More than last year, 2012's ultrabooks have been and will continue to be about tradeoffs: low-res screens vs. high-res, TN panels vs. IPS, snappy SSDs vs. capacious HDDs, dual-core CPUs vs. quad-core, 2GB vs. 8GB, power-sipping IGPs vs. muscle-bound GPUs, mainstream vs. premium pricing, and so on.

Acer's new TimelineU makes its own compromises. Our review unit touts a full-size backlit keyboard, 500GB of storage, a GeForce GT 640M LE GPU, an optical drive, an eight-hour battery life and an attractive $830 price tag. Naturally, the question is: what's the catch? Let's get to the bottom of that.

The Iconia Tab A700 is Acer's latest update to its Android tablet line-up. Featuring Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and a quad-core processor, the A700's claim to fame is its new 1920 x 1200 pixel, full HD display. Needless to say, it's a considerable step up from the 1280 x 800 pixel displays Acer used on the A500 and A510.

The Acer Iconia Tab A700 should look familiar to anyone who has seen or used a 10-inch Android tablet before. The tablet's dimensions and 16:10 aspect ratio display lend it much more to use in landscape orientation than in portrait -- something that is frequently said about 10-inch Android tablets.

Acer is stepping up its game in the Ultrabook market with an updated version of their S3 model as well as an all-new Aspire S5 that’s being touted as the thinnest Ultrabook currently available. The 13.3-inch laptop, which was first unveiled...

Following a 6% decline during the holidays, the PC industry snapped back to growth in the first quarter of 2012 according to Gartner and IDC. The former outfit pegged worldwide shipments at 89 million units for a 1.9% increase year-over-year, while the latter reported a 2.3% bump...

Acer has sued former CEO and President Gianfranco Lanci for allegedly breaching a contract signed during his departure last year. Filed in Lanci's native Italy, the suit highlights a non-compete clause that barred Lanci from joining rival firms for 12 months...

US PC makers have witnessed the worst holiday quarter in a decade, according to IDC. The researcher recorded a 5.31% decline in worldwide shipments from the end of 2010, while US-specific shipments fell 6.71% in the same period. Overall, the global industry...

PC Connection Express offers the refurbished Acer Gateway DX4320-02E AMD Phenom II 2.8GHz Desktop PC (no monitor), model no. PT.GAY02.002, for $329.99. With free shipping, that's the lowest total price we could find for this refurb by $120...

Editorial It appears as though we're just now arriving to that sweet spot where fewer compromises can be made to build fast and svelte machines that are budget-friendly, all at the same time. However, it's easy to miss what a true next-generation ultraportable notebook should be.

Manufacturers are short-sighted if they only focus on building fast machines that weigh 3 pounds or less, without putting design and user experience at the core of their future developments. Here are some key aspects where I believe PC makers should focus and where some are already failing on their first try to deliver a killer ultrabook.