Acer at CES 2012: Aspire S5, Timeline Ultra, Iconia Tab A700, and AcerCloud

The Tab A700 is surprisingly light for its size. Its 9.8mm thickness isn’t competitive with the slimmest tablets out, but it generally feels great in the hand, so I won’t complain. It was tough in the brief time we had with the 1080p display to discern how much of a difference it makes, though Acer had a 1080p movie clip preloaded to show the processor’s more than capable of handling the load.

Compare it: Timeline Ultra vs. Series 5 vs. Folio 13 and more!

Acer’s new ultrabook, the Aspire S5, is living up to the “ultra” in its name: it’s the thinnest ultrabook yet, which is a feat for a category defined by its thinness. It also offers a Thunderbolt port, a first outside of Apple’s Mac computers. Acer describes its design as inspired by a razor’s edge, and the reason for it is clear to see, the sides of the Aspire S5 come down to a sharp edge, sharper even than on the MacBook Air.

Another unique addition to the S5 is the way you access its I/O ports. There are USB and HDMI connections next to the Thunderbolt port, all of which are at the back of the computer and accessible by a door that slides open and closed, dubbed Magic Flip by Acer. The cool thing about it is that the opening mechanism is powered and lifts the laptop up, accompanied by a futuristic noise.

Which is which? Acer just showed off its AcerCloud service, something that already sounded suspiciously like Apple’s iCloud. Even the “PicStream” element sounds a lot like Photo Stream. Still not convinced? Acer basically ripped off Apple’s slide wholesale, outside of the font, which is a simulacrum of Apple’s font of yore. Check out both slides below.

We try really hard to highlight the important distinctions that companies bring to their me-too services, but Acer isn’t making it easy. Let’s try a little harder next year, yeah guys?

Acer gave us a quick look at its next-generation Iconia Tab tablet today, during the company’s press conference at CES. Acer’s Campbell Kan held up the tablet, revealed that it has a 1080p display and a quad-core processor, and then quickly whisked it away, saying only “isn’t it cool?” We’re pretty sure we’re looking at the Iconia Tab A700, which we saw pictures of a few weeks ago, but we’ll be trying to track down the mysterious tablet for a closer look.

Acer comes to CES 2012 in a state of flux. In the past 12 months, the company has changed its logo, parted ways with its CEO (Gianfranco Lanci, who now works for Lenovo), and decided on a new strategy of fewer, higher-quality products. With such a catalog of changes, all we can expect for sure is that there’ll be products at Acer’s press event today — follow along with our live blog to find out their number, pricing, and kind.

Acer has today announced its entrance into the cloud computing space with a feature dubbed AcerCloud. The company says the service — which will be bundled with Acer consumer PCs beginning in the second quarter of this year and available worldwide in Q4 — “securely connects all personal smart devices for anytime, anywhere access.” Both media libraries and documents will be synced across connected products including smartphones and tablets; Android will be supported at launch, with Acer promising compatibility with Windows-based devices in the future.

AcerCloud’s PicStream / clear.fi Photo component automatically stores cellphone-captured photos for a period of 30 days, during which they can be permanently backed up to a user’s PC. Documents adhere to a similar schedule, available for 30 days and providing an option for permanent download during that stretch. The manufacturer’s freshly-unveiled Always Connect technology serves as a major backbone of AcerCloud, allowing files to be retrieved from Acer PCs even when in hibernation mode. Further, the service combines local and cloud storage to ensure that those local files are available when needed.

Thanks, Babyfacemagee!

Ahead of its press conference at CES, Acer has just announced the new Aspire S5 ultrabook, which the company says is the world’s thinnest — it’s only 15mm at its thickest point. It’s a black, magnesium-alloy and brushed-metal 13.3-inch laptop, weighing 1.35kg (2.97 pounds) and featuring Acer’s Instant On technology that brings the computer back from sleep in 1.5 seconds. It also uses Acer Always Connect, which lets users manage data on their computers even when the machine is asleep — the S5 can be woken up from a smartphone, and will immediately log into email and social network accounts. There’s a Thunderbolt port inside, capable of 20Gbps speeds, along with USB 3.0 and HDMI ports — all are hidden below the S5’s hinge, and can be accessed by pressing Acer’s new MagicFlip key. The computer is powered by an Intel Core processor (though Acer didn’t reveal which one), has SSD storage, uses Dolby Home Theater audio, and has a PowerSmart battery pack that Acer says will have a life cycle three times longer than normal batteries.

The S5 will start shipping in the second quarter of this year, though pricing was not announced. Its Thunderbolt support means this must be an Ivy Bridge machine, meaning we won’t be seeing it until at least May or June.