Acer makes the all-in-one less about the desk

Computer form-factors are changing, and one company is doing a lot of dabbling in that department, as Acer offers up another taste for how the desktop can change, packing a battery into an all-in-one.

For many of us, the desktop is dead with the laptop taking its place, and in some of these situations, the laptop — that computer with the screen and keyboard built into the same shell and chassis — is just as desk-bound as the desktop it replaced.

We have at least one laptop that stays on a desk, and very rarely does it venture out beyond the wooden surface that is our office, and we’re sure you know someone in a similar situation.

Acer’s take on this is a little different, however, with the company reviving the all-in-one category for something a little different: a semi-portable all-in-one.

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That’s what the company is going for in the Z3-700, a 17.3 inch tablet packing in either Intel Pentium or Celeron processors, up to 8GB RAM, and the choice of either a solid-state drive or one of the more conventional moving part hard disk drives.

The 17 inch screen makes this a positively huge tablet, which is part of the reason Acer is calling this an all-in-one, and Acer will even be providing a stylus to more accurate control what’s going on with that 17 inch display, showing up a Full HD 1920×1080 resolution.

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All-in-one machines are rarely portable — have you ever tried turning the iMac into a laptop? — and so while the Z3-700 will mostly be desk bound, Acer is also bringing with it a battery that the company says should last up to five hours.

That means the work you do at your desk could also be taken somewhere else later on, with two kickstands also provided to help you make that transition, allowing the two kilogram computer to either lay flat or sit up.

Acer’s Z3 isn’t the only addition the company is showing off, with a new R series computer aimed at bridging the gap between PC and tablet.

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This is Acer’s Aspire R14, a nearly two kilogram laptop grabbing Intel 6th generation Core processors, up to 8GB RAM, solid-state storage options, a 14 inch display, and 802.11ac WiFi.

Design on this one is fairly minimalist, with a 360 degree hinge allowing the computer to lay flat, stand up, sit in tent mode, or collapse into tablet mode, with a magnet built into the body to make the tablet feel flat and not just a screen backed up against the underside of the keyboard.

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Both computers will be equipped with Windows 10 out of the box, as expected, while Dolby’s audio technology will also make an appearance for more distinctive audio. Another technology will also make an appearance on each, with Acer “Bluelight Shield” featured in the displays of both the R14 and Z3-700, catering for various modes that reduces blue light emissions from the screen to cut down on eye strain.

“Acer has a heritage of delivering the best user experience through innovation in technology and design,” said Jason Chen, CEO of Acer.

“With Windows 10, we can now deliver a unique and consistent experience across our comprehensive product portfolio, be it notebooks, desktops, tablets or smartphones, and empower users to do great things with more personal and human technology.”

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Pricing and availability for both of these machines is a little bit of an unknown, at least for one of them, with the R14 heading to Australia in November from $1119, while the portable all-in-one doesn’t yet have local pricing or availability details.