Acer sets the trend in product design with new Aspire consumer and TravelMate commercial notebooks

By: Stefan Hinum

Acer introduces two distinctive notebook designs to address the separate need and expectation of consumer and commercial notebook users. With the new Aspire notebooks, Acer is the world's first to offer Dolby Home Theater for virtual surround sound across the full line of consumer notebooks.

"The new Aspire Gemstone notebook has a noticeably rounded and fuller shape; a bold diversion from the traditional squarish designs that focus on minimizing notebook thickness and weight," said J.T. Wang, Chairman and CEO, Acer Inc. "As the world's fastest growing PC vendor among the top five and leap-frogging to the No. 3 ranking, we are now in position to set the trend in notebook design with the new Aspire Gemstone," Wang explained. The PC ranking is according to Q1 2007 preliminary data by Gartner Dataquest.

"Acer is tailoring its notebook design and functionality for consumer and commercial market needs," added Jim Wong, President, IT Products Business Group, Acer Inc. "The Aspire brand characteristics are easy and fun, while the TravelMate focuses on dependability for the mobile user."

Acer's design team worked with BMW Group DesignworksUSA to study design trends, develop the concept and visualize new forms. Findings showed that three of the most important design features were color and material, branding and naming, and shape treatment.