Acer unveils ultra-thin Timeline notebooks

Acer announced its 2009 line-up of portable computers in New York today, and added some eye-catching machines to its range.

The pick of the bunch is the company's Timeline notebook series. At just 24mm thick the computers are certainly sleek. But even though the laptop has a skinny frame, Acer isn't scrimping on battery power.

According to the company, it has "reached a delicate equilibrium between computer lightness and battery life, creating a series of featherweight notebooks that can give you an entire day of computing on a single charge."

There are three screen options to choose from. The 13.3-inch model is the lightest, weighing in at 1.6Kg. There's also a 14- and 15.6-inch model available.

The notebooks come equipped with Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, DDR3 system memory and storage up to 500GB.

If you want to shave a few grams off of the weight, there is also SSD storage support, with up to 64GB capacity.

Notebooks to Aspire

Acer has also announced it has strengthened its Aspire notebook range, with the addition of 8935, 5935 and 3935 notebooks.

Quite why Acer has decided that numbers are catchier than words is beyond us but the press release certainly has us excited. Probably because it sounds a bit pornographic.

"Let your fingertips explore the world of emotions inspired by the new Acer Aspire 8935 and 5935 notebooks," the release naughtily explains.

"Caress the curved lines of the smooth polished cover that will accompany you to the discovery of the boundless display, devoid of a frame right down to the hinges." Ahem.

If that doesn't make you hot under the collar, then the spec news just might. The 15.6-inch and 18.4-inch models house a 16:9 aspect ratio screen, use True5.1 Channel surround sound from Dolby and can be equipped with up to 4GB of DDR3 memory.

When it comes to hard-drive space, the 8935 can hold up to 1TB of info, while the 5935 can retain 500GB.

Both notebooks have Wi-Fi capabilities, built-in Bluetooth and a WiMAX connection. For good measure, there's also a built-in 6-in-1 card reader.

Ultra-portable

The 3935 is Acer's ultra-portable notebook offering. Less than one-inch thick, the notebook sports a 13.3-inch screen, which is also 16:9 aspect ratio.

The laptop is powered by Intel Centrino 2 processor tech, has 8 hours' battery life and up to 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz memory.

There's also the choice of unspecified hard-drive space or SSD storage. And you can have the 3935 with or without an optical drive.

Acer has yet to announce pricing and availablity. As soon as the company does, we will let you know.

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.