Last week in New York Acer unveiled their new Aspire R7 notebook with its revolutionary Ezel Hinge. We were there and managed to get a closer look at one.
The Acer Aspire R7 lets consumers transform their notebook into the shape that best delivers animmersive content experience based on their usage needs. With four modes of operation, the R7 can easily be used as a traditional notebook, a table top pad, a display, or switched into “Ezel” mode, allowing the screen to float over the keyboard at various angles. This allows users to work where they want and how they want — seated or standing, at a desk or with it on their lap. The Ezel Hinge makes it easy to switch the display around, to touch or type while creating, browsing or sharing content. Dual hinge technology allows for single-hand switching between modes and keeps the display rock-steady when touched.
1. Ezel Mode – Reach out and pull the display closer, eliminating the need to reach across the palm rest and keyboard to use the touch screen. Just pull it up and out where it can be positioned in front of the keyboard, or float over it. By pulling the display close, switching between touchscreen, keyboard and touchpad is seamless.
2. Notebook mode – Slide the display back behind the keyboard, and you have a powerful, full featured notebook computer with a 39.6 cm (15.6”) Full HD 1920×1080 touchscreen display, Intel Core i5 processor, up to 12GB of memory, up to 1TB hard drive, or up to 256GB SSD and a full-size backlit keyboard. It also includes a volume control button, HDMI port, SD card reader, audio jacks, three USB ports, WiFi, Bluetooth and a convenient converter port supporting VGA, RJ45 and USB.
3. Display Mode – Flip the screen over and it’s positioned perfectly for watching a movie, showing photos or giving a presentation. Sharing and collaborating is simple, enjoyable and straightforward. With Acer’s proven dual-torque design, the screen flips easily yet remains rigid when touched.
4. Pad Mode – Simply pull down the touchscreen and lay it on top of the keyboard with the face up, and the Aspire R7 morphs into a pad, without giving up the robust performance of a notebook. The ergonomic 4-degree tilting angle makes it perfect for browsing, writing or drawing and ideal for pure touch interactions like casual gaming and annotating.
Here are some other photos:
Here is a short video of the Aspire R7 we took at the event:
We should have a review unit soon for a proper hands-on review, so watch this space.
The Acer Aspire R7 is available in June with a starting price of £899.99.
So what do you think of the Aspire R7? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
I absolutely love the way Acer go about their design thinking – this looks delicious.