Acer Iconia W700, Acer Aspire AIO series to hit PH retail stores

Update, October 24: Acer Philippines also launched a cheaper-than-the-W700 tablet and an ultrabook. See Acer Iconia Tab W510, Acer Aspire S7: prices, specs. – Alora

Acer Philippines, similar to other big-name hardware makers, is prepping to churn out a fresh batch of devices powered by Windows 8 on October 26. When that date arrives, expect to see a lot of similar-looking machines, of varying types and sizes, sailing to the Philippines and flooding local retailers.

When that date arrives, expect also to see the Acer Iconia W700, a machine debuting in the country tomorrow (follow our live coverage by bookmarking this link), according to our source. It bears the same shiny platform, but with a different selling point: the device is a tablet-slash-desktop, an exception amidst the prominence of Windows-toting hybrids and all-in-ones [AIOs].

Speaking of AIOs, Acer Philippines is also reportedly introducing new Acer Aspires Tuesday, most probably touchscreen variants of the Aspire 5600U and 7600U. The former apparently packs a full-HD, 23-inch monitor and a third-generation Intel Core processor, among others. The latter features a bigger 27-inch display joined by Intel’s Core i5 chip and Nvidia’s GeForce GT640M graphics card.

Going back to the Iconia W700, the “wow factor” of this traditional desktop alternative stems from the bundled Bluetooth keyboard and docking station, which is designed to hold the tablet in both landscape and portrait orientations. The cradle is said to come with three USB 3.0 ports and an all-plastic build.

The Taiwanese tablet itself has a unibody shell and a full-HD 11.6-inch touchscreen and is spec’d to compete with the best of them. Under-the-hood details for the entry-level configuration includes an Ivy Bridge Core i3 processor with a 1.8GHz clock rate, an Intel HD Graphics 4000, 4GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD, and micro-HDMI and USB outs. There’s a front-facing 1-megapixel camera and a 5-megapixel rear-facer here as well.

According to reports, the Acer Iconia W700 will be priced as low as $799 or roughly P33,000. Not bad for a full-fledged, portable Windows 8 experience.

Acer Iconia W700 specs ($799 configuration):