Acer unwraps 'hologram'-clad Blu-ray laptops

Acer has given its "gemstone-design" Aspire laptop line-up a polish and chiseled out two more machines. They're coloured blue, so it's no surprise perhaps that both offer optional Blu-ray Disc drives.

Acer's Aspire 6920G: iridescent, apparently

Acer touted the machines' "holographic 3D" covering that apparently "radiates true elegance". Ahem. Here's how it works: "Starlit backlight shines beneath the floating Acer logo, the focal point of the iridescent, midnight sapphire sub-layer, which sparkles with varying gradations of black and blue when viewed from different angles."

Yes, right...

The 6920 comes with a range of Intel Core 2 Duo processor, all connected to the laptop's 965 chipset. The 6920 itself uses the chipset's integrated GMA X3100 graphics core, while the 6920G variant has a Nvidia GeForce 9500 GS chip with 512MB of GDDR 2 graphics memory.

Both GPUs drive the 6920's 16in display - 1920 x 1080 and 1366 x 768 versions are on offer. The laptops all come with HDMI ports. Both 6920s have a 10W sub-woofer on board - Acer calls it the Tuba CineBass - and a pair of stereo speakers. Together they pump out a virtual 5.1-channel sound.

Acer's Aspire 8920G: high-def

The laptop comes with up to 320GB of hard drive storage. The 6920 is fitted with an 8x multi-format dual-layer DVD burner, while the 6920G comes with that optical unit or a combo Blu-ray/DVD±R/RW drive.

Both models have 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, up to 4GB of 667MHz DDR 2 memory, a six-in-one memory card reader. There's a built-in webcam too.

Blue for Blu

The 8920 takes the same basic design but extends it to fit a 18.4in, 1920 x 1080 display drive by a GeForce 9650M GS with 512MB of GDDR 3 or a 9500M GS with 512MB of GDDR 2.

The bigger chassis means there's room for a second hard drive. Again there's a choice of 8x DVD burner or the combo drive, though this time it's a 2x Blu-ray unit rather than a 1x. This model also has a built-in digital TV tuner.

Acer didn't detail UK availability and pricing, but the 6920G and 8920G will go on sale in the UK within the next couple of weeks for $900 (£443/€577) and $1700 (£837/€1089), respectively.

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