Acer Aspire S7 With 9 Hours of Power Extra Battery

Acer is keeping the Aspire lineup fresh with three new ultrabooks, announced today in advance of the Oct. 26 launch of Windows 8. The new laptops feature Windows 8 and a slew of features optimized for the new operating system, with capacitive touch screens, true HD (1080p) displays, and super-slim profiles as thin as 0.48 inch.

When we reviewed the Acer Aspire S7-391, we loved the gorgeous industrial design and 1080p touch screen. But one of our chief complaints was that the Ultrabook’s battery lasted just 4 hours and 10 minutes on the LAPTOP Battery Test (Web surfing via Wi-Fi). That’s 2 hours less than our ultraportable category average, and hardly what you want to see out of a $1,699 notebook.
The external battery extended the S7′s life to 9 hours and 17 minutes, about 5 hours longer than the battery in the notebook itself, and about three hours longer than the ultraportable average.
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Unfortunately, the external battery attaches somewhat awkwardly to the S7. You have to screw the battery into the bottom of the notebook, and the plug it into the S7′s power port. The plug itself juts out about 3/4 of an inch, which made us worry we’d accidentally snap it off. It also increased the weight to 3.4 pounds, up from 2.8 without the battery.
Both systems feature Dolby Home Theater Audio and built-in stereo speakers, two USB 3.0 ports, and micro-HDMI output. While the laptops don't have VGA or Ethernet ports on the system, adapters are included with the system to allow further connectivity. The keyboards offer automatic backlight, which adjusts automatically thanks to ambient light sensing.
The Acer Aspire S7 is one of the sharpest-looking laptops of 2012. It's incredibly thin and light, although the glass-covered lid makes it a bit top-heavy. The HP Envy Spectre had a similar glass-heavy design, putting glass on the back of the lid and the wrist rest. Here the wrist rest is thankfully glass-free.
So many of the Windows 8 laptops to date have been either painfully similar, shamelessly cloning each other, or else overly complicated convertible tablets that twist, flip, or swivel. The Acer Aspire S7 is priced out of the range of most laptop shoppers, but it looks great, runs well, and, most importantly, serves as an excellent proof of concept for both Windows 8 and touch-screen laptops.