Hands-on: Acer Iconia; touchscreen keyboard laptop

In the final days of CES 2011, Neowin got a hands-on with the Acer Iconia, a touchscreen keyboard laptop, that almost acts as if it has dual-screens. The laptop has a touchscreen keyboard, allowing you to virtually have any language keyboard on your screen, even style your keyboard if you need to.

The Iconia runs Windows 7 Home Premium, has a 14-inch display, and runs on a Intel Core i5, 8GB of RAM, 750GB HDD, Optimized Dolby Home Theater v3, weighs 6.18lbs and has an HDMI output.

After getting a hands-on demo of the device I realized how different the feel from a traditional trackpad is, you constantly have to look at what you"re doing unlike a physical keyboard and trackpad. The Acer Iconia reminds me of using the iPad as a keyboard, while trying to watch an HDTV of what you"re doing.

However, the laptop does have a great feel to it, and has a very colourful display. Although there was no mention of battery life, I do suspect the device won"t last nearly as long as a traditional laptop does. The taskbar is placed on the lower screen, giving you more screen space to work with. During the testing, some applications launched on the top screen, while others launched on the bottom. This is likely customizable, but could be a great device for multi-taskers.

Report a problem with article
Next Article

Daily Gaming: January 8, 2011

Previous Article

Hands-on: Microsoft Surface 2