Acer Updates It’s Macbook Air Competitor The Aspire S7

Acer’s newly updated Aspire S7 ultrabook should allow it to better compete with today’s high-end notebooks like Apple’s Macbook Air and the Dell XPS 12.

Announced alongside the also revamped Aspire S3, this year’s Aspire S7 looks to also focus even more on delivering a premium laptop experience for users, while fixing the things that made it a decidedly mid-range laptop last time around. We featured it on our round up of the Windows 8 touchscreen notebooks last fall.

Read: Ultrabook: 7 Windows 8 Touchscreen Notebooks

This Aspire S7-392 will center on a 13.3 inch, Gorilla Glass covered, IPS touchscreen display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.  Just as last year that display will be melded to a hinge that will out users to position it at a 180 degree angle so that it can lay the device completely flat on a surface. Acer also notes that it will ship a version of the Aspire S7 with its first WQHD display which will have a resolution of 2590 x1440 in that same 13” inch screen size.

Like the Macbook Air, the Aspire S7 will also be made out of a single block of aluminum, addressing two of the build quality issues that come to mind when most users think of Acer, the creaky plastic chasses of most of their machines and the unsightly seams that cover most of their notebooks.

Together with a battery that has more capacity than last year’s model, the Aspire S7-392 will use Intel’s Haswell processors to deliver a huge improvement in battery life. Acer pegs the device’s battery life at 7 hours. If true, that could mean a 33% improvement over the device’s prior incarnation.

Acer says that’ it’s also addressed the fan noise that plagued the Aspire S7. With its TwinAir cooling system, the company says it can deliver an S7 that’s 20% quieter than last years.  Aspire S7 will also feature a light sensing backlight keyboard for use in situations where lighting is a concern.

Acer plans to make the 12.9 mm thick, 1.3 kg weighing Aspire S7 available to consumers in different configurations in the third quarter of this year. Engadget reports that the Aspire S7 will have a base price of $1,400 in the United States.

Acer didn’t detail what storage options will be made available to users with the machine.