Joining the ranks of pretty much every other notebook maker, Acer is debuting an 11-inch convertible whose lid can rotate 360 degrees, converting the notebook into an ersatz tablet. Weighing 3.48 pounds, the Aspire R11 will start at $249 when it becomes available in June.
Like the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, the HP Pavilion x360, and the Toshiba Satellite Radius 11, the Acer Aspire R11 will have an 11.6-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. That's par for the course for this category of hybrid, as anything larger tends to be too bulky as a tablet. As with its competitors, the R11's hinge allows this 2-in-1 to be used in Tent and Stand modes, too.
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The dual-torque hinge was stiff enough that it felt secure resting in any mode. Similar to the Switch 10 and 11, the R11 will have a textured lid, which looks and feels interesting, and which prevents fingerprints from showing.
The R11 will be offered with either an Intel Pentium or Intel Celeron processor, up to 8GB of RAM, and a 500 or 1TB hard drive. Acer says that the notebook will last up to 8 hours on a charge, slightly longer than the ultraportable category average of 7 hours and 45 minutes.
The notebook will come in either Sky Blue or Cloud White -- both are attractive, but I suspect the white one will show dirt after a week or two in a messenger bag -- and, at $249, will be an affordable option for students looking for an inexpensive laptop to take to class.
