed-metal finish of its predecessor, but is now in an attractive dark black.

Further details of the specification and and price have yet to be announced, with the Aspire S5 not due to be launched until the second quarter of this year.

Timeline Ultras

Acer announced two further Ultrabooks at its CES press conference: the Aspire Timeline Ultra, which comes in both 14in and 15in models.

Spec details are fairly thin on the ground for this pair of laptops, with Acer only confirming that they will support the "latest Core i" processors, suggesting we might get a surprise announcement at tomorrow's Intel press conference.

The new models are 20mm thick, and have a claimed battery life in excess of eight hours. They include both HDMI and USB 3 ports, but not the Thunderbolt port of the S5.

They are due to launch in Q1, but prices haven't been announced.

Acer chairman and CEO, JT Wang, cited the new Ultrabooks as the "number one reason" why his company would prosper despite the economic gloom. He said that by the end of this year, 25-30% of Acer's laptop shipments will be Ultrabooks.

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User comments

Dark black?

What, is that different to 'light black'?

No picture of the main feature, either?

By greemble on 8 Jan 2012

"Thinnest"?

I'd like to see it pass through a 15mm wide slot to see if it really is as thin as claimed.

I suspect they won't advertise it as such in the UK and get away with it though, didn't the ASA tell Dell or HP off last year for claiming their machine was the thinnest when it was only the thinnest bit and not the thickest bit they were using to claim "it's the thinnest"?

By SwissMac on 9 Jan 2012

Thinnest point?

"measures only 15mm at its thinnest point"

but the rest of it can measure 5" but because it has a 15mm "thin" point they can lay claim to the thinnest laptop.

Would like to see pics of these (IMO flimsy) flip out ports

By DaChimp on 9 Jan 2012

I agree with DaChimp

Your article headlines with the novel ports design, yet we can't see them in the gallery. Would you be able to get a photo of these?

C

By Chatan on 9 Jan 2012

A typo

Other reviews say "15mm at its thickest" :-)

By Lomskij on 9 Jan 2012

@SwissMac @DaChimp

According to ZDNet's report, it measures between 13.3mm and 15mm, so it should pass through a 15mm slot (well, maybe 15.01mm :-D ).

I also agree, why big up the fold out ports, then not show them?

By big_D on 9 Jan 2012

All the reviews

seem to concur that it is 15mm at its maximal point. I'm intrigued but would like to know what the resolution is; none of the reviews mention that. If it's 1366x768 again, score a big fat "meh" from me. Asus have worked out that 1600x900 is a good fit for 13.3", why can't anyone else?

By nichomach0 on 9 Jan 2012

A new tool required for the PC testing crowd. A pair of Digital Callipers. :-)

By Jaberwocky on 9 Jan 2012

Well...

Laptopmag says 1366 x 768 pixels. They might be wrong, but considering that S3 had the same resolution...

By Lomskij on 9 Jan 2012

Weight including power supply?

Any chance you could report the weight including the power supply when discussing laptops. I won't be going anywhere without one so it's the total weight that's important to me.

By JeffGranger on 9 Jan 2012

Pop out ports

Anyone else remember the PCMCIA modems made by (I think) US Robotics that had a pop-out RJ11 socket?

I do remember the few I saw broke fairly quickly.

By TBennett on 9 Jan 2012

TBennett

They also did the X-Jack cardbus NICs - I found them to be quite reliable.

By nichomach0 on 9 Jan 2012

Wow... Article from the future!

I'm assuming that this article was posted from the states and therefore accidentally posted with a US style date (1/8/2012) in early January... rather than 1st Aug as noted on the article date!
Or is this a taste of the future brought to us by PC Pro! ;O)

By mdoragh on 14 Feb 2012

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