Four into one does go

A seamless blend of notebook and tablet, the Acer Aspire Switch 11 also functions in two other modes: Display and Tent.

The main computing part is the tablet, which features an 11.6-inch display. It can be easily attached to a keyboard thanks to the Acer Snap Hinge design that uses the invisible force of magnetism to provide a latch-less docking solution. This lets you smoothly snap the tablet and keyboard apart and back together again.

Connect it to the keyboard and it becomes a notebook. If you want to use it as display unit to show the screen to the person opposite you, you simply detach the screen, rotate it and reattach it with the display pointing away from you. While the display is pointing outwards, you can flip Switch 11 on the edges of the screen and keyboard to turn it into Tent mode. The display will rotate properly and the keyboard will become its stand and now you can start using it like a tablet with a stand.

All the switches of the modes can be done on the fly without having to turn the computer off first.

If you like to use it as a tablet, you will be happy that the package comes with an active stylus, which is powered by an AAA battery, so that you can write down notes or draw on apps that support writing and drawing.

While using a stylus, you can rest your palm on the screen. Using the pen, tap on the screen – just as you would when inserting a full stop at the end of s sentence. You don’t have to worry that the screen will be scratched or damaged: it’s protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 that provides superior shock and scratch resistance.

Aspire Switch 11’s display is beautiful, which makes it good for watching Full HD movies and viewing photos. It has Full HD or 1920 x 1080 resolution and it features Zero Air Gap and IPS technology for exceptional detail, superior contrast and greater image sharpness from all angles. The display also uses LumiFlex technology to further enhance clarity by boosting brightness when the device is used in bright interiors and sunlight.

Aspire Switch 11 has good performance because it is powered by 4th generation Intel Core i3-4012Y processor running at 1.5 GHz. It is equipped with plenty of working memory – 4 gigabytes of DDR3 RAM.

Acer provides plenty of storage for the Aspire Switch 11. As a tablet, it has 60 gigabytes of SSD storage. When it is attached to the keyboard, it will have 500 GB of hard drive built into the keyboard. So, you can install a lot of apps and store a lot of photos, music files and video clips.

Aspire Switch 11 also provides plenty of ports, among them a microSD card reader, a micro HDMI port, and a full-sized USB 3.0 port on the tablet. The keyboard unit adds a USB 2.0 port.

It comes with 2-megapixel webcam that supports 1080p video recording.

Aspire Switch 11 runs on Windows 8.1 64-bit and the touch screen makes interacting with the OS convenient and effective. The test found that the touch screen was very responsive and the screen scrolling was fast and smooth.

And the spacious chiclet keyboard makes it comfortable to type and provides nice solid tactile feedback.

Aspire Switch 11 took only nine seconds to start up and a mere two seconds to shut down.

The active stylus worked well with Microsoft OneNote app. You can write a note in your hand writing and erase it with the upper button. The lower button selects part of the screen to bring up a menu for further actions, including copying, cutting, pasting, undoing, and tagging.

Aspire Switch 11 even provides a suite of apps called Acer BYOC (Build Your Own Cloud) or abApps for accessing Acer’s cloud storage service free of charge. You need to register for an Acer ID to use the apps. The apps are abDocs, abFiles, abMedia, and abPhoto for synching your files on Switch 11 to your Acer’s cloud storage. You can later add more of your devices, such as smartphones or tablets to the Acer ID and install abApps on the device to access the files that are stored on Acer cloud.

Acer Aspire Switch 11 has a starting price of Bt25,900, including VAT.

 

 

Key specs:

 

OS: Window 8.1 64-bit

CPU: 4th generation Intel Core i3-4012Y 1.5 GHz

RAM: 4 GB DDR3

Storage: SSD 60GB and 500GB HDD on Keyboard

Display: IPS Full HD 11.6-inch (1920 ? 1080 pixels)

Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 

Front camera: 2MP, 1080p Full HD audio/video recording

Ports: Micro HDMI, Micro SD, full-sized USB 3.0, full-sized USB 2.0

Dimension: 298 mm x 192.4 mm x 10.6 mm 

Weight: 850 g (tablet only)