I had a chance to go hands-on with the S 13 at Acer’s New York launch event, and I like the overall design and how much you’re getting for the money, though I could do without the thick bezel around the screen. The S 13 is just 0.57 inches thin and uses diamond cut edging around the sides and touchpad to give it an elegant look. The design uses aluminum on the deck and bottom but a unique nano imprint lithography on the lid to provide texture and a firm grip.  Of the two models–touch and non-touch–I prefer the touchscreen model because it has a cooler white color. The obsidian black, non-touch version seems a bit boring by comparison.  The Aspire S 13 will be powered by 6th-generation Intel processor, with your choice of Core i3, Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs. It comes with a full HD IPS display (touch is optional). You can also expect up to 8GB of RAM and up to a 512GB SSD. Acer promises up to 13 hours of battery life, which would be second only to the 13-inch MacBook Air. But we’ll see how well this system performs in our testing. During my hands-on time with the S13, I found the keyboard to offer decent travel, but not great. But I’m glad Acer didn’t skimp on ports. You get not only two USB 3.0 but also HDMI and a USB-C port and SD card slot. Overall, the Acer Aspire S 13 looks like a good value, but stay tuned for our full review.

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