Ahead of IFA Berlin, which starts September 6th, Acer has announced that it will unveil several new products at the annual conference, including an updated version of the Aspire R7, with a 4th Generation Intel Core Series (aka Haswell) processor inside.
First released last spring, the Aspire R7 features an unusual touchpad placement - it's between the keyboard and the screen - and an "Ezel" hinge that allows the 1080p screen to flip, reverse, lie flat in tablet mode or float. The R7 also comes with a stylus to further enhance the touch experience. However, when we reviewed laptop in May, we were disappointed in its below-average battery life, slow hard drive and bulky design.
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Running on Intel's fourth generation processor, the new R7 comes with up to 12GB of RAM, up to 1TB of hard drive storage (or 256GB SSD) and will have Windows 8.1 preloaded. Like its predecessor, the R7 will come packed with many of Acer's proprietary programs like Acer Screengrasp for screenshots, note-clipper Scrapboard and AccuFinger to touch minuscule items on the screen.
While Acer has yet to provide U.S. pricing or a release date, the Haswell-refreshed R7 will be available in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in Q4 2013 at a suggested price of 999 Euros (converts to US$1319). The original Aspire R7 cost $999 at launch.
