Acer adds Aspire M5 to ultrabook line-up

Acer has unveiled new 14-inch and 15-inch Aspire M5 ultrabooks that are due to go on sale in the UK in mid-June.

The company lifted the veil on the new M5 family of ultrabook devices on Tuesday, promising "instant use", dedicated graphics capabilities and an up to eight-hour battery life from the laptops. Pricing and specific launch dates were not disclosed.

"The Aspire M5 is packed with features enabling it to deliver the ultimate convenience of 'instant use' and 'anywhere mobility'," Acer said in a statement. "The overall experience is ultra-responsive. Acer Green Instant-On provides fast-resume in 1.5 seconds from sleep mode [while] Acer Instant Connect automatically scans and registers most-visited access points, letting users connect to the internet in just 2.5 seconds."

In addition to providing Acer-specific features, like Instant Connect, the Aspire M5 range will include third-generation Intel Ivy Bridge processors, Nvidia GeForce GT640M graphics and "ample" hybrid hard disk and solid state drives for faster boot times. The company said the M5s can also be configured to make a purely SSD storage set-up, in place of the standard hard drive.

Although not as slim as some of its ultrabook competitors, such as the recently announced HP Envy SpectreXT, at 20mm thick, the M5 does manage to retain some features often omitted from an ultrabook spec list, such as an optical drive. The 15-inch Aspire M5 also offers a full-size number pad. Both the 14-inch and 15-inch version include backlit chiclet style keyboards.

The devices will join Acer's existing Aspire S3 ultrabook when they go on sale in mid-June.