Acer preps 16in and 18.4in Blu-ray notebooks

Acer plans to make a big push for HD-capable notebooks in the spring of this year, the company's Taiwan head explained on Monday. The executive clarified previous rumors and says that the computer firm will have two notebooks available in the spring with the world's first 16- and 18.4-inch widescreen notebook LCDs; unlike the slightly tall ratio of most displays, these will fit the wider aspect of most movies. Both should be sharper than hinted in the early leak and will be capable of a full HD (1920x1080) picture. Both will appropriately ship with a Blu-ray drive for playing HD movies.

Other specifications of the portables have not been revealed, though the Blu-ray feature will likely dictate dedicated AMD or NVIDIA graphics as well as a minimum 2GB of memory. Prices should range between $1,900 and $2,240 depending on the screen sizes and configurations for the desktop replacement-class systems, which should be available in the US as well as in Europe and Acer's Asia-Pacific home.

Previous indications have hinted that additional notebook manufacturers are expected to use the 16- and 18.4-inch LCDs, although none of these firms have been named since the claims first appeared in December.

Filed under: computers, digital imaging
Other story tags: NVIDIA, blu-ray, AMD, Acer