The Aspire S5 measures just 15 millimeters, or 0.59 inches, at its thickest point. By comparison, the MacBook Air, the laptop that inspired the Ultrabook movement, is 0.68 inches at its thickest point. Weight is a mere 3 pounds. That definitely beats Intel's guidelines of being thinner than 0.71 inches and lighter than 3.1 pounds to be worthy of its Ultrabook moniker.
The Aspire also features a couple of proprietary Acer techs that help with performance: Acer Green Instant On, which is said to bring the notebook back from sleep mode in less than 1.5 seconds; and Acer Always Connect, which promises to quickly reconnect you with any online services you were logged into when your computer went to sleep. It also lets you wake up the S5 via smartphone.
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Acer engineered this machine to be both sleek and useful. The curved shell comes in "Onyx black", with detailing in brushed metal. A flip-out panel hides the connectors, including HDMI, USB 3.0 and -- in a rare sighting outside of Apple laptops -- Thunderbolt. Acer only describes the processor as an "Intel Core."
The Aspire S5 goes on sale in the spring. No word on price.
What do you think of Acer's ultra-thin Ultrabook? Does it make you want to jump into the category? Let us know in the comments.