Thin and light. Those are the two key characteristics that make ultrabooks so appealing to the masses, especially since they also bring the price points down to a more affordable level. The latest to join in on the ultrabook craze is the recently revealed Acer Aspire S3.

Being shown off at IFA 2011 in Berlin, the Acer Aspire S3 ultrabook clearly borrows some of its styling inspiration from the MacBook Air and possibly the Asus UX-series. The thin metal design narrows down to just 1.3cm at its thinnest point, but you still get a 13.3-inch HD LED display and the full-size Acer FineTip chiclet keyboard.

Power comes by way of Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Sandy Bridge (second-gen) processors, along with your choice of either a 240GB SSD or a 320GB/500GB hard drive with embedded SSD technology. Rounding out the specs are Dolby Home Theater v4, HDMI-out, card reader, webcam, WiFi, and Bluetooth. The Green Instant On technology from Acer also means you get instant resumes, just like what you’d get with a tablet.

I’m totally digging the idea of an ultrabook, because it used to be that you had to spend quite the pretty penny to get this kind of horsepower in this slim a package. The Aspire S3 will start at 799 Euro (about $1100) and ramps up to 1199 Euro. Look for it to launch in “select regions” later this month.

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The big release from Apple this week is obviously OS X Lion, but that doesn’t mean the company is done dishing out the goods. If you like thin and light, the MacBook Air is easily one of the most attractive options out there and the line-up is getting some major updates.

Naturally, the new MBAs are going to have Lion pre-loaded out of the box, but they’ll also be rocking that faster Thunderbolt port (up to 10Gbps) too. This is true of both the 11-inch and 13-inch models. Not surprisingly, Apple has also bumped the processors into the Sandy Bridge range, including both Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual core processors.

On the graphics side, you get Intel HD Graphics 3000 for both sizes. On the 11-inch you get a 1.6GHz Core i5 with 2GB or 4GB of DDR3-1333 RAM along with either 64GB or 128GB of flash storage. For the 13-inch, you get a 1.7GHz Core i5, 4 gigs of RAM, and your choice of 128GB or 256GB of flash storage.

Rounding out the specs are a couple of USB 2.0 ports, backlit keyboard, and a glass Multi-Touch trackpad. The 11-inch MacBook Air is $999 and $1199 for 64GB or 128GB of flash, while the 13-inch is $1299 and $1599 for 128GB and 256GB of flash, respectively. Bumping to a 1.8GHz Core i7 comes at $150 premium on the 11-inch and $100 premium on the 13-inch, but only on their respective higher storage variants.

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It has been confirmed that Apple is hosting a special event on March 2. It is always at these so-called special events that the Cupertino iCompany reveals its latest goods. As always, nothing has been confirmed about the iPad 2′s specs, but we can probably expect an improved display, a camera or two, and possibly dual-mode cellular connectivity.

Then again, they could be “changing things all over again” with the iPad 2 in some way that no one expected. I somehow doubt a 3D display is in the cards. I do expect, though, for prices to hold steady with the current gen, only with some upgraded specs and features.

The March 2 event could see the revealing of the new Sandy Bridge MacBook Pros as well. Jobs probably won’t be there for the unveiling, but who knows. Unless the “one more thing” is a holographic avatar of Steve Jobs powered by Watson?

[via All Things D]

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The announcement hasn’t come by way of Apple just yet, but it seems that an “Intel word of mouth” is pointing toward the implementation of Sandy Bridge (Core i5/i7) processors in the next generation of MacBook Pro notebooks. It may or may not show up in the regular MacBooks though.

The timing makes sense, since the last overhaul of the MacBook Pro line was way back in April 2010. An update in March would be in line with the usual annual schedule that Cupertino adheres to for most of its product offerings. We’re also hearing that the new MBPs will be thinner and lighter, not unlike the MacBook Air.

If Apple sticks to its usual modus operandi, the new MBPs should be at similar price points as the current offerings, only with updated specs and features.

[via Mac Rumors]

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