Acer Goes Big With 15-Pound, Graphics-Intensive Notebook

Acer plans to unveil Wednesday the Intel Pentium 4-based Aspire 1710, which features a 120-Gbyte ATA/100 hard disk drive--the first notebook on the market with such a drive, according to the company. The new product also features an internal DVD-Dual drive (DVD/RW), four USB 2.0 ports and a FireWire port, as well as hyper-threading technology and Nvidia GPU with up to 128 Mbytes of dedicated DDR video memory.

The Aspire 1710 has met with greater-than-expected success in Europe where it has been available for a year, according to Acer. Wednesday's launch is the first release of the product in the U.S. market.

Acer executives said the product has found a home in Europe among engineers, gamers and other power PC users that are looking for raw computing power to run graphics-intensive applications but want the capability to bring the product home or tuck it away for security purposes in the office.

The Aspire 1710 also has been well-received among space-constrained small- and midsize-business customers and educational institutions, said Sumit Agnihotry, mobile product marketing manager at Acer. Some customers are using the notebook as a presentation/Internet device in conference rooms, he added.

Agnihotry said the product, which will be available through distributors such as Tech Data and partners such as CDW, breaks new ground and will be a differentiator for Acer partners, particularly with the growth in the 17-inch wide-screen, full-featured notebook market.

"This product has been extremely successful in Europe, and the feedback from our channel partners has been phenomenal," Agnihotry said. "This gives the reseller another tool to target new customers and existing customers. There is definitely a market for a true desktop alternative at a mainstream price point."

Agnihotry said the product also differentiates Acer from other hardware vendors. "This is something the Dells of the world don't have," he said. "We definitely believe the 17-inch notebook market is expanding. Wide-screens are here to stay. You are going to see a lot more of that in 2004."

In addition to engineers and gamers, the Aspire 1710 should score marks with graphics designers because it is well-suited for digital creation applications such as Adobe Photoshop and QuarkXPress, according to Acer. The product supports 3-D graphics with the Nvidia GeForce FX Go5700 graphics card and a four-light-tube LCD-- vs. the standard two-light-tube display--that is twice as bright as conventional displays.

Other features of the Aspire 1710 include support for 802.11g, 10/100 LAN connection, a V.92. 56-Kbps data/fax modem, a 6-in-1 card reader for optional MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital Card SmartMedia card, memory stick, CompactFlash Card or Microdrive.