The first generation of Ultrabooks was rushed out. Everything felt unfinished. Not the Aspire S5. Even though Acer’s last Ultrabook attempt, the S3, was very middle-of-the-pack, the S5 looks like it’s going to be good. It feels absolutely nothing like the S3. Where the S3 was plasticky and cheap-feeling, the S5 is heavy duty and complete.
The aluminium body is a little heavier than we’re accustomed to in an Ultrabook, but that’s a little bit because it’s coming in at a larger size. The 13-inch screen seems to handle colour better than the S3, which had the same resolution (1366×768) — though that might be a function of the super-dim room the hands-on models were in.
The keyboard and trackpad are also much improved. While the S3 was very, very functional, but felt cheap. The S5 retains that functionality, but now feels polished.
The power-open, magical IO-port-housing bay in the back of the S5 is very cool, but you can’t help but wonder about durability. Also, it’s a little like power-operated doors or curtains or anything: yeah, great, luxurious, but when I’m in a rush, I’m probably not going to want to wait for it to open to get at those ports.
The S5 looks and feels and should perform great. But the takeaway is that even the middle of the pack competitors from last generation are bringing the heat this year. Cheap-ass, netbook-wannabe Ultrabooks should be a thing of the past very soon, finally giving us a broad selection of top-tier of ultraportables.
bruce
Monday, January 9, 2012 at 2:02 PMPorts in the back? Get out of town. That is a step backward.
Roger
Monday, January 9, 2012 at 2:40 PMI often use my laptop at home, connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse. It makes cable management much easier if you have all the ports on one side. On something as thin as this, it’s not practical to have them all on one side, such as on my Macbook Pro, so I really don’t mind them being on the back. When I’m out and about I’m not really using them anyway.
Raaagh
Monday, January 9, 2012 at 5:17 PM“On something as thin as this, it’s not practical to have them all on one side,”
How thin is it?, my macbook air has all the ports on the side.
Roger
Monday, January 9, 2012 at 9:22 PMOops, could have worded that better.
The wedge shape of most of these Ultrabooks (thinner at the front) would make it difficult to fit a full complement of ports on one side without having to make them bulge out from the frame.
Deshan
Monday, January 9, 2012 at 7:17 PMtrackpad = 100% apple ripoff
keyboard = 99% apple ripoff
Brad
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 10:22 PMI don’t see how it is an apple ripoff? It doesn’t look much like an apple product in them ways.