Acer is heading in a new direction after buying Amadana a Japanese design Company, they are also having to juggle new partners such as Qualcomm as a battle emerges between Google and Microsoft who are looking for the likes of Acer to adopt their version of AI in their notebooks and gaming products.
At a packed IFA press conference in Berlin ACER CEO Jason Chen rolled out a multitude of new products including new notebooks Predator gaming machines including one model with a removable controller, there was also a new Acer handheld as we tipped yesterday.
During an interview with ChannelNews Chen responded to a question re the juggling of competitors looking for a relationship with Acer after several senior executives from Microsoft and Google peddling AI to Nvidia pushing a new generation of AI graphic processors. Acer also revealed a new Qualcomm Snapdragon notebook running their version of an AI processor.
” We now have more options, and they all have their own uniqueness” he said.
“The competition provides more options for the industry”.
as for the impact on retailers he said” Retailers are going to have more choice and consumers more options” he said referring to the number of new products from multiple competitors coming into the market.
“It is going to be harder for customers in choosing which processor they want in a laptop he said.
Questioned why he purchased a Japanese design Company he said “Acer is a high-tech Company we need to connect more with people’s emotions. Consumers often buy based on emotion. Amadana is a good addition to the Acer Group of Companies.
A visit to the Companies Japanese web site reveals that in the past they have designed audio products, houses, coffee cups and a multitude of consumer electronics products.
At today’s event Chen announced that Acer is expanding its Swift AI laptop line with models featuring Intel’s new Lunar Lake chips.
Also revealed were notebooks with Qualcomm’s eight-core Snapdragon X Plus and AMD’s Ryzen AI 300.
Acer claims that each of these devices can theoretically last over 24 hours playing back video, or over 17 hours in productivity tests.
If you buy them with their IPS panels and 65 watt-hour batteries, Acer claims the new Swift 14 AI and their Swift 14 Go AI running an Intel processor can last 23 hours of web browsing, 29 hours of video playback.
The AMD model 19 hours of web browsing, 27 hours of video playback, while the Qualcomm delivers 19.5 hours of web browsing, 28 hours of video playback.
Swift 14 AI
The 14-inch Swift AI can be configured with either a new Intel Core Ultra 5 or 7 processor (model SF14-51), or an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 chip (model SF14-61).
Both optionally offer premium OLED screens instead of the IPS screen, and support up to 32GB of RAM, but the Intel model has 3K or 2K OLED options at 90Hz and a 2K IPS screen, while the AMD model only has a 3K OLED screen alongside 3K 120Hz and 2K IPS options.
The AMD model can also be configured with up to 2TB of storage space, while the Intel model only gets a maximum of 1TB. And while both laptops offer two USB-C ports, the Intel model gets Thunderbolt 4 ports as usual while the AMD one has generic USB4 — though both sets allow for charging. Both also have two USB-A 3.2 ports, an audio jack, an HDMI 2.1 port, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4.
